The government has exempted Boeing 787 aircraft in India from complying with indigenously developed GAGAN navigation system until December 2025 as the aircraft manufacturer has said that it involves a major design change.
GAGAN (GPS Aided GEO Augmented Navigation) helps aircraft with guided landing at airports that do not have instrument landing system for low-visibility operations or an aid where two radio beams provide pilots with vertical and horizontal guidance during landing.
In a notification on August 18, the Ministry of Civil Aviation, said "Boeing 787 aircraft is exempted from GAGAN compliance till 31st December 2025."
A senior official of the Ministry said that the waiver was granted following a discussion with Airports Authority of India (AAI) and aviation safety regulator the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA).
"The compliance requirement for Boeing 787 is extended after due consultation with AAI and DGCA. Boeing has informed that to make 787 compliant with GAGAN equipment major design change has to be carried out and given a time-frame of 4th Quarter of 2025. Accordingly, the exemption to Boeing 787 has been provided," the official said.
The official added that all other aircraft had to comply with GAGAN. As per the Civil Aviation Policy 2016, the deadline for aircraft in India to comply with GAGAN was January 1, 2019 which was first extended to June 30, 2020 and then to July 1, 2021.
GAGAN is an Indian Satellite Based Augmentation System jointly developed by the AAI and the Indian Space Research Organisation. There are only three other space-based augmentation systems available in the world which include Wide Area Augmentation System in the U.S., European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service and Japan's Multi-functional Satellite Augmentation System.
