Create a parallel runway at Juhu airport first: Aviation industry

While the debate rages on about the feasibility of the Navi Mumbai airport, the aviation industry thinks that a parallel runway at the current airport can provide interim relief till the new one is ready. It has proposed that this can be done by shifting slum-dwellers to Juhu airport land, which is lying unused.

The wait for a new airport is getting on the nerves of the civil aviation industry. “It is too late to find a new airport as the current one is highly choked. Besides, with the new rules of arrival and departure, the air traffic movement (ATM) at Mumbai airport has gone down tremendously,” said Saroj Datta, executive director, Jet Airways. The ATM, which was 36-40 arrivals per hour, is now barely 30-32 per hour. “With the current runway being closed for repairs and airport expansion, the next six months are going to be horrendous,” he said.

“We are only looking at the long-term solution. The new airport will take a lot of time. Till then, some interim measures are required to ease the situation. A parallel runway should be built so that it takes care of the increased ATM capacity till the new airport is built,” he said. “Without a parallel runway, I don’t know how long the Mumbai airport will function smoothly. Like the new airport, a parallel runway should also be given equal attention,” he added.

According to experts, the single runway capacity utilisation is much less at Mumbai compared to other airports in the world.

“The Vienna airport has 60 ATM per hour, while Gatwick handles 50 aircraft movements per hour. Our navigation facilities are inadequate, which is also leading to low capacity utilisation.” said an airline official.

Aviation experts say that building a parallel runway will require removal of slums from airport land, hangars of Air India (AI) and Jet Airways etc, but it is possible. “The slum-dwellers do not want to go to faraway places like Dahisar, but they can be rehabilitated on Airport Authority of India (AAI) land,” said an expert.

Shirish Parkar, spokesperson for Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS), said that the land at Juhu airport is ideal for rehabilitation. “It is important to acquire private land and shift slum-dwellers who are reluctant to go elsewhere. The parallel runway will increase the ATM to 60 from the current 30,” Parkar said.

The experts were speaking at a roundtable conference
on Saturday held by the Observer Research Foundation (ORF) to discuss alternate sites like Rewas-Mandwa and Nevali at Kalyan for a second airport, rather than the Navi Mumbai airport.