Runway problems at top airports in India

The runway centre-line on Mumbai airport’s main runway is marked in a curved fashion, the landing aids installed in the new Bangalore and Hyderabad runways were not calibrated properly, a runway in Kolkata airport is so constructed that it gets waterlogged during monsoon. One would think that when it comes to runway infrastructure there is no room for shoddy work. But these runways make an exception to the rule.

Centre-line lights of the main and secondary runways of Mumbai airport have been out of order for the last nine months. It would continue this way till October this year. With the onset of monsoon, pilots are having a tough time operating to and from Mumbai airport in poor weather conditions. Now it seems, all these decades, the runway centre-line of main runway 09/27 ran in a curve as it was not marked properly.

‘‘The old centre-line lights on main runway were not in a straight line. It was a curve. As part of the runway upgradation programme, we will be resurfacing the runway and installing new centre-line lights,’’ said a Mumbai International Pvt Ltd spokesperson. The centre-line has been marked correctly in the beginning and the end of this runway. It’s around the middle that the deviation begins and goes up to about one-and-a-half metres to the right only to come back to the actual position. ‘‘Not having centre-line lights is a temporary phase,’’ the spokesperson added. If Mumbai’s airport has a crooked runway centre-line, then Kolkata’s Runway 19R can beat the worst of the low-lying areas when it comes to waterlogging during monsoon. ‘‘The secondary runway, 19R, was extended to 9,000 feet about six months back. But the area in the beginning of this runway gets waterlogged when it rains. Even after it stops raining, the water remains on the runway,’’ said a senior commander.

In the new airports of Bangalore and Hyderabad, the glide-paths were not calibrated correctly. A glide-path is part of Instrument Landing System (ILS) and it transmits signals upto 10 nm, to give descent angle guidance to aircraft. The standard glide-path angle is 3 degrees and both these airports, with no obstructions in the approach funnel, could have had their glide-path calibrated to 3 degree. But for some reason, the Airports Authority of India officials had calibrated it to 3.3 degrees.

Runway across Adayar

The city will by next year have something in common with Atlanta, Brooklyn and Madeira Island -- a runway across a river.

A year from now, aircraft using the secondary runway at Chennai airport will make its run for take-off over a bridge across the Adyar river. Airports Authority of India (AAI) has started construction works to extend the 2,035-metre secondary runway by 1,400 metres, including 835 metres on the northern side of the river.
AAI is getting technical assistance from IIT-Madras because the river is flood-prone. Mumbai airport has an end of its runway across the Mithi river, but this stretch is used only for taxing.

The existing runway ends on the banks of the river. A bridge, to be designed similar to that of a box culvert, will be constructed across the river and the runway will extend over it towards the north.

The extension of the secondary runway is being carried out at an estimated cost of Rs 430 crore.
KGL Constructions has bagged the contract to build the runway excluding the bridge, while a separate contract will be awarded for the bridge construction.