Now, airplanes will land, take off in low visibility

Neeraj Bagga

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, November 25

Sri Guru Ramdas Jee International Airport in Amritsar is abuzz with activities as the authorities are busy in the installation of the advanced technical apparatus — instrument landing system (ILS) CAT II B — near the runway. ILS CAT II B will catapult the Amritsar airport to the elite club of world class airports in India. It will enable aircraft to land and take off in a low visibility of 50 metre. Presently, the runway at the Amritsar airport is equipped with CAT-II ILS system enabling aircraft landing and take-off in the visibility upto 350 metre.

The instrument landing system is a ground-based system that provides guidance to an aircraft in approaching and landing on a runway by a combination of radio signals and high-intensity lighting arrays. Runway lights, glide path and other relevant logistics are being installed at war footing along the tarmac in the airport.

Besides, the proposed consolidation of the 12,000 feet long runway at the airport is expected to take place at cost of over Rs 103 crore next year. The existing runway, which can cater to the largest aircraft available with the airlines operating in India, has started showing signs of aging, besides developing cracks at a few places over the years. The last re-carpeting of the runway was carried out in 2001-03.

Meanwhile, international air connectivity is also picking up as Malindo Air had launched Kualalumpur-Amritsar flight and SpicJet launched Dubail-Amritsar-Dubai flight recently.

While a delegation of Scoot Airlines, a no frills unit of Singapore Airlines, is expected to visit Amritsar next month to assess feasibility of starting flights between Amritsar-Singapore.

In all six airlines are operating international flights from Amritsar airport, which include Qatar Airways, Uzbekistan Airways, Turkmenistan Airlines and the national carrier Air India are operating international flights from Amritsar Airport. Qatar Airways is operating a daily flight between Amritsar and Doha. Uzbekistan Airways is operating five days a week flight between Amritsar and Tashkent.

Turkmenistan Airlines is operating a daily flight between Amritsar and Ashgabat. Air India launched its Amritsar-New Delhi-Birmingham flight on the hub and spoke model from Amritsar Airport on August 1, 2013. Air India Express is already operating a daily Amritsar–Dubai flight.