NEW DELHI, Sept. 21 -- Chennai is all set to become the principal Air Traffic Control (ATC) centre for the southern region for all aircraft flying above 14,500 feet. However, the below 14,500 feet air space will continue to be under the control of the ATCs of Mangalore, Thiruvananthapuram and Hyderabad.

Just as Chennai would become the high-altitude monitor of air-traffic, the tower automation function - which is part of the radar integration project undertaken across the southern air space from February - will be with Thiruvananthapuram, Mangalore, Kozhikode, Madurai and Tiruchy, AAI Southern Region Executive Director D Devraj said.

This sectorisation of air space would help reduce distances between aircraft and hence facilitate faster traffic, Devraj added. Four layers of such sectorisation have been created. While tower control, which guides the landing of an aircraft within five nautical miles, will be with the respective airport, the approach, upper area and lower area control have been divided to reduce the number of air-traffic controllers and the attendant confusion.

Chennai is also launching an automation project - Autotrack-III. "If the right flight plans are filed, a controller will just have to monitor and the system will do all the calculations of height and speed," an ATC official said.

Initially, the sector separation will be practiced for an hour and based on feedback from pilots, it will be further extended.

AAI Chairman V P Agrawal had earlier said that the project will set an example for other flight information regions in

the country - in the North, West and the East. Ultimately, the plan is to reduce air-traffic control to just two nodal centres - Delhi in the north and Chennai in the south. Published by HT Syndication with permission from New Indian Express. For any query with respect to this article or any other content requirement, please contact Editor at [email protected]