Report sought on runway fiasco
The incident had occurred in less than a year after resurfacing work on the runway was completed. The national airport operator AAI has sought a report on the same within a week.
A team of the Airports Authority of India (AAI) arrived here on Tuesday from Delhi to investigate how the asphalt on the centre of the runway, at Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport (SVPI), came off on Monday morning delaying several flights.
The incident had occurred in less than a year after resurfacing work on the runway was completed. The national airport operator AAI has sought a report on the same within a week.
Guruprasad Mohapatra, chairman, AAI said, “The incident happened due to drainage problem. I have sought a detailed report on the same within a week. The repair work should be done diligently, so that such incidents don’t happen in future, even if the runway might have to remain non-functional for a few hours.”
During routine runway inspection around 10 am on Monday, it was observed that some portion of the bitumen on the runway surface had come out. For safety of the flights, operations were withheld for some time as a precautionary measure. After inspection of the runway and assessment of the situation, it was decided that the reduced length of the runway could be used for smaller aircraft operations.