India has taken a significant step towards strengthening aviation safety with the launch of the country's first SkyCast weather monitoring and nowcasting system at Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport.
The advanced weather intelligence platform was inaugurated on Friday by Jitendra Singh and is expected to help airlines, pilots and air traffic controllers respond more effectively to rapidly changing weather conditions.
Officials said the system will play a crucial role in reducing delays, cancellations and diversions caused by fog, thunderstorms, turbulence and other adverse weather events that frequently affect flight operations, particularly during Delhi's winter months.
Real-time weather tracking for safer operations
According to the Hindustan Times, SkyCast combines multiple technologies, including remote sensing systems, atmospheric profiling instruments and advanced nowcasting tools, to continuously monitor weather conditions around the airport.
According to Singh, the platform can provide alerts to pilots and flight crews up to three hours in advance, helping them make informed operational decisions regarding take-offs and landings.
The system also generates highly localised weather forecasts and updates every five minutes, allowing authorities to respond quickly to developing conditions.
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Designed to detect aviation hazards
According to the Hindustan Times, officials said SkyCast is capable of monitoring critical atmospheric parameters such as temperature, humidity, wind speed, wind direction, cloud liquid water content and water vapour density.
The technology can also identify potential aviation hazards, including wind shear, turbulence, low-level jets, icing conditions, inversions and dense fog.
Particular emphasis has been placed on fog monitoring, a major challenge for Delhi's aviation sector due to the interaction of pollution particles with winter fog, which often leads to severe visibility issues.
Delhi leads India’s aviation weather upgrade
According to the Hindustan Times, Delhi International Airport Limited Chief Executive Officer Videh Kumar Jaipuriar said the new system would enable airport teams and air traffic controllers to make faster and more accurate decisions during challenging weather situations.
Officials from GMR Aero said the platform complies with international standards laid down by the International Civil Aviation Organisation and the Federal Aviation Administration, including runway-specific wind-shear alerts.
With the deployment of SkyCast, India has become the 19th country in the world to adopt an integrated aviation weather monitoring system. The government has also confirmed that the upcoming Noida International Airport will be the second airport in the country to receive the technology.
