Delhi airport to boost low visibility flight handling capabilities this week

New Delhi: The country's biggest and busiest airport, India Gandhi International Airport, or the Delhi airport, is set to boost its operational capacity during low visibility conditions like fog, as it activates its third CAT-III compliant runway—28/10—this week. This development comes as part of efforts to mitigate flight delays during adverse weather conditions.

Category III, or CAT III, in aviation refers to an advanced instrument landing system (ILS) approach that facilitates landing in extremely low visibility conditions caused by fog, rain, or snow. A CAT III system supports a precision approach and landing, even when runway visibility is as low as 50 feet (15m) and the visual range is 50-200m.

The runway maintenance work was delayed by a month due to pollution incidents and the implementation of the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) in Delhi to curb air pollution, civil aviation minister Jyotiraditya Scindia said. 

"The maintenance was taken as top priority to be completed by 15 Dec before the onset of the fog season…The revamped runway is getting operational this week," Scindia said.

Wednesday saw improved fog conditions at Delhi airport, leading to a reduced impact on flight operations. Officials reported no flight diversions and a significant decrease in delays to around 50 flights.

On Tuesday, as dense fog engulfed the national capital, as many as 128 flights from the Delhi airport were delayed, with 33 cancelled, as per reports.

Delhi airport currently operates with three runways: 27/9, 29R-11L, and 29L-11R. Among these, 29R-11L and 29L-11R are CAT-III compliant. While 29R-11L is CAT-III compliant from one side, officials anticipate achieving CAT-III certification for landings from both sides by February. The operation of runway 29L-11R faced challenges due to cranes obstructing the landing path for construction of the Dwarka Expressway. 

"The crane was being used for the construction of another critical infrastructure project - the Dwarka Expressway. However, in view of its impact on the runway, it has now been decided that the crane operation shall be allowed only on non-fog days. Thus, RWY 29L/11R is operational as CAT III as of yesterday," Scindia added.

With the operationalization of the runway 28/10, the airport will boast three CAT-III compliant runways by the end of the week, significantly reducing flight delays during foggy conditions.

There has been a substantial increase in CAT II and CAT III trained pilots in India, from 2,416 in 2014 to 6,191 currently. The total count has grown by 16% over the last three months from 5,332 earlier, the ministry said.

CAT-II landings involve a precision instrument approach with a decision height of 30-60m and a minimum runway visual range of 300m.