Delhi airport shuts one runway, uses it to park grounded flights

The Delhi airport on Sunday shut one of its three operational runways in order to accommodate aircraft that have been grounded due to fewer operations amid the Covid-19

The Delhi airport on Sunday shut one of its three operational runways in order to accommodate aircraft that have been grounded due to fewer operations amid the Covid-19 outbreak in the country.

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Following the outbreak, the government of India had suspended international flights to the country forcing many airlines to ground their aircraft. One official pegged the fall in flight operations from the Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) at 40%.

This has freed the airport from using its shortest runway, runway 27-09 and is now being used to park grounded aircraft.

Vineet Gulati, member (air navigation services) in the airports authority of India (AAI), said that the Delhi airport also has a shortage of parking stands, and therefore, as a temporary arrangement, the runway was being used to park grounded aircraft.

A senior officer from the Delhi air traffic control (ATC), who is not authorised to speak to the media, confirmed this. “Parking space crunch is a major concern but it is not the only reason why the runway was closed. Flight operation has fallen by almost 40% and hence we do not need to use the third runway at present. Its closure will also mean saving energy, money and electricity,” the officer said.

The ATC officer said the other two runways were fully functional at the Delhi airport but would also cease with the suspension of operations of domestic schedule commercial airlines a minute before midnight on Tuesday.

“The Delhi airport handles at least 1,300 flights a day on an average. With suspension of airline services, we will need space for more aircraft, and so we might consider using another runway too,” the officer added.

While Air India said it has around 30-35 aircraft grounded at the Delhi airport, IndiGo, GoAir and SpiceJet did not specify the number of their planes grounded.

A DIAL spokesperson said, of the three runways, 27-09 has been closed. Delhi airport has 194 parking stands, excluding the one for general aviation aircraft.

All international flights to India were suspended from Sunday. Following the lockdown in several states across the country in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak, many passengers have either cancelled their travel plans or have got it rescheduled.

On Sunday, while GoAir suspended all its domestic flights scheduled for Sunday, AirIndia said that 60% of its flights had to be cancelled as several flyers cancelled their tickets for Sunday. IndiGo said it operated only 60% of its scheduled flights on Sunday in order to accommodate those with urgent travel requirements.

At present, there are 127 CAT-III parking stands and 78 non-CAT-III parking stands at Delhi airport. At present, the Delhi airport is also undergoing expansion work after which the number of parking stands is also expected to increase significantly. The fourth runway is also expected to come up as part of the airport expansion.