‘CSIA can operate 48 flights/hour on one runway’

This is among the several recommendations made by NATS in its final report submitted on April 28. The airport operator Mumbai International Airport Limited (MIAL) has submitted this report to all stakeholders,including airlines,DGCA,ATC and the Civil Aviation Ministry,and is awaiting their feedback on the recommendations by the end of the month.

NATS said using only the main runway avoids active runway crossings by aircraft and thus improves safety and reduces the workload on air traffic controllers. It points out that it will become riskier to continue with operations on 14/32 after the Navi Mumbai airport is ready,which is expected by 2015.

“CSIA should focus on 27/09 only. The specific design at CSIA,with the intersection at the runway midpoint,will produce a disproportionate increase in safety risk as traffic levels rise,” the report says. It also simplifies operations with respect to the Juhu airport. Currently,the main runway of the airport is closed for recarpeting work from 9 am to 5 pm,but simultaneous cross runway operations take place during peak hours in the morning and evening. The report also asks the Airports Authority of India (AAI) and the DGCA to improve radar infrastructure and look at reducing aircraft separation at arrivals from five nautical miles (NM) to three.

It takes a dim view of operations at the Juhu airport and says its small aircraft movement will directly impact departures from CSIA. “Each Juhu movement takes away a CSIA departure slot,” the report says. Currently,Juhu has around 90-100 helicopter operations and its small aircraft operations are limited to those undertaken by hobby-flyers and the Bombay Flying Club. But the AAI had proposed to shift some small aircraft operations from CSIA to Juhu in January to reduce the congestion levels at CSIA. This proposal is still to be notified because of pending infrastructure work at Juhu airport.

Commenting on the findings of the report,A Ranganathan,a member of the Civil Aviation Safety Advisory Council,said it will improve safety. “Cross runway operations,even without Navi Mumbai,are fraught with danger as there is no clear cut standard operating procedures. The shortage of controllers and no clear definition of fatigue rules for them makes the operations unsafe. Once the new airport comes up in Navi Mumbai,it will increase the danger,” he said.

“If (London’s) Gatwick airport can do 55-60 movements with a single runway,there is no reason why CSIA cannot aspire for 48 movements per hour. This may require changes in aircraft separation,sequencing of aircraft,improvement in ATC infrastructure and training,and rapid exit taxiways. Every attempt should be made by AAI towards this,” said Amber Dubey,director (aerospace and defence) at consultancy firm KPMG. Last year,KPMG undertook a study for the AAI on how the Juhu airport could be used to ease congestion at CSIA.

The MIAL spokesperson did not comment on the contents of the report. However,in a press release issued in January,it had said: “NATS’s scope of work broadly includes determination of bottlenecks limiting airport capacity,suggestion of measures for capacity enhancement that can be achieved by improving air traffic procedures and by making changes to physical infrastructure,such as addition of rapid exit taxiways,new parking stands,provision of holding bays,better ATC equipment and ground handling equipment and air traffic management tools.”