Work on installation of Instrument Landing Systems (ILS) to ensure uninterrupted flight operation during heavy fog in winter likely to be completed at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport (HSIA) by the next three months.
The ILS system is being set up at Chittagong, Sylhet, and Cox's Bazar airports besides at HSIA.
For ensuring uninterrupted air operation during the foggy situation of winter it is necessary to upgrade the airport Instrument Landing Systems (ILS) into category 2, which is now at category 1.
Civil Aviation Authority Bangladesh (CAAB) chairman Air Vice Marshal Mofidur Rahman informed this during the Cooperative Development of Operational Safety and Continuing Airworthiness Programme, South Asia conference being held in Dhaka on Tuesday.
Claiming that the required equipment has already arrived, he said, "We will need to install additional lights and we will start working on it soon. Once the expansion of Cox’s Bazar airport is completed, there will also be improvement there. Calibration work remains incomplete in Sylhet."
Stating that work is going on at Shahjalal Airport and it will be completed within the next three months, he said adding that the work of Sylhet Airport has already been completed. The work of Chittagong airport will be completed by the end of next year while the work of HSIA will be completed within the next three months.
For landing in thick fog, an airport must have high-level Instrument Landing Systems (ILS). It is a state-of-the-art anti-fog landing system and helps the planes land with the help of radio signals and high-intensity lighting arrays. There are various categories of ILS, the CAAB chairman added.
For this it is necessary to have ILS category-2. HSIA has ILS Category-1. Modernization of equipment is needed to overcome this situation. This is called Air Traffic Management (ATM). Even though initiatives have been taken to modernise the ATM system, it has not been implemented till the date, he further said.