Close Mangalore airport for now, Airlines tell AAI

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MANGALORE, June 13:  After several flights were diverted, delayed and cancelled on Saturday because of low visibility, airlines are demanding that Airports Authority of India declare the Mangalore Airport closed until weather conditions improve. But the AAI officials insist that the airport must be kept open at all costs.

 

The weather is taking a toll on air traffic because the airport is using a back-up navigation device which is not “all-weather friendly.”

Airline officials say the affect of the monsoon has been exacerbated after the May 22 crash in which the airport’s primary navigation device, the Instrument Landing System (ILS), was damaged and is out of service.

The ILS helps an aircraft land by providing it with a Glide Path and Central Line Guidance, or simply put, an angle of descent and the direction to the centre of the runway. Since the crash, the Air Traffic Control has been able to give planes only the direction (North, South, East or West) to the airport using a backup navigation device called “Very High Frequency Omnidirectional Range” which is not as “all-weather friendly” as an ILS, sources said. A senior ATC official told The Hindu that with the help of the ILS, aircraft could land even when visibility was at 1,200 metres but with the present system the minimum visibility to permit landing has been increased to 3,200 metres. However, the visibility on Saturday hovered between 2,000 and 2,500 metres.

 

Airport Director Peter Abraham told The Hindu that the ILS would take another three or four days to be operational. “A Flight Inspection Unit of the AAI will arrive soon in a special aircraft to calibrate the ILS and commission it. It is up to airlines to wait until then or continue flying,” he said.

A senior Air India official told The Hindu that the airline’s finances and schedules were going haywire owing to the uncertainty at the Mangalore airport.

ILS crucial

“It is becoming increasingly apparent that the airport cannot be run efficiently or safely without the ILS, particularly in this weather. Why can’t the AAI shut the airport until the ILS is restored?,” the official, who did not wish to be named, asked. Two of the airline’s low-cost international carriers had to be diverted and one had to be cancelled on Saturday forcing the airline to provide expensive hotel accommodation to the stranded passengers. “We cannot just use inexperienced pilots to land in the city as it is a critical airport. But because of this uncertainty we are not even able to fix the schedules for the pilots forcing them to wait endlessly,” said another official of a private airline. These complaints were echoed by senior officials of another private carrier as well.

Responding to these concerns, the Airport Director Peter Abraham said: “We believe that the airport must be kept open under all circumstances. It is up to the airlines to decide if they want to stay operational or not.”

Three flights from Mumbai and three coming from West Asia had to be diverted on Saturday. Air India provided hotel accommodation at a cost of Rs. 3,000 a day per person to over 100 passengers.

Courtesy: The Hindu