Ex Air Force Men To Keep Air Traffic Afloat

The Airports Authority of India has decided to hire services of former Indian Air Force traffic staff to tackle future strike threats by its air traffic controllers (ATC). After a brief training, the ex-IAF staff will be placed on stand-by to be called in at short notice.

The ministry of defence is understood to have given its go ahead to the proposal made more than a year ago by the AAI to do something about strikes and go slow agitation by the ATC staff that have crippled civilian air traffic in the country from time to time.

In the latest strike by the ATC, flight movements were affected two days in a row during late January. The ATC staff were demanding better wages and working conditions.

The AAI will pick recently retired staff and those who have left the force under short service commission rules to man ATC posts at important airports. They will be given training in handling AAI equipment and in ATC language peculiar to civilian traffic. From time to time they will be recalled for refresher training to keep their ratings current.

Official sources the AAI was yet to work out details of remuneration and working conditions with the retired IAF officers and non-commissioned officers.

The retired IAF staff will have to go through extensive training as civilian and defence ATC management are two different streams of air traffic control. While the former handles more traffic movements in any given day, the latter is expected to ensure that all aircraft have proper credentials to fly over Indian soil and alert its fighters if it notices any discrepancy.

The AAI management and the ATC Guild have been on a constant tug of war since the past three years. The ATC guild has been claiming that its services are of significant importance to civil aviation in India but the remuneration is low when compared to flight crew. Besides it is demanding better working conditions in tune with the job requirements and qualifications of the controllers.

Relations between the ATC Guild and AAI management had come to a head last April when an ATC official was suspended for alleged negligence which led to a near miss over Delhi. The ATC had gone on a 30 hour flash strike which led to the disruption of some 300 flights. Air traffic controllers handle some 1,000 flight movements daily in addition to 2,000 flights overflying the country.

Each day of flight disruptions is estimated to cause of Rs 30 crore to Rs 40 crore loss to domestic and foreign carriers.