PATNA, July 14 -- A survey team from the Airports Authority of India (AAI) is here to identify obstacles in the approach of an aircraft at Patna's Jayprakash Narayan International (JPNI) airport, as part of an obstacle limitation surfaces (OLS) survey beginning Monday, said officials on Sunday. The AAI team from New Delhi reached Patna on Sunday afternoon from Muzaffarpur, where it did a similar survey for the Muzaffarpur airport between July 8 and 13. As part of the survey, the AAI team would identify obstacles in the approach of aircraft on both ends of runway - 25 (zoo end) and 07 (Phulwarisharif end) - of the Patna airport. The exercise was expected to culminate on Friday, said officials. The OLS survey has been necessitated amid talks to extend the existing runway length by 500 metres, and securing the safety of aircraft operations. Given the short runway length of 2,072 metres and obstacles like trees, secretariat clock tower, overhead traction wires of the railways, electricity poles and some high-rise buildings in the approach, an aircraft has to maintain a steeper glide slope of 3.15 degree, instead of an ideal 3 degree, while descending to land at Patna airport. The Patna airport is classified among the 11 most critical airports in India, necessitating special route training for pilots before operating to Patna. The airport required a minimum runway length of 2,500 metres for safe operation of Boeing 737 and Airbus 320 aircraft that presently operated from Patna, said aviation experts. The OLS survey would not only identify the hurdles in approach of the existing runway, but also map those likely to affect operations if the runway was extended by 500 metres, said officials. AAI had last undertaken an OLS survey of Patna airport in 2022 when it had identified 396 obstacles on both sides of the runway....