The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has asked the Airports Authority of India (AAI) to get the bridge on the second runway at the Chennai airport examined by an independent consultant. We have asked AAI to get a study done on the bridges capability to handle landing and take-off by an independent consultant. We will allow operations from the second runway only after the consultant gives nod, said a DGCA official. The diktat has come after several analysts raised concerns over the capability of the bridge to handle aircraft operations. In a plan to increase capacity at Chennai airport that handles up to 400 flights every day,the secondary runway was closed for extension from 2,035 metres to 3,400 metres. The extension of second runway also involved constructing a bridge over the Adyar river. Work on the runway extension began in 2009 and completed in 2012 but operations on the runway could not start after concerns were raised over bridges capability. A Ranganathan,Chennai-based aviation consultant and member of the Civil Aviation Safety and Advisory Council,has welcomed the DGCAs decision. He claimed that there are a lot of damages and cracks on the bridge and water seeps through even on a normal day. The authorities have done some patchwork,the cracks could widen further after operations begin, he said. Ranganathan also claimed that the bridge was earlier planned to be a taxi-way. The plan was to hand over nearly 600 acres on the northern side of the existing airport for creation of the new runway. The land acquisition would have resulted in demolition of residential settlements. The government later dropped the proposal and decided to expand the second runway.
