Delhi To Switch To New Atc System By September 30

The civil aviation ministry and the Airports Authority of India (AAI) have set September 30 as the deadline for Delhi airport to switch to the new air traffic control system installed by US-based Raytheon Inc. The deadline for Mumbai is December 31.

The Raytheon air traffic control system was handed over to the Delhi airport on March 26. Air traffic controllers (ATCs) and maintenance engineers are being trained on the system. The practice session will be followed by parallel operations before the Raytheon system takes over from the existing one.

The system is ready for commissioning but its induction is being opposed by ATCs. The matter is being sorted out by the management. Anomalies in the system noted during system site acceptance and full load tests have been resolved by Raytheon. Raytheon will also replace the existing instrument landing system (ILS) at the Delhi airport with a new model that meets AAI specifications by December.

Sources said Raytheon had already installed and tested all sub-systems at Mumbai airport. A preliminary system site acceptance test was conducted in May. However, following snags, the system was returned to Raytheon.

The radar optimisation and full load test were to be carried out by end of July, but this could not be done as both air route and airport surveillance radars developed snags that required import of parts by Raytheon.

After a system site test, it will enter the transition stage of about 90 days. ATCs will be certified so that the system is operational by December. Sources said some flight check results are not satisfactory and that one C-VOR may have to be replaced by a Doppler VOR by Raytheon.

The upgradation project has cost the government Rs 423.89 crore with a foreign exchange component of Rs 266.48 crore against the projected cost of Rs 351.87 crore with a forex component of Rs 237.25 crore.