BIA runway may be on course

BIA runway may be on course
DH News Service, New Delhi:

In a relief to the Bengaluru International Airport Limited (BIAL), the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has rejected the defence ministry objections to the direction of the second runway of the Devanahalli aerodrome.

After holding meetings with the parties concerned as directed by the Union cabinet secretary, the DGCA has concluded that the BIAL should be allowed to construct the second runway, as planned, to the south of the existing runway and observed that both the BIAL and the Flying Training School of the Indian Air Force at Yelahanka can “co-exist”.

A final decision in this regard is to be taken by the cabinet secretary.

The IAF had raised safety concerns if the second runway goes as planned, as it said the lateral separation between the existing runway at BIA and the nearby Flying Training School at Yelahanka would be too close for comfort.

The meetings were convened following objections from the IAF which demanded that the second runway be constructed either to the north or the east of the present runway as it restricted the flight operations its trainee pilots.

The DGCA, in its report submitted last month, has upheld the contentions of the BIAL and Karnataka government. The airport operator had asserted that it cannot change the alignment now as the master plan including the second runway, was given a no-objection certificate by the defence ministry itself in 2004.

The State government had conducted a survey of the land to the eastern and northern side and found that they cannot be acquired as the area contained reserve forests and water bodies.

‘Move to Bidar’
Informed sources told Deccan Herald here on Saturday that the DGCA favoured the IAF to consider the proposal of the State government to shift part of the Yelahanka operations to the Bidar airport.

“The IAF can consider the option of developing the Bidar airport for their training purposes. The State government is willing to support IAF in developing the Bidar airport.”

Another recommendation was that the IAF should give due consideration to use the defence airfield at HAL which will have reduced traffic after the closing of civil flights and can thereby accommodate the demands of IAF training flights.

Biennial air show
On the issue of the biennial “air show” at Yelahanka as raised by the IAF, the report favoured “flexi-air space” between the civilian and military authorities by temporary assignment of additional airspace to Yelahanka and/or restructuring the flying activities at BIA at that time.

Referring to the observation of the Airports Authority of India that the second runway at BIA cannot be put to optimum use because of the airspace constraints, the DGCA is understood to have said that the same can be worked out by AAI with the introduction of RNP/RNAV (required navigation performance and area navigation) arrivals and approaches and by using both runways for take off and landing to achieve optimum utilisation to the extent possible in coordination with the Yelahanka school.

Source : The Deccan Herald