Silchar Airport to get two new parking bays, construction to begin soon

In a significant step towards catering more air travelers through the lone airport of Barak Valley, the Airports Authority of India(AAI) has taken up initiative to increase the parking bays at Silchar Airport from current four to six with construction of two additional bays, the airport authority official sources said on Wednesday.

The World War II era airport, which has got choked up and crying for expansion since a while, is likely to see expansion of its aircraft holding space within next 2 years, if the project deadline set by AAI is met.

The airport has currently 3+1 parking bays with 2 for Boeing 738/Airbus 320 type aircrafts, 01 bay for ATR/Q400 types & 1 bay (dependent) for ATR/Q400.

Hence the existing apron can at a time accommodate three aircrafts, which was quite an usual scene during last year when Jet Airways was operational.

“Airports Authority of India has undertaken construction of 02 additional bays, 01 for B738/A320 & other 01 for ATR/Q400 type aircrafts at cost of Rs 15 Cr,” the Silchar AAI Twitter handle posted on Wednesday.

Sources close to the development informed, that the project was initiated much ago but with the completion of tendering process last month, the construction work will begin shortly.

It can be mentioned here that the Silchar airport plays a vital role in catering the aviation needs of entire southern Assam region along with few districts of neighboring states.

While the proposal for construction of another Greenfield airport at Silchar as not advanced even a little due to non finalization of suitable land, the Airports authority of India has, considering the future need, taken up measures to expand the current terminal and apron area.

Whether constructing these new parking bays can lend facility to airlines to night park their aircrafts at Silchar –  sources informed, night parking can be done on current facility also as all the required technical support are on place. “Airlines will park here only if they schedule early morning departures from Silchar,” they shared.

With the increasing number of traffic at Silchar airport, especially in the morning and afternoon hours, the apron extension is likely to act as booster of infrastructure in handling multiple aircrafts at a single time, apart from reducing the dependency on existing bays.

Apron, in aviation parlance, is a paved area for parking of aircrafts, loading and unloading of passengers and cargo. It is usually located close to the terminal buildings.