AAI changes late, IATA says routes unsafe

According to the IATA, the AAI has changed co-ordinates all along the departure routes at IGIA without alerting airline companies. As a result, the information has not been fed into flight information systems aboard the aircraft making it unsafe for them to operate according to these procedures.

It is understood that the AAI had to change the co-ordinates to accommodate the security requirements identified by the Air Force at the IGIA. To prevent planes from veering off into sensitive zones like the Prime Minister’s residence and the Rashtrapati Bhawan, the AAI agreed to ensure that aircraft will maintain a straight course and not make any turn for five miles after take-off.

Now, the IATA has objected that the airline companies have not incorporated the changes in the flight information system aboard the aircraft.

Since the entire instrument-guided mechanism is based on flights being able to chart the course with the help of on-board flight information system and minimum fuss to the air traffic control, the IATA has stated it would be unsafe for flights to operate till airline companies incorporate these changes.

However, the AAI, which has already stretched the deadline set by the International Civil Aviation Organisation to implement instrument-guided departure procedures, is contesting the IATA notice.

While still trying to woo airline companies, it has argued that the IATA should have made the objection before the procedures were notified.

It is understood that the main concern of the IATA stems from the fact that the departure procedures announced by the AAI only increase flying time rather than speeding up departures.

‘‘Earlier, a plane could take off every two minutes from the IGIA, but now it has increased to three minutes because the air traffic control cannot release the next flight unless the previous one has crossed the five-mile barrier.

This goes against the logic of using on-board technology aids which must be aimed at speeding up operations not slackening it,’’ said an airline operator.

The AAI, for its part, is of the view that it has done its best keeping in mind both security concerns as well as flight facilitation.

The AAI sources said the IAF had initially demanded for a 20-mile barrier which was reduced further by the Khola Committee — constituted after 9/11 to suggest changes in aviation security — to 10 miles.

The AAI claims to have negotiated and brought this down to five miles.