The flight operations at the Shivamogga airport, inaugurated earlier this year with much fanfare by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, continue to be hit by adverse climatic conditions. Due to poor visibility caused by thick fog, the landing of flights has been delayed. In the last two days, passengers of two flights reaching Shivamogga experienced delayed landings due to fog. There have been many such incidents since the flight operations started at the airport on August 29.
On Friday, the flight reaching Shivamogga from Bengaluru was delayed. Similarly, on Thursday, a Goa-bound flight faced difficulty in landing. Earlier, on two occasions, flights from Bengaluru returned without landing. Now, the airport operates flights that connect Shivamogga to Tirupati, Goa, and Hyderabad, besides Bengaluru.
Airport officials told The Hindu that for landing, visibility should be clear for 5 km. “The Meteorological Department will inform the ATC about the visibility, and the same will be communicated to the pilot... If there is wind, the fog will clear completely by 10 a.m. However, if there is no wind, fog remains and disturbs flight operations,” the official said.
As of now, the work to strengthen infrastructure facilities to allow night landings is going on. For this, lighting has to be done along the runway, apron, and the surrounding areas. “The cable work has been completed. The workers are working day and night to finish their job. We are hopeful of completing the work in a month or 45 days. Later, it will not be a problem,” the official added.
Meanwhile, the procurement of equipment for the Bomb Detection and Disposal Squad at the airport has begun. The Finance Department, on November 11, gave clearance to procure 13 equipment by spending ₹2.16 crore from R.K. and Sons in Pune. The purchase has been given exemption under Section 4(G) of the Karnataka Transparency in Public Procurement Act, 1999.
The airport has been built on 775 acres of land at a cost of ₹450 crore at Sogane near Shivamogga.
