Kolkata ATC did not lose link with 85 planes in air, says AAI

The Airports Authority of India (AAI) has rejected a report appearing in the Kolkata edition of a prominent daily that claimed that Air Traffic Control (ATC) in Kolkata had recently lost link with pilots of 85 aircraft in the air that had jeopardized the lives of about 25000 passengers.

Earlier this month, it was erroneously reported that there was communication breakdown of about 10 minutes between Kolkata ATC and 85 airborne aircraft that jeopardized lives of nearly 25,000 unsuspecting fliers. It was also stated that multiple radars and vital VHF radio link failure continued for 100 minutes, and that 35 controllers had to scramble for mobile phones to contact nearby ATCs to alter flight levels of aircrafts.

Demanding a rejoinder that states the "correct position" before readers of the daily, the AAI said that there was no communication failure between the pilot and the ATC, and added that all 85 aircraft that were in the air at that time, were in contact with the Kolkata ATC throughout.

Regarding reports of there being a failure of the BSNL-MPLS link and radar data not being available on the Jharsuguda-Katihar-Nagpur-Vizag and Varanasi routes, the AAI said "all mentioned radar were operational and added that only radar data for Kolkata due to BSNL media link failure was not available."

The AAI further said in their rejoinder that the Kolkata radar inside the airport and at Badu was functional and had surveillance coverage of more than 200 nautical miles from Kolkata. The AAI added that Berhampur radar data was available throughout and VHF coverage was also available.

It said that as soon as the link failure occurred, all ATC-related fallback procedures were made operational, and all aircraft operating in air space continued through 'ATC control of Nagpur, Varanasi and other controls."

The AAI maintained there were no flight diversions or delays in the Kolkata FIR due to the BSNL link failure. It said that senior BSNL operational officials were contacted immediately for the quickest possible restoration of the failed link and this was achieved at 9.15 IST.

"At no point of time was the safety of the aircraft and the passengers therein compromised and all operations went off as per laid procedures," the AAI said in a statement.