The city airport has got an advanced air traffic management system for safer landing and take-off.

The Performance Based Navigation (PBN) system, work on which started on February 16 last year, became functional at 5.30am on Thursday.

The new system has a number of dedicated routes for arrival and departure within a 260-km radius of the airport. It also makes flights less dependent on the voice communication system.

Detailed plans for flights on each route are drawn up and fed to the aircraft’s navigation system before take off.

The flight plan mentions the altitude and speed at which the aircraft should fly and highlight the points where it should change height, among other details. “Since the manual will be identical for all flights on a route, pilots will not have to depend on voice communication,” said a senior airport official.

Around 75 per cent of the flights operating in and out of Calcutta airport are PBN-compliant. Separate routes have been created for the aircraft that don’t conform to the new system.

“The new system ensures safer and more accurate flying. It’ll also reduce stress on ATC personnel and pilots,” said Gautam Mukherjee, regional executive director (east), Airports Authority of India.

The advanced navigation system was installed at Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai and Hyderabad airports more than a year ago.