Itanagar: If technical feasibilities are met, the Pasighat airport in Arunachal Pradesh’s East Siang district could soon become the first airstrip of the state to be equipped with the all-important Instrument Landing System (ILS) to ensure the smooth and safe landing of flights.
The ILS is a radio navigation system that provides short-range guidance to aircraft to allow them to approach a runway at night or in bad weather.
The assurance to install the ILS was given by Union civil aviation minister Jyotiraditya Scindia who said that the Airports Authority of India (AAI) has already been asked to explore the feasibility of installing the precision landing aid in the airport.
“Necessary instructions have been given to the AAI to expeditiously explore the technical feasibility of installing the ILS at the Pasighat airport,” the aviation minister in a letter to Pasighat West MLA and former Lok Sabha MP Ninong Ering on Friday said.
Ering had earlier written to Scindia asking him to install the ILS in the Pasighat airport.
Ering had in his letter reasoned that Pasighat, which was brought to the aviation map of the nation a few years ago, has been witnessing regular cancellation of flights due to bad weather and other issues which were in turn hampering connectivity and causing hindrance to the smooth functioning of the UDAN scheme. Also Read: Mobile ATC & VHF Installed in Itanagar Airport at Hollongi, Arunachal
The Pasighat airport hosted its first commercial flight in May 2018.
