Sharma visits ATC tower at airport; takes stock of situation

Union Minister of State for Civil Aviation Mahesh Sharma today made a surprise visit to the Air Traffic Control (ATC) tower at the Delhi airport and took stock of the functioning of the air traffic management.
The minister spent about two hours with the Air Traffic Controllers (ATCOs) to understand the problems and issues of ATC personnel.
"I wanted to understand personally the problems and the issues of ATC personnel. I have told the senior officials to resolve those issues at the earliest," Sharma told PTI after the visit.
He said that he has also sought an early completion of the new ATC tower at the Delhi airport.

ATC is a part of the air traffic management wing of the Airports Authority of India (AAI).
There are some 2,300 ATCOs manning the vast Indian airspace.
The government had recently said that at times ATCOs are under stress at airports having high density operations and suitable measures are in place to address such situations.
"The situation at times is stressful at the airports where high density operations takes place...The working conditions in the air traffic control units are congenial and air traffic controllers are given adequate relief during duty period and the interval between two successive duties," Sharma had informed Rajya Sabha early this month.