Two flights 'disappear' from airport's radar in Kolkata

At least two flights have 'disappeared' from the Air Traffic Control (ATC) radar at the NSC Bose International Airport here in the past few days, airport officials said here today.

The ATC at the airport was unable to detect the movement of a Kolkata-Bangalore Jetlite aircraft with 51 passengers on board on July 17, executive director PK Singhal said.

The flight disappeared from the radar at 7.15 pm after it took off from Kolkata airport at 6 pm.

In a similar case on July 12, a Singapore Airlines flight from Milan had also briefly disappeared from the radar.

The reason of the failure of the radar monitoring instruments could not be ascertained in both the cases, Singhal said.

"We are trying to find out the cause and will take remedial measures as soon as possible," he said.

He, however, said the airport does not depend solely on radars and had maintained contact with the pilot through other means during the period.