No plan to install ILS at Srinagar

Srinagar: Srinagar’s Shiekh Ul Alam Airport will go international by June this year with world-class infrastructure like aerobridges and more aircraft bays. The new building will cater to 1000 odd passengers per hour. But the modernized airport will continue to face the same old crisis of flight cancellation due to poor visibility during winters. Reason: authorities have no plans to install the Instrument Landing System CAT that enables pilots to land in poor visibility.
During winter most passengers prefer air travel to and from Srinagar because the road link is often disrupted by landslides. But at times even before the hostile weather affects the Srinagar-Jammu highway, flights get cancelled due to mere fog.The Instrument Landing System is a ground-based instrument approach system which provides precision guidance to an aircraft approaching a runway, using a combination of radio signals and, in many cases, high-intensity lighting arrays to enable safe landing during reduced visibility due to fog, rain or snow.
Though the CAT II and its advanced versions are installed in most of the key airports across India, Srinagar is an exception.
Given the importance of Kashmir on various fronts, experts say the airport must have the CAT in place.
22/02/08 M Hyderi/GreaterKashmir.com

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Categories: airports Feb 2008