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Jostling for space on ground; planes find parking on runway

Last Updated 01 April 2020, 15:13 IST

As commercial flight services remain suspended, hundreds of planes across the country seem to be jostling for space at airports with some of them even being parked on runways and bays near them, according to industry officials.

With the country under a 21-day lockdown in the fight against the coronavirus outbreak, domestic and international flights have been banned till April 14. Cargo flights and special flights approved by aviation regulator DGCA are operating in the Indian airspace.

The country's commercial fleet of aircraft is around 650 in number and most of them have been grounded. A few are being used to ferry cargo to and from different parts of the country, and some to operate special flights.

The Indira Gandhi International Airport in the national capital is the country's largest aerodrome and has 194 parking stands for planes. This excludes stands available for "general aviation" purpose.

General aviation refers to use of planes for recreation and chartered services, among others.

The airport, operated by DIAL, handled 69.8 million passengers and 1.04 million metric tonne of cargo in 2019. It has three passenger terminals and one cargo terminal.

State-owned Airports Authority of India (AAI) Chairman Arvind Singh said it has been able to manage parking of planes.

AAI manages 137 airports and out of them, 107 are operational.

"So far we have been able to manage. In Delhi airport, a runway that is operational in normal times is being used to park aircraft," Singh told PTI.

When contacted, a Delhi airport spokesperson said the aerodrome has 194 parking stands, excluding the stands for general aviation aircraft.

"As part of normal operations, all parking stands are used on a daily basis including remote stands. While all three runways are operational, at present runway 9/27 is closed due to lack of demand," the spokesperson said.

Budget airline AirAsia's COO Ankur Garg said that due to the temporary suspension of commercial air passenger services, airports have allowed airlines to park at the remote bay area near runways due to space constraints.

"Many hangars are also being utilised as spaces to park the aircraft and we are not facing any shortage of parking bay at any of the airports. We have worked with the airports and managed to secure parking slots as per our requirements," he said.

Low-cost carrier GoAir's spokesperson said all its aircraft are secured and parked at various airports.

"We have worked with airports and managed to secure parking slots as per our requirements," a spokesperson for full service carrier Vistara said.

Queries sent to the country's largest airline IndiGo, national carrier Air India and budget airline SpiceJet regarding parking of their aircraft remained unanswered.

There was no comment from Mumbai airport operator MIAL.

In a note on March 23, aviation consultancy CAPA said that suspension of flight services coincides with what can only be described as destruction of demand in the last few days.

"The timing of the resumption of services is entirely in the control of the government, but it will most likely be beyond March 31. As a result, the entire Indian commercial fleet of around 650 aircraft lies grounded. In fact, not a single scheduled aircraft movement will take place at Indian airports over the coming days, either by an Indian or a foreign airline," it had said.

The note was issued before the 21-day nationwide lockdown that started on March 25 as part of efforts to curb spreading of coronavirus infections.

Prior to the lockdown, India had suspended international flights and later domestic services. The ban period has been extended till April 14, when the lockdown is to end.

As many airlines worldwide are curtailing their services and grounding planes in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, social media is also abuzz with funny comments.

"Confirming our fleet are parked up at least 2 metres apart #PhysicalDistancing," Air New Zealand said in a tweet on Monday along with a picture of parked planes.

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(Published 01 April 2020, 15:13 IST)

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