Even as the Instrument Landing System (ILS) was installed in the Agartala MBB Airport, the System is not operational now. However, it is expected to become functional in May, 2024, Tripura Transport Minister Sushanta Chowdhury said on Thursday.
In view of reports of frequent flight cancellations owing to fog in Agartala, CPIM MLA Sudip Sarkar raised the issue.
While replying to the question on the last of winter session of the State Assembly today, the Minister said, Agartala Airport is an Instrument Flight Rules (IFR) airport where the approach, landing, and take off are managed by Navigation Aids, Visual Aids and Instrument Landing Aids.
The ILS is used to aid aircrafts for safe landing. This system provides directions to an aircraft to land on the runway during normal conditions as well as adverse weather conditions.
The ILS system is used to provide both lateral (left-right) and vertical (up-down) guidance to the aircraft for safe and accurate landing when visibility is 800 meter or less.
Since the ILS is not functional at present, pilots are dependent on Vertical Omni Range (VOR) and Distance Measuring Equipment (DME) for landing and take off.
These systems can only be used to land aircraft in visibility conditions of not less than 1200 meters.
The Minister informed the House that steps had already been taken to replace the old VOR and DME and to use new ILS.
“Installation works of the new ILS had already been completed. Besides, works for ground calibration and air calibration by the Airport Authority of India on 27 November 2023”, Chowdhury said.
He asserted, based on the Calibration Report, Landing Procedures would be developed later on and would be sent to the Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) for approval. The ILS would be made functional after the approval, the Minister said.
Currently, the ILS system is not operational at Agartala Airport, so pilots rely on the VOR and NDB (Non-Directional Beacon) systems to land aircraft.
The initiative to replace the old VOR and NDB systems at Agartala Airport with a new ILS system has already been taken.
The work of installing the ILS antenna has already been completed, and the work of installing the VOR and NDB antennas was also completed by the Airport Authority of India on November 27, 2023.
In the coming days, the technical specifications of the ILS system will be prepared based on the antenna installation work, and it will be sent to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) for approval.
After receiving the approval letter from the DGCA for the installation of the ILS system, the ILS system will be operational at Agartala Airport.