Runway of Odisha airport to remain closed for 8 hours a day for 8 months for renovation

BHUBANESWAR: The Biju Patnaik International Airport’s runway will remain closed for 8 hours in the night and day in two phases to pave way for its makeover.
In the first phase, the runway will be devoid of any operations from November 1 to March 31 between 10 am and 5.30pm. In the second phase, the runway won’t be operational from April 1 to June 30 between 10am and 6pm.
Airport director Suresh Chandra Hota said the runway requires re-carpeting (putting a coat on it to smoothen its surface) every 10 years but it has been 12 years since the city airport’s runway has not been repaired. “Instead of intermittent maintenance of the runway, we need to ensure that the entire stretch of it gets completed renovated a fresh. A coat will be put on the existing runway, which will cost close to Rs 28 crore. We have been feeling the need to re-carpet it for the last two years. There are small potholed, which may at times hinder aircraft movement when break is put during landing. In case of coarse surface, the pilots find it difficult,” said the director.
He added that they have submitted all the relevant documents to the Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) to obtain permission for the renovation work. “Once we get the approval from DGCA, we will start the first phase work. The second phase work will be in the day time,” he added.
The director said they have intimated the airlines in advance about the runway repair work so that they can reschedule their flights. “I don’t think the renovation work will hamper the flight operation. Only thing is it has to be rescheduled,” said Hota.
Between 10am and 5.30pm, 4 flights including one to international destination operates while between 10am and 6pm 22 flights operate to 8 different destinations (domestic), which includes Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Guwahati, Ranchi and Jharsuguda.
The city airport now records around 65,000 aircraft movements in a year. For smooth and quick operations, the airport is also set to construct a parallel taxiway that will of equal length of the runway.