The civil aviation ministry is planning to increase the length of the runway at Mangalore airport by another 1,000 ft from the present 8,000 ft to 9,000 ft. This comes in the wake of the tragedy at Mangalore on May 22 when an Air India Express aircraft crashed after landing at the airport.
The government has maintained that there was nothing wrong with the runway and that its length, at 8,000 ft, more than met international standards. But in the wake of the crash, civil aviation minister Praful Patel is keen that the length of the runway be increased. Currently, the runway also has a runway safety area (soft ground) of 90 metres beyond it and this could also be enhanced. The AAI will have to examine the technical feasibility, given the hilly terrain of the site where the Mangalore airport is located. The government is also likely to review the safety aspect at airports that have table-top runways such as the ones at Mangalore, Kozhikode and Silchar. AAI, however, has maintained that table-top runways are constructed the world over and that there is no move to ban such runways in future.