Bengaluru: Passengers struggling with flight disruption due to fog at Kempegowda International Airport (KIA) cannot expect relief till 2019.
The Instrument Landing System - CAT III B, which enables flight operations even at 50-metre visibility, will be operational in 2019 when the second runway is opened. Work on the second runway is underway.
ILS enable landings during periods of reduced visibility. Currently, the ILS in KIA is the CAT I system, which needs a runway visual range of 550 metres or a visibility range of 800 metres for landing.
“The second runway will be operational by September 2019 and will be equipped with the CAT III B system,” said Hari Marar, President, Airport Operations, Bangalore International Airport Limited.
Justifying the delay, he said, “Our studies show that upgrading the current runway is not feasible because of two reasons. One is that the runway will be damaged extensively as running lights will have to be installed. The other reason is that the disruption caused during upgrade of the runway will be greater than that caused due to fog till the time the second runway becomes operational.”
Meanwhile, flight operations were affected at the airport for the second consecutive day, disrupting 19 schedules on Friday.
