Advanced ATS automation system installed at Tiruchi Airport
Airports Authority of India's (AAI) initiative to
bolster air traffic management system crossed another milestone with the
installation of the advanced ATS Automation System at Tiruchi airport
which seeks to enhance safety and efficiency.
Developed
by Indra Systems of Spain, the system facilitates automatic exchange of
flight information between Tiruchi and adjacent Air Traffic Control
units, including Chennai and Thiruvananthapuram area control centres
besides improving air traffic management through timely information on
aircraft movements and integrating meteorological data and aeronautical
information.
Flight data processing, situation data
display, flight data display, control and monitoring display; data
recording facility and database management constitute the key components
of the system that ensures integrated traffic flow management between
different phases of flight besides providing safety nets to enhance air
safety.
The system would enhance efficiency of
aircraft operations through better situational awareness and provides
safety alerts to air traffic controllers. Tiruchi is foremost among the
Type –A airports in the country to have the advanced system.
It
displays all maps, routes, reporting points, navigational aids,
runways, IAL procedures for the reference of air traffic controllers in
addition to providing proximity area warning, medium term conflict
detection and minimum sector altitude warning and automatic transmission
of ATS messages.
Calling it a great day for Tiruchi
airport at the inauguration of the system on Sunday, V. Somasundaram,
Member, Air Navigation Services, AAI, New Delhi, said plans were afoot
to introduce the Automatic Dependent Surveillance Broadcast at the
Tiruchi airport soon.
The AAI had drawn up a master
plan under which new equipment and new systems were being introduced
across the country to enhance safety and improve operations.
Inaugurating
the system, Collector Jayashree Muralidharan said 510 acres of land
would be acquired for Tiruchi airport expansion. Acquisition was not an
easy affair as many areas were wetlands that involved lot of procedures.
A committee comprising officials from agriculture, horticulture and
survey departments besides those from the Airports Authority of India
had been constituted to study the airport expansion plan without
acquiring wetlands; the Collector said adding that a proposal in this
regard would be forwarded to the government in two to three weeks.
The
Regional Executive Director, AAI, Southern Region D. Devaraj said a
master plan had been drafted to develop Tiruchi airport further to
receive wide-bodied aircrafts.
The General Manager
(ATM) Air Space Management, AAI, New Delhi Sylvester Israel, P.K. Jha,
General Manager – CNS, Southern Region, Chennai, Tiruchi Airport
Director S. Dharmaraj and Deputy General Manager – Air Traffic Services,
Tiruchi K. Jebaraj spoke on the occasion.
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