Srinagar Airport needs ‘compatible approach lights’ to overcome flight disruptions

Adil Lateef
Srinagar, Dec 2: Srin-agar International Airport, which has frequent flight disruptions due to fog and haze, needs compatible approach lights to counter poor visibility and the process to install such lights is underway, top officials said.
The officials of Airport Authority of India (AAI) Srinagar told Excelsior that the Airport is already equipped with advanced and sophisticated Instrumentation Landing System (ILS) and rejected that it is outdated. “The ILS is most advanced at Srinagar Airport,” said Director, AAI, Srinagar, Sharad Kumar, adding that the Airport needs ‘compatible approach lights’ – also called Approach Lighting System (ALS).
The ALS is a lighting system installed on the approach end of an airport runway and consisting of a series of light bars, strobe lights, or a combination of the two that extends outward from the runway end. ALS usually serves a runway that has an instrument approach procedure (IAP) associated with it and allows the pilot to visually identify the runway environment and align the aircraft with the runway upon arriving at a prescribed point on an approach.
The Director said that the matter has already been taken up with Indian Air Force (IAF) since the Airport is under their direct operational control. The control of air traffic and that of the landing strip-including the facilities of fire-fighting and crash activities-is with the IAF while the terminal building, where the passengers check-in, is taken care of by the Airports Authority of India. The AAI also controls the apron area (where an aircraft is parked), but the airspace control is with the IAF.
“We have taken up the matter with IAF officials and they have responded positively. The land for the installation of approach lights has been identified… and the process is underway. We hope that the problem gets sorted out in shortest possible time,” the AAI Director in Srinagar said.
Another official, who asked not to be named since he was not authorized to speak on record to media, said that the land for installing ALS has been identified at Lalgam in the Budgam district and the State Government has also given its nod for further process. “A large portion of land belonged to farmers. All we need is to pay them rent and install towers. There is no need to buy it. The process is underway and we may soon see ALS towers coming up in order to prevent flight disruptions,” he said.
Due to poor visibility, the flight operations have been severely hit at Srinagar Airport since past one week and have resulted in cancellation or delaying of dozens of lights at Srinagar airport. The average required visibility for an aircraft should be 1.3 kilometers at Srinagar Airport but it has gone down to 600 meters since last week. Though there has been improvement in visibility since yesterday but the visibility is still not fully clear.
Due to flight disruptions, not only the regular passengers but patients, students, tourists and businessmen are also facing lot of inconvenience. The people of Valley including politicians have been long demanding upgradation and installation of visibility equipments at Srinagar Airport for uninterrupted air travel throughout the winter.

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