ATC to handle fivefold passenger surge as India vows to grow to 1.3 billion air passengers by 2047

CHENNAI:
India’s air traffic controllers will have to handle a more than fivefold increase in passenger numbers by 2047 as Union Minister of Civil Aviation of India Kinjarapu Ram Mohan Naidu on Tuesday said India aims to grow from 24 crore air passengers to 130 crore passengers in the next two decades (2047).

In a recorded message to controllers gathered in Chennai for International Day of Air Traffic Controllers, the minister said the Airport Authority of India has earmarked Rs 3,490 crore for modernizing air navigation infrastructure, including Rs 1,532 crore for automation of air traffic management systems.

Acknowledging the strain of long watches, night shifts and split-second decisionsby air traffic controllers, Naidu said technology could assist but “judgment, composure and responsibility will always be human." He also highlighted  some 840 additional controller posts have been created in recent years.

The minister said flexible use of airspace has saved an estimated Rs 895 crore and nearly 1.95 lakh tons of carbon dioxide since August 2020.

Speaking on the occasion, Nivedita Dubey, Member (Human Resources) of the Airports Authority of India, has vowed an overhaul of career progression, a voice in how heavily funded navigation technology is bought, and open access to senior management.

She said the organisation was aware of “massive stagnation” at certain levels of the air traffic management (ATM) cadre, a long-running grievance of controllers’ representatives. A multidisciplinary team of officers, including some from ATC, has been formed to draw up a road map, she said.

The team is also reviewing a McKinsey study from a few years ago, which proposed restructuring and led to new posts in ATC and communication, navigation and surveillance (CNS). Dubey said the AAI was considering a fresh study through the Quality Council of India.

Dubey said the AAI has signed memoranda of understanding with several Indian Institutes of Management and will soon begin nominating officers for specialist programmes.

K Murali, general manager for air traffic control in Chennai, described how air traffic controller as a profession transformed since the 1930s and 1940s, when Chennai controllers tracked aircraft on a small blackboard, noting position, destination, timing and altitude, and calculating by hand where two flights might meet. Today, he said, “almost everything is automated”. Software computes aircraft speeds, predicts where flight paths may cross and alerts controllers to potential conflicts.

He said the clearest operational test came when Pakistan closed its airspace to Indian flights during Operation Sindoor. Airlines submitted alternative routes, controllers said which were unavailable, and operators chose among the rest, Murali said. The choice carried a cost -- one detour might add an hour of fuel, another three. Controllers approved and facilitated the flight plans.  The overall air space that Indian Air Traffic Controllers handles is around 5 million Square Nautical Miles which is equivalent to thrice the Indian Land Mass.