Kolkata: Secondary runway capacity to be enhanced

KOLKATA: For the primary time in decades, an try is being made to improve the secondary runway capability at Kolkata airport. Currently, the secondary runway is in a position to dealing with 15 flights an hour. The airport has to grapple with flight delays when the main runway, which has a capability of 35 flights an hour, is close for maintenance.



Speaking to TOI, Airports Authority of India regional executive director (east) KL Sharma said a blueprint have been ready for augmenting the secondary runway capability. “The collection of flights working at Kolkata airport has increased from around 250 a day in 2012 to over 450 now. The capability of the passenger terminal has increased as has the primary runway capability. But flight dealing with capability of the secondary runway has remained unchanged. Given the drive of flights, it has transform crucial that we do something about it now,” said Sharma.



While the two,790-metre secondary runway is lengthy sufficient to care for plane that airways perform to Kolkata, the current alignment of Taxi Track A is such that an plane has to enter in the course of the runway, back down over 600 metre, make a U-turn after which start the takeoff run. This assists in keeping the runway needlessly engaged for an extra 2 mins in step with flight.

“At provide, the minimum hole between two flights is four mins. Our endeavour is to scale back this hole so that extra flights can also be packed in an hour. To achieve this, we've proposed to increase Taxi Track F from parking bays towards the north. This taxi track will run parallel to the runways after which flip proper to join the secondary runway close to the start level. By doing so, flights may just save 2 mins. That may just probably double the runway capability,” said Sharma. The actual capability can be determined after a security review is performed once the infrastructure is enhanced.

A call has already been taken to demolish two hangers that lately lie in the way in which of the proposed taxi track.


Also, Taxi Track A is so on the subject of the secondary runway that planes cannot begin taxiing for departure if some other flight is scheduled to arrive or takeoff from the secondary runway. Once Taxi Track F is extended and used by plane taxiing for takeoff, it will now not impede operations on the secondary runway as the gap between the 2 can be adequate.


Secondary runway capability wasn’t a hassle till a few years ago. But now, it has transform a headache for each — the airport operator and the airways — as the primary runway is now close down twice per week for extensive maintenance that the CAT III-B device landing machine calls for. While airport officers time table the maintenance all over afternoon ‘lean’ hours, the location gets tricky if the maintenance hour gets extended. With flights not able to land as scheduled, congestion builds up within the sky, leading to delays.



On February 10, a four-hour shutdown of the primary runway had brought about a logjam that held up leader minister Mamata Banerjee’s flight.


Kolkata: Secondary runway capacity to be enhanced Kolkata: Secondary runway capacity to be enhanced Reviewed by Kailash on June 17, 2018 Rating: 5
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