The Hindu Business Line : AAI plans to add 100 traffic controllers a year

THE entry of private airlines seems to have stepped up the demand for air traffic control officers (ATCOs). The Airports Authority of India (AAI) plans to recruit around 100 ATCOs every year.

In an informal chat with Business Line here on Tuesday, Mr Sri Krishna, Executive Director (Air Traffic Management), said around 100 ATCOs would be recruited by March 15. Training for the candidates would begin before April 1. Another 100 ATCOs would be recruited before July.

Recently 92 ATCOs were recruited, and 80 of them trained and posted.

Mr Sri Krishna was in the city to inspect works related to the second runway construction at Mangalore airport.

To meet the demand of airline operators, AAI is also giving importance to the expansion of terminal buildings and aprons at airports. In fact, private airlines have been offered 50 per cent concession to park aircraft at smaller airports during the night. He hoped this would bring down congestion at the four metropolitan airports, as well as the Bangalore, Hyderabad and Ahmedabad airports.

There was demand for parking at the Coimbatore, Guwahati, Agartala, Imphal and Lucknow airports during night, he said.

Stating that AAI wants to expand its radar network, he said five radar stations would be added to the existing 13 stations. He said that the entire Indian airspace would be covered by AAI's radar network after the establishment of radar stations at Bellary, Visakhapatnam, Jodhpur, Katihar and Bhopal. As a first step, it plans to network radar stations in Kolkata, Berhampur and Benaras.

Mr Sri Krishna said that the AAI, in association with the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), would launch GAGAN (GPS-aided Geo Augmented Navigation) system for the aviation sector.