As Delhi Airport commissions India’s first elevated dual taxiways, I take a look at how the need was felt in 2008 onwards to have something similar to this. A mix of security restrictions leading to delayed approval, capital expenditure and fall of Kingfisher airlines, likely delayed what should have been ready a decade earlier.
First elevated dual taxiway!
As the Northern and Southern parts of the airfield at Delhi airport are connected on the eastern side of the airport, it will help resolve congestion, introduce flexibility and reduce annual CO2 emissions by 55,000 tonnes annually. This will largely be driven by reduction in taxi distance for aircraft by 7 kilometres and is capable of handling every aircraft including the Airbus A380.
The elevated dual taxiway will also help in enhancing passengers’ experience, as they will have to remain inside a plane for a shorter duration after landing or during take-off. The distance that an aircraft needs to cover, after landing on the third runway and going to T1, will reduce to 2 KM from the present 9 KM. It will have two 44m wide lanes with a gap of 47m between them to allow simultaneous passage of two big aircraft. The taxiway central spine structure is a massive monolithic structure comprising 590 girders – each weighing 90 metric tonnes. Delhi becomes the only airport in India to have such an elevated taxiway with road passing below it. It will also have carriageways on both ends to allow emergency vehicles such as fire tenders and tow tractors to move.
The ECT is being constructed as part of Package 3 of Phase 3A Expansion Works. EPC Contractor L&T was awarded the contract for the entire Phase 3A Expansion Works, under which IGI Airport will also get a new fourth runway, a bigger and integrated Terminal 1, a newly expanded T1 apron for aircraft parking, several new taxiways, and landside developments alongside a host of technological enhancements.
Where did it all begin?
Delhi Airport opened a third runway in August 2008. This was to take the hourly movements at Delhi, up from mid-30s to over 60, i.e. more than double the movements! The giant leap was in anticipation of increased traffic for the Commonwealth games to be held in 2010. The airport also commissioned Terminal 3 soon thereafter.
The third runway (and also the fourth now) is towards the southern side of the airfield and farthest for flights which depart from Terminal 1. At the time of commissioning of the third runway, all domestic flights operated from T1A (since demolished) and T1C (currently undergoing upgrades).
Within days of the new runway being operationalised, complaints started pouring in. Social media wasn’t as prevalent back then as it is today but complaints were all over. The reason? When the new runway was in use, it would take any time between 20 to 40 minutes to get airborne after pushback. This was the flying time to cities like Lucknow, Jaipur or Chandigarh. While this meant longer times for passengers, it also had a cascading effect on schedules of airlines who could not plan the block times properly.
The uproar reached the political corridors, DIAL, Airports Authority of India and just about every one. It led to a massive furore which ultimately resulted in the AAI controlled Air Traffic Control looking at ways to mitigate this challenge. The runways which were being used in isolation started being used in simultaneous mode. When T3 opened, a plan was worked out to have the LCCs (which remained at T1) to use runway 10/28 and operators from T3 and all international operations to use a mix of 11/29 (third runway) and runway 10/28. This was a time when Air India, Kingfisher Airlines and Jet Airways ruled the roost at Delhi. Times have changed drastically since then with IndiGo becoming the largest player.
With IndiGo primarily at T1, this was putting the airline and the operator at a disadvantage. For aircraft departing or arriving from T1, this meant over 10 kms of taxing for takeoff from runway 29. The ECT solves this problem and allows the operator to better manage the maintenance of runways and effective use of all runways to ensure optimum usage. This will pave the way for use of any runway by any airline/aircraft irrespective of terminal, which will take away an artificial barrier in air traffic management.
Where is it headed?
Delhi Airport is in the middle of modernisation and hopes to be ready with additional capacity before the Noida International Airport is commissioned and becomes attractive to airlines looking to expand but not being able to expand at Delhi airport. The elevated dual taxiways along with the fourth runway and new integrated Terminal 1 will help Delhi achieve that.
Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL), the operator of the airport, has plans of becoming “Net Zero Carbon Emission Airport” by 2030. The Eastern Cross Taxiway (ECT) is one of the many invitations to achieve this.
It is estimated that approximately 350 kg of fuel will be saved every time an aircraft taxis through ECT from RWY 29R to Terminal 1 and vice-versa. This translates into a reduction of nearly 1,114 kg of CO2 emissions for each aircraft taxiing along this route. On an annual basis, the ECT is estimated to reduce emissions of approximately 55,000 tonnes of CO2 from aircraft.
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