On 7 August 2020, a Boeing 737 aircraft of Air India Express (the low cost subsidiary of national carrier Air India) overshot the runway while landing at Calicut International Airport. The crash killed 18 people and over 100 were injured. The accident has once again turned the spotlight on operations to what are called ‘tabletop airports’ in India.
About:
What is it? ‘Tabletop Airport’ is an airport located and built on top of a plateau or hilly surface, with one or both ends of the runway overlooking a drop. There are not many differences between a ‘normal’ airport and a ‘tabletop’ airport.
Examples in India: The airports in the country which would count as “tabletops”, are namely Lengpui (Mizoram), Shimla and Kullu (Himachal Pradesh), Pakyong (Sikkim), Mangaluru (Karnataka), Kozhikode and Kannur (both Kerala).
Recognition: There is no such term as a ‘tabletop airport’ in any International Civil Aviation \Organisation (ICAO) technical document. But India’s statutory aviation body, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), refers to these airports in this manner by way of highlighting safety measures during operations to these runways.
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