Longer runway may give airport a leg-up

PUDUCHERRY: With flight operations being afforded top priority, the Puducherry government is  coming out with a civil aviation policy soon to market the UT Airport and make it operational through commercial flights. The draft policy is almost ready, official sources said. Establishing an aviation refuelling service station at the Puducherry Airport was also explored by a delegation from HPCL on Friday. However, the Puducherry airport runway needs to be expanded to attract flight operators, the HPCL team said. The scope for air cargo was also good with as much as `209 crore of cargo lifted from Puducherry out of the total cargo from Chennai airport in 2011. The computer industry (Lenovo, Wipro, HCL and others) and leather industry (hi-design and others) use Chennai air cargo for their business. Already, it has been felt that Puducherry had good scope for flights to places like Bangalore. The airport has been extended recently with the expansion of the runway to 1,482 metres,  to enable landing of ATR-type aircraft. Along with ground support facilities, night landing facilities have also been installed, though power connection is awaited, sources in AAI  said.  A new terminal building, which can handle 300 passengers, is under construction and would be ready by May. The AAI is expected to complete all works by June. In phase II, extension of the runway by  an additional 1,100 metres has been planned to facilitate operating larger Jet Aircraft by acquiring another 200 acres from the adjacent land in Tamil Nadu.