The government is considering conversion of the status of Mangalore airport from a “customs airport” to an “international airport”. There are 17 international airports in the country but not all airports from which international operations take place are designated as international airports.
For instance, currently, the “customs airports” from where international operations take place are Mangalore, Coimbatore, Varanasi, Trichy, Patna, Lucknow, Gaya and Pune (civil enclave). According to the civil aviation ministry, rules permit international operations from customs airports as well. Government officials said customs airports were initially begun for cargo operations but later started passenger operations as well. Hence the name customs airports.
Declaration of an airport as an “international airport” requires several parameters including runway length of at least 9,000 ft (to cater to medium-capacity long-range aircraft), availability of ground lighting facilities, instrument landing system for operation of aircraft at night, availability of customs, immigration, health, animal and plant quarantine services, serving as points of call in bilateral agreements, establishment of international cargo complex and adequate size of terminal buildings to handle international and transit passengers. Ministry sources told this newspaper that civil aviation minister Praful Patel’s recent declaration —— that the 8,000 ft-long runway at Mangalore will be elongated by another 1,000 ft. to 9,000 ft —— is the first step in the direction of declaring Mangalore as an international airport. This is because a runway length of at least 9,000 ft is a pre-condition for declaration of an airport as an international airport. Ministry sources said the move would increase confidence in the functioning of the Mangalore airport.
The government is already planning to convert Coimbatore airport from a customs to an international airport. Mr Patel had already declared at a press conference last week that the DGCA had dispatched inspection teams to inspect 11 “critical” airports in the country —- Mangalore, Leh, Kullu, Shimla, Port Blair, Agartala, Lengpui, Calicut, Jammu, Patna and Latur.