Big flight lands on narrow Port Blair runway, raises concern

Chennai: Landing at Port Blair can be tricky for pilots under normal circumstances. And when an A320 from Chennai with about 100 passengers landed on the runway made narrow by ongoing works, safety norms were back in focus.
The Port Blair airport had put out a notam (notice to airmen) on Sunday, advising caution on the part of pilots as the width of a stretch of the runway has been reduced to 22 metres from 45 metres. The airport said the resurfacing works could not be completed because of rains and hence the reduction in the runway width. The A320 flight of Kingfisher Airlines which left Chennai at 4.30am landed at Port Blair despite the caution.
"It is mandatory that the runway width should be 45 metres to land an A320 type aircraft. This is a serious violation of safety norms by the airline," said former pilot and air safety expert Captain A Ranganathan.
Director general of civil aviation Bharat Bhushan said : "The notam says excercise caution. We are yet to take a stand whether its a violation or not. The issue is being investigated. That was the only flight that flew into the airport today. After that all flights were cancelled."
Air India and Jet Airways cancelled their flights to Port Blair following the notam. A Kingfisher spokesperson said the airlines came to know of the notam late and by then the flight was scheduled. It cancelled its subsequent flights to Port Blair.
26/04/11 Times of India

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Categories: Airports Apr 2011, Kingfisher Apr 2011, Safety Apr 2011