Parallel runway plea ‘not feasible’

PATNA: The Bihar government has proposed to the Airports Authority of India (AAI) to develop a new runway parallel to the existing one at the Patna airport, but AAI officials do not consider the proposal feasible.

In fact, the state government and AAI are considering quite a few proposals to resolve the issue of short runway, including constructing a new runway, extending the existing one towards the Patna zoo or reducing the height of the watchtower at the secretariat building in the city.

Sources said state chief secretary Deepak Kumar at a meeting with AAI officials last week proposed the development of a new runway 50 to 100 metres north of the existing runway. He was of the view that it would not face any constraint from the Delhi-Howarh railway line nearby.

However, an AAI official said a new runway, as per the AAI and DGCA norms, can be constructed only at least 100 metres away from the edge of the existing runway. This means a new runway will have to be constructed on the land of the existing apron and terminal building.

“We are almost set to start work on our new terminal building project. The entire project will be in jeopardy if we go for a new runway on the land of the terminal building... It will also lead to project cost escalation,” the AAI official said and added, however, that a final decision in this regard would be taken by the AAI HQ.

On its part, the AAI has made three proposals for increasing the length of the existing runway. Two of them require the state government to hand over either 7.5 acres or 27 acres of land towards the Patna zoo.

“If the state government hands over 7.5 acres towards Peer Ali Marg and Patna zoo, we will be able to extend the runway by 135 metres. This will bring down the minimum visibility criterion for flight operations from 1,200 metres at present to 1,000 metres,” airport director Rajender Singh Lahauria told TOI on Wednesday.

If the state government hands over 27 acres of land towards the Patna zoo and adjacent areas to the AAI, Lahauria said, the runway can be extended by 700 metres and the visibility criterion will come down from 1,200 meters at present to 700 metres. In either case, Peer Ali Marg will go underground, probably in the form of a tunnel, to pave the way for runway extension.

As for the secretariat watchtower, the airport director said, the AAI has proposed to reduce the height of the watchtower by 19 metres. This will bring down the visibility criterion to 550 metres.