Smooth landing waiting in wings

CHANDIGARH: With upgradation of the runway on the cards,you won't feel any jerks as your flight lands at the Chandigarh airport. In a move that would help civilian aircraft operating from the local airport in smooth landing during poor visibility, the air force authorities, which control the runway, and the air traffic control (ATC) of the local airport, have decided to improve the existing runway.

The upgradation would help civilian aircraft only from next winter. Though, the Airports Authority of India (AAI) had installed a new instrument landing system (ILS) in January 2011, the ILS is category I type, which is not helpful for pilots to land the aircraft in case the visibility goes down to below 1200 meters.

Air Commodore S C Chafekar, air officer commanding (AOC), 12 Wing Air Force Station, Chandigarh, informed that they are going to upgrade the existing runway as per their plan. He further informed that the upgradation would be started in the beginning of next year but did not share the exact details.

Terming it as a good move for civilian flights, director, Chandigarh airport, Captain H S Toor said that they had installed the instrument landing system last year, which enables pilots to land up to the visibility of 1200 meters.

However the upgradation of the runway would also strengthen the lighting system, besides enhancing its length and would help pilots in landing even if the visibility becomes less than 1200 meters.

There are around 22 regular flights from Chandigarh airport to Delhi, Mumbai, Jammu, Amritsar, Srinagar, Leh, Jaipur, besides there are Air India and various other connecting flights for major domestic destinations. Air India, Go Air, Jet Airways, Indigo, Spicejet and Kingfisher are major players operating from the local airport.

With the cancellation of flights due to poor visibility at the local airport during last winter session, even after the installation of modern device for landing, around 2,000 passengers faced problems for several days. However, the daily footfall of passengers at the local airport has now reached around 2,500 passengers daily. 

Article:   http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com