New aircraft landing navigation system for Kumasi Airport

A new aircraft navigation system is being installed at the Kumasi Airport to curtail incidents of flight delays and cancellations due to poor weather conditions.

The €750,000 Instrument Landing System (ILS) will aid pilots for smooth landing. The ILS consist three components – localizer, glide path and distance measuring equipment – which transmit signals for aircrafts to pick.

According to the Ghana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA), the System is to preserve the safety of aircrafts and passengers, whilst positioning the facility for future increase in air traffic.

It is also part of the GCAA’s drive to upgrade the Kumasi Airport to international standards.

Barnaby Matteer, Acting Deputy Director of Engineering at the Authority, says the system installation is 80 percent complete.

“The main purpose of this equipment is to guide aircrafts in their finals when they are coming in to land; to get them to the centre line of the runway, even in very bad weather conditions,” he explained.

German firm, Thalis Air Systems, is undertaking the project.

The company’s Commercial Engineer, Lubomir Haviar, is confident the instrument should become operational by February 2014 after flight calibration.

The Kumasi Airport is presently carrying 40,000 passengers per month.

Story by Kofi Adu Domfeh