Mangaluru : The Airports Authority of India on Monday commissioned the Phase I of the parallel taxiway (or track) at the international airport here.
The Phase I track is 1,200 m in length. Air India, AI 680, Mangaluru-Mumbai flight, was the first to use the track. The fire engines of the airport gave a water cannon salute to the aircraft before it entered the taxiway.
With the opening of the new taxiway, the runway occupancy time and waiting time for aircraft at the apron (parking area) will be reduced considerably.
A valley, 30 m deep, was filled with earth for building the new taxiway which is a concrete track. The project took about one-and-half years to be ready. It has been commissioned with the approval of the DGCA (Directorate General of Civil Aviation), a release said