Port Blair, Feb 22: The Civil Aviation in Andaman & Nicobar Islands has achieved a major milestone today in making Veer Savarkar International Airport ILS (Instrument Landing System) ready. The draft ILS procedures have been successfully validated by Vistara flight UK 747 from Kolkata to Port Blair under the leadership of Captain Ishar Singh and first officer Mohammad Saifullah landed at 11:27.

Now we are one step away from the operationalization of ILS, as these procedures are to be published in AIP (Aeronautical Information Publication). After the publication of procedures in AIP, the flight rules of VSI Airport will be switched from VFR (Visual Flight Rule) to IFR (Instrument Flight Rule). IFR will enable the flight operations at night and in bad weather conditions.

On this occasion, the Airport Director Shri Devender Yadav said that we are working on mission mode to operationalize ILS and switch to IFR as soon as possible. This switch will be a game changer for civil aviation in Andaman & Nicobar Islands and a major enabler for monsoon tourism, flight operations in night and bad weather conditions.

The Airport Director thanked Vistara airport manager Shri Abhilash Nair and Shri Keshab Sarkar Jt GM (CNS) and Shri K.C Hari AGM (CNS) from AAI for co-ordination and execution of draft procedure validation activity with precision.