Expansion of Thoothukudi airport runway begins

The Thoothukudi airport is all set for runway widening and extension to handle wide-bodied aircraft.

‘Bhoomi puja’ for widening the runway with Blast pad, RESA (runway end safety area), Taxiway, Apron, GSE area, Isolation bay and miscellaneous works was performed on Saturday and N. Subramanian, Airport Director, was present.

The ritual marked the commencement of excavation for widening of existing runway from 30 meter to 45 meter by constructing 7.50 m wide pavement on either side of runway edge to handle Code-4C type aircraft like Airbus 321 carrying 220 passengers with the wingspan of 34 meter and length of 45 meter. Presently, the fifth busiest airport of Tamil Nadu, it handles only ATR 72, Q 400 and Dornier AN32 type of aircraft.

For expansion of the runway, 600.97 acres of land, free from encumbrance, was acquired by the State government and handed over to the Airports Authority of India on December 31, 2018. The expansion work for ₹96.77 crore was awarded to a Mumbai-based company on August 22, 2019.

Though the concept and execution level safety case assessment and reporting approval for widening of runway was obtained from the regulatory authority, Director General of Civil Aviation, all construction work could be resumed after getting nod from the district administration.

Extent of the new apron will be 191 m x 89 m for parking 5 aircraft (A-321 type aircraft). New isolation bay will be 91 m x 76 m with 3.5 m wide shoulder suitable for handling code C type aircraft (Boeing 737), for which link taxi provision also made for the length of 244.5 m X 23 m with 3.5 m shoulder on either side to operate code-C type aircrafts.

Due to the expansion work, the runway will remain closed between 6 p.m. and 6 a.m. and will not be available for night operations. The mandatory Notice to Airmen has been issued.

The airport, before the pandemic, was handling 6 flights (5 flights vis-à-vis Chennai and 1 flight to Bengaluru) between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m .everyday. The operation was suspended due to COVID-19 and now it is handling two flights per day from Chennai to Thoothukudi.