Now, no simultaneous take-off, landing at IGI

A day after a major tragedy was averted in the Delhi skies when a Jetlite and MDLR aircraft were about to take off simultaneously...

A day after a major tragedy was averted in the Delhi skies when a Jetlite and MDLR aircraft were about to take off simultaneously from merging runways, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) today said that simultaneous takeoffs and landings would not be allowed from now on.

“Simultaneous use of runways will be discontinued from now on. The decision was taken in view of the incident involving Jetlite and MDLR flights at IGI on Monday evening,” said a senior DGCA official.

Simultaneous use of runways was started at the Indira Gandhi International airport as a measure to deal with the massive air traffic congestion, but it does not seem to have worked very well with several incidents of “near miss” being reported recently.

On Monday at around 5.30 pm, two aircraft took off within 30 seconds of each other after the Jetlite flight to Mumbai was cleared for takeoff from the secondary runway and the Chandigarh-bound MDLR flight cleared for takeoff from the main runway. A mid-air collision was avoided in the nick of time with the MDLR flight being asked to turn left immediately while the Jetlite pilot being told to fly straight.