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The radar facility at Cochin International Airport is expected to be fully operational by December this year.
The construction of the NAV-AID building which will house the radar equipment is in the final stages. The equipment is being procured and will be installed by the Airports Authority of India, which is responsible for air traffic management at Cochin International Airport.
Mr A.C.K. Nair, airport director, said that the radar is expected to be installed by the end of August. However, full-fledged operations may take some more time since the equipment need to be calibrated and tested.
AAI has designated Cochin International Airport as a lower area control centre as part of restructuring of the Indian airspace. At present, air traffic management at Kochi is controlled with the help of radar inputs from Thiruvananthapuram (area control centre) and Mangalore in coordination with the flight information centre in Chennai.
Once the radar becomes fully operational, the aircraft landing and take-off will be totally under the control of the radar controller, eliminating the need for any judgment by the pilot during these procedures, even under conditions of very limited visibility.
This will enhance the safety of operations, besides minimising the holding time of aircraft for landing, thereby saving aviation fuel, Mr Nair added.
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