News
Delhi set for 24hr runways
19 April 2006
Delhi Airport runways could soon be running around the clock so as to deal with congestion, the chairman of the Airports Authority of India (AAI) has claimed.
Shri Ramalingam admitted at the 'Modernising Indian airports' seminar in New Delhi that the increase in passenger traffic enjoyed by India's airports over January and February had taken the AAI somewhat by surprise.
He told attendees that it was now expanding its infrastructure accordingly and that Delhi's two runways could be in operation as early as June, as opposed to the four hours a day that the airport's second runway is currently operational for, Sify reports.
Mr Ramalingam explained: "At present we are using the second runway for two hours in the morning and two hours in the evening.
"However, from June we plan to have it open for operations the entire day.
This should help increase, by one-and-a-half times, the aircraft landing per hour that the airport would be able to handle."
With traffic expected to rise to 80 million people per year by 2008, Mr Ramalingam said the AAI was taking steps to increase capacity, with facilities for the handling of bigger aircraft to be improved at several airports, according to the Economic Times.
He added that parking facilities are to be universally improved and that international terminals are to be built at Chennai and Kolkata, while smaller airports like Amritsar are also being modernised.
© Adfero Ltd
Shri Ramalingam admitted at the 'Modernising Indian airports' seminar in New Delhi that the increase in passenger traffic enjoyed by India's airports over January and February had taken the AAI somewhat by surprise.
He told attendees that it was now expanding its infrastructure accordingly and that Delhi's two runways could be in operation as early as June, as opposed to the four hours a day that the airport's second runway is currently operational for, Sify reports.
Mr Ramalingam explained: "At present we are using the second runway for two hours in the morning and two hours in the evening.
"However, from June we plan to have it open for operations the entire day.
This should help increase, by one-and-a-half times, the aircraft landing per hour that the airport would be able to handle."
With traffic expected to rise to 80 million people per year by 2008, Mr Ramalingam said the AAI was taking steps to increase capacity, with facilities for the handling of bigger aircraft to be improved at several airports, according to the Economic Times.
He added that parking facilities are to be universally improved and that international terminals are to be built at Chennai and Kolkata, while smaller airports like Amritsar are also being modernised.
© Adfero Ltd
