It is Celebration Time for Mangalore Airport

60 years ago on December 21, 1951 with the arrival of Pt Jawaharlal Nehru, India’s first Prime Minister, in Mangalore, the Bajpe Aerodrome, which has now graduated to become Mangalore International Airport, was commissioned. The airport has come a long way since then and is now celebrating its diamond jubilee this year, which is no doubt a moment of great pride for all Mangaloreans. The airport has been instrumental in facilitating the economic development of this port city. The airport which has been operating international flights from 2006 onwards has been awaiting the tag of international airport status, which may take some more time to get materialized.
The length of the second runway at Mangalore airport is 8038 feet whereas the availability of a 9000 feet runway is a pre-requisite to upgrade the status of the airport. After inaugurating the new terminal Praful Patel had announced extension of the runway and after the gruesome air crash tragedy of May last year, it was reassured that the runway would be extended and it would also take into account the required spillover area in case of emergency. The paper work in this regard is under process. Another distinctive feature of Mangalore airport is that it is one among the three airports in the country to have table top runways, the other two being Kozhikode and Lengpui in Aizwal, Mizoram.
15/02/11 Florine Roche/Daijiworld.com

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Categories: Airports Feb 2011