BOURNEMOUTH Airport is consulting on proposals to decommission its dated instrument landing system.

This system, known as ILS, has been in operation for 30 years and works by sending radio waves to guide approaching aircraft onto the runway.

Latest proposals are to use satellite navigation technology, which will not require navigation equipment to be installed at the airport.

According to consultation documents submitted on behalf of the airport, the changes will not have "any significant positive or negative impact."

Bournemouth Airport managing director Stephen Gill, speaking in the forward of the consultation, said: "At Bournemouth International Airport we are very proud of our relationship with the local community and stakeholders and we are committed to being a responsible neighbour."

He added: "The ILS serving Runway 08 has been in operation for over 30 years, an incredible lifetime for a complex electronic system, but the equipment has been increasingly difficult to maintain and has now reached the end of its economic life."

The airport has one runway, with the designations 08 and 26.

Airport bosses say they don't expect any significant change to daytime operations, and that 95 per cent of arrivals will "maintain the current arrival approach tracks."

The consultation document states: "The aerodrome carefully assessed the proposed change and its positive and negative impact to all stakeholders and does not believe there will be any significant positive or negative impact as a result of the proposal."

According to the document the ILS serving the airport was installed second hand in 1984/85 and the equipment and maintenance support are now "beyond the end of the system's technical and economic life."

The paper also confirmed: "Bournemouth Airport is well equipped, and able, to accommodate all types of aircraft and helicopters from single-engined light aircraft used for initial pilot training , up to large air transport such as a Boeing 747 or Airbus A380.

A consultation drop-in session is scheduled for Bournemouth Airport, between 3-10pm, on February 21.

The consultation continues until March 27.