The airport’s already existing taxiway ‘Romeo’ has been extended to touch both ends of the main runway, and will now serve as a parallel taxiway to help reduce the time a flight occupies the main runway.
Officials of the Airports Authority of India (AAI) said last month, the work was completed, and the Aviation Regulator, Directorate General of Civil Aviation, conducted inspections subsequently. “We recently got their clearance for putting the taxiway to use. But we have to complete a few more formalities after which it can be thrown open in a few weeks,” an official said.
Three more rapid exit taxiways are also under construction, and the straightening of a taxiway called ‘Bravo’ too has been in progress for a while now.
“When all the construction work is finished, the runway occupancy time of a flight will come down drastically, and we will be able to handle more flights. Also, the remote bay, in which many flights can be parked, is usually not put to much use but when all these taxiways open, it can also be used for parking more aircraft,” he added.
The Airside Project was planned when the airport had severe congestion and was handling nearly 500 flights a day. But now owing to the pandemic, there are only about 100-120 flights a day. With the restoration of normal traffic in the future, the additional taxiways would help greatly, officials said.
