NEW DELHI : Withwinter gradually setting in, all airlines are taking a final look at their preparedness to operate under foggy conditions at the Indira Gandhi International Airport here.

Concerned over delays, cancellations and disruption of flights and inconvenience to the travelling public due to fog, the Civil Aviation Ministry has already held a meeting with senior officials of the State-owned Air India, Indian and private carriers such as Jet, Sahara, Kingfisher, SpiceJet, IndiGo and GoAir.

Senior Ministry officials reviewed the preparedness of the airlines, including training of pilots and also took stock of the arrangements made by the authorities.

Last year, the Ministry cautioned the airlines to train their pilots to operate in CAT III B conditions if they wanted to retain permission to fly to Delhi. The Ministry is yet to spell out its strategy for operations at Delhi airport when it remains fog-bound.

Ministry said that apart from Indian and Air India pilots, only Kingfisher, IndiGo and GoAir pilots and aircraft were fully equipped to operate under CAT III B conditions, where runway visibility could be as low as 50 metres and not more than 200 metres.

Other airlines such as Jet and Sahara were operating an all Boeing 737 type of aircraft, many of which were not equipped with navigation aids to operate in CAT III B conditions. In such situations, even trained pilots could be of little use, the sources said.

Paucity of hotel accommodation was another problem during the winter in the Capital. Senior officials of some airlines pointed out that hotel rooms were fully booked during December and January, leaving the carriers in the cold to hunt accommodation for the stranded passengers.

Under projections received by the Ministry, foggy conditions were likely to set in earlier than usual in Delhi, which could be the first week of December instead of the third week.

Aviation sources pointed out that CAT II and CAT III A operations depended on the aircraft, the crew, the airport and the operator.

All these elements must comply with the regulations stipulated by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) and International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO).

The aircraft type must also be approved for CAT II/CAT IIA operations with an Automatic Landing System that provided automatic control of the aircraft during approach and landing.

The flight crew should be trained and possess DGCA authorisation, besides which the airport too must be equipped and approved for CAT II and CAT III operations.

Under CAT II, a precision instrument approach and landing is made with decision height lower than 200 feet and Runway Visual Range (RVR) not less than 350 metres.

CAT III A

Under CAT III A operation the decision height is lower than 100 feet and RVR not less than 200 metres.

Under CAT III B operation, the decision height is as low as 50 feet and RVR less than 200 metres, but not less than 50 metres.

Only the IGI airport is equipped with CAT III systems.

Under the new rules, airlines need to fly in CAT I condition for eight months with 60 landings on CAT II, down from earlier 100 landings. Airlines sources said that earlier the entire airline personnel — pilots, engineers, operators — had to go through CAT II training environment only then they were certified, but now if pilot has done CAT II or CAT III training in a previous airline then the airline is termed as CAT II or CAT II certified.

Sources pointed out that coordinated CAT training of pilots, engineers and flight operators werekey to successful CAT III operations.

The air traffic system at Delhi and Mumbai can handle only about 20 takeoffs and landings per hour and with the air traffic congestion, every additional aircraft in the skies results in delays of over 45 minutes, which meant burning of 2,000 kg to 4,000 kg of extra fuel. (A gallon of jet fuel weighs about 3.1 kilograms.)

Aviation industry sources said that over-dependence on ground-based approach aids and procedures were taking their toll in India, whereas countries such as China were switching over to satellite-based navigation procedures.

They suggested simultaneous take-offs and landing runway operations to help reduce the time between take-offs as it could raise the number of movements to 48 to 50 take-offs and landings an hour.

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