After delay,DGCA clears secondary runway at airport

The clearance of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation for operationalising the secondary runway at Mumbai airport was finally given late on Friday evening.

The clearance of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation for operationalising the secondary runway at Mumbai airport was finally given late on Friday evening. However,the runway could not be used for operations for the second day in a row after its scheduled reopening.

We have sent the clearance to them. The runway inspection report was received yesterday and we have sent the clearance now, Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) Dr Nasim Zaidi said.

However,the Mumbai airport officials blamed the DGCA for the delay in operationalising the secondary runway. They said they had been calling the DGCAs office every half an hour to follow up on the matter,but didnt get any response from the DGCAs headquarters. The clearance was expected to come in by Thursday afternoon.

However,with the clearance been given finally,passengers can expect to reduce the delays,especially in morning departures.

Prior to its closure in October last,the secondary runway used to handle over 150 or about half the departures,with the main runway dealing exclusively with arrivals. Considering the crunch for airside area in the airport,this arrangement was able to give some breathing space to the air traffic control (ATC) officials besides reducing the ground congestion to a certain extent. However,departure delays had averaged between 30 and 45 minutes per flight with the closure of the secondary runway.

The clearance has been received and we are commissioning the runway, an MIAL spokesperson said.

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