Delhi airport’s British-era runway refurbished

Runway 09/27 was the first-ever runway built at the Delhi airport for military purposes and has now been transformed into a modern one for commercial use, authorities said

Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport operator Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL) refurbished a British-era runway, the airport’s first runway built during World War II, and handed it over to Air Traffic Control (ATC) for commercial operations on December 24.

According to authorities, the newly rehabilitated runway has a design life of 20 years and will be instrumental in handling increased air traffic movement (ATM) once it reaches pre-pandemic level. (HT Photo)

Runway 09/27 was the first-ever runway built at the Delhi airport for military purposes and has now been transformed into a modern one for commercial use, authorities said.

According to authorities, the newly rehabilitated runway has a design life of 20 years and will be instrumental in handling increased air traffic movement (ATM) once it reaches pre-pandemic level.

Delhi airport is India’s biggest and busiest domestic and international airport with three terminals. The newly rehabilitated runway complies with Category-I (CAT-I) Instrument Landing System (ILS), which assists pilots during the landing of an aircraft in low visibility conditions.

DIAL undertook the rehabilitation work of Runway 09/27 as part of Delhi airport’s phase expansion project. Post the completion of phase 3A expansion work, an official said, the Delhi airport’s passenger-handling capacity will increase to 100 million passengers per annum (MPPA) and the airside capacity will be enhanced to handle 140 MPPA.

“DIAL has successfully completed the rehabilitation work of Runway 09/27 and its taxiways. The British-era runway was rehabilitated for commercial operations as part of DIAL’s effort to enhance the infrastructure and passenger experience at Delhi airport to make it future-ready. The newly rehabilitated runway will have a design life of 20 years, and be instrumental in handling the increased air traffic movement (ATMs) once pre-pandemic level traffic returns to Delhi airport,” said Mr I Prabhakar Rao, deputy managing director of GMR Group, which runs DIAL.

DIAL refurbished the 2,816-metre-long and 60-metre-wide runway, including milling down the entire length of the runway’s flexible pavement to a depth of 60mm and overlaying it with Polymer Modified Bitumen (PMB).

Polymer modified bitumen (PMB) is bitumen combined with one or more polymer materials that enhance the mechanical properties of the bitumen. PMB can withstand heavy-duty traffic and extreme weather conditions.

Runway 09/27, which is on the northern side of Delhi airport, comprises a network of nine taxiways of which six are connecting taxiways and three are rapid exit taxiways (RETs).

All the existing lights of the runway and taxiways (around 850) have been upgraded to LED systems for higher efficiency and reliability as a part of the rehabilitation work. DIAL is constructing drains (around 7.3km-long) on both sides of the runway, to cater for the runoff water from the newly rehabilitated runway and its associated taxiways.