OREANDA-NEWS. August 03, 2009. Implementation of the Precision Approach system CAT II has begun at Vilnius  International Airport (VIA). After the implementation of the system is completed the safety of flights will be increased and inactivity of aircrafts due to bad weather conditions decreased, reported the press-centre of Vilnius  International Airport.

Now, the airport has the Precision Approach system CAT I. That means the aircraft captain‘s Decision Height to land or cancel the approach is 60 meters, Runway Visual Range is 550 meters. CAT II decreases the Decision Height to 30 meters and the Runway Visual Range to 350 meters.

‘After the runway is modernized and the higher category implemented an aircraft‘s captain would land the plane easier in complicated weather conditions, the land visibility would be better and the inactivity of airplanes due to bad weather would be decreased. All that increases the attractiveness of the airport’, says the technical director of VIA, Darius Okunevicius.

Airport runways can be set up according to three different Precision Approach categories.

The contractor of this project, Siemens, which won the public tender, will supply the existing airport’s warning system with approaching and landing zone lights. 250 additional lights will be installed. The project is to be finished in six months. The new system is planned to be launched by the end of this year.

The cost of the runway modernization project is 4.8 million Litas.