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Show Senate approves $2.5 million funding for advanced landing system in SLC WASHINGTON, D.C. The Senate Appropriations Committee has approved over $2.5 million to improve the instrument landing system (ILS) at the Salt Lake International Inter-national Airport, announced Utah Senators Jake Garn and Orrin Hatch. The senators said "the funding for this critical project will improve safety at the airport, significantly diminish airport operational problems prob-lems and enhance safety in the future." fu-ture." The federal funding, approved last night in a full Appropriations Committee mark-up of the FY 1988 Transportation Appropriations bill, will fund the installation of a Category III ILS for Runway 16R. A Category III ILS is the state of the art equipment for precision airplane air-plane landings under severe weather weath-er conditions. Garn and Hatch said securing funding for this instrument landing system will mean fewer disruptions in airline scheduling and more convenience con-venience for passengers during adverse weather. "There have been many delays at the airport during winter months when the airport's capacity has been severely reduced because of bad weather," they said. "The enhanced en-hanced ILS system will help keep the airport at or near its full operational opera-tional capacity during this time." This improvement also will help the airport operate more efficiently as it continues to expand. The senators said this will be a welcome improvement during the period of rapid growth due to Delta Air Lines' expansion of their Salt Lake City hub operation. Delta employs about 3, 100 people in the Salt Lake area with an annual economic impact im-pact in excess of $185 million for Utah's economy. The senators said the project has received the full support of the Salt Lake City Airport Authority and the airlines that serve the airport. They praised the efforts of the Salt Lake City Airport Authority and the airlines serving Salt Lake City for their support of this project. pro-ject. The appropriations measure also includes language in the accompanying accom-panying committee report regarding regard-ing an ILS at the Ogden Municipal Airport. Senator Garn, a member of the Appropriations Committee, requested re-quested funds to purchase a Category Categ-ory I ILS for the Ogden airport, which for several years has experienced experi-enced a constant increase in air traffic. Unfortunately, Garn said, because be-cause of the limited funds in this year's budget, the request for Ogden's improvements could not be appropriated this year. However, Howev-er, the committee recognized the increased air activity in the Ogden area and expressed concern about the lack of precision landing capability capa-bility at the airport. The committee report language directs the Federal Aviation Administration Admi-nistration to monitor this activity during the coming year with the objective of validating the need for an ILS at the earliest possible date. Hatch said "The ILS is necessary neces-sary primarily to ensure airline safety in Utah's skies." The Utah senators said they will continue to work in the coming year to obtain the necessary improvements for the Ogden facility. |