The Hindu : New Delhi News : Trial run on longest runway at Delhi airport this month

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Sunday, Aug 03, 2008
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Trial run on longest runway at Delhi airport this month

Parul Sharma

Officials hope fog, poor visibility may not cause much disruption to air traffic

The 4,430-km-long runway will have advanced Instrument Landing System
It will be capable of handling aircraft like Airbus A380, Antonov An-225

NEW DELHI: As work on a new, bigger runway proceeds at Indira Gandhi International Airport here, the authorities are hoping that fog-induced delays in the morning during winters that tend to wreak havoc on flight schedules could perhaps be a thing of the past.

The third runway is being touted as one of the longest in Asia with a length of 4,430 km.

It will be equipped with state-of-the-art CAT IIIB-Instrument Landing System (ILS) at both ends, allowing an aircraft to land even when the visibility is as low as 50 metres.

This will complement the existing CAT IIIB equipment on the primary runway (10-28), making the airport one of the few airports in Asia and the only one in India to have twin runways with an advanced ILS.

The trial runs will begin some time later this month. If successful, commercial operations will begin soon after.

With the third runway in place, flight movement per hour at Delhi airport will take a quantum leap.

A fleet of modern “Follow Me” vehicles have also been inducted to guide aircraft in low-visibility conditions.

As of now, the airport has two runways catering to nearly 650 flight movements per day.

“While aircraft operations on these runways are carried out simultaneously for over 12 hours a day, the converging alignment of the runways prevents them from being used fully for parallel runway operations. Hence a need was felt for a third runway at the airport, parallel to the primary runway,” said airport sources.

Code F standards

The new runway has a width of 60 metres and has been built as per Code F standards. It would be capable of handling next generation aircraft like the Airbus A380 and the Antonov An-225.

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