Representative image of birds flying around an aircraft.
Credit: PTI File Photo
Thiruvananthapuram: Slaughtering activities close to the Thiruvananthapuram airport continues to pose bird hit threat to the airport.
In a latest instance, a Bengaluru-bound Indigo flight had to abort take-off on Monday morning due to bird hit. The 179 passengers were stranded for 13 hours as the airport runway was closed from 9 am to 6 pm owing to runway re-carpeting work.
It was the fourth bird hit incident at the airport this year. In 2024 as many as 13 confirmed bird hits were reported in the airport and in 2023 the number of bird hits was 17.
The root cause for the bird hits at the Thiruvananthapuram airport is the unauthorized slaughtering activities close to the airport.
Even as the Aircraft Rules prohibits slaughtering or dumping of garbage within 10kms radius of the airport, it is being blatantly violated. Despite repeated requests from the airport, the city corporation could not strictly act against the unauthorized slaughtering close to the airport.
The Airports Authority of India (AAI) as well as the Adani group, which is now running the airport, has been undertaking various projects using the CSR funds to address the garbage issue. Arrangements were even made for regularly collecting slaughter waste for disposal.
Airport sources point out that a slight decline in the bird hit cases over the last couple of years is the outcome of such efforts.