The Hindu : Front Page : Works at airport nearing completion

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Thursday, Apr 23, 2009
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Works at airport nearing completion

V.S. Palaniappan

Coimbatore: The ongoing development works at the Coimbatore Airport for handling the increase in passenger and air traffic are nearing completion, said M.R. Vasudeva, Airport Director.

Talking to The Hindu, Mr. Vasudeva said that the airport runway earlier was 7,500 ft and the same had been extended to 9,520 ft. With works on for fixing threshold and approach lights, very shortly the runway would become operational.

Airport Authority of India is planning to give NOTAM (Notice to Airmen) on the extended runway and could be used after 56 days. This would enable landing of wide-bodied and fat-bellied aircraft without major restrictions on load or fuel.

Objective

The glide path in the Instrument Landing System (ILS) would be shifted to guide the landing aircraft. The final objective was to extend the runway to 11,000 ft.

Works are already under way for expanding the terminal building with a capacity for 300 passengers in order to accommodate 700 passengers at a cost of Rs. 78 crore by increasing the area from 6,000 sq.m. to 14,700 sq.m.

The terminal building expansion would include modern arrival hall besides improvements to the structure. The new building would have additional lounges such as VIP and Executive.

It would also have two aerobridges with visual docking guidance system, four escalators and elevators and modern passenger baggage handling systems.

The approach road from Sitra Junction to the airport would be widened and the AAI was waiting for the local body to hand over the road.

Once the 1,670 parallel taxi works are over in the next three to four months, runway utilisation time would be reduced for handling more aircraft at peak hour.

The apron extension work would also be over in a few months thus creating two more parking bays in addition to the already existing five bays for aircraft and one isolation bay for aircraft with security perceptions, Mr. Vasudeva added.

Corrections and Clarifications

A sentence in "Works at [Coimbatore] airport nearing completion" (Coimbatore, April 23, 2009, page 1) was "Once the 1,670 parallel taxi works are over in the next three to four months, runway utilisation time would be reduced for handling more aircraft at peak hour." It should have been "1,670-metre".

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