29.11.08

Gujarat’s airports to be revamped


In the coming months, most of Gujarat’s 17 airports are going to become a focal point of development, with various activities to be taken up here. Recently, the ports have seen expansion of runways, installation of new equipment and identifying of a new site for airport in the state, official sources said. If the work to upgrade facilities at Sardar Patel International Airport at Ahmedabad is on the verge of completion, the installation of very high frequency omni directional radio range (VRO) and instrument landing facility at Surat airport will expectedly help aircraft to land during night too, they said. Absence of this equipment makes it impossible for aircraft to fly in and out of Surat during the night, the sources said, adding that the lights on the runway are already in place. The sources informed that once clearance from the directorate general of civil aviation (DGCA) arrives, the upgraded facilities at Ahmedabad and Surat airports would be made operational. Meanwhile, the Airports Authority of India (AAI) had found the runways at Rajkot and Porbander airports to be small for landing and take-off for aircraft with full load. The AAI had in a letter to the state government had suggested expansion of runways at Rajkot and Porbander airports. However, as there is no scope for expansion of runaways at Rajkot airport because of a burgeoning city and a railway track at its two ends, the work for an alternative airport has begun. Last month, a team comprising officials of AAI, state government and local bodies zeroed in on two villages, including Khandheri, as a probable site for a new airport.

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