Chennai airport can take A380

Chennai: With Centre undecided on whether to allow operation of Airbus A380, the world’s largest commercial aircraft in India, several internatio­nal airlines have expr­essed their desire to fly the super jumbo to India.

But at present only a few airports including Delhi, Mumbai and Hyderabad have the facility to handle the aircraft.

Chennai airport director H.S. Suresh said the city ai­r­port’s tarmac could be up­graded to handle A380 provided the airline companies confirm operation of the same to Chennai.

“A380 can be operated only at 4F categorised air­po­rts. Chennai currently has a 4E rating. But we can raise the standards in six months to one year,” he added. The airport director further said clearance to operate secondary runway was also required to undertake development works on the primary runway.

However, he added, the city airport had facilities to park the super-jumbo and also have aerobridge to cater to entry and exit of A380 passengers.

According to a senior airport official among the required changes, the runway width should be increased to 60 metres to land the super jumbo. Fur­ther a lot of things incl­ud­ing runway strength need to be improved to facilitate landing of A380. The double-decker A380 has capacity to handle 525 to 853 passengers.

Singapore Airlines, Emir­ates, Lufthansa, Malaysian Airlines, Thai Airways and British Airways are some of the airlines that operate A380.

Singapore Airline’s India general manager David Lau told DC that the airline would look at commercial viability and reso­u­rces to operate A380 to India after the authorities gi­ve green signal.

Air Passengers’ Asso­cia­tion of India (APAI) secretary Hiren Shah, who last month travelled between Hong Kong and Singapore on an A380 flight, said it was time the city airport improved facilities to handle the super jumbo like the private airports.

“The A380 will lead to fuel saving and reduce airfare in international flights,” he added.