New radar to be commissioned at Kochi airport Friday

Kochi: A new state-of-the-art radar system installed at the International Airport here by the Airports Authority of India (AAI) will be dedicated to the nation by Minister of State for Civil Aviation K C Venugopal Friday.

The use of the Radar, costing Rs 16 crore, will aid the air traffic controllers to give direct and shorter routes to aircraft thereby reducing the delays for flights landing and taking off from the airport as well as minimizing the fuel consumption and environmental impact, a press release said.

AAI, which provides Air Navigation Services over the Indian Airspace and airports, considers its Cochin Air Traffic Control Centre with high priority and has made large scale up gradation to the Air Navigation System at this airport.

The use of the Radar, costing Rs 16 crore, will aid the air traffic controllers to give direct and shorter routes to aircraft.

The Instrument Landing System which permits aircraft landings in poor visibility of up to 650 meters is already functional at the airport.

Other major enhancements like the state of the art AIRCON 2100 Air Traffic Control Automation System have been introduced which has improved the functioning of Air Traffic Control by providing safety features to permit early detection of aircraft conflict by the controller.

The latest in the line of upgradations is the introduction of the radar. The modern Enroute Radar system will bring the entire airspace upto 250 nautical miles from Kochi under the radar scan.

The Airport Surveillance Radar will also facilitate landing of aircraft at every three minutes interval and the quick release of departures in between, thereby avoiding delay for aircraft in the air as well as on the ground resulting in saving fuel and reducing the carbon foot print.

It will also cater to the projected traffic growth at Cochin Airport over the next two decades, the release added.