Jets said to go

Mumbai: The Maharashtra government and some of India's leading corporate honchos like the Tatas and Ambanis seem to have got too close for comfort at the Mumbai airport and could soon be left with no parking space for their jets. After being warned several times for parking aircraft very close to the runway, these companies have now been served eviction notices especially since all their hangar leases have also ended.
In early April, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) pulled up private and corporate jet owners for violating International Civil Aviation Organisation norms. "These aircraft were found to be close to the operational runway, violating the prescribed safety norms," said Kanu Gohain, director general, DGCA.
Apart from parking their jets in close proximity to the runway (perpendicular to it), these jets also followed a wrong method of moving before take-off. "Since the aircraft were parked perpendicular to the runway, it meant risking the possibility of a jet blast directed towards the runway," a pilot with a private charter company said.
Corporates who will be left hunting for a new parking bay for their jets include Reliance Industries Limited (RIL), Tata, Essar, Raymond, Anil Ambani's ADAG as well as clients of maintenance, repair and overhaul firms like Air Works India Engineering Ltd and Indamer Ltd. "We have served eviction notices on the firms that have hangars at the Mumbai airport as their leases have already expired. We are going to talk to them to sort out the issues," said Sanjay Reddy, managing director, Mumbai International Airport Limited (MIAL).
MIAL officials informed that the jets would have to shift to the helibase at Juhu or relocate to some other part of the airport.
On the possibility of shifting to Juhu, a RIL official said, "Unless the helibase at Juhu is capable of handling our aircraft we cannot even think about it."
The Juhu airport is only a helibase with a runway length of 3,750 feet. Aircraft (depending on their size) need at least 7,500 feet in order to land at ease.
18/05/09 Aditya Anand/MiD Day

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Categories: Airports May 2009