Jaipur:
The Sanganer Airport at the state capital is yet to be upgraded as flights with higher capacity of passengers could not land at the airport's runway.
The airport authorities had to face embarrassment when a Boeing plane having the capacity of more than 400 passengers could not land at the airport that came to take Haj pilgrims to Saudi Arabia.
Finally, the flight landed at Delhi airport and the Haj pilgrims were taken to Delhi from where they took the flight bound for Saudi Arabia.
The project of the Airport Authority of India to broaden the runway from 9,000 feet to 12,000 feet is yet to take off as the land is yet to be acquired by the authority. Sanganer Airport director RK Singh said, "We have plans to broaden the length of the runway from 9,000 feet to 12,000 feet so that large planes could land at the airport."
He said that the land acquisition is yet to be finalised by the state government which is the main cause of concern of the airport authorities. The AAI had planned a parallel track, hangers and other infrastructure with an investment of `300 crore on this land. The track was designed to help landing and taking off more flights with ease. Singh said, "The Airport Authority is planning the enlargement of the runway and it may take some more time."
The airport authority has to acquire land on either side of the runway so that bigger flights would be able to land comfortably.
Meanwhile, the flight for Haj would continue to take off from Sanganer Airport. Administrator of Haj committee UD Khan said, "As many as 5,840 pilgrims would perform Haj this year from the state. Last year, the number was 5,410. As many as 27 flights would be used in the transportation of the pilgrims."
Moreover, the last flight would take off on November 3 and the first flight would land (after performing Haj) on November 11.
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