Officers of the Airports Authority of India (AAI) have asked their management to urgently address certain "major" problems affecting air traffic management, warning that these could cause "serious threat" to air safety.
They have also asked the AAI top brass to take immediate steps to meet the "acute" manpower shortage, saying that even after the operation of the third runway in Delhi, the strength of personnel handling communication, navigation and surveillance (CNS) activities was short by as much as 43%.
In a memorandum to AAI Chairman K Ramalingam, the Airports Authority Officers' Association (AAOA) raised several issues while claiming that CNS facilities at many places were not calibrated properly.
"At present, majority of the navigational equipment in India are not calibrated and they are overdue for calibration.
"This can lead to a series of disaster if proper calibration of the equipment is not done on priority," AAOA General Secretary P S Tevathia said in the memorandum.
The memorandum pointed out that CNS executives were not involved in the new installations being put up during the upgrading and modernisation of airports in the country, even though these officers would have to maintain these equipment.
Tevathia also wanted speedy implementation of various ongoing CNS projects across the country, among other things.
He also urged the AAI management to resolve these issues "at the earliest as it concerns the safety of air travellers and aircraft movement in the Indian airspace", saying the AAOA wanted to hold discussions to resolve the issues.
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