Chennai airport operations pose major threat to passengers

Chennai: Describing the near-miss on Saturday as a "serious incident", senior aviation and navigation experts said Chennai airport operations were posing a major threat to passenger safety as the Airports Authority of India (AAI) does not consult the air traffic control (ATC) or the pilots while making any changes to flight navigation. They also point out that AAI has ignored the need for rapid exit taxiways in the multi-crore airport expansion project in Chennai.
V Krishnan, senior advisor of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation, said Saturday's incident, which occurred due to the closure of the taxiway, was neither the mistake of the landed aircraft nor the ATC officials. "Rejecting the take-off of Jet Airways and decision to 'go around' by the Air India pilot were timely decisions coordinated by the ATC. Neither the ATC nor the aircraft could be blamed. Rather, they averted a major accident," said Krishnan, a member of the Civil Aviation Safety Advisory Council that was constituted after the Mangalore plane crash. Krishnan said Chennai needed a rapid exit taxiway to reduce the runway occupancy time. "Even the new taxiway being built in the airport does not have the provisions of a rapid exit for the aircraft. We should not fail to take up the need for a rapid exit track when we proceed with a major expansion project," he said.
26/09/11 Arun Janardhanan/Times of India

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Categories: Air India Sep 2011, airports Sep 2011, Indigo Airlines Sep 2011, Kingfisher Sep 2011, Safety Sep 2011