NEW DELHI: The Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) is on track to meet its September 15 deadline to open one of its runways, which was closed for operations three months ago. The need to carry out upgradation was taken up so that the runway would be ready to operate flights without any disruption during foggy conditions this winter.
Runway 10/28 was declared non-operational from June 15 by the operator Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL) to ensure one of the ends of the runway could become a CAT-III compliant one by upgrading its Instrumentation Landing System (ILS). This would ensure that flights can land even in extremely low visibility conditions. A total of 114 flights were cancelled and 86 rescheduled in light of the closure.
“We are looking at opening the runway by September 15. We are awaiting clearance for our proposal submitted to our regulator, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA),” a senior airport official told TNIE.
A DGCA source said, “We have received the request from the airport authorities. We are still examining it.” “A massive relief is in store for flyers as heavy fog annually disrupts thousands of flights during December and January.
Travel plans during the holiday season go for a toss,” the official added. ILS uses radio signals to provide pilots with precise lateral and vertical guidance on how to approach the runway when visibility is poor. “A CATIII ILS permits landing of a flight even when the runway visual range is up to 50 m,” said an official.
Delhi airport has three other operational runways which are already CAT III compliant.“We will start off with operating the runway as a CAT-1 compliant one, then upgrade it to CAT-2, and by December this year it will have progressed to a CAT-3 compliant runway,” explained an airport source. Meanwhile, two terminals (T1 and T3) are operational, while T2 is closed for maintenance work. “Refurbishment is under way at T2, and we are expecting it to be completed by the end of September,” said another airport official.