Juhu airport grounded!

Indiarsquos first civil aviation airport is on its last legs From September 18 secondary runway 1634 of Juhu aerodrome will be decommissioned The decision has been made following a recent safety audit report issued by air safety department of Airports Authority of India AAI A pertinent point is that main runway 0826 of the aerodrome cannot be used whenever Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport CSIA mdashwhich is less than two kilometres away mdash operates flights from its secondary runway 1432 because of problems in alignmentu00a0 Rundown Runway 1634 is in a very bad shape with the surface eroded at many spots The audit report copy with MiD DAY sent by AAI to all top aviation functionaries reads ldquoJuhu shall not use runway 1634 for landingstakeoffs with effect from 1892012rdquo It goes on to say ldquoThis one weekrsquos time is given to put temporary NOTAM notices to airmen in place intimate operatorsother stakeholders including Mumbai ATC MIAL etc that Juhu airport will be closed to landingstakeoffs whenever Mumbai uses runway 1432 and hence all the helicoptersJuhubased fixedwing aircraft that are in the air heading towards Juhu will have to divert and land at CSIA Mumbai This temporary NOTAM can be lifted and Juhu airport can revert to normal operations as soon as runway 1634 is resurfaced Operators based at Juhu may be advised to make necessary arrangements with MIAL to provision parking space at CSIA for them to cater to the exigency of Juhu airport becoming suddenly unavailable whenever CSIA switches over from runway 0927 to runway 1432rdquo This graphic shows how the approach path of Juhu airportrsquos main runway interferes with operations on Mumbai airportrsquos secondary runway GraphicAmit Bandre Permanent The report recommends shutting down the derelict runway 1634 till itrsquos repaired However on May 15 MiD DAY had highlighted lsquoAAI officers wanted to shut down Juhu runway to help buildings stand tallrsquo an unholy nexus between some Airports Authority of India AAI bigwigs and the buildersrsquo lobby endeavouring to shut down to retire this particular runway permanently for furtherance of building projects File pic The secondary runway 1432 of Mumbai airport is frequently used for operations in case there are issues like potholes or ongoing repairs with the main runway 1432 is also recurrently used during monsoons Helicopter pilots from various companies also told this newspaper that it is the wind that decides which strip is feasible for operations and hence the need for two runways ldquoBecause of the current wind situation secondary runway 1432 of Mumbai is regularly employed So if secondary runway 1634 of Juhu aerodrome shuts down its main runway 0826 cannot operate eitherrdquo said Captain Prashant Oak of aviation company Deccan Charters Limited Captain Uday Gelli president Rotary Wing Society of India Western Region said ldquoBoth runways of Juhu aerodrome are required for operations If 1634 shuts down operations will come to a standstillrdquo Captain BS Ranade of Punebased Bharat Forge endorsed these views ldquoIf runway 1634 shuts down Juhu airport will shut down As per the regulations drawn no helicopter operation is permitted from Mumbai airport Where will the choppers gordquo asked Captain Ashok Purandare a very senior pilot who currently flies for the Reliance Group The controversy On February 28 2011 the appellate committee for NOC under Ministry of Civil Aviation through letter number AV109320032009AAt ptt issued instructions to conduct an aeronautical study for Juhu airport in respect of inner horizontal surface IHS A committee under then executive director of Airports Authority of India AAI JMS Negi undertook the study and completed the same on May 6 2011 Interestingly while alluding to Juhu runway 1634 in the report Negi went on to say that it is not feasible to use it for operational purposes in any combination as it directly affects flights at Mumbai airport One line in the same paragraph of the report reads ldquoAs per airport directory of AAI 1634 has not been specified as runway as no declared distances have been providedrdquo Since then the AAI headquarters has sent many correspondences to Juhu authorities for decommissioning the runway To ensure that it shut down no resurfacing was done despite potholes appearing on the runway making it dangerous for operations ldquoDespite the intimation by Juhu that the runway is in use and its operational importance apropos to runway 1432 of Mumbai CSIA AAI has been issuing NOCs based on Negirsquos erroneous report without heeding to Juhursquos concerns Based on Negirsquos report corporate headquarters CHQ AAI is now unwilling to sanction the resurfacing of runway 1634rdquo the safety audit report reads Pilots including Gelli and Oak too pointed out that such reports and recommendations are made only to benefit developers who want to build highrises in the vicinity When contacted Juhu airport director M Yadagiri said ldquoI cannot comment on the issue nowrdquo AAI chairman VP Aggarwal could not be contacted despite repeated attempts 400 Area in acres of the airport Rs 14 cr Annual income of Juhu airport 95 Number of daily operations can go up to 145 in peak season Paying the price Currently helicopter operations are not permitted at Mumbai airport Even if this situation changes operators will have to pay two to three times more towards parking and landing charges compared to Juhu aerodrome While Juhu aerodrome charges Rs 1280 per hour the rate at Mumbai airport is about Rs 29 per hour CSIA has introduced a new penalty for nonscheduled operators that starts from Rs 100 per hour No such rule exists with AAI or Juhu aerodrome ldquoThe cost factor no doubt will impact operatorsrdquo Captain Purandare said What the rulebook says NoTAM G024310 10122010 of AAI copy with MiD DAY reads ldquoAll civil and military helicopters shall use Juhu airport operations instead of Mumbai international airport except helicopters carrying VVIPs minister in union government chief ministers deputy chief ministers governors ambulance helicopters or any person notified as VIP by the government of Maharashtrardquo If chopper operations were to be resumed at CSIA this rule would have to be amended u00a0