DGCA asks airports to arrange aircraft recovery kits

Taking a grim view of the fact that it took more than three days to clear a stuck aircraft at the Mumbai airport, aviation safety regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has asked all the major airports in the country to make arrangements for their own recovery kit and personnel for quicker clearance of runway.

The incident had blocked the primary runway from operations, affecting around 450-odd flights due to cancellations, diversion and delays.

Currently, only national carrier Air India has one recovery kit, which is not adequate for the number of airports and type of aircraft operating in India, the officials said.

SpiceJet flight SG 6237 (Jaipur-Mumbai) veered off the runway after landing late in the night on June 1. The authorities claim that the speed of the flight for landing was much higher than is required, resulting in serious damage to the nose of the aircraft. An investigation is underway to determine the cause of the incident. The incident prompted the usage of the secondary runway, which slowed down the air traffic movement as it is nearly 30% less efficient in comparison to the primary runway.

According to Air India sources, what made the recovery more difficult was the fact that a similar incident had happened in Mangalore the previous day. Hence some of their equipment and personnel were busy there. However, after the incident in Mumbai, a few of them were rushed to