An expert lecture was organized by the Department of Civil Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Technology, MRIIRS on “Airport Planning and Design Aspects” which was delivered by Mr. Nalin Sharma, Senior Consultant-Airport Planning, Airports Authority of India. Mr.Nalin Sharma has been associated with the development of Airports and Terminals at Delhi Airport, Bengaluru Airport and about 40 other medium and small size airports. He has also been associated with airports in Ghana, Tanzania, Lesotho, Somali and Yemen, Botswana, Algeria, Afghanistan and Philippines and has over 40 years of experience in this field.

Mr. Nalin Sharma spoke in detail on the basic concepts and principles of Airport Planning and how it differs in case of different cities. He talked about the ‘Air side’ and ‘Passenger side’ facilities to be provided as per international guidelines. He said that typically an airport has to cater to aircrafts, passengers, cargo and vehicle movements and all the airports are designed with respect to these parameters.

He discussed about the design of Runways, Aprons, Taxiways, ATC, Airport lighting, etc on air side. On the passenger side, he informed about the various modern facilities being provided for check-in counters, electronic ticketing and passenger comfort inside the terminal building. In the end, he talked about the Environmental Impacts of an airport. The session was highly interactive and full of interesting anecdotes from his experience.

The lecture continued for more than one hour and was followed by Question and Answers. Students of 4th and 6h semester along with M.Tech students were benefitted from the lecture.