Centralised air traffic flow management system inaugurated in Delhi

June 24, 2019: Minister of state (independent charge) for civil aviation, Hardeep Singh Puri on June 22 inaugurated the Air Traffic Flow Management (ATFM) — Central Command Centre at Vasant Kunj, New Delhi in the presence of chairman, AAI; board members and senior AAI officials.

The ATFM system aims to balance capacity against the demand to achieve optimum utilisation of resources like airport, airspace and aircraft at every Indian airport where there is a capacity constraint.

It integrates flight data from various subsystems like ATC Automation System, flight updates and flight update messages. The system also displays weather information along with static information about airports, airspaces and air routes.

The system processes the demand and capacity information and provides decision-making tools to the ATFM Flow Manager for collaborative decision making and to ensure regulated flow of traffic at each airport in India.

“With the commissioning of the Central Command Centre of the Central Air Traffic Flow Management Complex, we have made an humble beginning today. With this facility, in the next five years, we will be comparable to what the best of the world have to offer,” said Dr Guruprasad Mohapatra, chairman, Airports Authority of India.

India is the seventh region to implement the ATFM after the US, Europe, Australia, South Africa, Japan and Brazil.

“With such an able team equipped with world-class infrastructure and technology, I am sure the Indian airspace and the Indian skies are in safe hands,” said Puri.