Near-miss incidents involving planes on the decline: Govt

All air traffic service routes in the Indian continental airspace are covered by surveillance radars

The number of near-miss incidents involving civilian aircraft have been on the decline in the past three years, with aviation regulator DGCA and other agencies concerned taking several corrective measures, Lok Sabha was informed today.

While there were 29 air proximity incidents in 2011, 18 were registered in 2012, 23 in 2013 and eight till a week ago this year, Minister of State for Civil Aviation G M Siddeshwara said in reply to a question.

"As per data available, there has been a decreasing trend in the number of air miss incidents," he said.

Apart from regular proficiency checks of pilots and air traffic control (ATC) officials, steps have been taken to modernise ATC services, while new air safety management system and flexible use of airspace have been implemented, he said while elaborating on the series of measures.

While conflict warning systems have been implemented, all air traffic service routes in the Indian continental airspace were covered by surveillance radars.

Upgradation and modernisation of ATC was "a continuous process" and the Airports Authority of India, which operates ATC services, adopted latest technologies like air traffic flow management to enhance the operational capacity of airports.

Apart from all these measures, case studies of such 'airprox' incidents were discussed, analysed and lessons drawn to avoid recurrence, Siddeshwara said.