Old and deadly

Calcutta is good at living up to its worst stereotypes. Technological backwardness is supposed to be one of its chief charms. But an antique airport is not charming. It is dangerous, irresponsible and, quite understandably, a blot on the city’s national and international reputation. For quite a while, and with alarming frequency, Calcutta airport has been the site of various kinds of averted catastrophe. Mid-air collisions prevented at the last moment, uncoordinated landings and take-offs, failures of communication between aircraft and air traffic control, a plane landing by mistake on a runway being repaired — such accidents have become part of what one hesitates to call the ‘spirit’ of the airport. It is now clear that most of the equipment for communication, navigation and surveillance are out of date by almost a couple of decades. And all this is, of course, against all the existing safety regulations. The skies over the city are getting congested, but the airport is yet to adapt to this change. An airspace management committee was set up here by the Airports Authority of India, and it managed to make a list of things to be done immediately. That was at the beginning of the year, and the list seems to have been forgotten now. Rs 2,000 crore has been set aside for ‘modernizing’ the airport, but this would involve updating ground amenities for passengers rather than ensuring safer flying. Hence, Calcutta airport ranks among the airports where standards are being compromised the most.

What the authorities have to sit up to immediately is that these standards are far from being cosmetic ones. Fundamental questions of safety and security are at stake here, and the matter involves considerably more than making West Bengal investment-friendly, although potential investors would certainly prefer to fly in and out of the city without colliding into one another. Getting state-of-the-art equipment, ensuring that they are of the best quality, setting them up promptly and training ATC personnel to use them properly should be part of the rudimentary functioning of the airport and not a question of special expertise. So should be measures like separate arrival and departure corridors. There can be no compromise or excuses when it comes to safety. This is an absolute principle that the authorities at the Calcutta airport must reckon with.
04/12/08 The Telegraph

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Categories: Airports Dec 2008, Safety Dec 2008