KOCHI: The four-month-long closure of Cochin International Airport Ltd (CIAL) during day-time, which will continue till next month-end, has unsettled the travel plans of frequent fliers, especially those who are flying to or from other Indian cities. The airport at Nedumbassery has been closed from 10 am to 6 pm since November 30 last year for re-carpeting work of the runways. The re-carpeting is mandatory after every 10 years, CIAL officials explained.
Fliers and travel agents said the closure from eight hours during the day time could have been shortened to avoid the hassles faced by the passengers. The daytime closure has badly affected the fliers from/to other Indian cities. “You need to pack up early, sometimes as early as 3 am or the next option is to wait till evening,” said a frequent flier on Kochi-Bengaluru sector. Added another person, who is based in Jaipur: “Not just the timings, even the ticket prices from Jaipur have more doubled to Kochi in the last few months. The rescheduling of flights or decline in the number of flights to Kochi may be the reason,” he said.
Babu Paul, general manager, SpeedWings, a travel agent, said the CIAL should have given priority to build its second runway before going for re-carpeting. “If the airport had a second runway, the closure of one runway for re-carpeting would not have unsettled the flight operations into the airport at Nedumbassery,” he said. He said re-carpeting is not that’s new in all airports across the globe, but since most airports have other runways it does not affect the flight operations.
When contacted CIAL spokesman said the re-carpeting works are going as per the schedule, and the airport will resume normal operations from the earlier fixed date of March 28. “Almost 70 per cent of the works have been completed,” he said. “Luckily, there has been no rains during the period, which helped us to proceed with the work as fast as we could,” he said.
The Kochi airport started commercial operations in 1999 and its runway underwent first re-carpeting back in 2009. This is the second re-carpeting work for the 3400 m long and 60 m wide runway. The work, which will cost the airport Rs 151 crore, includes re-tarring, maintenance and overhauling of entire stretch of the runway, taxiway etc. He said the daily re-tarred portion has to be prepared for aircraft operation by the time the runway is handed back for operation.
During the course of re-carpeting of the runway, the AGL (Airfield Ground Lighting) system will be upgraded. This will considerably improve the operational efficiency and aerodrome safety. The CAT III lighting system, which will replace CAT I system, will see the spacing of existing runway centreline lights to be reduced from existing 30 mtrs to 15 Mtrs and runway will be provided touch down zone lighting and approach side row lighting.