The Hindu Business Line : Delhi airport to have 24-hour runways by June

In an effort to decongest the Delhi airport, the Airports Authority of India (AAI) plans to operate both the runways at the airport around the clock from June this year, the Authority Chairman, Mr K. Ramalingam, said.

"At present we are using the second runway for two hours in the morning and two hours in the evening. However, from June we plan to have it open for operations the entire day. This should help increase, by one-and-a-half times, the aircraft landing per hour that the airport would be able to handle," said Mr Ramalingam. The AAI Chairman was participating in a seminar on `Modernising Indian airports: The challenge ahead' organised by the Foundation for Aviation and Sustainable Tourism.

Earlier, participating in the seminar, the Secretary Civil Aviation, Mr Ajay Prasad, outlined the problems faced by the sector and the steps that the Government was taking to tackle the challenge.

World-class airports

Turning his attention to the development of world-class airport infrastructure, Mr Prasad said that the Government was committed to developing airports in 35 non-metro cities to world-class standards.

He, however, felt that there was need to revisit the definition of the sort of development that should be allowed around the airports, especially as the number of passengers flying is increasing very rapidly.

"The law is clear that any development which contributes to passenger and transportation facilitation is allowed. However, we need to see whether golf courses and office complexes are allowed around the airport. We need to ensure that a passenger has a holistic and pleasant experience at the airport," he said.

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