Sunday, June 17, 2018

Kolkata secondary runway capacity to be enhanced to pack in more flights

Kolkata: For the first time in decades, an attempt is being made to enhance the secondary runway capacity at Kolkata airport. Currently, the secondary runway is capable of handling 15 flights an hour. The airport has to grapple with flight delays when the main runway, which has a capacity of 35 flights an hour, is shut for maintenance.

Speaking to TOI, Airports Authority of India regional executive director (east) KL Sharma said a blueprint had been prepared for augmenting the secondary runway capacity. “The number of flights operating at Kolkata airport has increased from around 250 a day in 2012 to over 450 now. The capacity of the passenger terminal has increased as has the primary runway capacity. But flight handling capacity of the secondary runway has remained unchanged. Given the pressure of flights, it has become imperative that we do something about it now,” said Sharma.

While the 2,790-metre secondary runway is long enough to handle aircraft that airlines operate to Kolkata, the current alignment of Taxi Track A is such that an aircraft has to enter in the middle of the runway, backtrack over 600 metre, make a U-turn and then start the takeoff run. This keeps the runway needlessly engaged for an additional 2 minutes per flight.
17/06/18 Subhro Niyogi and Tamaghna Banerjee/Times of India
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