The Hindu Business Line : AAI to add 12 parking bays in Mumbai by year-end

EVEN as the Government receives bids for the revamp of the Mumbai airport, the Airports Authority of India (AAI) is undertaking some development works to improve services.

In an effort to ease the demand for parking bays from airline companies, the AAI is constructing 12 additional parking bays that will be ready by the year-end.

The first four parking bays will be ready by the month-end and four more likely by October and the last four are expected to be complete in December.

According to Mr Sudhir Kumar, Director, AAI, the new parking bays have already been allotted to airlines such as Kingfisher Airlines and SpiceJet.

The AAI also plans to add 18 additional night parking bays next year, he said. The Mumbai airport currently has 75 parking bays in all.

The AAI will add three additional taxiways and these are expected to improve the flexibility of on-surface manoeuvrability.

Besides, the AAI is planning to construct high-speed taxiways to improve aircraft turnarounds and increase the capacity of the airport, which is fast approaching saturation point.

Expansion of the airport is constrained by limited availability of free land on account of large-scale encroachments. Further, the airport has just one functional runway with the second intersecting the operational runway.

Mumbai airport currently handles in excess of 520 movements each day and the addition of high-speed taxiways should theoretically increase capacity by 100 additional movements each day, according to Mr Sudhir Kumar.

Facilities for passengers are also being improved with the revamp of the domestic Terminal 1B. The upgradation work, being undertaken by a private party at a cost of Rs 83 crore, will be completed by early next month.

Further, the AAI has merged the arrival areas of international terminals 2A and 2B. The latter has been in disuse since it was decommissioned in 1999.

With the merger of the arrival lounges, the arrival terminal now has four additional conveyor belts and a lot more space for passengers to move about. The modifications to the arrival lounges have been well received by passengers, said Mr Sudhir Kumar.

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AAI to add 12 parking bays in Mumbai by year-end