TIRUCHY: The Tiruchy International Airport has installed a simple approach lighting system at the vacant land beside the Tiruchy-Pudukottai National Highway that was given by the State government. Consisting of a row of lights, the lighting system aids in identifying the runway boundary. Set up at a cost of about Rs 42.79 lakh, it will further upgrade the safety of the runway - especially the portion facing the NH, by ensuring safe aircraft landing during extreme weather conditions, according to officials.
The airport got about 5.9 acres of land at the Pudukottai side from the government, sources said. The airport now has a Category-I landing system at the runway portion on the Kottapattu side and a simple approach lighting system on the Pudukottai side.
"The CAT-I landing system at Kottapattu or BHEL side can ensure safe landing even during the visibility of not less than 800 metres or runway visual range not less than 550 metres. This system is sufficient for ensuring safe landing of an aircraft during the extreme weather conditions at our airport. Apart from
this, now, we have approach lights at the Pudukottai side too. This will further increase the safety of the runway," a source said.
The process to acquire land for the runway expansion is also going on in a fast track manner, sources said. "The airport needs about 300 acres of land for runway expansion. So far we have acquired about 25 acres of land. The district administration and the State government are trying their best to speed up the acquisition works for the remaining land," an officer said.
With the construction work of the new terminal expected to be completed by April 2023, many travel agents also expressed hopes of attracting more operators to Tiruchy. "We hope that the construction of the new terminal, upgradation of the runway safety and other projects would increase the operations from Tiruchy. But, our major concern is that this will all be a great loss if the central government hands over this airport to private players after as they would get its benefit. The government should drop the privatisation plan of airports like Tiruchy," said N Ramesh, a major travel agent in Tiruchy.