Member of Parliament and chairperson of Thoothukudi Airport Advisory Committee K. Kanimozhi on Wednesday reviewed the progress of the ongoing development works in the airport.
As the Thoothukudi Airport, which is handling only smaller aircrafts now, has started the work on extension, widening and strengthening of the runway from the existing dimension of 1,349 meters X 30 meters to 3,115 meters X 45 meters for handling wide-bodied aircrafts, perimeter road, compound wall, new terminal building, Air Traffic Control Tower, new fire station, car parking area etc., Ms. Kanimozhi reviewed the progress of these works.
Moreover, the MP also emphasised the need for starting night flight services to and from Thoothukudi on an early note for the benefit of the public, especially the business community of the port town.
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Director of Thoothukudi Airport N. Subramanian and Manager S. Jayaraman explained the progress of all these works.
Work on the expansion, widening and strengthening of the runway with Blast pad, runway end safety area (RESA), Taxiway, Apron, GSE area, Isolation bay and miscellaneous works was started on July 25 last for handling larger aircrafts.
For the expansion of the runway, 600.97 acres of land free from encumbrances was acquired by the State Government and handed over to Airports Authority of India on December 31, 2018. Subsequently, runway extension work with blast pad, runway strip and runway end safety area, ground support equipment area, taxiway, apron, isolation bay and miscellaneous works for ₹ 96.77 crore was awarded to a Mumbai-based company on August 22, 2019.
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Subsequently concept and execution level safety case assessment and reporting approval for widening of runway was obtained from the regularity authority, Director General of Civil Aviation.
Ms. Kanimozhi asked the officials to expedite all the works and complete them at the earliest without compromising on quality.