Chennai: Officials at the Chennai airport are praying that no untoward incident should happen in the next nine months till the resurfacing of the 3.65-km main runway is completed.
“Fingers crossed,” said an airport official on the long haul ahead; re-carpeting work started on August 21.
His worry is understandable. Ten days back, an aircraft was slightly damaged due to the presence of debris on the runway from the resurfacing work. The runway had to be shut for nearly two hours and ten flights were diverted to Bengaluru and Hyderabad.
Frequent flyers are perplexed as to why it should take nine months for a project that is like re-laying a highway.
It is not quite a simple project, the official replied. A functioning airport with a single runway has many challenges. Every day, the runway is closed for nearly seven-and-half hours and a meticulous planning is done with various stakeholders, especially airlines, to ensure that there is no trouble during this time.
14/09/15 TE Raja Simhan/Business Line
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“Fingers crossed,” said an airport official on the long haul ahead; re-carpeting work started on August 21.
His worry is understandable. Ten days back, an aircraft was slightly damaged due to the presence of debris on the runway from the resurfacing work. The runway had to be shut for nearly two hours and ten flights were diverted to Bengaluru and Hyderabad.
Frequent flyers are perplexed as to why it should take nine months for a project that is like re-laying a highway.
It is not quite a simple project, the official replied. A functioning airport with a single runway has many challenges. Every day, the runway is closed for nearly seven-and-half hours and a meticulous planning is done with various stakeholders, especially airlines, to ensure that there is no trouble during this time.
14/09/15 TE Raja Simhan/Business Line
