The statue, pilots have said, springs up in the funnel area of landing, or the threshold from which an aircraft begins to descend. They argue only 2,443 metres can be effectively used of the total 4,330 metres. This is even 1,020 metres less than primary runway 28/10 which is 3,463 metres long.

Some have pointed out that the shortest runway at the airport — 27/09 — is 2,310 metres long. With an effective landing distance of 2,433 metres in the recently-inaugurated third strip (29/11), it edges out the shortest by only 133 metres.

A senior pilot said the usable stretch of the new runway makes it lesser in stature than standard strips in smaller airports. “Most of it is a shiny, tarred snake. Unusable,” he said.

Promoters of the airport, Delhi International Airport (P) Ltd or DIAL — though not on official record — have tried to discredit the pilots on this argument. Officials maintain it is the longest runway, a claim endorsed by the Director General of Civil Aviation Kanu Gohain. “A runway is measured from tip to tip. The shortened threshold is considered only for landing and not take-offs.” However, even for take-offs, pilots said, the available strip is of 3,143 metres — from the Dwarka side.

DIAL officials have also argued that more space on the runway can be used if the glideslope, or the angle at which a plane lands, is increased. Planes land at a steeper angle in Mumbai because the airport is surrounded by hills, they said.

Pilots however reiterated that the Shiva idol — built by the B K Birla trust in March 1994 — was not a hazard to flights.

The Delhi airport is in the middle of a thorough makeover, one planned by the JRD Tata committee in 1969. The third runway was among the recommendations. Governments sat on it till Airports Authority of India pushed the plan again in 1996.

By then, the statue had come up. Incidentally, any structure built in the vicinity of an airport requires a nod from the civil aviation department.

Meanwhile, DIAL realised the statue would come in the way only after construction had started in December, 2006, sources said. They said it had popped up on the design board, but the government did not hear anything from the company on what should be done about it. Airport personnel said the only way out was to increase the length of the runway, which jacked up costs.

A pilot also pointed out other design ‘flaws’ — “the high-speed exit taxiway is too near the touchdown stretch. Planes need to apply sudden breaks to maneuver on it”.