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Air India Flight 171, a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner bound for London, took off from Ahmedabad’s Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport on June 12, only to plunge into a hostel of the B. J. Medical College just 30 seconds later. The tragedy claimed 241 lives onboard and at least 39 on the ground, including medical students and a couple who stepped out to make an Aadhar card correction just before the plane crashed in their neighbourhood, Meghani Nagar. This is a congested locality of buildings and slum pockets in the vicinity of the airport, causing many fatalities on the ground.
Frenetic and unregulated urban development have found buildings and accompanying paraphernalia like billboards, poles, mobile towers and the like getting closer to runways
Over 60 people from Meghani Nagar are being treated for injuries sustained as the Dreamliner fell, unable to gain more than 625 feet from the ground before it crashed. While investigators look into a host of likely causes that range from engine and equipment failure to systemic problems and a breakdown in communications, the crash has drawn attention to other issues that need to be addressed: the chaos and growing congestion around many of our airports.
Accident probabilities increase with proximity to runway ends because of the greater concentration of aircraft, flying at low altitude, over these areas
With the steady increase in air traffic and the consequent need for expanded airport infrastructure, interest in development and land use around airports is growing, with little regard for the impact in terms of safety issues and noise pollution on nearby populated areas. One way to reduce risks of damage or injury to persons or property on the ground due to aircraft accidents is to limit the density of development at or near airports.
Studies have shown that accident probabilities increase with proximity to runway ends because of the greater concentration of aircraft, flying at low altitude, over these areas. Some airports and local communities have set development density limits ranging from 25 to 100 people per acre for various parts of a runway approach corridor.
New airports set up far away from cities make the airport that much less accessible while legacy airports right in the thick of a city bring increased risks for aviation and for the residents themselves
Shopping centers are likely to average about 75 people per acre and restaurants, over 100 people per acre. In general, high-density residential development and places of public assembly should not be permitted in the airport’s approach corridors, says a chapter on “alternate land use” by the Airports Council International – North America (ACI-NA) in a document aimed at helping airports recognise and address the considerable challenges associated with such development in the vicinity. ACI-NA represents local, regional and state governing bodies that operate commercial airports in US and Canada.
Globally, there is a debate on where airports might be located and how land use around airports needs to be regulated. New airports set up far away from cities make the airport that much less accessible while legacy airports right in the thick of a city bring increased risks for aviation and for the residents themselves.
High-density residential development and places of public assembly should not be permitted in the airport’s approach corridors
Since a majority of air accidents occur either during take-off or landing, that makes it riskier to have airports in the midst of a bustling city. While it is true that an accident of the kind seen in the case of AI-171 is rare and can technically happen anywhere, it is equally true that bustling neighbourhoods springing up on the outskirts of airports are best avoided.
That poses a challenge for India in particular because the aviation sector has grown rapidly in recent years, with the number of passengers growing from 66 million in 2014 to 161 million in 2024. Reports indicate that new airports are quickly turning out to be fully utlilised to or beyond their designed capacity, driven by a growing economy and the growth of air traffic.
Bustling neighbourhoods springing up on the outskirts of airports are best avoided
Earlier this month Union Civil Aviation Minister K Rammohan Naidu announced the country’s plans to add 50 more airports in the next five years, building upon the existing 162 airports. For instance, the Navi Mumbai airport is being built to address the capacity constraints of the existing Mumbai airport, and its initial phase is expected to significantly increase the region's flight capacity.
However, the nature of the market is such that housing prices in the vicinity of the new airport have already skyrocketed indicating that “development” follows, bringing a housing boom when an airport is built. So, what is the way out of this problem of development and growth?
India’s expanding aviation ambitions have been superimposed on existing urban infrastructures that are already pushed to the limit by the rapid growth of cities. In Ahmedabad, as in some other Indian cities there is little buffer between the increasingly busy airport and the densely populated neighbourhoods that encircle it.
India’s expanding aviation ambitions have been superimposed on existing urban infrastructures that are already pushed to the limit by the rapid growth of cities
The Airports Authority of India (AAI) has been trying to address this issue by seeking an allotment of nearly 30 acres of land to extend the safety area of the runway at the Sardar Vallabhai Patel (SVP) airport. This would enable the extension of the runway into Meghani Nagar where the Dreamliner crashed. The application placed before the Gujarat government in 2013 and 2018, is pending, according to reports.
Frenetic and unregulated urban development have found buildings and accompanying paraphernalia like billboards, poles, mobile towers and the like getting closer to runways. This is the subject of a court case against unauthorised buildings and structures that are potential flight hazards near the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport in Mumbai.
The Bombay High Court has called for the removal of obstructing structures. In 2022, the court directed action against 48 structures that violated height norms and were obstructing approach surfaces. This year the court was informed that illegal portions like overhead water tanks, antennae, iron pipes, have been removed from seven structures to comply with height restrictions.
In 2022, the court directed action against 48 structures that violated height norms and were obstructing approach surfaces
Among the air hazards caused by building clusters outside airports are from birds attracted by garbage heaps and other food sources. AAI’s Aeronautical Information Publication (AIP) supplement for Mumbai International airport this month draws attention to the “daily concentration of birds in and around the vicinity of the aerodrome” especially between early morning hours and mid-day. The supplement that issues information, guidance and action requests “pilots to exercise caution during landing or take-off.” Engine ingestion or windshield damage can lead to aborted take-offs and accidents.
In September 2019 a Kolkata-bound Go-Air flight suffered a bird-hit minutes after take-off and had to return to SVP airport stranding passengers. A month earlier AAI had drawn the attention of civic authorities to landfills and garbage heaps near the airport attracting birds.
Among the air hazards caused by building clusters outside airports are from birds attracted by garbage heaps and other food sources. Engine ingestion or windshield damage can lead to aborted take-offs and accidents
That year SVP led all major Indian airports with nearly 11 wildlife strike incidents per 10,000 flights -double the national average. The airport recorded 319 bird and wildlife strikes between January 2018 and October 2023 according to data tabled in the Rajya Sabha by the civil aviation minister in response to a parliamentary question in December 2023.
None of this should hamper or digress from investigations into the specific case of the AI 171 crash. If the engines failed, as has been speculated in some quarters, it is a shocking case that demands urgent answers from Boeing and the engine manufacturers. But while that track of inquiry continues, the crash can also be an occasion to revisit land usage around airports.