Flushed with success over environmental hurdles to build an international airport at Navi Mumbai, the Ministry of Civil Aviation is now working towards expediting the upgradation and modernisation of the Juhu airport.
Flushed with success over environmental hurdles to build an international airport at Navi Mumbai, the Ministry of Civil Aviation is now working towards expediting the upgradation and modernisation of the Juhu airport.
According to a senior ministry official, the state-owned Airports Authority of India (AAI), which operates this airport, had submitted a study by global consultancy firm KPMG about four months ago suggesting a public private partnership (PPP) model for upgradation work here.
“We were busy with the Navi Mumbai problem. Now that this problem has been resolved, we will look into the modalities of modernising the Juhu airport. This will help to decongest the overcrowded CSIA airport,” the official said.
He said that as per the AAI proposal, modernisation and expansion of Juhu airport under PPP would need investment of anywhere between Rs100-200 crore.
“We want to shift 20 flight movements per hour for General Aviation (private jets) to Juhu. Initially, 50 GA flights will be shifted to this airport from CSIA”.
But this appears to be an ambitious plan, since the ministry is yet to approve it. Then, awarding bids for the project and actual development would take a long time to fructify.
The plan involves extension of the runway and initially, only the airside development work will be allowed — no development of city side is envisaged.
The initial plan includes extending the runway from 4,000 ft to 5,500 ft for accommodating private jets. “The airstrip will be extended into the sea to avoid environmental clearance issues,” the official said.
This plan may not take off for another two to three years. The 384-acre Juhu airport can park six helicopters.
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