The Hindu Business Line : Secondary runway at Chennai airport to be extended

Chennai, Sept. 2 The expansion of the Chennai airport may well take up to June 2010 to complete, but an interim measure is being planned to enhance the capacity of the airport in the meantime.

The length of the existing secondary runway (the cross runway) is to be extended by about 300 metres, Mr K.N. Srivastava, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Civil Aviation, told Business Line here. (Speaking to Business Line later, Mr Dinesh Kumar, Director, Chennai Airport, said that the extension could be longer — more than 500 metres.)

Currently, Chennai can handle 30 flights an hour. Once the cross runway is extended, the airport can handle 45 flights an hour. However, after the entire expansion is over — that is, after the parallel runway comes up on the other side of the Adyar river — the secondary runway will become a taxi way, he said.

Meanwhile, the authorities were planning to spend Rs 200 crore on upgradation of the cargo handling facilities.

Mr Dinesh Kumar said that at present the airport could handle 2 lakh tonnes of cargo. The demand for cargo movement is growing by about 15 per cent a year.

The upgradation project, which will create more covered space, will meet the growing needs, he said.

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