Lights out, operations hit on 3rd runway

The initial plan was to open the runway in a phased manner. Initially, the operations were to be restricted till afternoon. This was to be followed by operations in the night only and then later for limited duration both morning and evening.

On Thursday, however, the authorities decided to extend the time till 8.10 pm after the day’s smooth operations. The runway was opened at 6 am and continued till 1 pm. It was once again opened at 4:30 pm and the work continued till 8:10 pm.

DIAL has been facing problems with runway lighting. Earlier, the lights were damaged due to waterlogging. The DGCA has reacted sharply to the fact that the standby generator did not energise the lights automatically as soon as the primary supply had a problem.

Ironically, on the first day, DIAL had claimed the pilot of the British Airways flight which was the first flight to land after the runway was made operational, appreciated the lighting system of the runway.

“We are in the unique advantageous position of having a choice of running two out of three operational runways, in different configurations. This means we have a choice of quickly shifting to other runways without adversely affecting the normal operations and aircraft movement rate,” the DIAL spokesperson said.