During elections, air traffic in the Mumbai region goes up by 15%, adding to the already high workload that ATC have.
India may look forward to the elections, but the Mumbai air traffic controllers (ATC) don’t. During elections, air traffic in the Mumbai region goes up by 15%, adding to the already high workload that ATC have. Moreover, a little mistake in handling traffic of
India’s busiest region makes them prone to political blame games.Mumbai ATC, which handles almost 700 flights daily, will now have to prepare itself for around 105 extra flights (charter flights and helicopters) of politicians.
At present, they handle around 50 VIP flights daily. “During this time, air traffic in five prime regions — Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Kolkata, and Guwahati increases by 15 percent,” says an ATC official. “But this time, the Mumbai airport will be the busiest as flight movements continue to increase at Mumbai airport compared to Delhi airport, which, at present, is handling 635 flights daily.”
The ATC officials are also wary about the politicians’ air movement because they have to work manually to trace some of the charter/chopper landings and take-offs at places that don’t have an airfield or an airport. “If the VIP/politicians’ chopper lands at a place where there is no control tower, then it adds to our burden as most of the times it is difficult to contact the pilot on the VHF (very high frequency). Then, we often call the pilot on his mobile phone to ensure the landing/take-off details,” he says.
Worsening the task is the shortage in staff. India has only 1,640 ATC officials while the requirement is for 2,100. Mumbai ATC has 210 officials, but only 175
are available as some are on leave while others undergoing training/refresher courses.
What irks the ATC most is politicians blaming them for any delay that may occur. “These are the times when we are sitting on the edge of our seats while handling VIP flights. If some politicians’ flight does not get defence clearance or there are some delays, they blame us of favouritism,” complains the official.
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