LAHORE: Punjab Chief Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif on Saturday inaugurated Instrument Landing System (ILS) on the main runway for safe and smooth landing of aircrafts even in fog and bad weather conditions, here at Allama Iqbal International Airport.
On this occasion, the Chief Minister said that state-of-the-art ILS CAT-III B would be highly beneficial for the air-passengers as there would be no delays and diversions to aircrafts compatible with this system. The Instrument Landing system (CAT-III B) would be a good addition to air navigation facilities of Pakistan, and it would enhance safety and efficiency of aircraft operation, he viewed.
He said, the system would help keep smooth flow of air-traffic and prove instrumental in maintaining flights schedule at the airport. The new system would also help save millions of rupees of the airline companies, which earlier were bearing huge expenditures due to disturbance in flight operations in foggy and bad weather, he added.
Earlier, briefing the Chief Minister about the project's salient feature, the ILS Project In-charge Akhtar Mirza said, the ILS CAT-III B would help aircraft landing in 50 meter visibility during fog, adding that earlier, landing at Lahore was not possible below 350 meter visibility and this caused diversions/delays to airlines and inconvenience to passengers. With installation of new system, he mentioned, the AIIA has become second airport in South Asia and first airport of Pakistan to have this facility.
The Airport Manager explained that ILS CATII B is a ground-based instrument approach system provides precision guidance to an aircraft for safe landing on runway during Instrument Meteorological Condition (IMC) such as low ceiling or reduced visibility due to fog, smog, rain or any other meteorological phenomenon.
He said that Safegate, a Swedish company, started work on this USD 25 million project in June this year with logistic support by the PCAA and completed it in record time of five months. He lauded the Prime Minister and his team for taking initiatives to bring Pakistan airports at par
with international standards.
Punjab Law Minister Rana Sana Ullah Khan, MNA Pervez Malik, Prime Minister's Assistant on Aviation Shujaat Azeem, Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority (PCAA) Secretary Irfan Elahi, Lahore Transport Company (LTC) Chairman Khawaja Ahmed Hassan, Airport Manager Rashid Muhammad Hussain, and other PCAA officers were also present.
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