DIAL braces for foggy battle, plans call centre

New Delhi: The annual nightmare of trying to fly in fog conditions and getting stranded at the airport could begin from Tuesday. The Met department has said fog is likely to set in anytime now and that some relief can be expected only over the weekend.
The actual onset of fog will only add to flight delays.Very few airlines have Cat-II or III trained pilots.
While Indian Airlines (now Air India) leads the pack of Cat-III B compliant planes and pilots, other airlines have only few such trained personnel. 55 parking bays with CAT III compatible lighting system have been set aside for CAT III compliant aircraft. All CAT III operations will get priority clearance from the air traffic control.
This year, elaborate measures are in place to ensure that real time data on arrivals and departures is made available to passengers from the air traffic control and airlines and regular weather updates by the Met department. DIAL CEO Andrew Harrison said a special call centre was being set up for information on flight status.
However, where problems are being expected is the airside. After the recent spate of accidents at the airport - 49 this year alone, two of which proved to be fatal,- joint secretary of Ministry of Civil Aviation K N Srivastava had announced that the number of vehicles plying at the airside was much more than was necessary and airlines would be issued directions to reduce their number with immediate effect. Walking and driving two wheelers on the airside has also been prohibited.
But airlines are complaining that with this rule in place, number of vehicles would actually increase.
Other airlines also said airside safety could be seriously jeopardised during the fog.
04/12/07 Neha Lalchandani/Times of India

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Categories: Airports Dec 2007, Safety Dec 2007