The Jubbarhatti airport- located 2,196 metres above the sea level- in Himachal Pradesh’s capital Shimla is one of country’s riskiest table-top airport like Kozhikode.
Sharing their views after the Friday night’s fatal train accident in Kozhikode in Kerala, experts are of the opinion that the Jubbarhatti airport needs timely expansion.
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It may be mentioned here that on an average, 12 to 15 unscheduled domestic flights land very month at the Shimla airport, apart from a heli-taxi service is also operated regularly from the airport under the Udan-II (Ude Desh Ka Aam Nagrik) scheme.
We have raised the issue with the Airports Authority of India (AAI) a number of times, urging them to explore the possibility of expansion of the airstrip at Jubbarhatti for facilitating safe landings of aircraft,” informed a state civil aviation official.
“The runway, at present, is less than 1,200-metre long and its expansion is facing abnormal delays owing to the nearby forest area and private land,” the official further added.
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It may be mentioned here that for the runway extension, the minimum required length is 1,500 metres which enables a 40-seater aircraft to operate as per the new safety norms.
“Landing aircraft at the Shimla airport is a challenge because of the gorges surrounding the runway,” the official added.