The Airports Authority of India (AAI) will set up a Central Air Traffic Flow Management centre at New Delhi for controlling the entire Indian airspace from a single spot. “We will complete the integration of the entire upper space in the country by this yearend,” said AAI Air Navigation Services member V. Somasundaram here on Thursday.

At present, the southern airspace has been harmonised at Chennai, while works are in progress at the remaining three metro cities namely Mumbai, Delhi and Kolkata.

The AAI plans to integrate six radars in each region to cover the upper air space in the country. In South India, the AAI has integrated 10 radars including three new ones at Bellary, Chennai and Visakhapatnam.

“The center flow management will help us get all information including congestion at airports, weather conditions and even military exercises while also facilitating reverse communication. It will give situational awareness to air traffic controllers and save fuel, money and time for operators while also providing convenience to the passengers,” said Mr Somasundaram.

While noting that the air-miss incidents have dwindled after integration of upper airspace in Chennai, he said, the airspace integration at Chennai would cut 22.3 million litres of fuel and US $ 29.9 million for operators per year apart from cutting down on carbon emission.

This successful integration of upper air area control centre with multiple sectors at Chennai has fetched AAI, its first international award in the air traffic management segment namely the Jane’s Award for the year 2012 for achieving the best operational efficiency.

While Russia and Namibia were also short-listed for the award, the AAI clinched it for uniform application of methods, procedures and separation.

Pilots to get landing data from satellites
In a year’s time pilots landing at Chennai needed not depend on ground based navigation systems. The Airports Authority of India (AAI) has decided to implement ground-based augmentation system (GBAS), where pilots would directly receive details from satellites at the Chennai airport.

The GBAS focuses its service on the airport area for precision approach, departure procedures, and terminal area operations and uploads them to GPS, the space-based satellite navigation system. The message would be broadcast through a very high frequency radio data link from a ground-based transmitter.

“The GBAS has been approved for Chennai and once the work is awarded, the system should be in place within 12 months,” said AAI Air Navigation Services member V. Somasundaram, adding that GBAS can be used from multiple runways and would come in handy when the VORs (radio navigation aid) and Instrument Landing Systems fail.

The air traffic management system in the country would be on par with UK and US once the GBAS is installed across the country. “We are well ahead of most of the countries on operational capabilities,” he added.

While the GBAS would be ready in Chennai by early next year AAI would implement it in other airports later, Mr Somasundaram said.

On the technology upgradation in the air traffic management sector, he said, the AAI would install Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B), a cost-effective surveillance technology in 14 airports in the country by July this year.

“We are constantly upgrading our technologies. ADS-B, which helps in tracking aircraft as part of next generation air transportation system will be useful as a supplementary devise especially when the radar fails or withdrawn for some reason,” he added.