Land acquisition: Airports Authority of India yet to get approval of Defence Ministry
Putting the lives of hundreds of passengers on risk, the Airports Authority of India (AAI) is waiting for the Defence Ministry’s approval to take over 17 acres since February, which is delaying the expansion of runway at the Jammu airport.
The airport that requires at least 8,000-feet-long runway as per the aircraft landing in the winter capital has a 6,700-feet-long runway, which is posing a serious threat to passengers travelling to Jammu.
Due to the short length of the runway, the airlines cannot use bigger airbus on this route, even Air India 319, 320 and Boeing-737 aircraft are carrying below-capacity load as the pilot has to always use emergency brakes at the time of landing at the Jammu airport.
The AAI had in the year 2000 requested the state government to provide land near the airport, which was under the possession of the Army. It took the state government 17 years to provide alternate land to the Army where they could shift their camps. Despite getting land from the state and making a concrete structure on the alternate land, the Army has not vacated the old site.
“Though the Army has shifted their camps at the alternate land, the 17-acre land required for the expansion of the runway is still under the possession of Army. We have approached the state administration as well as the Army officers posted here, but the file is pending at the Defence Ministry in Delhi since February,” said DK Goutam, Director, Jammu airport, AAI.
“A longer runway is the immediate requirement of the airport, which is affecting the air traffic on the route,” he added.
The Airlines refuse to start their flights on this route as they cannot land their fully load airbus on this runway. According to experts, the aircrafts which have full load capacity of 72 tonnes, including fuel, are flying with 62 tonnes only. As they cannot compromise with the fuel, they have to keep some seats vacant in the aircraft to reduce the load.
“A fully loaded aircraft carrying cannot land on a 6,700-feet-long runway. So the airlines have to keep some seats vacant to balance the load, which also increases the cost of ticket per passenger,” a source said. A major tragedy was averted on June 9 when four tyres of Air India -319 burst at the Jammu airport as the pilot had to apply all emergency brakes. The aircraft went off the runway.
