Air safety incidents at Delhi and Goa: Is it 'human' factor or shortage of staff at ATC?

Two air safety incidents on a single day, at Delhi and Goa airports, have led many of us to once again question India's air safety record. Remember, India was downgraded by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) of the United States in 2014 for failing to have enough safety personnel, and a restoration of the rating took several months. Though it won't be clear till a probe is completed on what lead to incidents this morning at Goa and Delhi, the fact is that manpower shortage in critical air functions could be a factor in frequent air incidents.
Take the critical ATC function - the Air Traffic Control (ATC) is still short staffed. Sources tell us the manpower needed is 3,600 personnel and only about 2,900 have been recruited till now. "These positions are being filled,"said an Airports Authority of India (AAI) official. A short staffed ATC apart, this story from Bloomberg quotes data from India's safety regulator DGCA to say that air safety incidents, which prompted regulatory action, reached 280 this year till August, beating the 275 all of last year. It went on to predict that "At this pace, the number may rise to more than 400 by the end of 2016, making it the worst in three years for aviation safety".
27/12/16 Sindhu Bhattacharya/F.Business

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Categories: Airports Dec 2016