Chennai: The new domestic terminal at the Chennai airport has finally opened, but there is yet another project that is awaiting clearance before it can begin functioning — the secondary runway.
The extension of the runway from 2,035 metres to 3,400 metres — covered under the modernisation project — which began in 2009 and ended in 2011, is still awaiting clearance from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA).
Airport director H.S. Suresh said, “We need to acquire 15.67 acres of land, which we are unable to do because of resistance from the residents of Maxworth Nagar. Unless we get this land, the houses there will be obstacles on the runway. We will not be able to position the ILS system, without which we can’t start flight operations. Now we want the DGCA to allow us to operate with the available distance of 2.3 km, since we really need this runway,” he said.
18/04/13 Sunitha Sekar/The Hindu
