U.S. aircraft manufacturer Boeing will draw up a master plan for Chennai airport in the coming months, to chalk out the road ahead for the facility over the next 10 years.
Officials of the Airports Authority of India (AAI) said that as part of an agreement signed between AAI and Boeing, a plan would be drawn up for improving airport handling facilities and infrastructure over the next decade.
“A team will come down to the city on Friday and hold initial discussions with us for two days. Subsequently, they will carry out a study for six months, taking into account air traffic projections, land that needs to be acquired and how to use it efficiently. After that, they will give us recommendations that we will eventually implement,” an official said.
Officials said Boeing would also suggest ways to enhance the airside capacity of the airport, communications, navigation and surveillance systems.
“For instance, they could suggest ways to increase runway occupancy time [the amount of time an aircraft spends on the runway at the airport]. We are now trying to bring it down to 55 to 60 seconds, but this should get better in the coming years if we have to handle the growing traffic,” an official said.
The airport has been facing a host of issues like choked terminals, with increasing air and passenger traffic. At present, the phase II modernisation project is under way, wherein a new integrated terminal is being built. A slew of airside projects like straightening taxiway ‘Bravo’ and construction of additional rapid exit taxiways are also being taken up.
Boeing also plans to undertake a study at other AAI airports, including Kolkata and Ahmedabad, sources said.
