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Kerala airport authorities keep mum on near-miss

Air traffic control officials at the Thiruvananthapuram international airport in Kerala have refused to comment on reports that the national carriers of Sri Lanka and Indonesia had a "near miss" last month, allegedly due to their incompetence.

Officials insisted the matter was under investigation and they were not in a position to comment.

Sri Lankan airline sources had said that an Air Lanka and Garuda aircraft had flown towards each other on the same flight path about 150 kilometres south-west of Thiruvananthapuram. The ATCs at Thiruvananthapuram and Madras had cleared the Air Lanka flight for an unrestricted climb to 31,000 feet.

The aircraft was at 27,000 feet and was climbing to 31,000 feet when the traffic collision avoidance system warned that another aircraft was on the same track. But for the instruments in the airbus, a tragedy would have occurred, the sources said.

UNI

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