The Chennai airport has increased flight movement from 32 per hour to 36 per hour to reduce congestion and prevent flight delay.
Officials said they have increased the capacity to ease congestion that has been growing for sometime now. “This means, every flight will vacate from the runway by around 70 seconds. Earlier, the time used be around 75 or even 80 seconds. We want to bring it down to 60 seconds. This enhancement of capacity was possible since the taxiway called ‘Mike’ was commissioned recently,” an official said.
This, officials claimed, was implemented after a detailed safety assessment.
They also plan to construct two rapid-exit taxiways (that allow aircraft to exit the runway with greater speed).
“These will be located between taxiways ‘Mike’ and ‘Delta.’ The construction work will start soon. There are some issues to be addressed and features to be put in place, which will be completed. Another safety assessment will be done before the construction work begins,” he added.
However, some sources said the construction and subsequent commissioning of two rapid-exit taxiways have to be done very carefully. “It is possible but precautions have to be taken before it is done,” a source said.
At present, the Chennai airport has 24 taxiways.
There are plans to straighten the ‘Bravo’ taxiway soon. “The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has put up a few queries. We are expecting an approval soon. Once it arrives, the work will be taken up in two phases,” he added.
Cross runway operations
In what may further de-congest the airport, the AAI plans to start cross runway operations by the end of the year. “At present, either the main runway or the secondary runway is used. But, when we implement cross runway operations, both the runways will be in use. We conducted a study on this. Many issues need to be addressed and will be done before starting this,” an official said.
Once the cross runway operations begin, flight movement will go up from 36 to 40 per hour. “There will only be departures in the secondary runway and both arrival and departures in the main runway,” he said.
According to sources, an extensive safety assessment needs to be done before it is implemented to avoid major problems or accidents.
