Airports Authority of India

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Airports Authority of India

Type	Statutory Body[1][2][3]
Industry	Aviation sector
Predecessor	Civil Aviation Department, Government of India
Founded	1 April 1995
Headquarters	Rajiv Gandhi Bhawan, Safdarjung Airport, New Delhi-110003, New Delhi India
Area served	India
Key people	Sanjeev Kumar, IAS (Chairman) Arun Kumar, IAS DGCA (Ex-Officio)
Products	Airport management and Air Navigation Services (ANS)
Owner	Directorate General of Civil Aviation, Ministry of Civil Aviation, Government of India
Number of employees	17,346 (As on 31.03.2020)
Divisions	Indian Airports
Website	www.aai.aero/en

Rajiv Gandhi Bhawan

The Airports Authority of India or AAI is a statutory body,^[1][2][3] under the jurisdiction of Directorate General of Civil Aviation, Ministry of Civil Aviation, Government of India. It is responsible for creating, upgrading, maintaining and managing civil aviation infrastructure in India. It provides Communication Navigation Surveillance / Air Traffic Management (CNS/ATM) services over Indian airspace and adjoining oceanic areas. AAI is currently managing a total of 137^[4] Airports, including 34^[4] International Airports, 10 Customs Airports, 81 Domestic Airports and 23 Civil enclaves at Defense Airfields. AAI also has ground installations at all airports and 25 other locations to ensure safety of aircraft operations. AAI covers all major air-routes over Indian landmass via 29 Radar installations at 11 locations along with 700 VOR/DVOR installations co-located with Distance Measuring Equipment (DME). 52 runways are provided with Instrument landing system (ILS) installations with Night Landing Facilities at most of these airports and Automatic Message Switching System at 15 Airports.

History[]

The Government of India constituted the International Airports Authority of India (IAAI) in 1972 to manage the nation's international airports while the National Airports Authority of India (NAAI) was constituted in 1986 to look after domestic airports.^[5][6] The organisations were merged in April 1995 by an Act of Parliament, namely, the Airports Authority of India Act, 1994 and has been constituted as a Statutory Body and was named as Airports Authority of India (AAI).^[7] This new organisation was to be responsible for creating, upgrading, maintaining and managing civil aviation infrastructure both on the ground and air space in the country.

Major ongoing projects[]

AAI's implementation of Automatic Dependence Surveillance System (ADSS) at Kolkata and Chennai Air Traffic Control Centres, made India the first country to use this technology in the South East Asian region thus enabling Air Traffic Control over oceanic areas using satellite mode of communication. Performance Based Navigation (PBN) procedures have already been implemented at Mumbai, Delhi and Ahmedabad Airports. AAI is implementing the GAGAN project in technological collaboration with the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). The navigation signals thus received from the GPS will be augmented to achieve the navigational requirement of aircraft. The first phase of the technology demonstration system was completed in February 2008.

Organizational structure[]

AAI having its corporate headquarters at Rajiv Gandhi Bhawan, New Delhi is operating from its five regional headquarters namely-

1. Eastern Regional Headquarter at Kolkata, West Bengal
2. Western Regional Headquarter at Mumbai, Maharashtra
3. Northern Regional Headquarter at Delhi, NCR
4. Southern Regional Headquarter at Chennai, Tamil Nadu
5. North-Eastern Regional Headquarter at Guwahati, Assam.

AAI has five training establishments, including three ATS training organizations (ATSTO) viz.

1. The Civil Aviation Training College (CATC) at Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh,
2. Hyderabad Training Centre at Hyderabad (HTC)
3. National Institute of Aviation Training and Management (NIATAM) at Gondia, Maharashtra.
4. Indian Aviation Academy^[8] (National Institute of Aviation Management and Research (NIAMAR) at Delhi (a joint venture of Airports Authority of India, Directorate General of Civil Aviation (India) and Bureau of Civil Aviation Security, Govt of India) and
5. Fire Training Centres (FTC) at Delhi & Kolkata.

An Aerodrome Visual Simulator (AVS) has been provided at CATC and non-radar procedural ATC simulator equipment is being supplied to CATC Allahabad and Hyderabad Airport. AAI has a dedicated Flight Inspection Unit (FIU) with a fleet of three aircraft fitted with flight inspection system to inspect Instrument Landing Systems up to Cat-III, VORs, DMEs, NDBs, VGSI (PAPI, VASI) and RADAR (ASR/MSSR). In addition to in-house flight calibration of its navigational aids, AAI undertakes flight calibration of navigational aids for the Indian Air Force, Indian Navy, Indian Coast Guard and other private airfields in the country.

Eastern region[]

The Eastern region of AAI controls 20 airports (including 12 non-operational airports) and four aeronautical communications stations. Eastern regional headquarters located in Kolkata, West Bengal, coordinates and controls the entire activities of all the airports and aeronautical communication stations listed below.^{[citation needed]}

Regional Executive Director (RED) of Airports Authority of India is the Executive Head of the Eastern Region. He is the overall in-charge of all activities (Operations, Security, Commercial, Safety, Finance & Administration) of the Eastern Region of the Airports Authority of India. The Eastern Region of Airports Authority of India is presently headed by Sh. Manoj Gangal, Regional Executive Director.

Functions & responsibilities of Eastern regional departments of AAI[]

Communication, navigation and surveillance[]

Among the FIRs (Flight Information Regions) in Indian Airspace, almost one third of the entire Airspace is controlled/ managed by Kolkata ACC. The responsibility of providing ANS (CNS/ATM) infrastructure for this huge Airspace is undertaken by CNS, Kolkata with installations at Remote stations located in the Eastern & North- East Region and beyond. In fact, with active persuasion from CNS, Kolkata ADS-B data from COCO Islands & SITTWE in Myanmar is now integrated with Kolkata Automation system.

The ANS infrastructure and data/voice connectivity (i.e. Communication, Navigation, Surveillance and Automation) to manage this coverage is provided and maintained by CNS, Kolkata.

Facilities provided by CNS Kolkata

• VHF/VCS
• Navaids
• Surveillance:
• Automation
• HF transmitter & receiver & HRFT
• CNS stores
• Upper airspace harmonization
• Single continuum upper airspace in Kolkata
• Integration surveillance data & VHF in ATS automation system
• Seamless surveillance coverage over Kolkata FIR
• Seamless vhf coverage over Kolkata FIR
• VHF coverage
• MPLS cloud architecture
• Sdvanced surface movement guidance control system (ASMGCS)
• Upgradation to CAT-iiib ILS with augmented ASMGCS facility

Aviation safety[]

The Aviation Safety Directorate in the region takes care of many responsibilities which are essential for the functionality of the Airports. Like it performs safety audit of all eastern region airports including RCS airports and CNS vital installation stations and monitoring of all AVS-ER audit observations. It also conducts yearly Safety Management System (SMS) training and provide assistants to all field stations to conduct safety assessment of different projects whenever required. Apart from this the Aviation Safety Directorate also conducts the quarterly Regional Safety Committee meeting, yearly aviation safety week and is responsible for vetting of safety assessment documents of all Eastern Region Airports among others.

Engineering[]

For any organisation Engineering Department is the backbone who plane and execute various civil and electrical works to provide the infrastructural facilities required. Here in eastern Region Engineering Department does the same for ATC/NAV-AIDS as per the requirement along with proper monitoring and control of construction and maintenance of runways / Taxiways /Apron and other buildings and offices as per the requirement. At present work on the 51.4m-high ATC tower and 33.2-m high ground plus five-level technical block at NSCBI Airport, Kolkata is under construction. The ATS complex will be a 4-star Griha rated green building right from the construction phase. In addition to green practices like rainwater harvesting and reduction in power load from 9,200 kW to 4,800 kW, the building will also have 31,000sqft green area. While the tower height will increase from 34m to 51.4m, the floor area of the complex will go up from 75,500sqm to 2,84,000sqm. The technical block will house around 750 people, mostly controllers and engineers. Also, there will be facility to park 200 cars and 100 two-wheelers.

Fire[]

The principal objective of Airport Rescue and Fire Services is to “To save lives in the event of an aircraft accident or incident” occurring at, or in the immediate vicinity of, an airport.

The Rescue and Fire Services is provided to create and maintain survivable conditions, to provide egress routes for occupants and to initiate the rescue of those occupants unable to make their escape without direct aid. This also applies to any other incident where life and property can be saved. The safety of the passengers is paramount at airports run by Airports Authority of India. AAI's highly trained Rescue and Fire Services stand ready to provide rescue and fire protection at all times.

There is an airport emergency plan to co-ordinate the efforts of mutual aid agency within the airport and its immediate vicinity. The Rescue and Fire Services is responsible for managing the Airport Emergency Plan and deal the situation accordingly at the aircraft accident or incident as well as safety of the occupants and avoidance of the fire risks in the terminal building & other vital installations at the airport.

Maintain level of Fire protection at airports, Fire prevention & Fire Protection at Terminal & Related Building and Vital Installation, Fire Service Personnel & Equipment's and monitor the performance & ensure the compliance by necessary remedial measure wherever required.

Corporate communications department[]

The department deals with print and electronic media and is responsible for media briefing, arranging press conferences, analysis of media reports, managing the social media accounts, NlTs, publishing of in-house Journals of AAI and also deals with matters concerning AAl's branding. Corporate Communication (CC) Department deals with the allocation of Media for AAl's Advertisements through the empanelled Agencies while maintaining the implementation of Raj Bhasha Guidelines applicable in this regard. CC Department also deals with matters concerning Sponsorships, Exhibitions, and Seminars etc. within the preamble of CC Policy.

ATM Directorate (ER)[]

Operations include Air Traffic Services (like Air Traffic Control, Landing & Takeoff, enroute flying, search and rescue services, aeronautical information services etc.), Communication, and Navigation & Surveillance (CNS). This also includes Aviation Security Services, Fire Services at airports and Passenger Facilitation in Airport Terminals.

Traffic statistics of various active airports of eastern region.

Flying clubs / casual operators

Air traffic services

The Air Traffic Services consist of the following services:

a. Air Traffic Control Services: The Air Traffic Control Services i.e. Aerodrome Control, Surface Movement Control, Approach Control at terminal airports and Area Control Center are provided by personnel stationed in the concerned Air Traffic Control positions of the respective airports and on designated frequencies. The terminal airports operate in coordination with the Area Control Center in Kolkata. The communication with the Aircraft is mostly through two-way VHF R/T and a supplementary cover is provided by CPDLC, H/F and AFTN network.  The Area Control center provide the Area Control Service, flight Information Service and the Alerting Service. The Area Control centers are connected to the terminal airports and adjacent Area Control Centers by Direct Speech Circuits. Area Control Center receives feed from 11 radars (ARSR/MSSR) with a range of 250 nautical miles and 9 ADS-B Ground Stations covering the entire continental airspace and portion of Oceanic airspace (portion of Bay of Bengal) under its jurisdiction. The major routes transiting through the FIR are R460, L759, A465, A791, G450, R581, R325, R344, L507, P646, M770, M773, N895, G472, L301, L510, N877, L524, M875 and P628.

Netaji Subash Chandra Bose International Airport, Kolkata is equipped with an ELDIS ASR/MSSR and INDRA MSSR with a range of 250 nautical miles and an automated ATC system developed by INDRA. Specially designed standard procedures like SIDS and STARS are used to complement laid down ATS routes. To cope up with the periods of very low visibility due to fog, special ILS CAT III (B) equipment is installed at NSCBI Airport, Kolkata. The automation of ATS facilities are at Biju Patnaik Airport, Bhubaneswar, Birsa Munda Airport, Ranchi, Jai Prakash Narayan International Airport, Patna, Swami Vivekananda Airport, Raipur and Gaya airports also. Other operational active Airports in the Eastern Region are Jharsuguda, Kazi Nazrul Islam Airport, Durgapur (Bengal Aerotropolis Projects Limited), Pakyong, Cooch Behar, Port Blair (Civil Enclave), Darbhanga (Civil Enclave) and Bagdogra (Civil Enclave).

b. Flight Information Service: The Aircraft operating beyond the radar coverage and outside the control areas are provided with flight information service and advisory service by the Area Control centers. The Nodal center of NOTAM is also at NSCBI Airport, Kolkata.

c. Alerting Service (Search and Rescue): All the airports are established alerting posts and the specific Alerting Services are provided by the concerned Area Control centers. For this purpose close liaison is maintained with agencies like INMCC, THE INDIAN AIR FORCE and the adjacent Search and Rescue coordination centers. The distress signals picked by SARSAT and COSPAS linked to Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO).

d. Aeronautical Information Services

Commercial Department[]

The department deals with providing various facilities for the passengers such as Retail,F&B, Duty Free, Money Exchange, Car Rental, Vehicle Parking etc.

References[]