‘Gaya airport runway safe’

GAYA: Flyers using the Gaya International Airport need not worry as the runway is safe for the take-off and landing of aircraft, including Airbus 320, said airport director Dilip Kumar.
“Comparisons should not be made with the Kozhikode airport, which has a tabletop runway. The topography of the two airports are completely different and all safety norms are maintained in copybook style,” Kumar said.
“Apart from 2,286 metre-long runway, there is a 90x90 metre ‘safe area’ on either side of it. Moreover, the runway was re carpeted a couple of years back and it has been strengthened as per the international parameters,” he said.
Asked about the outcome of the ‘obstacle survey’ conducted a few months back to identify the fault-lines and take corrective measures, the airport director said the report was confidential. “Follow-up action is being taken on the basis of the obstacle survey report,” he said.
On the point of take-off or landing of wide-body planes, including the Boeing, Kumar said the runway is not long enough to host wide-body planes but given the level of traffic, Airbus 320 is operational. “Whenever it is possible, the runway expansion will be done on the Cherki side of the airport as the NH-83 side has got some obstacles,” he said.
According to Arun Kumar Ojha, a hospitality sector expert, the expansion of the Gaya airport runway was a must as airlines across the world were phasing out narrow-body planes and replacing them with the wide-body models. “Economy of scale also favours wide-body planes and at least 500 metres more are to be added to the runway for that,” he said.
Earlier, the Union home ministry notified Gaya airport as the destination airport for Bihar-Jharkhand residents to be evacuated under the Vande Bharat mission. More than 20,000 people of the two states stranded in more than a dozen countries like the UK, Russia, Ukraine and the UAE have reached Gaya during the lockdown period.