Chennai airport cries for second runway

Chennai’s need for a world-class airport is getting delayed because the secondary runway has hit a roadblock.
The Airports Authority of India (AAI) has made it clear that without the removal of obstructions like houses, water tanks and trees, it cannot open the full-portion of the secondary runway.
Also, with metro rail works also expected to begin at the airport stretch, the full use of the secondary runway is not possible.
“We are only looking at operating 2,400 metres even after all the obstructions are removed and proper security arrangements made for the bridge over Adyar River,” said a senior airport official. About 2,085 metres of the runway was earlier used for landing only smaller aircraft, like ATR types.
The AAI had envisaged on the bridge an extension of secondary runway to allow bigger aircrafts to land and also to meet the demands from the increased air-traffic.
AAI chairman V.P. Agrawal told Deccan Chronicle that the construction part of extended portion of secondary runway was over but the obstructions must be removed to comply with the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) regulations.
Airport sources said a re-survey was done at Kolapakkam area, where the obstructions are present.
04/10/11 Deccan Chronicle

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Categories: airports Oct 2011