CHENNAI: The pilgrim town of Rameswaram is in the race to be linked aerially under the third phase of the Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS), also known as ‘Udey Desh Ka Aam Nagrik’ (UDAN), according to S Sreekumar, Regional Executive Director, southern region, Airport Authority of India.
Sreekumar told Express on Wednesday that apart from Rameswaram, the towns of Ulundurpet and Sullur, were also in the race and a clearer picture would emerge only by the end of this month.
The airports selected under the third phase, would be activated only if there was interest among the airlines, he said. The third phase would also see a water aerodrome being proposed at Nagarjuna Sagar in Telengana, he said.Water aerodromes will overcome bottlenecks in those regions which are not connected by air transport due to lack of runway based airport. An alternative mode of air transport is expected to facilitate air travel in such regions.
On the status of Remote and Virtual Tower (RVT), a new concept where the air traffic service (ATS) at an airport, is performed somewhere else than in the local control tower, he said that the project was in the conceptual stage. It would take time as it required multiple clearances and the safety parlance had to be foolproof. The building is likely to come in Chennai.
He said the Airport Authority of India will be implementing trailer mounted air traffic control tower as a pilot in Vellore where the RCS scheme is to be launched next year. Once the Virtual tower is in place then the mobile tower will be shifted to the new airport, he said. On the status of Thanjavur airport which was identified under phase II of the Regional Connectivity Scheme, he said the handing over of land by the Indian Air Force is yet to take place. He also said talks are still on to make the Hosur airport, operational.