AAI working on second runway flight patterns

CHENNAI: AAI is working out flight and taxiing patterns for the second runway of the Chennai airport as aircraft will have to be guided from the runway to the terminals and vice versa when the main runway is closed for taxiway work for nine months. Though the landing and take off routes and procedures are fixed, minor tweaking may have to be done for continuous operation. Around 80 departures are handled at the airport between 10am to 5pm every day.
The planning will help minimise or prevent delays and avoid problems. Sources said that a standard operating procedure (SOP) would be introduced when NOTAM (notice to airmen) is released, announcing closure of the main runway.

“We may have to work out taxiing procedure or routes, but that will mostly be done dynamically when the operations begin. Taxiing routes may have to be refined to take planes as quickly as possible to the terminals, soon after landing and during take-off,” said an official.

“The controllers know how to route the planes to the second runways. Flight path to the second runway has already been defined as flights are handled on the runway on Tuesdays and Saturdays when main runway is closed for maintenance. But a SOP may be needed as second runway will be used regularly for several months,” he added.

Flights landing on the second runway will need more time to taxi and reach the terminals. Similarly, the planes may have to taxi for a longer distance to reach the Manapakkam end of the main runway for take off from the domestic terminal.

Majority of the flights are to domestic routes between 10am and 6pm or between 12.30pm to 6pm, the timings the main runway is likely to be closed for work.