Chennai’s require for a world-class airport is getting late because the secondary runway has hit a roadblock.



The Airports Authority of India (AAI) has made it clear that without the taking away of barriers like houses, water tanks and trees, it cannot open the full-portion of the secondary runway.

Also, with metro rail works also projected to begin at the airport stretch, the full use of the secondary runway is not possible.

“We are only looking at operating 2,400 metres even after all the obstructions are removed and proper security preparations made for the bridge over Adyar River,” said a senior airport official. About 2,085 metres of the runway was previous used for landing only smaller aircraft, like ATR types.

The AAI had envisaged on the bridge an extension of secondary runway to permit bigger aircrafts to land and also to meet the difficulties from the increased air-traffic.



AAI chairman V.P. Agrawal told Deccan Chronicle that the construction part of extended portion of secondary runway was over but the blockage must be removed to fulfill with the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) regulations.

Airport sources said a re-survey was done at Kolapakkam area, where the impediments are present. “We have now minimized the acquisition area and have saved around 26 houses. About four to five houses, trees and telecom towers want to be removed also re locating a public water-tank,” the sources added.

The secondary runway has been closed for the last 15 months and airline operators are under pressure to schedule their flights, especially through the four hours of compulsory closure of the main runway weekly.

“We desire to operate more flights to Chennai, but we are finding it hard to get slots especially on Tuesdays and Saturdays, when the main runway is also closed for two hours,” said a domestic operator.

The airport handles about 310 flights a day and 12 million passengers yearly and will be capable to handle 23 million passengers with the new terminals.