AAI goes back to twin runway use

New Delhi: After massive delays crippled Delhi airport on Thursday evening, the AAI decided to go back to simultaneous use of runways till the directorate general of civil aviation’s (DGCA) order on dedicated use of runways is implemented on December 25.
After the recent scare of simultaneous take-offs from the two runways at Delhi’s IGI airport, air traffic control (ATC) had been instructed on Wednesday night to restrict the dual use of runways. Consequently, simultaneous operations had taken place only for two hours on Thursday, leading to massive delays and even a couple of diversions.
After witnessing the chaos that the decision caused, there was a sudden reversal of orders on Thursday night, according to which ATC was asked to re-start simultaneous use of runways. On Friday morning, since visibility was low, twin use could only be started by 10.45 am, as against the scheduled time of 6 am and went on till a little past 1 pm. In the evening, it started as per routine about 4 pm and continued till late at night.
ATC officials explained that the winter schedule was made keeping in mind the capacity of IGI during simultaneous operations. If this was suspended, there would have been a massive backlog, as was the case on Thursday. Nobody was prepared for slowing down of operations and the sudden backlog caught airlines and airport authorities off guard.
22/12/07 Neha Lalchandani/Times of India

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Categories: Airports Dec 2007