General Manager of TIA Ratish Chandra Lal Suman attributed the problem to accumulation of moisture in the VOR antenna, a radio navigation system that gives information about direction and distance. "The signal became weak and intermittent due to the moisture accumulation with some planes receiving the signal and others having problem," GM Suman said.[break]
Three international flights -- Spice Jet, Jet Airways and Air China -- were diverted due to the problem that started at 9:15 in the morning. The planes landed at the airport later after the problem was fixed around two hours later. The Jet Airways flight from Mumbai returned to Mumbai and landed at 1:10 in the afternoon, the Spice Jet flight from Delhi went back to Delhi and landed at 1:30 in the afternoon, and the China Air from Lhasa went back to Lhasa and landed later at 1:40 in the afternoon. Flights of Indian Airlines, Nepal Airlines and Qatar Airways, however, had landed even during the snag.
"The three flights landed despite the snag and the three flights that were diverted could well have been postponed due to inclement weather conditions," Suman argued downplaying the problem.
Suman said the flights on IFR (Instrument Flight Rules) -- that depend on the instruments on the flight deck -- were affected at the time but those that could operate on VFR (Visual Flight Rules) -- relying on outside visual reference --were operational.
Suman said the same problem had occurred during the last year´s monsoon and claimed it was not due to any lapses on TIA´s part. "We had done our scheduled maintenance on June 10 and there was nothing wrong with it," he claimed.
The TIA had installed the new VOR equipment, worth around, Rs 100 million made by US company Selex Incorporated in mid December 2010 and flights were affected for four hours even at the time of installation.
The only international airport in the country has been suffering from a series of problems lately with repeated flaking off of sections of the fresh black-topping over the only runway at the airport.
International flights were held up for nearly three hours last Tuesday after a section of the 3,050-meter (10,000 feet) runway became unusable with the black-topping flaking off leaving holes between link taxiway 4 and 5.
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