Aug. 1 – New Delhi's Indira Gandhi International Airport will inaugurate its third runway on Indian Independence day (August 15). The second busiest airport in the country is ramping capacity in preparation for the Commonwealth Games which New Delhi will host in 2010. The new runway will increase the airport’s capacity from the present 36 landings and takeoffs an hour to 65.
According to the Times of India, the trial runs will take place for a few days and the runway will be made operational for commercial flights by the end of August or beginning of September. ‘‘Almost all civil and technical work has been completed and trial runs should begin soon,’’ an airport official said.
Longer than four kilometers, the new runway will be among the longest in Asia—the Kuala Lumpur International Airport has one that is 4.12 kilometers long—and capable of handling the Airbus A380 and support instrument landings in low-visibility fog or dust-storm conditions.
Currently, the Delhi airport uses two parallel runways that handle nearly 700 flights a day. It is yet to decide whether the new runway will be used just for international flights or domestic flights as well.
The city has already started sprucing itself up for the 2010 Commonwealth Games, investing upwards of Rs 65,000 crore (US$1.5 billion) in infrastructure, housing, power, transportation and the enviroment.
