Gulf Air seeks Air India help to clear runway debris

Mumbai: The Gulf Air A320 aircraft which veered off the Cochin Airport runway to come to rest off a paved surface on Monday morning is likely to be removed from its current resting place by Tuesday afternoon. In case of such accidents it is the airline's responsibility to clear the aircraft off the runway. "The stranded aircraft had affected operations at the Cochin International Airport and so Gulf Air officials called up Air India to help them with the issue," said a source.
In India, such jobs go to Air India as it is the only airline which has what is called a Disabled Aircraft Retrieval Kit and the expertise to carry out the work.
"The kit had to be flown down to Cochin and so Air India initially enquired whether Gulf Air will pay for charter flight and all other charges," said a source. The primary tool in a kit consists of low-pressure high-volume inflatable airbags. These are placed underneath the aircraft's nose, wheels, and tyres, inflated and then the aircraft is towed to a parking bay.
But as soon as the work commenced, Air India ran into difficulties. The 'kit' could not be loaded into Boeing 737-800 aircraft which was chartered from Air India Express. "The boxes were so huge that it was not possible to load them into the aircraft," a source said.
30/08/11 Manju V/Times of India

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Categories: airports aug 2011, Foreign Aug 2011, Safety Aug 2011