Your baggage delivery at the Chennai Airport may soon become further smooth as the airport management is planning to implement a new system for aircraft management for optimal use of the tarmac space.
Sources in the Airport Authority of India told Express that they are planning to launch a new Multiple Apron Ramp System (MARS) which they hope will upgrade its aircraft parking space. The new system is necessary as the Chennai airport is seeing a spurt in number of flights to small towns. With the implementation of MARS, more aircrafts of domestic operators can be parked in main apron during the day time, thereby ensuring expeditious baggage delivery further enhancing smooth passenger flow.
Chennai airport sources said that aircraft parking requirements at Chennai Airport has increased significantly with growing passenger traffic, especially, in domestic sector, and as a result, multiple Apron system is being considered so that the parking space in the tarmac will be maximised.
It is learnt that the new system of parking will come into full utilisation once the strengthening of the connecting taxiway is completed, which is planned to be done in two months’ time. Chennai airport has obtained necessary approvals from the regulatory authority for implementation of MARS.
This would mean that Chennai airport would be emulating its major international airport counterparts who had implemented the system to ensure every inch of space in the tarmac is maximised.
According to airport sources, "MARS has been configured in remote parking stands of international apron with an intention to accommodate more number of aircraft of domestic operators, especially during the peak hours of domestic traffic when the operations of wide bodied aircraft is limited."
"With this arrangement, three numbers of wide-bodied parking stand at international remote apron (43 to 45) has been configured to accommodate five narrow-bodied aircraft like A-320, which is the most demanding aircraft in the domestic sector," said Airport Authority sources.
In order to meet the imminent requirements, apron layout has been configured to provide maximum flexibility in terms of size and number of aircraft that can be accommodated. The arrangement called Multiple Apron Ramp System (MARS) will maximise the usage of parking space to accommodate more number of ‘most demanding’ aircraft during peak hours.
With the implementation of MARS, more aircrafts of domestic operators can be parked in main apron during the day time, thereby ensuring expeditious baggage delivery further enhancing smooth passenger flow. During the night hours, when the wide-bodied aircraft movements are on the higher side, the above-mentioned parking stand will be utilised to park them, airport sources said.
This also comes in the wake of Chennai airport undertaking work to ehance its operational capacity by constructing rapid taxiways and new parallel taxi track which will help it to handle more flights and also
help cut down the time spent by planes waiting for take-off clearance.
Currently, there are only 34 apron bays located in front of New Integrated Terminal Buildings (NITB) and they will be converted into Multiple Apron Ramp System (MARS), resulting in maximizing parking space on tarmac. Since there is no land available for expanding the apron bays in front of terminal buildings, Airport authority of India has identified remote apron bays, used for parking smaller aircraft between the main runway and Secondary runway, to meet the shortfall of 25 apron bays. But the hitch is the accessibility to these remote bays. As a result, the Airport Authority of India is planning underground tunnel for speedy passenger accessibility.
However, this is not enough as Chennai airport is likely to reach its saturation level in the next five to eight years. It is learnt that by 2025, the runway capacity is likely to reach saturation level.