Kempegowda International Airport, Bengaluru (BLR Airport) is one of the busiest airports in India, serving Bangalore and its neighboring areas.
The airport’s second runway, scheduled to be operational by late-2019, will be powered by ADB SAFEGATE’s SafeLED airfield lighting (AGL), making it India’s first and only such runway. The SafeLED AGL range offers the advantages of lower maintenance and power costs while ensuring higher levels of safety, availability and efficient operations.
“As the BLR Airport gears up to support 55 air traffic movements per hour on its second runway, ensuring safe and efficient operations will remain paramount,“ said Mr Tom Shimmin, chief project officer, Bangalore International Airport Limited (BIAL), the operator of the BLR Airport.
“With our focus on safety and efficiency of flight operation, there is no room for error. We believe that ADB SAFEGATE’s LED airfield lights will bring us the advantages of performance, cost and energy gains, ease of operation and maintenance, and overall safety and efficiency,” Mr Shimmin added.
ADB SAFEGATE is responsible for the design and supply of the AGL as well as Advanced Visual Docking Guidance Systems (A-VDGS). The company will provide its SafeLED lights, constant current regulators (CCRs) for power management, cables, lighting and control systems such as the ALCMS and ILCMS. The company’s Safedock T1 and T2 variants of A-VDGS will be integrated with the airport’s existing apron management system for improved performance at the gate.
The construction of the second runway was awarded to M/S L&T, as the main contractor, on an Engineering Procurement and Construction (EPC) basis. ADB SAFEGATE is working with its local partner, AMA Pvt Ltd, as well as the main contractor, to deliver the project to be completed in four phases with an expected timeline of more than two and a half years.
“From a little over nine million passengers since its first year of operation in 2008, to a forecast of 32 million-plus passengers in 2018, Kempegowda International Airport, Bengaluru has come a long way,” said Christian Onselaere, CEO, ADB SAFEGATE. “We’ve partnered with BIAL since the early days, and we are looking forward to supporting them in their next phase of growth.”
The new runway will have an advanced CAT-III (B) instrument landing system that can cater to all types of aircraft, including Airbus A380 and Boeing 747-8, and is expected to be operational from October 2019.