The Hindu : Front Page : Airport in danger of losing ILS

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Sunday, Dec 09, 2007
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Airport in danger of losing ILS

G. Ravikiran

PHOTO: CH. VIJAYA BHASKAR

The Air Traffic Control Tower at Gannavaram. —

VIJAYAWADA: Delay in expansion of runway of the Vijayawada Airport at Gannavaram can prove costly and even result in permanent loss of Instrument Landing System (ILS), an advanced system that facilitates landing of aircraft during adverse climatic conditions, according to official sources.

The airport, which has night landing facility for long and even got the long-awaited refuelling facility recently, is suited for expansion into a full-fledged one for the landing of bigger aircraft like Boeing 747 if the runway is expanded.

Though the Airports Authority of India (AAI) is ready to provide ILS, delay in expansion of the runway is stopping it from doing so.

If work pertaining to expansion of the runway is not taken up in the next couple of months, there is a certainty of ILS finding its way to some other airport, officials fear.

The reason for this is that the AAI will not think of providing ILS for the present 1,745-metre-long runway, which is being used by smaller aircraft like ATRs now.

Site survey

The ILS is generally used for the landing of reasonably bigger aircraft of a seating capacity of 200 or more. This requires the runway to be expanded to a length of 2,286 metres.

A team of officials from the AAI, Delhi, recently visited the airport for a site survey for the setting up of ILS for strengthening the existing infrastructure further.

Official sources say that the team had felt that the first phase of expansion works should have been started by now for offering a justification for the introduction of ILS.

Though the government signed a MoU with the AAI on February 14 for expansion and modernisation of airports at Rajahmundry, Tirupati and here, work at Gannavaram has not taken off as yet.

In the case of the Vijayawada Airport, the MoU provided for construction of a new terminal building to handle 300 passengers (up from the present 100), introduction of a Doppler Very High Frequency Omni Range (DVOR) navigation aid and upgradation of the existing night landing facility with a second circuit for runway lights and fire station.

Even as work at Rajahmundry has already started, there is practically no activity here. It is for the local politicians, industrialists and other influential groups to exert pressure on the government and get the works grounded, without which the delay would only continue even more, the sources feel.

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