State plans to revive Juhu aerodrome

MUMBAI: Mumbai’s first airport, the near derelict Juhu aerodrome, may get a facelift soon if a state government proposal to reopen it for civil aviation flights (40- to 50-seaters used by airlines like Jet Airways and Deccan Air) gets the Centre’s nod.

According to a well-placed secretariat official, “Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel has asked the Airports Authority of India to conduct an analysis of the revenue diversion from the Santa Cruz domestic airport that would result as and when such a proposal is cleared.”

Sanjay Narayan, joint secretary in the Union civil aviation ministry, declined comment. Director-General of Civil Aviation Satyendra Singh said he was unaware of the proposal.

An AAI spokesman told DNA: “The Juhu aerodrome earlier boasted of a 3600 foot-long runway, but it has been effectively reduced to a usable length of 2400 feet. A good portion of the airport land was given to the city for making motorable access possible on Juhu Tara Road.”

The spokesman said illegal hutments occupying airport land close to the storm water drain had choked drainage flow into the sea. “During monsoon, at high tide the airport gets flooded,” he said.

“Even the hangars, which house helicopters, are filled with water. The drainage system will have to be overhauled and runway bolstered by returning the airport land if the plan has to materialise.”

The spokesman said the runway length could be increased by repossessing the land given by the airport earlier for the Juhu beachfront and creating a motorable road below the runway. The Juhu aerodrome was set up in the mid-1950s.