Originally Posted by
Gentle Climb
I'm not sure that there is any great need to do it. The Rnav approach is normally good enough, the Loc/Dme is available. Many aircraft have integrated approach navigation that turns these in to virtual ILS anyhow. The minima is higher than a cat 1 ILS but when the visibility is bad enough for it to be an issue then a switch to RW15 with a small tailwind is considered. I have done that a few times.
How many aircraft have failed to get in to BHX since the G/P became u/s? I don't know but I cant think it is that many.
Without having any actual stats I would say the number of diversions due to the lack of 33 ILS is still in single figures but whether this is just luck rather than judgement I can't say but in my opinion most issues arise around the non-based airlines which is understandable.
There have been many delays, go-arounds and holding and certainly enough to ask questions why it hasn't been resolved and I don't like BHX's attitude to when it is mentioned either but that is another story.
Wizz restart Budapest tomorrow twice weekly which should make it a busy day with KLM, Ryanair Dublin and an Aegean repat flight assuming they all operate.
Pete