AAI to invest Rs 40 cr in Jammu airport

Aviation companies are trying to cash in on the increase in tourism in the Jammu region.

The Airports Authority of India (AAI) plans to invest Rs 40 crore for increasing the length of runway of the Jammu air base to facilitate landing of big aircraft like the Airbus-320 and the Boeing 737-800, and also for the airport's modernisation.

Increasing pressure from the private airline companies has forced the airport authorities to increase the apron space for aircraft mobility on aerodrome, improve infrastructure and increase nearly 1,300 feet length of the Jammu airport runway towards Tawi river side.

The AAI have requested the air force and the army authorities in the vicinity to provide some land for its expansion plans and for this a clearance has been accorded recently.

AAI Jammu Director G. Chandramouli told Business Standard Jammu airport had the apron capacity to allow landing of only three aircraft at a time. As the flow of air -traffic increased, with the operation of more and more private airline companies, the commercial airport of Jammu needed more space for mobility and aircraft landing.

He said some land was acquired from the Air Force towards north of the existing apron to accommodate at least three more aircraft. "The existing complex will also be extended towards north," he said.

Referring to the runway expansion plans, he said the existing Jammu airport runway was 6,700 ft long.

The aircraft operating here normally required 6,000 feet of runway for safe landing and take off. But for big aircraft like Boeing and Airbus -320, the airport needs at least 7,500 feet of runway and in the new project, the runway will become 8,000 feet long. He said Jammu airport, which earlier had the capacity to accommodate nearly 250 passengers, is now being doubled.

Chandramouli said the Board of Directors of the AAI have approved the project worth over Rs 40 crore and the work will start soon. The Army and Air Force authorities have agreed to provide land and the process of acquiring land has begun. He said Rs 20 crore were spent about three years ago for increasing 700 ft runway and the construction of a complex besides improving infrastructure.

Of the total amount for the new project, Rs 13 crore would be spent on the runway. A raised aero-bridge from the complex was also being constructed . It would save the boarding time of flights operating there.

He said alot of time was consumed in security checking process which had also reduced the number of flights but that aspect could not be ignored as Jammu airport came in the category of hyper-sensitive airports and was hardly 6 kms (aerial distance) away from the Indo-Pak border.

Giving detail about air-traffic operation, Chandramouli said, "At present, an average of 11 flights are operating in Jammu per day and around 140 flights are operating per week. On Jammu-Leh route, the flight is not operating daily. Indian Airlines, Jet Airways, Air Deccan and Spicejet flights were operating here earlier. But Go Air and Air Sahara have started their operation recently.

He said Kingfisher, Indus Airways and Indigo Airways are starting their operation in Jammu and Kashmir soon. Kingfisher is said to have received the green signal from the director general of civil aviation, and is likely to launch its operation between Delhi-Jammu-Srinagar-Mumbai in the first or second week of October.

"Though it will be difficult to accommodate new incoming flights with existing space and infrastructure, efforts are going on to provide space to the new flights arriving here shortly," Mouli added.