Kozhikode plane crash: Need for land to extend runway ran into govt wall

WHETHER a longer runway at Kozhikode could have averted Friday’s crash may only be known once the investigation is over but the demand to extend it has been a pressing — and a long-standing one. In the accident, in which 18 people were killedand around 100 injured, the Air India Express plane overshot the tabletop runway and fell 35 feet down a slope, the impact breaking it in two. Way back in 2017, the Airports Authority of India (AAI), which manages the airport, had firmed up plans to extend Kozhikode’s 2750-m runway by 800 m and was awaiting allocation of land by the Kerala government.