NEW DELHI: You can land a wide-bodied jetliner at Jaipur International Airport, but it will not be able to take off. Runway 9 was extended from 9,174 feet to 11,500 feet to facilitate movement of such aircraft flying international routes. They need 10,000 feet of runway at sea level to land and 13,000 feet to take off.
Passenger traffic at Jaipur airport for 2015-16 was 3,63,899 (international) and 2,54,0451 (domestic). Aircraft movement for the same period was 2,927 for international flights and 22,772 for domestic.
An audit report accessed by The Sunday Standard notes, “The work of extension and strengthening of runway was taken up for critical aircraft of ‘E’ category like B-747-400/B-777-300. However, the review of fleet position of major airlines as on March 2016 reveals that major players like Indigo, SpiceJet don’t have any B-747-400B/B-777-300 aircraft and only Jet Airways and Air India have 10 and 40 ‘E’ categories aircraft respectively.”
The auditors are of the view that the runway extension at Jaipur airport was meant only for wide-bodied aircraft used on domestic routes—whose requirement is only around 8,000 feet of runway at sea level—since its length was already 9,174 feet before the proposal.
The auditors said: “The extension of the runway at Jaipur airport needs to be justified. Moreover, it was already observed that domestic airlines mostly have a fleet of ‘C’ category aircraft, whose runway requirement is from 6,860 feet to 7,874 feet as against available length of 9,174 feet at the airport.
The report has instructed the planners at Airport Authority of India to clarify why such a proposal was taken up when international wide-body flights carry substantial amounts of fuel and are therefore heavier.
The audit report said that the proposal was approved a decade ago but the work was awarded only in January 2014. After the privatisation of IGI Airport in Delhi, its runways were equipped with CAT-IIIB systems, which help aircraft land in foggy season. The same would have been considered for Jaipur.
The report also revealed 22 running account bills of `105.28 crore for work done.
“Therefore, the justification of extension and strengthening of runway may please be provided,” it said.