Runway expansion at M'luru airport may not take off for now

The much-awaited runway expansion of Mangalore International Airport may not take off, at least in the next couple of years, according to an official communication from the Airports Authority of India (AAI) to Karnataka Chief Secretary Subhash Chandra Khuntia.

Khuntia told DH he had received a letter from AAI chairman Guruprasad Mohapatra, saying the project was not viable.

Till recently, many stakeholders, including the Kanara Chamber of Commerce and Industry, were hopeful of the runway expansion project so that wide-bodied aircraft like Boeing-777 and Boeing-747 could land in Mangaluru airport, which would help in increasing the number of destinations/connectivity worldwide.

The existing runway, with a length of 2,450 metres, meets the requirements of Airbus 320/321 and Boeing-737 aircraft. Currently, Mangaluru is directly connected to Bengaluru, Mumbai, Delhi, Hyderabad and Chennai with multiple daily flights in this domestic sector and Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Dammam, Sharjah, Doha, Bahrain and Muscat in the international sector.

Infrastructure giant L & T was asked to study and submit a report on runway expansion and it had submitted four proposals - all to increase the runway length from existing 2,450 metres to 3,450 metres.

According to sources, AAI has not shown interest in the expansion of the runway, owing to challenges, including table-top runway and high cost.

According to AAI, it is considered prudent to take steps to maximise operations at the Mangalore International Airport in the present scenario, limiting the operations to Airbus 320/321 and Boeing-737 with load penalty.

Mohapatras’s letter to Khuntia says the existing infrastructure, with the expansion of terminal building (proposed), can handle 5.5 MPPA (million passengers per annum) against the present capacity of 2 MPPA and it is likely to saturate only by 2030.

The 20 lakh passengers include five lakh international passengers per year.

However, Khuntia said acquisition of 34 acres of land to set up RESA (Runway End Safety Area) will be done as per the directions of DGCA (Director General of Civil Aviation).