Juhu Airport revamp

The Juhu airport development plan got an inprinciple nod after a meeting between officials of Airport Authority of India (AAI) and state government. This means India will get its first runway extending into the sea. If all goes as per the AAI plan, a revamped Juhu airport will be ready in three years. The runway will be extended into the sea so that the airport can handle small aircraft like ATRs and relieve the main airport of some traffic.
Secretary civil aviation, K N Srivastava, said there has been an assurance from the government to place the “redevelopment plan on fast mode”. He said the idea is to make the airport equipped to handle ATR and Bombardier Q400 operations so that Mumbai airport can shift small aircraft operations to Juhu. “Mumbai airport will be saturated after 45 million passengers annually. Since Navi Mumbai airport will take time to come up, Juhu can give a breather to the city,” said Srivastava. “The 15% small aircraft and corporate jets landing in Mumbai can be shifted to Juhu and the capacity for the main airport can be enhanced to about 52 million passengers per year,” he added.
To achieve this, the current runway length is planned to be extended 650 metres into the sea. AAI will also have to rehabilitate people living in shanties around the airport. Shrivastava said talks with the Slum Rehabilitation Authority are on. AAI will also apply for CRZ nod for the runway in the next few days. Shrivastava also said the runway will be realigned so that it is parallel to the main runway at Mumbai airport. “The slum rehabilitation and floating of tenders would take about 16 months. After that, we will finish the work in the next 20 months,” said Srivastava.
But most industry experts said the plan is rife with contradictions. “ATRs may need a longer runway than what is proposed, if wind conditions are to be kept in mind. “The slum rehabilitation will take long as it has to be done on the airport land. Also, environment clearances would not be easy to get. The biggest hurdle is Juhu Tara road where the runway will cut through,” said an aviation expert. “Also, unavailability of a taxiway in the extended runway will need all aircraft to spend more time on the runway.”
The secretary civil aviation ministry said the secondary runway at Juhu airport will be closed and converted into a taxiway. This comes three months after the AAI chairman had assured that the runway would be renovated and kept for operations. The move to close the runway had drawn criticism from helicopter pilots.