CHENNAI: With the simultaneous operation of the main and secondary runways in Chennai International Airport, the number of flights on the secondary runway witnessed a 10 per cent rise.
The city airport comprises two runways. The main runway, which is 3.66 km long, is capable of handling the arrival and departure of all the large aircraft, and the secondary runway, which is 2.89 km long, is for the operations of the smaller aircraft.
The Airports Authority of India (AAI) took many steps to operate both runways simultaneously. As part of this initiative, the curved Taxiway Bravo was modified so that flights could be operated faster.
After all the modifications the AAI started to operate both runways simultaneously for the arrival and departure of the flights. This led to faster arrival and departure of the flights in the city airport.
According to the AAI data, the secondary runway handled 615 flights in April this year which has increased to 952 flights in June 2024. The Chennai airport has recorded a 10 per cent rise in flight landings and take-offs because of the simultaneous operation of the runways.
This method will also help curb flight delays and more flight services can be operated in Chennai. It is to be noted that earlier the airport was handling only 30 flights per hour but now it has been increased to 50 per hour.