Fog and faulty landing guide disrupt flights
FLIGHTS to and from Ercan airport were disrupted in the early hours of Tuesday. Civil Aviation Department manager Mustafa Sofi said that two planes could not land at Ercan airport, one because of fog and the other due to an “operational” problem.
Mr Sofi explained that these planes were diverted to Antalya in Turkey and that they landed hours later at Ercan airport at around 9.30am -10am. He said that the disruption also caused delays in flight departures from Ercan.
Pointing out that the Instrument Landing System (ILS) device, which allows planes to land “with ease” in foggy weather, was faulty, Mr Sofi said that work was carried out to fix the malfunction, which he said is a “common problem”.
Emphasising that “most of the flights” went ahead, Mr Sofi said it is “natural to experience disruptions in an airport with 70 to 80 flights daily”.
Air Traffic Controllers Union (HTKS) chairman Cem Kapısız stated that there should be back-up navigational aid devices and other “factors” that assist with flights and a continuity of service at an airport.
He claimed that disruption occurs because “all the expenses and maintenance costs of navigational devices” have been handed over to a private company and “private companies avoid incurring expenses”.
Mr Kapısız said that while some pilots “acted on their own initiative” and were able to land “with a clear view”, others did not land “because they wanted guidance”.
He said that the costs of repairing the ILS are contracted to a private company, but it is the Civil Aviation Department that is responsible for identifying and fixing faults.
“I am sure that the Civil Aviation Department has constantly written to and warned them about replacing and repairing these devices but nothing is being done,” Mr Kapısız said.
“In other words, the private company can stall or do nothing if it doesn’t want to cover its expenses. To sum it up, these are the benefits of privatisation.”
Meanwhile it was reported that there were similar disruptions to Ercan flights on Thursday.