Airport strike still on, flights affected

NOVEMBER 26: Contrary to the claims made by the Airports Authority of India, the work-to-rule agitation by the technical and communications...

NOVEMBER 26: Contrary to the claims made by the Airports Authority of India, the work-to-rule agitation by the technical and communications officers at airports across the country were not called off on Tuesday night. The agitation which entered the fourth day on Wednesday disrupted flights, as take-offs and landings at several smaller airports across the country were affected.

Airport sources say a Royal Nepal Airlines flight arriving at Mumbai airport had to abort landing twice as the localizer and glide path equipment at the airport went on the blink at the last minute. The cause of the failure is not yet known.

Arrivals and departures of both Indian Airlines and Jet Airways flights at Mumbai airport were badly affected by consequential delays’. According to an IA spokesman, a Trivandrum-Mumbai-Delhi flight was cancelled as the aircraft could not take-off from Trivandrum. Similarly, a Mumbai-Rajkot flight was diverted to Ahmedabad as equipment at Rajkot went on the blink.

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Though frequent failure of crucial equipment like radar, VHF, non-directional beacon, etc. is not unknown, these are quickly put back on the rails. “Due to the agitation that enthusiasm is missing,” admitted a senior airport official.

Even as all office-bearers of the National Airports Authority Officers Association have been summoned to New Delhi for discussions, the management has resorted to contingency plans to keep all channels of communications open. To begin with, mobile phones have been issued to air traffic controllers at important airports like Mumbai and Nagpur for communicating from one unit to another. “This is in violation of International Civil Aviation Organisation regulations which makes it mandatory for all conversation within the airport to be recorded,” said a spokesman of the officers’ association.

Over the past three days, airline pilots have complained to the AAI that the communication channels between pilots and ground services have been disrupted by the strike. Sources say if the stir continues further, a contingency plan to keep smaller airports functional will be implemented.

“If all the frequencies at these airports are shut down, air traffic at subsidiary airfields will be regulated from major airports like Mumbai and Delhi. The knowledge we first got during our training will be put to use then,” said a spokesman for the Air Traffic Controllers Guild.