BENGALURU: The Airports Authority of India (AAI) will begin installation of the Instrument Landing System (ILS) that facilitates landing of aircraft in low visibility conditions on the North runway of Bengaluru airport next Monday (December 16). When ILS is in place and all approvals obtained, flights can land at the North runway, too.
Two ILS systems costing Rs 8 crore have arrived from Russia. General Manager, AAI, Bengaluru, K Anbarasu, told TNIE, “The CAT-III ILS will be installed shortly, an upgradation from the CAT-I system operational at the runway earlier. This is the old runway, called 27L. The second runway, the South runway (09L) is already CAT-III enabled.”
The installation will begin at the West end where the ground has been levelled and all preparations made. “It will take us ten days and after completion, we will begin installation at the other end, when the site is ready,” he said.
Landing of all flights was discontinued on North runway since October to prepare it to install the ILS, the official added.
A BIAL source confirmed it saying, “To optimise operations, flights are landing on the South Runway and taking off from North runway. This has not impacted our operations in any way. On Tuesdays alone, when we undertake a three-hour maintenance of the South runway, flights are permitted to land on the North runway.”
The key components of the ILS are Localiser, Glide Path and Distance Measuring Equipment. Anbarasu said installation was just the first step. “We need to do flight calibration and testing. We also need to publicise it internationally. The procedure needs to be incorporated in the aircraft systems to guide it for precise landing,” he said.
Clearance needs to be obtained from the regulatory authority, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation, for pressing ILS into operation.
The deadline is May 2025 and it would be ready to facilitate operations by that time, the official said. AAI had recently installed a new ILS at the HAL airport too to facilitate safe landing of planes.