'Pot hole' on Surat airport's runway scares off big jets

New Delhi: Surat may attract diamond merchants from far and wide but the city's dream to have an international airport is still to come true.
A plan was cleared in 2004 to upgrade the local airport to international standards at a cost of Rs.110 crore. The airport, according to the plan, would get a new terminal building and state-of-the-art ATC facilities. Most significantly, the runway would be extended to accept bigger jets such as the Airbus A320 and A321.
Eight years later, A320s and A321s still do not land at Surat.
So poor was the material used in the extended portion of the runway that it sank under the weight of a truck during construction in 2008, leaving a gaping hole. You can well imagine the consequences if an A320 or A321 had touched down there.
The crater was filled, topped with paved surface and the runway cleared for use by widebodied jets such as the A320 by then AAI chief engineer G.K. Chaudhary. AAI is short for the Airport Authority of India.
But AAI officials from Delhi smelt a rat in the nick of time and asked the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) to probe the matter.
22/02/12 MSN News

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Categories: airports Feb 2012, Safety Feb 2012