Nod to night landing at Prayagraj airport
PRAYAGRAJ : In a move that could give a much-needed fillip to air connectivity of Prayagraj, night landing of flights would begin at Prayagraj airport soon, say Airports Authority of India (AAI) officials.
“Requisite permissions have now been granted by Indian Air Force (IAF) for starting this vital facility at the airport located at Bamrauli and airlines operating flights here would now be able to avail it,” they added.
The Prayagraj Airport Advisory Board was informed of this development by the IAF representative in a virtual meeting of the board held on Saturday, officials said.
Once night landing of flights started, Prayagraj airport would join the ranks of Lucknow and Varanasi airports, officials added. “The permission for night landing of flights is a welcome news and now the airlines would be able to start using this facility as per their need and flight schedules,” said AAI regional director, Prayagraj, Achal Prakash while confirming the development.
The AAI has already installed necessary CAT-1 (category-1) lights along the runway at a cost of around Rs 1 crore that clearly mark the runway for the approaching pilots to help them land their aircraft even in low visibility or during night hours when visibility is limited to as low as 800 metres.
The airport is also equipped with the infrastructure needed for night landing facility, called instrument landing system. Officials said IAF’s clearance for starting night landing was needed as though the airport is owned and run by the AAI, the runway is owned by IAF.
Terminal manager, Prayagraj airport, Shyam Kartik Singh said the advisory board meeting chaired by Phulpur MP Keshari Devi Patel and attended by representatives of AAI, IAF, district administration, PWD, Prayagraj Nagar Nigam among others, also discussed connecting the airport with the proposed metro rail service of Sangam city in the first phase so that commuting to and from the airport became faster, easier and economical.
During the meeting, ADM (city) AK Kanaujia said financial approval for providing a fourlane connectivity to the airport had been received and work in this regard would also begin soon.