Mumbai has only half the ATC staff approved

Mumbai: The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), which is busy investigating recurrent cases of air-misses, is ignoring certain fundamental problems that plague airports in India.
The two busiest international airports—Mumbai and Delhi—have understaffed and overworked Air Traffic Control (ATC) departments. According to an assessment in 2009, the country needs 4,600 air traffic controllers but the available strength is only 1,500. "The sanctioned strength is 3,100 controllers all over India. There are 200 controllers working in Mumbai and 244 at Delhi airport. However, the required number is at least 400 for each of these airports," a senior Airports Authority of India (AAI) official said.
"Ideally, a controller should handle 10-12 flights an hour. However, during peak hours, a controller handles 30-40 flights. This is at least three times more than the actual landings/take-offs to be handled," he added.
So why doesn't AAI do anything to improve the situation? Officials said that AAI has already inducted 300 junior controllers. It plans to recruit another 350 soon for the country. "However, even this move will barely meet the requirement cited way back in 2003, whereas the the demand has risen manifold in 2010," an official said.
19/07/10 Chinmayi Shalya/Times of India

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Categories: Airports Jul 2010