Lots of planes, not enough controllers

All flights at the Indira Gandhi International Airport are handled by a team of only 10 Air Traffic Controllers (ATCs) at any point of time. That makes it about 25 flights per ATC during peak hours.
The result: air-traffic chaos, half-hour to one-hour delays that have become a habit and a nightmare for the passengers.
When HT probed further on Saturday, it found that traffic congestion was a result of crumbling infrastructure and delays in pilots getting clearance from ATCs.
“The infrastructure at the airport is not at all equipped to handle the pressure of the large number of flights. With the limited manpower we have, there cannot be any better results,” said a senior ATC. In 2005, the airport handled 450 flights a day; in mid-2006, it was 550. Today, it is 650 a day.
The number of ATCs, however, is the same as four years ago, said an official. There are only 40 radar controllers — seniors who actually communicate with the pilots — working in shifts. The total ATC team is of 190 personnel.
“Not more than 10 ATCs handle the traffic at any given time when both the runways are in use, otherwise the number is just six,” the official said. “We should have 40 ATCs during simultaneous use of the runways.”
“Recruitment is on in full swing and the situation will get better,” said T. Premnath, spokesman of the Airports Authority of India. But given that recruits who joined in 2000 are yet to become radar controllers, the future appears to be grim.
10/02/07 Sidhartha Roy/Hindustan Times

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Categories: airports feb 2007, General Aviation feb 2007, safety feb 2007