Nagpur airport bags award for Indra system

NAGPUR: Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar International Airport has received a special AAI chairman's award from the ministry of civil aviation for successful installation and commissioning of a new Air Traffic Control (ATC) automation system 'Indra' at the airport. The officials of Airport Authority of India (AAI), under the leadership of airport director Ashok Kumar Verma, have recently made the new system, imported from Spanish company Indra, operational here.

Talking to TOI, Verma said that the new system would increase efficiency, reduce chances of mishaps and human error, and ensure complete radar coverage. Nagpur was chosen for the first installation due to its central location and the fact that it guides the movements of over 650 aircraft that pass over from Nagpur controlled airspace from Europe, Middle East and Africa to South East and East Asia and most of the domestic traffic from North to South and East to West.

With the new system, aircraft would be in continuous contact with the ATC while transiting from Nagpur airspace. ATC can direct the pilots to ascend in case the flight is losing height to avoid mid air collision. The new system has facilitated direct routing of planes instead of detouring which will help planes to be separated by 40 nautical miles instead of 80 nautical miles. It ultimately will help in reducing flight timings and saving fuel to the tune of 1.28 crore litres per year, Verma said.

With Indra, Nagpur has been connected to Bhopal and Hyderabad airports through radars and is slated to be connected with Jharsuguda in Orissa and Ahmedabad radars soon, he said. This will further facilitate larger coverage up to Jaipur in north to Bangalore in south and Vishakhapattanam in east to Aurangabad in the west, he added.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/nagpur/Nagpur-airport-bags-award-for-Indra-system/articleshow/13158065.cms