The Hindu : Kerala News : Delayed landings pose a risk at Kochi airport

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Oct 31, 2007
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Kerala

Kerala

Delayed landings pose a risk at Kochi airport

S. Anil Radhakrishnan

Absence of approach radar is the problem
Steps to install approach radar begin

Thiruvananthapuram: Absence of an approach radar at the Cochin international airport has raised security concerns, apart from delaying landing during peak hours and burning a hole in airlines’ pocket through high fuel bills.

An approaching flight is made to hover around Kochi for 30 to 60 minutes during peak hours before getting clearance for landing, aviation sources say. Steps to install an approach radar have begun and land have been identified for it, they add.

However, now, delayed landings is a routine problem Kochi-bound passengers face. Aircraft going in circles pose a security risk for them. The Western Ghats rises in close proximity of the approach way, and when an aircraft descends, only the commander will come to know and not the Air Traffic Control tower. An approach radar helps to avoid such a scenario by enabling the control tower to be in constant touch with the pilot.

A medium aircraft hovering above for 30 minutes will burn 1,200 kg of aviation turbine fuel, which costs over Rs. 50,000 in the State. Airlines stand to save lakhs of rupees in fuel and operational costs if flights are provided immediate clearance.

The Kochi airport has aerodrome and approach controls to take care of incoming and outgoing traffic from the international airport and Cochin Garuda of the Indian Navy. Kochi can handle only six flights an hour owing to procedural constraints. It takes 10 minutes to handle a flight there, while only three to four minutes are needed at the Thiruvananthapuram international airport.

Proximity to the Calicut and Coimbatore airports is also causing concern to the air traffic controllers. Flight movements in an around a radius of 30 nautical miles and 15,000 feet from the ground are taken care of by Kochi. Those above 15,000 feet are taken care of by Area Control, Thiruvananthapuram.

Aviation sources say Kochi is facing a shortage of air traffic controllers. While the airport needs 26 of them, only 17, including a Deputy General Manager, have been posted. Of them, only one is “rated.” In addition to caring for the taxiways, the runway and the ascending and descending traffic, the rated controller has to look after approaching aircraft. The Kochi airport handles an average 110 aircraft movements daily. Aviation sources say there is no scientific approach to acceptance of flight schedules there. The decision of the authorities to let more flights land during the peak hours has often resulted in overcrowding of the skies. Set up through public-private participation, the airport, located at Nedumbassery, is the first greenfield one in the country. It was made operational on June 10, 1999 and boasts a 3.4-km runway, one of the longest in the country.

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