Delay in nod for AI flight take-off led to confusion

Thiruvananthapuram: Delay by the Air Traffic Control (ATC) in giving permission to Air India (AI) flight AI 929 bound for Riyadh to take off led to Friday's confusion at the Thiruvananthapuram international airport in which the same runway was used by Emirates and SriLankan Airlines flight to take off and land within one minute.
The Air Traffic Controller's nod to Emirates flight EK 521 bound for Dubai to take off when the AI 929 flight operated using a 747-400 aircraft was awaiting clearance for the same led to the confusion.
The commander of the AI Jumbo flight waited for five minutes to get the nod to take off. Sources said the permission was given to the Emirates flight on the ground that the request came first from the Dubai-based airline. This irked AI flight commander Captain Gill and he brought the issue to the notice of the airport and the airline authorities.
Capt. Gill is learnt to have given the complaint, although the commanders of the other two airlines had not reported anything. No incident report had been made.
Sources said the AI flight commander had not followed decorum during communication over the radio phone while demanding an early take-off.
The Emirates flight with 241 passengers took off from runway 32 at 11.10 a.m. and the SriLankan Airlines flight UL 161 with 154 passengers from the island nation's capital landed at 11.11 a.m. Sources said the SriLankan flight landed on the runway only after the Emirates flight was airborne and all safety precautions were followed.
11/12/11 S Anil Radhakrishnan/The Hindu

To Read the News in full at Source, Click the Headline

Categories: Air India Dec 2011, airports Dec 2011, Foreign Dec 2011, Safety Dec 2011