LAHORE: The Civil Aviation Authority has written to all local and foreign airlines to bring in the pilots who are sufficiently trained in using the latest anti-fog landing system at Lahore airport.

“The CAA has sent a Notam (notice for airmen) asking them to bring in certified/trained pilots who could utilise the Instrument Landing System (ILS) CAT III-B at the Allama Iqbal International Airport,” CAA spokesman Pervez George told Dawn on Saturday.

The aviation authorities last month installed the latest landing system at the Lahore airport to improve visibility during fog. However, some flights were diverted to other airports of the country on last Wednesday due to fog, raising questions on the efficacy of the instrument.

“The latest landing system cannot be blamed for diversion of a couple of flights as either the pilots of these flights might not be trained or the visibility can be below 50 meters,” Mr George said.

Two foreign airlines flights from Qatar and Sharjah were diverted to Karachi and Islamabad respectively on last Wednesday as their pilots could not land the aircraft because of poor visibility.

The system installed after five-month work enables aircraft to land even in 50 meters visibility.

“We had asked local and foreign airlines in July to upgrade their aircraft and train their pilots to make them commensurate with CAT-III(B) system for landing at Lahore in foggy weather. The Notam is a reminder to them,” he said.

He said the CAT-III(B) was an advanced and state-of-the-art instrument landing system. “It is a ground-based instrument approach system providing precision guidance to an aircraft for safe landing during Instrument Meteorological Conditions (IMC) such as low ceiling or reduced visibility due to fog, smog, rain and other meteorological phenomenon,” he added.

Gifted by a Gulf country, the work on the project was started in June last and the estimated cost of it was $25 million.

A Swedish company was tasked with executing the work. The CAA provided all the logistic support.

Published in Dawn, December 6th, 2015