Reports of the Bangalore airport getting a CAT-III B compliant runway by 2021 were surfacing online. Now, as per a report from IANS, the Bangalore International Airport has finally installed the CAT-III B instrument landing system (ILS) on its runway. This kind of runway allows flights to take-off and land with lesser visibility due to fog. During winters in Bangalore, multiple flights get delayed because of fog and less visibility, but that will be a problem of the past since the airport has got a runway with CAT-III B compliance now — more details on the story ahead.
Bangalore Airport CAT-III B Compliant Runway
The new runway with CAT-III B landing system will allow flights to land with a visual capacity of 50 metres whereas take-off with a visual capacity of 125-metres. What’s interesting to note here is that the Bangalore airport has become the sixth airport in the country to get a CAT-III B compliant runway.
This would give better visibility to the pilots during late night flights or early mornings when there is a lot of fog. The CAT-III B runway is helped by transmission metre, airfield ground lights, surface movement radar, automatic weather observatory station, and navigational aids.
The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has already inspected the runway after the airport received the regulatory approvals for operating flights on it. But to make the optimum use of the landing facility and tech, all the airlines operating at the airport will have to train their pilots for the same.
Bangalore airport has faced much financial loss because of flights delays and cancellations due to foggy conditions in winters. It is worthy to note that the Bangalore airport is the third-largest in the country in terms of handling traffic after Delhi and Mumbai airports.
Thus it becomes important for the airport to utilise this landing tech to its highest potential. The Bangalore airport had plans for converting both the runaways CAT-III B compliant ones, but that didn’t happen because of less air travel demand due to COVID-19.
