3rd runway to help IGI handle 60 flights/hr

New Delhi: IGI airport's third runway finally saw its first flight when an Air India Boeing 777 landed on it at 10.45 am on Thursday. The flight first did a flypast - aborted landing as it reached the runway - and then returned to finally land.
The new runway is Code F compliant, that will enable it to handle aircraft as big as A-380s. It also has the instrument landing system at both ends, which will enable landing from both sides during low-visibility. IGI is now the only airport in the country to have multiple runways. Officials said that the runway would handle both domestic and international flights, though domestic airlines said they would prefer landing on it and not taking off as that would require a long taxiing time. The only connecting taxiways between the new and the main runways are towards the Dwarka side.
Working to make the airstrip a runway were personnel from Airports Authority of India (AAI). Teams from the Air Traffic Control (ATC) and the Communications Navigational Services (CNS) spent days working out the instrument landing procedures and setting up the equipment required for aircraft navigation.
After setting up the ILS, officials of CNS sat in a small Dornier aircraft and flew for hours over the runway to calibrate the equipment set up.
22/08/08 Times of India

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Categories: Airports Aug 2008, New Aug 2008