Pakistan’s Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) will invest approximately $9.6m to purchase new radar system from a Spanish company – INDRA. This step has been taken to upgrade the current air safety and navigation system at local airports which are about a decade old.
The initial phase will replace radars at Jinnah International Airport, Karachi and the Allama Iqbal International Airport, Lahore while other airports across the country will follow soon.
The agreement was signed between CAA deputy director general air vice-marshal Khawar Hussain and vice-president of INDRA, Farancisco Navarro.
Pakistani airspace will see an increase in the number of aircraft as the upgrade will reduce the distance among aircrafts. This will help accommodate and guide more planes at one time in the airspace. The upgrade will also provide additional navigational facilities to more aircrafts to use the country’s airspace which will in turn increase the authority’s revenue.
The new radars will be installed in place of older versions in the next 18 months. Furthermore, CAA plans to upgrade the entire communication, navigation and surveillance systems in the next three years. These systems include Nationwide Online Connectivity, Controller Pilot Data Link Communication, Automatic Dependent Surveillance Contract and Broadcast, Instrument Landing System, Distance Measuring System and Digital Airport Terminal Information System etc.
Via Dawn
