Karipur: The recarpeting works were put on hold and the runway at the Karipur airport opened up in the daytime after a long hiatus, allowing international flights carrying Hajj pilgrims to land at the facility. It should be noted that flights were not given permission to land at the airport during daytime in recent times, owing to the recarpeting works being done on the runway. Two flights of AirIndia express carrying Hajj pilgrims landed at the Karipur airport around 11 AM and 2 PM on Saturday.

Regulations were put in place for landing at the airport earlier this year, from January 15. Owing to the recarpeting works, flights were denied permission for landing during daytime between 10 AM - 5 PM. As a result, most of the Hajj flights were chartered for night.