Landing in poor visibility at Bhunter airport soon

Dipender Manta

Tribune News Service

Kullu, November 28

To equip Bhunter Airport Kullu with modern facility, the Airport Authority of India has decided to establish a Doppler Very High Frequency Omni-directional Radio Range and Distance Measuring Equipment (DVOR/DME) tower System. The system will help pilot land the aircraft even in low visibility conditions.

The state government has provided land to the Airport Authority for the purpose and now global tender would be invited to start the work.

Talking to The Tribune here today, Director of Bhunter airport AN Sharma confirmed the development and said the project was in a pipeline for a long time and now Airport Authority has taken land in its possession.

“Global tender would soon be invited by Airport Authority of India for the purpose and we hope that in the next few months the work would be started to establish the DVOR tower. The project will cost around Rs 4 crore approximately”, he added.

“Generally during foggy weather conditions it becomes difficult for pilot to land the aircraft on runway because of low visibility and on a number of times they are forced to go back. But with the setting up of DVOR tower system, the pilots would be able to land the aircraft easily on airstrip”, he remarked.

Sharma said the DVOR/DME system Standard ICAO radio navigational aids are used to provide bearing and distance information to aircraft and to define air traffic control routes for en-route, terminal and instrument approach and departure procedures.

People associated with tourism industry here hailed the move of the state government and the Airport Authority of India to equip the airport with modern facilities like DVOR system and said it would boost tourism sector because high-end tourists generally prefer their visit via flight.

Bhuntar airport is considered a challenging airport for pilots because of its single runway set in a deep valley whose peaks rise several thousand feet higher than the runway. The airport is located on the banks of Beas. In 1995, flash floods posed a threat to the runway.

The new air terminal at Bhuntar was inaugurated in 2008 and the airport apron was enlarged to park two aircraft at a time. Kingfisher Airlines ceased operations in September 2012, while Air India Regional resumed its operations to Kullu in May 2013. Himalayan Bulls in collaboration with Deccan Charters had commenced the Kullu-Chandigarh-Kullu flights thrice a day from April 2, 2014. However now Air India(AI) is the only service provider at Bhunter airport, which conducts its single flight daily.