The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on Tuesday banned the use of wide-body aircraft at the Kozhikode airport during the monsoon season.
"As a means of abundant caution, we have stopped them from coming to Calicut till the Monsoon season," the country's aviation watchdog said in a statement.
Earlier, an Air India Express flight carrying 190 people on board including 10 infants had skidded while landing at Karipur airport in Kozhikode on August 7.
As many as 18 people, including the two pilots, had lost their lives after the AI flight carrying 190 people from Dubai met with the accident at the airport, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), had said.
According to the Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Monday, 23 passengers, among those hospitalised after the accident, were in a critical condition and three have been put on a ventilator, while 81 others were recovering.
Earlier, Union Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri had said that an inquiry has been ordered under the Aircraft Act, black boxes of flight IX-1344 have been recovered and added that the findings of this investigation will be made public.
Puri said it was premature to speculate on the reasons for the accident, but pointed out that the weather conditions at the time of landing were bad.
He was responding to questions by media persons as to whether there were mechanical problems with the wheels of the aircraft.
Later in a tweet, Puri said: “The Digital Flight Data Recorder (DFDR) and Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR) of the ill-fated aircraft have been retrieved. AAIB (Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau) is conducting investigations."
A Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) official said that the DFDR and CVR were with the AAIB and would be sent to Delhi for further investigation.
It has been reported that the runway had three centimetres of rain water, which made the conditions slippery. Puri said that water on the runway would make the plane slip and this could have led to the crash.
Puri announced what he described as interim relief of Rs 10 lakh each to the families of those who lost their lives in the accident. Those who are grievously injured would be paid Rs 5 lakh and those with minor injuries would get Rs 2 lakh each.
Puri said this is in addition to other customary compensation by way of insurance and other benefits. Additionally, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan announced a payment of Rs 10 lakh each for the families of the dead, while the entire treatment of the injured would be the responsibility of the state government.
The Governor, Chief Minister and Union Civil Aviation Minister and minister of state for external affairs V Muraleedharan visited various hospitals and enquired about the health of the injured passengers.
(With inputs from ANI and FPJ's K Raveendran)
