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AAI plans a centralised system to ease air traffic
Air traffic congestion and travel times, especially for flights operating from busy airports like Mumbai and Delhi, are expected to drop significantly from April as the Airports Authority of India (AAI) is betting big on a centralised platform to help flight operators and airports plan their operations better.
According to officials, the Rs 107 crore Centrally-controlled Air Traffic Flow Management (C-ATFM) system integrates data from airlines, airports, air-traffic agencies and the military, to give individual flights a projected wait period at the destination airport, even before it takes off.
Once fully implemented, it would reduce the holding time of planes over airports, an AAI spokesperson said. “The new system will be most beneficial for busy sectors like MumbaiDelhi where aircrafts are often unable to land due to congestion and are often forced to hover above airports resulting in delays.”
AAI’s own calculation project that adopting the new system will help airlines save as much as Rs 1,680 crore per annum, on account of savings on fuel, while also enhancing passenger safety and reducing the carbon footprint.
“It will also display weather details along with static information about airports, air spaces and air routes,” said officials.
The system is currently being tested on the congested Mumbai-Delhi airspace and at the Delhi airport. It will be implemented at Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Hyderabad, Bengaluru and Kolkata airports, in its first phase which will begin in April. Marcus Cooper Jersey
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