Take-off on time

18-Dec-2007


Since the Chennai Airport currently handles an average of 329 aircraft every day, the authorities have opened a second runway for take-offs. The airport will now be able to facilitate two take-offs in two minutes, compared to its earlier figures of one every three minutes.

The high volume of air traffic also requires an optimum use of air space. The Airports Authority of India (AAI) has, therefore, bifurcated the Area Control Centre into the East and West sectors. Flights coming into each sector will be handled by an Air Traffic Controller (ATC) using a separate frequency.Chief Secretary L K Tripathy inaugurated the cross-runway and newly bifurcated Area Control Centre operations on Sunday.

Until now, the newer 2,085-metre-long runway, which intersects the 3,658-metre-long main runway, was used only when the main strip was closed for maintenance.Both will now function in cross-runway operations, thereby permitting an aircraft to take off as soon as another plane landing on the main strip clears the intersection between the two runways.

The secondary runway cannot be used for landing since it does not have an Instrument Landing System.This sequential operation of both runways will ensure more departures and increase the capacity to handle aircraft from 25 to 32 an hour.

“Procedures have been developed to use the secondary runway 12/30 for departures and the main runway 07/25 for both departures and arrivals .

This move is aimed at enhancing the capacity of the airport using the existing infrastructure,” said K Ramalingam, Regional Executive Director, Southern Region, AAI.In addition to the daily average of 329 aircraft movements, the Air Traffic Control Tower handles over 800 aircraft which fly over the city.

Earlier, one ATC would communicate with all the aircraft entering the airspace controlled by the Chennai centre. The new system will ensure faster and better handling of all aircraft. The East sector will control the airspace on the Chennai-Bangalore- Kolkata route along the sea side while the West will control the routes from Thiruvanathapuram to Mumbai.

Now, the ATC will handle 40 per cent of the traffic in the East and the remaining 60 per cent in the West. The system is expected to reduce delays in the operation of aircraft at the airport.


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