Airport theft upsets flight schedules

MUMBAI: Expensive equipment has been stolen from a Mumbai airport runway, causing major concerns about security at the airport. The equipment was found missing on Tuesday evening, with the result that both domestic and international flights were delayed on Wednesday.
Sources said the ''localiser'', which radiates electro-magnetic waves and is an integral part of the instrument landing system (ILS), has been stolen from runway 27.The localiser, which is the antenna of the ILS, is a Tshaped copper instrument that is about 2 to 3 ft in length and 1.5 inches in diameter.
The theft is the first of its kind at the Mumbai airport.
The localiser helps aircraft in instrument landings, and as runway 27 is the prime runway at the airport, aviation authorities are a highly worried lot.
"How could anyone possibly remove a functioning localiser, in broad daylight, when the entire place is supposed to be under tight security?" asked an official.
Runway 27 is in close proximity to slums as it is located at the Jarimari end of theMumbai airport.
Officials of the Central Industrial Security Force, which has been entrusted with airport security, were unavailable for comment.
S R R Rao, regional executive director of the Airports Authority of India (AAI), said, "Our first priority is to restore the localiser. There are several contract labourers from different agencies working there. It''s difficult to speculate who did it."
The AAI had to operate runway 09 on Wednesday, though visibility is not very clear along that strip. There was congestion in the sky above the airport, as aircraft had to circle and follow certain manoeuvres to land on that strip.
"The most problematic time for flight operations would be from 10 pm to 2 am, the peak hour for international flights taking off," said a source.
The theft affected most flights that landed or took off from the airport on Wednesday. Almost all domestic flights, including those operated by Jet Airways, Indian Airlines and Air Sahara, were delayed by about 15 minutes to an hour.
IA passengers of the early morning Chennai-Mumbai flight, which was to land at the airport by 8.45 am, were the most inconvenienced. The IA aircraft hovered above the airport for about 30 minutes waiting for a landing slot before being diverted to Ahmedabad. The flight finally landed in Mumbai at 12.15 pm.