BHUBANESWAR: The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has given permission for the operation of Instrument Landing System (ILS) at Veer Surendra Sai Airport in Odisha's Jharsuguda district.
"The ILS has been installed following the approval of the DGCA. It will be commissioned within a month," airport Director Kishore Kumar Senapati told The New Indian Express. Airport sources said that the ILS will be commissioned after a notice to airmen (Notam) is issued in this connection.
"Currently, the flights are landing under Doppler Very High-Frequency Omni Range (DVOR) and Distance Measuring Equipment (DME) procedure. Once the ILS facility is operational, it will help the planes to land easily during difficult weather conditions like heavy rains and winters," said Senapati.
At least 1,500 metre visibility for small aircraft and 2,100 visibility for big planes is required to make landing under DVOR procedure. However, the planes will be able to land at VSS airport even if the visibility is 800 metre once the ILS becomes operational.
In another development, the state government on Wednesday provided an ambulance to the airport to handle any case of emergency along with two others.