No 320/737 to Patna
NEW DELHI: Air connectivity between Patna and rest of India now runs the risk of getting severely crippled. Alarmed at Bihar government's alleged inaction in pruning trees on either side of the critical Patna airport's anyway small runway, aviation authorities are planning to reduce the available length of the about 6,500-feet-long for aircraft by half.
This would mean that the Airbus A-320 and Boeing 737 aircraft which currently fly there would no longer be able to operate to Patna and only smaller turboprops like ATRs would be able to land and take off from there -- that too with severe load penalty or in simple terms partially filled. Patna currently has 11 daily flights on A-320 and B-737 aircraft and sees an annual traffic of a million passengers on these planes. A shift to smaller planes could reduce the available seats to and from Patna by more than half.
"The runway has a zoo and botanical garden on one side and a rail line with trees on rail land on the other. Both sides the trees are very high for safe movement of aircraft and because of this reason Patna is the only unlicensed Airports Authority of India airport. Despite repeated reminders for pruning them in the short term and having a new and bigger airport in the long run, things have not moved satisfactorily. We are now being forced to reduce available runway length on which only partially-filled ATRs can operate," said highly placed aviation sources.
The fear is echoed by pilots who always say a prayer before landing in Patna. The runway is very small and does not have the required end stop way. "Landing in Patna means keeping the aircraft sufficiently high in the approach area of either sides of the runway to avoid trees hitting the landing gear. After that, we have to land with a thud to ensure the aircraft does not miss the touchdown point and then stop it using auto brakes at maximum level. Overshooting this point would mean that if for any reason the aircraft is not able to stop, we would crash into the boundary wall," said a senior airline commander.
He added that Patna runway is in violation of International Civil Aviation Authority norms and Indian aviation authorities are playing with passenger lives by having big planes operate there. "We always pray our aircraft does not run into passing trains on the other end of the runway and stops in time," the commander said.
The inaction on Patna airport angers pilots as it had been found to be among the most critical airport in India in a survey done after the Mangalore crash two years ago. While issues at other places found to have missing safety features like Mangalore and Jammu were addressed, Patna remains a safety nightmare for air travellers.