Biju Patnaik airport to have parallel taxi runway soon in Odisha capital

Odisha Sun Times Bureau
Bhubaneswar, May 22:

In a bid to improve the runway capacity to launch a number of projects for flight operation from Biju Patnaik International airport, the authorities are planning to construct parallel taxi runway at the airport.

“We are facing lots of problems as we have no parallel taxi runway at the airport. Without two runways it is impossible to take off and land the flights simultaneously. Even we do not have required size of land for constructing two runways at the airport,” said Bhubaneswar Airport Director Suresh Chandra Hota.

“Therefore, we are planning to construct a parallel taxi runway connecting the runway. We have identified land and the project work will begin soon,” he said.

We require 150 meter-wide land in the north direction of the runway. So, we have taken initiative to make encroachment free in the area for the early start of the construction. After completion of the project, the runway of Bhubaneswar airport will turn 4D class from 4C class, he added.

Hota said that the airport runway will be expanded to 10,000 ft from 9,000 ft.

As the ATC is not permitting the airport authorities for landing a flight 10 minutes before another flight scheduled for taking off and even the flight scheduled to land at the airport is roaming in the air for few minutes, they have decided to go for parallel taxi runway construction to avoid the inconveniences. If the runway will be wide and expanded, a number of firms in the aviation industry will be keen on operating flights to Bhubaneswar, he further said.

Currently, there are 29 flights are operating 58 times a daily. The numbers are expected to increase in upcoming days.

The land required for parallel taxi runway has been occupied by the encroachers. The government has assigned the BMC for eviction. Around 136 families will be displaced and Rs 6 crore allocations has been made for rehabilitation of displaced people, said a senior official in Bhubaneswar airport.