AAI finally gives up plan to extend Juhu runway into sea

Mumbai Mirror: Mumbai: Monday, August 27, 2018.

The Airports Authority of India (AAI), which owns the Juhu airport, has given up its long-standing plan to extend the runway into the sea. A recent reply given by the AAI to environmentalist Zoru Bathena confirms this.

Until recently, the AAI was talking of extending the runway into the sea on stilts. Speaking to Mumbai Mirror, Zoru Bathena said, “I had filed an RTI (Right to Information) application with the western region of AAI and they didn’t give me conclusive answers. Finally, I approached the planning department of the AAI, which told me that there are no plans for extension of the runway into the sea.’’

Keshav Sharma, regional executive director of AAI, said that the planning department was the final authority on such matters. An aviation expert and former AAI officer said that the issue of extending the runway into the sea has been discussed for the past many years.

The AAI had appointed consultants and experts for the purpose. “If the plan of extending the runway into the sea was to move forward, the level of Juhu airport would have to be increased by three metres. The raising of the runway level will flood the entire JVPD, SV Road area near the airport.

Besides, an underpass was needed on Juhu Tara Road near the airport. The Juhu beach monitoring committee had also raised objections to the proposal,’’ he said.

If the height of the runway was increased, the taxiways would also need to be raised proportionately. At present, the Juhu airport does not have the instrument landing system (ILS), but it would need one if the runway was to be extended 700 metres into the sea.

The Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation has planned a Bandra-Versova sealink, and this would have come in the way of the runway.

Captain Firdaus Bativala, a regular flyer at Juhu, said, “If the runway has to be extended, it has to cut the beach in half. There are many establishments which would have needed shifting and it would have been difficult. Besides, the sealink is also coming up, close by, making things difficult.’’

Juhu airport is the first aerodrome in the country and was started by the father of civil aviation in India JRD Tata. The AAI had plans to shift charters, private aircraft and ATR planes here.