The secondary runway at the Chennai airport will be closed for 10 months from January 6 next year.

Hareendranathan E.P., who took over on Monday as the new Chennai Airport Director, said the runway would be closed for taking up strengthening works, construction of a bridge across the Adyar river and for the construction of box culverts. As the proposed bridge on the river is at a higher level, re-grading of the existing secondary runway is essential to match the extended portion of the runway, he said.

The main runway would be closed for one and half hours for two days a week to take up routine maintenance work. It would be closed on Tuesdays and Saturdays between 2.30 p.m. and 4 p.m. from January 9 next year till March 2010, he said.

On earlier occasions, during the closure of the main runway for maintenance work on three days a week for two hours, the secondary runway was available for smaller aircraft. When the closure of the secondary runway and the main runway for three hours on two days a week comes into effect, no runway would be available at the Chennai airport. A decision in this regard was taken at a meeting in which representatives of airline operators, Air Traffic Controllers and other authorities participated, he said.

.

Source: The hindu