A new safety report by the Airport Authority of India reveals over 600 high-rise obstacles near Lucknow’s Chaudhary Charan Singh International Airport, including buildings, towers, and trees. The findings raise critical concerns about aviation safety and unregulated urban expansion around the airport, highlighting the urgent need for stricter enforcement of height restrictions to ensure secure flight operations.
A detailed aeronautical safety report released by the Airport Authority of India (AAI) has uncovered over 600 potential obstacles cluttering the airspace near Chaudhary Charan Singh International Airport (CCSIA) in Lucknow, raising serious concerns about flight safety. According to the Aeronautical Information Publication (AIP) supplement issued on Thursday, a total of 624 structures and installations—including high-rise buildings, light poles, antennas, are encroaching into the obstacle limitation surface (OLS) of the airport.
The OLS defines the critical height thresholds above which no structure should rise to ensure safe take-offs and landings. Some of the tallest violations in the report reach up to 170 metres above mean sea level, with CCSIA itself located at 123 metres elevation. The survey, covering a 20-km radius around the airport, identified 319 buildings, 214 trees, multiple electric traction frames, cellphone towers, hoardings, and even a mosque loudspeaker as posing direct threats to aircraft operating in and out of the facility.
The report’s release comes on the same day as the devastating crash of a London-bound Air India Dreamliner in Ahmedabad, where the aircraft struck a high-rise structure shortly after take-off, underscoring the life-threatening impact of height regulation breaches. In Lucknow, the situation is equally alarming. The AIP report focuses especially on the 27/09 runway alignment towards Bijnor and the Kanpur highway, where vertical clearance is critical. Regulations stipulate that within 2,250 metres of the airport, any structure must first obtain a No Objection Certificate (NOC) from AAI.
Beyond that, height limits increase incrementally but are capped at 185 to 205 metres depending on distance—limits that many of the reported obstacles have violated. Officials responsible for urban safety and air traffic integrity are taking serious note. A senior official from Uttar Pradesh’s civil aviation department, speaking on condition of anonymity, stressed that “safety is non-negotiable in aviation.” These height norms exist precisely because even small deviations can endanger hundreds of lives.
An airport environment management committee already meets biannually to review risk factors in the vicinity, the official added. Experts are calling for more proactive enforcement and cross-agency coordination to prevent encroachment around airport zones. The growing urban footprint around CCSIA mirrors challenges faced in several Indian metros, where rapid infrastructure growth often outpaces regulatory enforcement.
