Kerala: Cochin airport runway re-carpeting works enter final stage.

The runway re-carpeting works at the Cochin International Airport Limited (Cial), which have partially affected flight operations for more than three months, have reached the final stage.

About 95% works of the runway, estimated at Rs. 151 crore, have been completed and the remaining works are related to upgrading the Airfield Ground Lighting (AGL). The re-carpeting of the taxiway too has been completed.

Officials said the works that began on November 20 will be completed before March 28 deadline and that round-the-clock flight services will resume from March 29.

“Re-carpeting of the runway was one of the most crucial works at the airport in the recent past. The previous re-carpeting was done in 2009 when Cial had less than 70 flights a day. Now, it has increased to 260 services catering to nearly 30,000 passengers a day. Though we had to shut down the operations during day time, only five services were cancelled as all the airlines got enough time to reschedule timings as they were intimated one-and-a-half year in advance,” said P S Jayan, corporate communications manager, Cial.

As per the director general of civil aviation’s prescribed norms, all airports should re-carpet their runways once in 10 years. “Though the old runway was in perfect condition, we could not have delayed it any longer because, if the bitumen layer of the runway started developing cracks, it would be dangerous,” said an official.

Along with the runway re-carpeting, the AGL (airfield ground lighting) system at the airport is also being upgraded to category III from category I. This include upgrading approach lighting systems, runway lights and taxiway lights, among other things. This will considerably improve operational efficiency and aerodrome safety, especially during adverse weather conditions. The upgrade work is estimated to cost Rs. 35 crore.

TOI