Soon, Delhi IGI Airport to Become Most Technologically Advanced, Sport Highest ATC Tower

Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport will soon become India’s most technologically advanced and will also sport the highest Air Traffic Control (ATC) tower, reported IANS. The ATC tower is expected to enhance the safety and efficiency of air transport management in the national capital, the report further stated.

According to IANS, at present AAI is running a parallel operation to test the automation and other systems in the new facility. Notably, AAI has been mandated to handle the air traffic management services at the IGI Airport.

The new tower is expected to increase the productivity of air traffic management.

The commissioning of the new tower is expected to better the air traffic management services at the IGIA which is the busiest airport in India. Delhi Air Traffic Control handles more than one flight operation every minute throughout the day.

Notably, the IANS report revealed that at least 1,200 landings and take-offs take place every day from the Delhi airport along with overflying traffic of 250 planes. There are more than 40,000 movements that are handled by the Delhi Air Traffic Control in a month.

The new facility will also boast physical and technologically advanced equipment which will offer a more robust safety system. Furthermore, standing at a staggering 334.6 feet approximately, it will allow air traffic controllers to have better visibility of all the three runways, apron area and taxiways.

IANS revealed that the tower also has additional control positions, sophisticated equipment and state-of-the-art control room set-up, which will reduce the number of flights being handled by a single controller, thus increasing overall efficiency. Furthermore, the new set-up has divided the air space into multiple sectors and ‘Area Control Centre' has been divided into five sectors only, which restricts the number of flights that can be handled at any given time from a particular control position.

The new facility also allows for simultaneous landing from the same direction on parallel runways which increases the capacity of the airport.

Currently, the IGI Airport has three runways, of which, only two can be used any time for the landing. However, a fourth runway has been planned to meet increasing traffic demand, IANS further revealed.