The largest runway in the country is ready at Tirupati Airport. The runway expansion work was completed at a cost of Rs. 153 crore. With this, it stands as the largest runway in the country under the management of the Airport Authority of India (AAI).
With the expansion from 2,285 meters to 3810 meters, the Tirupati Airport will now be able to handle Boeing 777 aircraft and Airbus 330 aircraft. The expansion work has recently begun at Tirupati Airport, which has grown exponentially in the last two decades and reached the level of an international airport.
As part of this, the central government has allocated funds of Rs. 153 crore for the expansion of the existing 2,285-meter runway and the installation of various ancillary technical systems. As part of the phased work, the existing 2285-meter runway was strengthened and extended by 240 meters and 1285 meters on both sides respectively.
As part of this, the trans-installed Instrument Landing System (ILS) and the commissioning of the new Doppler Very High Frequency Omni Range (DVOR) Distance Measuring Equipment (DME) have been completed. With this, the Instrument Landing System (ILS): Thales ILS, CAT-1 has been trans-installed at an estimated cost of Rs. 4.4 crores.
This will reduce the minimum visibility requirement from 1500 meters to 700 meters. Airport Director Srinivasa Rao Manne said that the glide angle can also be reduced from 3.2 degrees to 3 degrees to enable smooth landing of aircraft in all weather conditions.
He said that with these works, the maximum aircraft handling capacity will increase from 100 aircraft to 200 aircraft per day. The total cost of all the projects is Rs. 153.16 crores. He said that the newly made available facilities will improve the performance of the airport.
With the runway length being increased to 3,810 meters, wide-body aircraft like Boeing 777 and Airbus 330 will now be able to land successfully at Tirupati Airport. Above all, it is noteworthy that Tirupati Airport is known as the airport with the longest runway among all the airports operated by the Airports Authority of India in the country.
