Indore: City airport to have new ATC, fire station & communication building

Indore (Madhya Pradesh): The work of upgrading and constructing airport infrastructure including the new Air Traffic Control (ATC) Tower, Fire Station and Technical and Communication Building to cater to the increasing number of passengers at Devi Ahilyabai International Airport has started at a cost of about Rs 80 crore.

Along with this, the work of domestic cargo and perishable cargo is also going on at a fast pace at a total cost of around Rs 10 crore. Overall, development works worth more than Rs 100 crore are going on at the airport. Two new aerobridges have also been built, the work of which is in the final stage. Till now there were three aerobridges at the airport, whose number will now increase to five.

MP Shankar Lalwani on Sunday performed the Bhoomi Pujan for the new ATC tower, technical and communication building and new fire station.

After the completion of the new facilities, the space of the exisiting ATC tower and fire station will be available to build the airport terminal here.

 The existing ATC tower is very old, so it has become necessary to upgrade it. The new ATC will be equipped with state-of-the-art radar and technology and will double the number of aircraft that can land and take off from the airport every hour from the present 12 flights. The new ATC would be constructed in such a manner that it can be upgraded over time so that it can serve the needs of the airport for many years to come.

 At present, the ATC can control any aircraft at a distance of 100 kilometres. After the new facilities, an aircraft can be controlled even if it is 150 kilometres away.

At present, the distance between two aircraft under the control of the city airport is 10 miles, but after the upgradation, it can be reduced to 5 miles, which will increase the aircraft handling capacity.

Landing of aeroplanes at any airport requires varying fire safety norms according to the size of the aeroplane. At present, it is not possible to give approval for the landing of large aeroplanes at the Indore airport. After the construction of the new fire station, the airport will meet the norms prescribed for big aeroplanes.

Lalwani thanked PM Narendra Modi and Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia and said that the number of passengers from the city airport is continuously increasing. In such a situation, there is a need for infrastructure at the airport according to the needs of the future.