In a major boost to aviation safety, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on Thursday successfully conducted India's first landing of a jet-engine aircraft using a satellite-based landing system.
The regulator used ISRO's Airports Authority of India's satellite-based landing system, "Gagan" (GPS-aided Geo Augmented Navigation), to clear an IndiGo A320 aircraft at its Udaipur airbase. Jet-engine aircraft are now using this technology, a few years after turboprop ATR aircraft did so.
The Satellite Landing System (SLS) is considered a game-changer for enhancing safety at smaller airports that lack expensive Instrument Landing Systems (ILS), as it enables aircraft to carry out landing procedures using advanced satellite navigation technology. The system was first introduced in Europe in 2015 for the A320 aircraft.
Officials familiar with the development described the IndiGo Airbus flight to Udaipur as "another significant milestone towards advancing satellite-based navigation in India by completing a localiser demonstration approach with vertical guidance."
IndiGo had introduced LPV (Localiser Performance with Vertical Guidance) operations on its ATR fleet in 2022 and has now extended the capability to all its aircraft equipped with a "satellite-based augmentation system."
Jointly Developed by ISRO and AAI
Jointly developed by ISRO and the Airports Authority of India (AAI), India's Satellite-Based Augmentation System (SBAS), GAGAN, provides the coverage required for LPV operations across Indian airspace. With this, India has become one of the few countries in the world to possess its own SBAS capability.
As more airports adopt LPV procedures and more airlines equip their aircraft with SBAS capability, GAGAN is expected to play a key role in the future of Indian aviation by making air travel safer, more efficient, and more accessible.