I am happy
and consider fortunate to witness the world ATC Day in 2008 along with
you and our fraternity world wide. I take the opportunity to send my
best wishes to you and your families on the eve of “ World ATC Day
2008” and look forward to many prosperous events in the coming years
for all of you specially related with improvements in technology and
working environment of ATC units in India.
As you may be
already aware, technological upgradations are in progress and we are
in transition phase for application of satellite based systems in
India, which will bring in improvements in the handling capacity of
our units besides making the flight paths more convenient for the
pilots with their FMS by reducing delays. The automation system at IGI
Airport and CSI Airport are being upgraded to Auto Track 3 which will
ease the operational handicaps to some extent and will subsequently
replaced with most modern state of the art equipment in near future.
New Shamshabad and Devanhalli airports at Hyderabad and Bangalore
respectively
are already operational with SELEX system with full dedication of all
the ATC officers in their places. I would like to place on record the
invaluable contributions of all the ATCOs at Hyderbad and Bangalore,
who have put in their best in starting the new airport from scratch
with many handicaps including non-availability of sufficient time for
test and training.
We are in the
final phases for application of PBN based procedures which will help
us in reducing our R/T workload besides making flying easier and
smooth for pilots and passenger with Continuous Descent Arrival (CDA)
approaches which brings us at par with rest of the world almost side
by side more so when these are being developed and handled by our own
ATCOs in India. It has put us on the world map timely and it is a
matter of pride that we have done it while many other countries are in
the process of taking help from others. We have also developed our
skill to help some countries who may need our help in these programmes.
At the end, I
would like to seek solidarity and continued support of all of you by
joining hands together in improving our working system to the best
satisfaction of our customers for whom we exist and pray the almighty
to give us wisdom and skill to stay ahead in the world. May God bless
you with good health and happiness to you and your families in order
to achieve our dreams for safe, orderly and expeditious flow of air
traffic.
