A quiet revolution in the skies: India's air traffic control is undergoing a massive change
Indian air traffic control is in the midst of a major change. Due to a significant increase in surveillance capabilities by Airport Authority of India (AAI), from 1 January, air traffic controllers will be able to halve the lateral separation between two aircraft leading to more efficient use of airspace from 10 nautical miles (18.5 km)to 5 nautical miles.
Navigation over Indian airspace is controlled by AAI, which, over the last few years, has heavily invested in modernising navigation radars and technology.
While this will increase the airspace capacity by more than 40%, airlines said that it will also improve their access to more direct and fuel efficient routes.
This comes amid record aircraft orders placed by Indian airlines that expect a jump in demand for air travel. According to civil aviation minister Jyotiraditya Scindia, the number of Indian aircraft has increased by 75% since FY 14 and is likely to double to 1,500 in the next five years.
A senior AAI official said that with Noida and Navi Mumbai Airport both Delhi and Mumbai are going to become a two airport region by next year.
Hence increasing the capacity of airspace had become necessary.
In 2018, India mandated modern transponders- automatic dependent surveillance-broadcast, or ADS-B for aircraft operating in the majority of the routes. These aircraft are equipped with transponders that continuously transmit the identification, location, altitude, velocity of the aircraft leading to better surveillance.
“Over the last few years, all radars have been upgraded and most to with Mode-S, which employ modern technologies.
Further, with the use of ADS-B, the majority of the airspace has come under reliable surveillance coverage. Along with the enhanced
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