Thursday’s Air India disaster in Ahmedabad, which killed at least 24 people on the ground after the jetliner crashed into a medical college hostel, is a “wakeup call” to the dangers of having residential neighbourhoods close to airports, aviation experts said.

The B.J. Medical College hostel in the Meghaninagar locality, where the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner crashed just after takeoff, is only 5.8km from the Sardar Vallabhbhai International Airport.

Having residential areas near an airport not just increases the chances of heavy ground casualties during a crash, they make the crashes themselves likelier by denying the pilots open space to land in an emergency, experts said.

Aviation experts Mark D. Martin, CEO of Martin Consulting, and Subhash Goyal, chairman of the aviation and tourism expert committee of the Indian Chamber of Commerce, on Friday urged strict regulations to avoid residential constructions near airports.

Experts have for a long time also called for efforts to relocate airports farther away from cities in a country where many busy airports — such as those in Delhi, Mumbai and Calcutta — are close to populous neighbourhoods.

Aviation experts say an airport near the sea is the best option. As for airports in inland places, they should be 15km to 35km away from residential zones.

Calling Thursday’s crash a “wakeup call”, Martin said a crash over open land provided the people on board with better chances of survival.

“If it’s agricultural land or an open field, the pilots might have some time to think of landing (there) but, unfortunately, here the pilots can’t think of (that) as there are only residential buildings,” he said.

Martin cited examples of airports like Gatwick and Heathrow in London that
have public safety zones and where residential developments are restricted.

“Had there been a long highway (below), the plane would have landed (on it) and there would have not been any crash,” Goyal said.

“But just outside the airport was this building, and whenever there is a crash, the (airplane) fuel, which is highly inflammable, explodes like a bomb. This is exactly what happened in this case.”

Among the other merits of building airports near open fields are the lower chances of bird hits, because bird populations are higher near human habitations, Goyal said.

Aviation records show intensified devastation because of urbanisation near airports.

In July 2000, an Alliance Air flight crashed into a residential area in Patna that was 5-6km from the airport, killing 60 people including 5 on the ground.

The Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport, managed by the Adani group, is at Hansol, about 9km north of central Ahmedabad. It is close to many residential areas, including Hansol, Sardar Nagar, Naroda, Motera
and Shahibaug.

Sharad Kabra, an Ahmedabad resident of many decades, said Naroda and Shahibaug were old localities on the eastern side of the airport. However, many new buildings have come up near the airport in recent years as part of the twin city project connecting Ahmedabad and Gandhinagar.

Rini Balasaria, an urban planner, too confirmed that rapid urbanisation had saddled Ahmedabad with many new buildings close to the airport.

Delhi airport was once located in an isolated place 16km from the city centre but many residential premises have come up in its vicinity over the years, including the Aero City which is 3.4km from the airport.

As for Calcutta airport, the nearest houses are just about 2km from the edge of one of
its runways.

Globally, airports like Denver International in the US and Incheon airport in Seoul, South Korea, have large buffer zones, reducing the chances of planes crashing into residential buildings.