Airports authority to set up common information base

Will provide real-time data to airlines, airport operators, passengers, other stakeholders

The Airports Authority of India (AAI) has begun to set up a common information base across multiple airports, to provide accurate real-time data to airlines, airport operators, passengers and others.

Being implemented with NIIT Technologies and SITA, the transnational agency involved in air transport communications and information technology, it envisages an Airport Operations Control Centre (AOCC) to consolidate multiple sets of information.

Arvind Mehrotra, president, Asia-Pacific & Middle East, NIIT Technologies, said: “Currently most airports are managed manually and with increasing passenger traffic, the quality of service provided to customers is deteriorating. The AOCC will consolidate all the information and create a common information base for all involved in managing operations at an airport. It will improve utilisation of airport infrastructure and allow collaborative decision making in day-to-day operations.”

Initially, it will integrate information centres in 10 airports — Jaipur, Ahmedabad, Kolkata, Guwahati, Pune, Mangalore, Calicut, Thiruvananthapuram, Chennai and Trichy — over the next 15 months. There is a provision to extend this to 25 more in the second phase. The first phase is being implemented on a contract of Rs 344 crore. NIIT and SITA would have to maintain operations at these airports for seven years.

“It is for the first time in Asia that a common information base would be set up across multiple airports for coordinated operations,” added Mehrotra. NIIT is in the process of setting up a Primary Data Centre in Chennai and a Disaster Recovery Data Centre in Kolkata.

AAI manages operations at 125 airports across the country.