Upgrade of runway at Vilnius Airport completed

20.05.2010 06:05 | Lithuania

Photo: Baltictravelnews.com

The installation of a category II system of signalling lights for precision approach and landing at Vilnius International Airport (VIA) has been completed and the system has been acknowledged as suitable for use. On implementation of the procedures of this category, flight safety will be enhanced and the duration of aircraft idle time due to poor weather conditions will be reduced.

Until recently, the airport had a category I precision approach and landing system. This means that the height when aircraft captains took the decision to land or terminate the approach to land at the airport was 60 meters and the horizontal runway visibility was 550 metres. With the category II system, the decision-taking height is reduced to 30 meters, and horizontal visibility is reduced to 350 metres.

‘On implementation of these higher category installations, it will be easier for aircraft captains to land at the airport when there is poor visibility, and as a result aircraft idle time due to bad weather conditions will decrease. All this enhances flight safety and makes the airport more attractive’, Darius Okunevičius, director of the Infrastructure Department of VIA, said.

Mr Okunevičius stated that technical work for the implementation of category II installations has been completed, and procedures for the legalisation of the installations have been initiated. Those procedures could take several months. Experts from the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) will also have to present their conclusions regarding the compliance of the installations at the airport with category II requirements.

Siemens UAB, which won a public tender to become contractor of this work, has supplemented the current signalling system of Vilnius Airport with approach and landing area lights; approximately 250 additional lights were installed. The value of the runway work project is LTL 4.86 million.

Runways at airports can be equipped according to three different categories of precision approach and landing systems.