Mysuru: Hurdles that have been holding up expansion of the Mysuru airport are expected to be cleared soon with the ministry of civil aviation now seeming more open to the idea of building a tunnel below its runway to accommodate NH 212. Once this is done the runway can be lengthened to allow the landing of bigger flights in the city.
The idea of building a tunnel or a subway under the runway on the route of the NH212 was shot down by the bureau of civil aviation’s security five months ago over security concerns.
But having since learned that similar tunnels already exist in the US, Australia and Singapore, the ministry of civil aviations has now directed the airport authorities to hire experts through IIT Delhi or Roorkey to study these underpasses in these countries and submit a fresh proposal to it. The team is likely to visit Mysuru to study the technical and security aspects of the proposal.
If approved, the tunnel will be the first of its kind in India. “We will need to acquire 290 acres to deviate the national highway , but if the underpass is built for it, we will need only 170 acres,” said airport director, Manoj Kumar.
Under the expansion the airport’s 1.74 km runway will be stretched to 2.6 km allowing larger airbuses to land on it. If expanded, Mysuru airport can take 30 per cent of Bengaluru airport's load as the latter will be exhausted by 2026,” he added.
