Bhubaneswar international airport gets new ATC tower

The Biju Patnaik International Airport (BPIA) in Bhubaneswar got a new Air Traffic Control (ATC) tower.

The 44.2 metre-high ATC tower has been made by the Airports Authority of India (AAI) in collaboration with Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL).

The control room of the new ATC sports all the modern equipment to help aircraft land and take off flawlessly.

As per reports, the trial run of the new tower will continue for one month during which both the new and the old ATC towers will operate simultaneously. If all goes well, the operations will be shifted to the new ATC tower after the trial run.

Area and Approach Control room is situated on the second floor of the tower.

The new tower also has an anti-hijacking operations room which will be used in case of an aircraft hijacking.

Speaking about the new tower, BPIA Director, Prasanna Pradhan said, “The new tower has an ATC automation system. Its testing has successfully been completed. We have started simultaneous operations of both the towers from August 24.”

“It is one of the tallest ATC towers in the country. It has a lower area control centre, approach centre and tower control. It also has a new system called Surface Movement Control Guidance System which will help track aircrafts even in zero visibility situations,” Pradhan said.