If everything goes according to plan then Jammu Airport will have night landing facility by 31 May this year. Sources said that around 93% of total work on runway expansion is over and remaining work is expected to complete by the end of next month.
Once this work is over then lighting system will be installed for night landing facility at Jammu Airport before May 31, 2021. Flight safety will be improved by this expanded runway with night landing facility along with increased air traffic.
Jammu Airport runway’s current length is 6700 feet which will be increased to 8000 feet. Runway expansion is being constructed from 2019 with a total cost of Rs 159 crore and Rs 2 crore will be made available additionally for the night landing facility. This project is being managed by the Airport Authority of India (AAI).
Sources said that “earth filling” is remaining in the runway expansion project. Around 40 thousand cubic meters of earth is required to fill the ditches near runway and for level surfacing. They have requested mining permission from the Department of Geology and Mining for the same. Once they get the permission, they’ll immediately start earth filling work and simultaneously work on runway expansion.
The night landing facility consists of a line of light bars with strobe lights to be installed at end of the runway. Pilots need lighting at the runway edge so that they can make visual contact and align the aircraft with the centre of the runway.
Director of Jammu Airport, P R Beuria said that ongoing work on runway expansion is about to complete and it is also expected that night landing facility will be made available by May 2021 end. He said that they are working at maximum speed to complete the project as early as possible. Once this project is over then Jammu Airport can have early morning and late evening flights and can also have landing of large aircrafts like Airbus-A 300.
Flights which have to land at the Jammu Airport are not able to fly with a full load as it has only a 6,700-foot-long runway and as a result, aircrafts have to use emergency brakes at the time of landing. Construction work was started in 2019 and its deadline was set in June last year. This deadline was missed because of the Covid pandemic and also because of non-availability of construction materials like sand, stones etc as mining was banned along river beds in Jammu.