Runway grounds flights at Jammu

On Friday, 30 flights to and from the Jammu airport were cancelled, stranding as many as 2,500 passengers. This followed an alert received by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) this week that the runway at the airport wasn't sturdy enough to carry heavy loads. The DGCA advised airlines to operate with significantly less overall load, following which all private airlines decided to cancel their flights on Friday.

The alert was withdrawn on Friday evening.

The Indian Air Force (IAF), which maintains the runway at the Jammu airport, had detected the issue on October 7.

DGCA chief M Sathiyavathy told Business Standard, "We got the information only on Wednesday. Therefore, the airlines were informed accordingly." Asked whether the IAF had given an explanation for the delayed alert, she said, "We got the information from some other source."

"They (the IAF) are supposed to inform stakeholders well in advance," said another DGCA official.

Government sources said after conducting a survey, the IAF had found the load-bearing capacity of the runway at the Jammu airport had decreased significantly. Subsequently, it reduced the pavement classification, meaning the runway would be able to handle a lower aircraft load.

The incident has raised questions on the delayed advisory which, some say, could have compromised the airport's safety standards.

D K Gautam, the Airports Authority of India (AAI)'s director at the Jammu airport, said, "We came to know about the issue only on Friday morning. We should have been informed earlier."

The incident comes ahead of a comprehensive audit by the International Civil Aviation Organization, beginning November 30.

The audit will look into parameters such as legislation, organisation, licensing, operation, airworthiness, accident investigation, air navigation and aerodromes.

Together, Air India, Jet Airways, IndiGo, GoAir and SpiceJet operate at least 32 flights a day from the Jammu airport. On Friday, only two Air India flights were operational; these had relatively less weight.

Sources said the civil aviation ministry had taken up the matter with its defence counterpart, following which the IAF decided to withdraw the alert on Friday evening. They added Union civil aviation secretary R N Choubey has directed the AAI to inspect the runway daily. "The AAI will begin inspection after every two-three landings and the IAF will start re-carpeting a portion of the runway from Saturday," said a senior DGCA official.