An official of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has criticised the state-run Airports Authority of India (AAI) for not informing the DGCA in time of equipment that is being installed at airports in the country. The DGCA’s Director of Operations A.K. Bharadwaj has written a letter taking the AAI to task on this issue. The DGCA official also said the AAI should henceforth be “timely” in informing the DGCA. The communication reflects the friction between the two bodies at a time when aviation safety standards in the country are under constant international scrutiny following the Mangalore crash last month.
Sources said the DGCA, which is the aviation regulator in the country, is upset about the alleged “piece-meal” and “sporadic” manner in which the AAI is informing the DGCA about the installation of equipment at airports. Sources in the AAI, however, disagreed with the assessment of the DGCA official, saying that the AAI does inform the DGCA about any installation of equipment at any of the airports well in advance.
Aviation sources said equipment being installed at various airports included surface movement radars, advanced air traffic management systems, instrumentation landing systems and very high frequency (VHF) communication equipment. Even at airports that are operated by private-led joint venture companies, the air traffic control (ATC) functions are performed by the AAI.
In fact, this week, civil aviation secretary Madhavan Nambiar is scheduled to conduct a detailed review of the functioning of the AAI. Following the Mangalore crash last month, the infrastructure at airports operated by the AAI had come under intense scrutiny but the AAI had defended itself last month, saying that the functioning of all equipment at Mangalore airport as well as its other airports is in perfect working order.
The AAI is developing 35 non-metro airports in the country besides the metro airports of Kolkata and Chennai. Significantly, DGCA teams are carrying out inspections of 11 critical airports in the country, several of which are operated by the AAI.