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Joined: 11 Jun 2007 Posts: 11336 Location: Gordon Gekko's Boardroom
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Posted: Mon Nov 26, 2018 8:34 am Post subject: MAA's parking bay a graveyard of junked planes |
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https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/airport-parking-bay-a-graveyard-of-junked-planes/articleshow/66791797.cms
Airport parking bay a graveyard of junked planes
Nov 25, 2018
The city airport is struggling to make space in its parking bays, not because it is a busy location, but because abandoned planes have been taking up most of the space for years. The airport is saddled with 13 abandoned planes — nine belonging to Kingfisher and four to NEPC Airlines.
A senior official of Airports Authority of India said while NEPC’s planes were parked in a corner the Kingfisher planes are on a paved portion of a parking bay between second runway and main runway which could be improved and used for parking new planes.
The airport at present has alloted a remote parking area away from the terminal for night parking and also for boarding and disembarking passengers, as parking space is inadequate near the terminals. The airport has around 80 parking bays. “The airport has become like a graveyard of planes. No one wants to take up responsibility to remove them. The planes do not have engines and other parts and is worth only a few lakhs that too because of the aluminium shell,” said an official. He also said the space occupied by the Kingfisher planes could be put to use. “We do not have that kind of a demand for parking space at the remote area. We need space near the terminals so that boarding and disembarking of passengers will be quicker,” he added.
There was an opportunity to remove the planes of Kingfisher airlines when the lessors wanted to take it but AAI blocked the attempt because the airline had outstanding dues to the tune of Rs300 crore. The amount is still pending but neither the lessor nor the banks are coming forward to remove the planes.
Another official said the abandoned planes were not impacting airport operations because “we have moved them away from parking stands. The planes are parked on a paved surface, that spot is not used for parking planes.”
An airlines official said “the space where NEPC planes are parked can be used for other purpose. It is the precious realestate at the airport which is being wasted.”
The airport has been seeing an increase in the number of flights after regional connectivity scheme Udan was launched linking small towns. Domestic carriers too have started operating as many as 20 to 30 departures at night.
The grounded planes are lying like junk, a few of them displaced from their moorings after they were swept away by flood water. As a couple of them were swept away from their parking bay, they hindered proper use of space in the parking area between the runways. A business jet which got damaged in the 2015 floods was removed from the airport on Friday. _________________ 11000 posts (and counting) on Airliners-India.
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