Securitymen want 1 IGI runway shut One of the three runways of IGI Airport could be shut for commercial flights, a move that would spell a return to pre-2008 days when planes had to hover for long periods before being cleared to land. Fearing a 911-type attack on prime central Delhi locations such as Parliament and Rashtrapati Bhavan, the defence and security establishment has sought closure of runway 27 for commercial aircraft. The approach path of this runway , for aircraft coming in to land from AIIMS side, is the closest to central Delhi.Therefore, the defence establishment wants only military and VVIP planes to take off from and land on this strip, said highly placed sources. “This issue is now at the Cabinet secretariat’s level. A meeting is supposed to be held soon,” said a source. In technical parlance, the security establishment wants to enhance the no-fly zone of central Delhi that is called VIP 89. The enhanced no-fly zone will include areas very close to the final approach of runway 27. Even a slight deviation by an aircraft coming in to land on this strip from AIIMS side or taking off in that direction (when wind direction changes) zone could lead to scrambling of fighter jets. Runaway 27 is one of the three airstrips in operation at IGI — the other two being runway 28 and 29. Civil aviation authorities are opposing the move tooth and nail, saying it would slam the brakes on IGI’s dream of becoming a big aviation hub. The airport’s three runways have a combined capacity of handling 75 aircraft movements an hour. At present, IGIA witnesses an average of 950 flights a day. “Most of the times, runway 27 (the shortest of the three runways) is used for arrivals. Runway 28 is used for departures as it is equidistant from both terminal 1B used by lowcost carriers for domestic operations and terminal 3. Runway 29 is used for both arrivals and departures. Shutting down runway 27 will mean a one-third reduction in aircraft handling capacity,” said a source. For the flyers, the shutdown would mean a return of the massive congestion with planes hovering in the air for a long time before landing and a similar wait on ground for aircraft to take off. Airlines used to levy a separate congestion charge in their fares on account of burning expensive jet fuel during hovering at busy airports like Delhi and Mumbai. The situation improved in 2008 when IGI got a third runway (29). “Given the fact that Tata-AirAsia will soon come to Delhi and Tata-Singapore Airlines will use IGI as their hub — apart from existing airlines adding flights to Delhi — there is no way the capital can do with just two runways. In fact, the air traffic services are finding ways to increase the combined aircraft handling capacity of 75 to cope with the increasing traffic,” said a source. Runway 27 becomes more crucial in the foggy winter months as IGI’s newest airstrip (29) suffers from very poor visibility due to its location. In those months, runways 28 and 27 handle a lion’s share of air traffic. If one of them is made out of bounds for commercial aircraft, the authorities warn of serious chaos for the average flyer.
Posted on: Fri, 07 Nov 2014 09:53:29 +0000
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