Nagpur bursts at its seams

Nagpur: "We have a situation here," announced the pilot of the Bangalore-Mumbai-Nagpur JetLite flight minutes before landing at the Nagpur airport last evening.
He said the plane was just 15 km away, but there were more than 10 aircraft circling the Orange City's skies, desperate to land.
The pilot said the aircraft had very little fuel left, and if it were not allowed to land soon, it would have to fly to Hyderabad for re-fuelling.
On the flight were mainly wedding guests including builder Niranjan Hiranandani and lawyer Mahesh Jethmalani.
After the minor heart attack for passengers, there was relief. The flight landed safely in Nagpur.
So, what made Nagpur airport suddenly busier than a Newark or a Heathrow? It was BJP president Nitin Gadkari's son's big, fat, Indian wedding reception.
The airport that handles 12 flights a day was swamped with 47 flights yesterday 35 private jets ferrying the rich and the powerful of Indian politics, industry, media and entertainment.
After landing, these planes were guided to the parking bays by 'follow-me' cars, which led to the aircraft taking more time to exit the runway and incoming flights ending up burning more fuel.
04/12/10 MiD DAY

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Categories: Airports Dec 2010