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ATC Guild (India)
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Seminar 2010

Seminar on
ATM-AIRPORTS- AIRLINES
INDIA INITIATIVES FOR INFRASTRUCTURE

October 20 – 21, 2010 • India Habitat Centre • New Delhi

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Seminar Summary

Air Traffic Controllers’ Guild (India) has been conducting seminars for the benefit of aviation sector. A two-day seminar was organized on 20th and 21st October 2010 on the topic “ATM-AIRPORTS-AIRLINES: INDIA INITIATIVES FOR INFRASTRUCTURE” as part of our activities for the International Day of the Air Traffic Controller. This issue was taken up to stimulate the development in the country’s aerospace manufacturing sector as India is on a growth curve especially in the aviation sector. The two-day Seminar was organized in five Technical Sessions.

The delegates and speakers included international aviation business houses, eminent business groups from India, planners, bureaucrats, Airline CEOs, top executives from the Airports Authority of India, Airport operators and ATM specialists of international repute.

The seminar presented a platform for deliberations that focused on “Developing India as Aviation business hub”. As the largest growth in aviation is expected in Asia and particularly in India, it was the endeavor of the Air Traffic Controller’s Guild (India) towards developing the supply chain where the demand is. The Seminar was planned to offer the aviation business community a wealth of ideas and knowledge to explore starting a new venture or finding a suitable partner for a joint activity.

The Seminar had two full days of result-oriented workshops of high-profile international guest speakers and panels. The Seminar provided a unique opportunity to meet a wide spectrum of Aviation business minds enriched with international participation.

Seminar Day 1

20Th October 2010. WORLD AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLER’S DAY

Inaugural Session:

The session started off with a warm welcome to Mr. Yashwant Bhave, Chairman AERA, Mr. Ajay Prasad, Sr. Advisor, Aviation watch and ex-secretary Ministry of Civil Aviation and Mr. Alexis Brathwaite, President and CEO, IFATCA who were greeted and presented floral bouquets by Mr. D. S. Raghavan, President of the Air Traffic Controller’s Guild (India) and Mr. D. K. Behera, General Secretary of the Air Traffic Controller’s Guild (India).

As is customary, the session then invoked the blessings of the Almighty by Lord Ganesha and Goddess Saraswati vandana sung by Ms. Ritu Sharma and Mr. Gulshan Suman to signify the growth and prosperity of the quest for knowledge.

The welcome address was given by Mr. D. S. Raghavan, President of the Air Traffic Controller’s Guild (India) who welcomed the guests, the eminent personalities in the field of aviation, the guests from Sri Lanka and Nepal, all the sponsors and to all present to the two day seminar.

This was followed by the lighting of the ceremonial lamp symbolizing the importance of lighting – to seek the blessings of the almighty and sharing of knowledge.

The inaugural session commenced with the speech of Mr. Ajay Prasad, ex Secretary (Civil Aviation) and presently an independent consultant in areas of Defence, Homeland Security, Aviation, etc., is a senior advisor with Aviation Watch and a member of the Board of Governors of the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore, among other organizations. He headed the Indian delegation at various international meetings and, through bilateral negotiations, implemented the ‘Open Sky’ policy for many more domestic and international flights.

Mr Prasad welcomed all the distinguished guests on the dais and greeted the ATCOs on the World ATC Day and paid tribute to the great service the ATC fraternity is doing in India and all over the globe performing behind the scenes and unknown to most people who are using their services. He spoke at length on the growth of aviation scenario in India, how the airlines and airports have geared up to take India forward into the age of modernization by way of low cost carriers and world class airports at Delhi and Mumbai.

The next speaker Mr. Alexis Brathwaite, President and CEO, International Federation of Air Traffic Controllers’ Associations acknowledged that the objectives of air traffic management are generally the same all over the world; and accepted that these can be mastered only by international co-operation, mutual understanding and an exchange of ideas and experience. The air traffic controllers of all nations are united in a worldwide professional federation, which is based on the principle of cooperation in all professional matters.

He gave a brief on how on 20 October 1961 air traffic controllers founded the International Federation of Air Traffic Controllers’ Associations to promote safety, efficiency and regularity in International Air Navigation; to assist and to advise in the development of safe and orderly systems of traffic control; and to promote and uphold a high standard of knowledge and professional efficiency among air traffic controllers. To mark the 20th anniversary, the federation designated 20 October 1981 as “the day of the controller” to promote the air traffic control profession. Since then, the member associations have celebrated 20 October each year as the International Day of the Air Traffic Controller.

The seminar’s theme: ATM Airports - Airlines: India Initiatives for Infrastructure and the associated topics under consideration immediately resonated to him. He lauded the fact that the air traffic controllers of India have aptly demonstrated the guiding principles under which the Federation functions – that of enlightened self-interest. In his words, “There is a clear recognition that we best serve ourselves when we serve the industry. What is truly remarkable is that this is the natural mind-set of the controllers’ associations that make up our federation. Our principal role as frontline operators is to ensure a seamless, efficient, sustainable and resilient air traffic management system that contributes significantly to the world’s economy. By convening this seminar, the Air Traffic Controllers’ Guild (India) has proved that it understands the role of the air traffic controller in the evolution of air traffic management and that it is a willing and worthy partner to all the stakeholders in this region.”

Mr Yashwant Bhave, Chairman, Airports Economic Regulatory Authority (AERA) Shri Bhave a retired IAS Officer (1972 batch, Maharashtra Cadre), a Master in Science with Electronics as a specialization and Master in Public Administration from the Harvard University, has taken over as the first Chairperson of Airports Economic Regulatory Authority (AERA) with effect from 1st August, 2009.

The presentation ceremony followed, where the prominent dignitaries in their fields on dais were felicitated along with the office bearers of other prominent Guilds and Associations with mementos. This was followed with a vote of thanks by Mr. Sandeep Mukerjee, Member Central Executive Council, ATC Guild (I), and subsequently a tea break.

The Chief Guest, the Honourable Minister of Civil Aviation, Sh. Praful Patel arrived shortly afterwards and Mr D K Behera, General Secretary, welcomed Honourable Minister and mentioned that this annual event of the Guild has been a successful one because of the patronage of Minister. He praised Hon’ble Minister in ensuring the creation of Member (Air Navigation Services) post and making efforts for providing more autonomy to Air Navigation Services. He added that phenomenal growth of traffic since 2004/05 did create some problems for the Air Navigation Service providers around world and AAI is no exception. Air traffic controllers in India have done a commendable job during this period to ensure safety in the Indian sky. Airports Authority of India has taken up a lot of projects like radar networking, Air Traffic Flow Management, radar procurement, new ATS procedures, datalink communication, automation of ATM systems etc. The most remarkable achievement is the recruitment and training of ATCOs since 2005. ATCOs got a breathing time for stability due to reduction of traffic growth in 2008/09 because of the economic recession. Since ATCOs training and skill development process takes time, more measures are needed for ensuring safety since the increase in traffic again may put the system under test. Mr Behera assured that with the continued support of AAI, Ministry and DGCA ATCOs in India are capable of further improving the quality of service.

The honourable Minister then addressed the august gathering by an overwhelming and thought provoking speech which gave an awe inspiring insight of the achievements made by the civil aviation industry and the scenario in India, how we fared as compared to the global standards and the shape of the things to come. The honourable Minister said the civil aviation sector in India was dynamic and evolving and that there were concrete plans to progressively open more airports in the country. As the Indian skies were getting busier, there was need to put in place a whole lot of systems/infrastructure and there were many challenges. While commending the Air Traffic Controllers for “managing the skies safely, despite technological deficiencies,” he said that upgradation and modernisation of CNS (Communication, Navigation and Surveillance) systems has been given priority.

Mentioning the GAGAN programme, he said that the trial phase has commenced and it should be fully operational by 2013 and GAGAN would make a big difference in CNS. With regard to the shortage of controllers, he said while the regular induction programme was on, there was need to take on contract basis retired controllers. Reports in the media of “near miss” and attributing it to ATC, he said were not true. “Nine out of 10, the ‘near miss’ or any other incident would not have happened. It is media hype, borne out of ignorance.” However, he said that in the aviation industry everyone – airlines, airports, ATC, pilot - was equally responsible for on-time performance.

This was followed by the release of the Souvenir for 2010 – 2011 session inaugurated at the auspicious hands of the honourable minister.

Technical Sessions Morning

The technical sessions in the morning were devoted to the discussions and presentations on Airplanes & Components manufacturing and Ground Support systems manufacturing – scope in India.

The session was chaired by Mr. Ajay Prasad, former Secretary (Civil Aviation), and senior advisor with Aviation Watch and had a host of eminent speakers like including Mr. Ajay Kumar from FAA, Special invitee, Air Marshal (Retd.) V. K. Bhatia, Mr. Rajendra Velagapudi of NASSCOM, Mr. M. V. Heest from Planet-PCI, Mr. Ashwani Kumar Gaind from ThyssenKrupp, not to mention Mr. Alexis Brathwaite President and CEO, IFATCA.

The first speaker was Mr. Ajay Kumar, of the United States, FAA, Civil Aviation Specialist in the South Asian region and he deliberated on the topic “The Case of Regional Transport Aircraft (RTA)” and its role in Aircraft manufacturing in India. He spoke upon how manufacture of Regional aircraft is a Game-Changer, how Dual-use plane: both for Civil & Military use could be utilized which recognizes reality of Tier II & Tier III airports with runway lengths of 900 m or less, where Versatility is the key, and could serves destinations within 300 - 600 km radius and more fuel savings meaning - less burning of fuel and green initiative which translates to reduced impact on environment.

The next speaker was special invitee Air Marshal (Retd.) V. K. Bhatia. He was conferred gallantry awards (Vir Chakra) in both 1965 and 1971 wars against Pakistan flying the Mystere and Su-7, respectively. Air Marshal V. K. Bhatia also has the rare distinction of being the Air Officer Commanding in Chief of three major operational commands of the Indian Air Force. He is currently working as the Sr. Editor of SP’s Aviation.

He spoke at length on the aviation scenario in India, its impact on the common man, the military aviation of India vis-à-vis its neighbours Pakistan and China and what needs to be done about it. He spoke about how the emerging geo-political and security scenario requires our nation to possess comprehensive military capability and how, given the present Indian situation a strong and comprehensive aerospace capability is inescapable. He also spoke about the prestigious Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) program of India and our indigenous Light Combat Aircraft (Tejas).

The subsequent speaker Mr. Rajendra Velagapudi, Sr. Vice President & Global Delivery Head – Aerospace, Infotech Enterprises Ltd, spoke on Manufacturing Engineering Services or Aircraft component manufacturing: On Take-off path. His presentation focused on the various manufacturing engineering services being provided by Indian players. The presentation highlighted how manufacturing engineering services are coupling with component manufacturing and poising India to become a key player in the global aviation manufacturing sector.

In subsequent technical session the first speaker was Mr. Maarten van Heest of IDS – (Ingegneria dei Sistemi) S.p.A., who spoke on "How the IDS/PPIL software is helpful to boost the Indian Initiative for Infrastructure Development"

Mr. Maarten van Heest, working as an Area Manager, EMIA - Air Navigation Division, gave a exhaustive report on how the Aero-navigation Division provides and supports their world-class, fully customised, aeronautical information software solutions for both civil and military customers in the aeronautical fields of communications, navigation, surveillance and air traffic management.

The next speaker was Mr. Ashwani Kumar Gaind, General Manager - North Zone from ThyssenKrupp Elevator (I) Pvt. Ltd. who gave an introduction of the company (ThyssenKrupp Group and ThyssenKrupp Elevator (I) Pvt. Ltd. with brief speech on product portfolios like Escalators, Moving walkways and Passenger Boarding Bridges and their usage at Indian Airports, with particular emphasis on the Delhi International Airport Ltd

That concluded the technical sessions The chairperson then closed the session and presented the speakers with mementoes. The lunch followed soon after.

Technical Sessions Afternoon

The technical sessions in the afternoon were devoted to the discussions and presentations on Airspace restructuring & ATM support and Aerospace manufacturing – scope in India.

The session was chaired by Air Marshal (Retd), B. K. Pandey senior editor, SP’s Airbuz and a host of distinguished speakers like Ms. Olga Abad from INDRA, Mr. David Rollo from IATA and Mr. Raj Shekhar Agrawal from ASSOCHAM.

The speakers were greeted by floral bouquets and the session started with Ms. Olga Abad, Program Manager, Indra Air Traffic Management and Airports speaking on Indra - ATM and Airports Solutions.

Mrs. OLGA ABAD has more than 12 years experience in the design, development, implementation and commissioning of different Surveillance and ATM systems. Currently, she is involved in all activities of Indra for Airports Authority of India and since last year, she manages two important contracts with AAI for the Supply Installation Commissioning and Testing of some mode S radars and Air Traffic System for 38 airports all over India.

Ms. Abad spoke on the role of Indra and its global presence, what Indra had to offer in the ATM/CNS, Indra’s role in unification of area control centres, the Spanish SACTA Integrated ATC System for Spanish Airspace and the next generation interoperable Flight Data Processing System at Maastricht UAC.

The next speaker was Mr. David Rollo, Asst. Director, Safety, Operations & Infrastructure, ASPAC. He has 34 years experience in Air Traffic Control and Management and has extensive experience in all aspects of Air Navigation provision, structures and processes. He is highly experienced in creating and nurturing high performing teams to deliver outstanding results in ATM services.

He stressed on A Collaborative Approach to the future:

Growth of Indian economy is significantly imparting explosive growth in Aviation. How to respond to this challenge in a "Network collaborative manner"? What are the various areas and ways of addressing this pace of growth in Aviation that the Airline industry expects? The opportunities and ,challenges and its impact.

Collaborative teamwork and industry ownership of plans and process is the key to successful outcomes. Training, communication, technology adoption, change management and data analysis are the foundations on which the Network must rely to drive improvement.”

Execution is critical and must involve all parts of industry to ensure the system can manage demand safely and efficiently. Mr. Rollo spoke upon the Indian Future Indian Air Navigation System (FIANS), the need for “Collaborative Developmental Approach”, how Airlines, Airport, ATM, other industry cannot continue to progress with their own plans that are not coordinated, and what should be the complementary actions required to achieve the collective Goal of “Growth”.

The next speaker of the session was Mr. Raj Shekhar Agrawal, Entrepreneur and Chairman, M Venture Projects Pte Ltd. who spoke on Aerospace Manufacturing – scope in India.

He began by defining in some detail what constitutes Aerospace manufacturing and how due to the extreme conditions aerospace equipment operates in, parts must be designed and manufactured to precise specification.

He stressed upon the significance of India emerging as an important market for aerospace manufacturing with a discussion of the major players engaged in this sector at present and how apart from government support, India's advantages are its relatively lower costs, the availability of talent, the capability that its information technology firms offer, and its location between the major markets in east Asia, the Middle East and Europe. Subcontracting, maintenance, repair and overhaul market could be a major prospect for Indian companies and private sector firms such as Larsen & Toubro, Mahindra & Mahindra and the Tata Group, which have already begun to acquire the capabilities in the market.

He went to give startling facts in the Indian Aerospace manufacturing by quoting how, "India has the potential to service not just Indian aircraft, but also those from neighbouring regions". India’s comparative advantage – CADD and skilled manpower including entrepreneurial and managerial skills combined with ability to attract investment are India’s comparative advantage in building a large aerospace manufacturing industry.

This concluded the second technical session and the chairperson presented mementoes to all the speakers of the session, whereupon the house broke off for a coffee break.

Session: Government Views, Policies and Support

The session was chaired by Mr. A. K. Chopra, former Joint DGCA and a host of notable speakers like Captain A. Ranganathan, expert in aviation safety & training and Core group member ALAR, Capt. Lakshmipathy, DGM (Ops), Indian Airlines, Mr. Amitabh Khosla, IATA's country director for India and Mr. Kapil Kaul, CEO, CAPA,

The first speaker Capt. A. Ranganathan, spoke on Infrastructure Woes and Fatigue - How is ATC Involved? He told the gathering how the working environment, psychological frame of mind during the period, fatigue factor and similar incomprehensible situations contribute to such failures. The main sources of stress for ATCs are: Number of aircraft under control, Peak traffic hours, extraneous traffic, Unforeseeable events whereas factors that affect ATCOs are Stress, Fatigue, Manpower shortage, Lack of equipment etc.

Capt. S. Lakshmipathy talked about safety procedures in landing and take-off. He described in great detail how procedures are available for such emergencies as Unlawful Interference, Radio Communication Failure and Aircraft Emergencies, but none for other in-flight contingencies as an aircraft which would like to land back after an Emergency or to Divert to another destination, Inability to continue, Landing gear not retracting, RCF with inability to continue flight, or an aircraft with RCF which wants to deviate from its track.

Mr. Amitabh Khosla from IATA, the International Air Transport Association and also on behalf of the Civil Aviation Committee of FICCI. He gave an overview of IATA’s 2010 industry outlook on how IATA conducts a quarterly business confidence survey of airline Chief Financial Officers and provides a forward-looking view of key financial and demand indicators.

He reported that the recovery has entered a slower phase and airlines find themselves in a precarious financial position due also to bank lending restrictions which are in place. In the October 2010 survey released just prior to the seminar, there was significant improvement across many indicators of business confidence; but there was also evidence of slowing down of the sharp growth. There was no doubt that the growth initiatives undertaken by the government have served Indian aviation well.

On the aviation scenario in general in India, he spoke regarding the Global Safety Information Exchange, Civil Aviation Safety Advisory Council, the role of DGCA, Infrastructure, how Airport Modernization program has been a great success and what needs to be done in ATM infrastructure improvements and the role of AAI.

On the economic aspects he spoke on the Economic Regulation in the form of the Establishment of AERA and how operating Costs are still a big challenge and how there is a need to enforce ICAO policies and liberalization.

The Next was Mr. Kapil Kaul – CEO, Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation (CAPA), he spoke on Preparing for Long Term Growth of Indian Aviation. He started with a brief history of CAPA in the global context and its short span of 7 years in India, and its initiatives.

He gave a brief on the recent growth in the aviation sector in the recent years and how Airports Council International projects that India will be the third largest aviation market in the world within 12-15 years. At the same time Airbus has projected that the Domestic Indian market will be the fastest growing market in the world over the next 20 years. However CAPA projects that total passenger numbers at Indian airports will grow from 123 million last year to 420-450 million by 2020. So, in the next 10 years the industry may have to handle an incremental 270-300 million passengers, 3-4x what was achieved in the last decade. In absolute terms the challenge ahead will dwarf recent history.

He further commented that this is a transformational growth profile and ad hoc responses will no longer suffice. Long term planning in line with a clear vision is imperative. The situation will be chaotic if growth is not managed well. New policy framework is required to create long term competitiveness; In the absence of structure, progress has been ad hoc;

Seminar Day 2

21st October 2010. WORLD AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLER’S DAY

Session : ATM & Avionics systems development - Scope in India

The First session in the morning was chaired by Mr V. Somasundaram, Member (ANS), Airports Authority of India.

All the speakers of the session, Mr Akhilesh Rathore, Mr Paul-Franck Bijou, Mr. Orlando Monagas Ramos, Ms Mimi Dobbs, Mr Manjunath K Nelli were greeted and welcomed by floral bouquets and the session commenced with Mr. V. Somasundaram giving a brief introduction about the new job profile of the Member (Air Navigation Services) and then went on to describe the new challenges in the Indian Aviation scenario and how to go about them.

The first speaker Mr. Akhilesh Rathore, Project Engineer, Raytheon gave a brief on India’s very own GPS Aided GEO Augmented Navigation (GAGAN) System being provided to ISRO/AAI by Raytheon. He detailed how GAGAN is available over the entire Indian Flight Information Region (FIR) and enhances the GPS broadcast to improve accuracy and add integrity, provides an accurate position to the pilot via the flight management system, facilitates Direct routing between airports as opposed to ground based routing as well as more efficient runway utilization and supports decision heights as low as 250’. On the Efficiency aspect it enables optimum routes independent of ground navigation aids which translates to fuel efficiency, low incremental cost to expand regional system into new areas, reduces navigation system operating costs and to top it all GAGAN is ICAO compliant and compatible with SBAS systems. On the Economic Growth aspect, it makes all weather air services available to more communities as GAGAN signal is also compatible with non-aviation receivers.

The next speaker Mr. Paul-Franck Bijou, CEO of Quovadis - the new PBN Company; an AIRBUS subsidiary, spoke on the topic - Towards the Future ATM. He spoke on the contribution of Airbus Industrie in the global aviation scenario and how it has changed the earlier scenario dominated by a few American manufacturers. Also how, why and what Airbus Industrie is planning to do viz-a-viz ATM like developing new aircraft capabilities to accommodate ATM changes and helping customers to find the best-performing ATM solutions. He also mentioned the similarities of the European and Indian skies and their Limits for further growth such as Limited Airspace capacity, Limited Air/Ground integration, Fragmented airspace and lack of coordinated plans and how the Quovadis PBN program can minimize flight delays, route inefficiencies and ATM cost inefficiencies.

The third presentation was by Mr. Orlando Monagas Ramos, Indra Sistemas S.A., Spain and he spoke on Very Advanced ATM Systems - Highlighted innovative features to face future’s Air Traffic Control. He first gave the company introduction for Indra Sistemas S.A. and what their mission is: “To enhance the safety of the flights by providing the controllers with information of air movements from Surveillance Sensors such as Radars, ADS B, ADS C, Multilateration Systems and Weather Data, Planning information such as Flight Plans, Route Availability and Flow Management and communicate control via Voice and Data Link”. He also said The Indra Aircon ATM system is one of the most advanced, safe and reliable ATM data processing and display systems available today, boosting ANSPs’ capability to safely and efficiently manage the future air.

The fourth presentation of the first session of the day was by Ms Mimi Dobbs, Program Director, Asia-Pacific Region, Centre for Advanced Aviation System Development (CAASD). The Mitre Corporation and she spoke on the Considerations for Facility Consolidation.

Air traffic control (ATC) facility consolidation has many compelling and complicating factors. Appropriately planned, facility consolidation will provide significant benefits in the areas of operational efficiency, fuel savings, and employee safety, security, and satisfaction. In addition, it will lower operating costs for the service provider and reduce environmental impacts. Facility consolidation offers service providers the capacity to develop and implement changes in ATC procedures, airspace design, and routing structures as well as increase controller productivity while decreasing workload and complexity.

She spoke on various topics ranging from what was consolidation, Co location v/s Consolidation, Consolidating Methodologies, Areas to consider and Complexity of Airspace redesign.

She then gave the recommendations and how to achieve them: by continuing to reinvent our operational concept to ensure it is fully optimized and safe, by ensuring plans should remain fluid and well coordinated with the systems stakeholders, by Collaborative Decision Making (CDM) and how it saves investment and revenue and ensures a higher degree of implementation success. She then concluded by saying “No one person or entity has all the answers. We collectively, together have much to learn from each other”.

The last presentation of the session was by Mr Manjunath K Nelli, Joint GM, Airports Authority of India. He represented ATC Guild (India).

Mr. Nelli, joined Airports Authority of India in 1989, He has served a served a major part of his tenure in Mumbai and Raipur. He’s a Bachelor in Engineering, PGDST (Software technology) and has completed his Masters in Information Management from Mumbai University. Presently he’s the in charge of Mumbai ATS Automation systems since 2005 and is actively involved in drawing up and technical evaluation of Operational requirements for Chennai & Kolkata Automation. His paper is available in the form of the article in the souvenir and readers can go through it.

The session chairman at the end of the questions round presented all the speakers with mementoes.

The next session was a special session that was not limited to just technical analysis and useful presentations. The Guild felicitated Dr. G Madhavan Nair, former Chairman, ISRO, Indian Space Research Organization and Chairperson of the High Powered Committee formed to look after the “National Civil Aircraft Development Project”. He energised the audience by his vast experience and wisdom.

The session was chaired by Dr. Nasim Zaidi, Director General of Civil Aviation, India.

Dr. K. Santhanam, former Senior Scientist, DRDO was Special Guest on the occasion.

Lunch was announced at the end of the session.

Technical Session Afternoon

Session: “Airport components & systems manufacturing - Scope in India”

The Session was chaired by Air Marshal (Retd) B K Pandey and had a very interesting line up of speakers such as Mr Peter William Noyce, Chief Operating Officer, Delhi International Airport Ltd., Mr Priyanshu Singh, Director, Marketing & Strategic Planning, Honeywell Aerospace, Mr Bharat Lingam, Mahindra Satyam, India, Mr Cyrille Jodas, Vice President, International Simulation and Training, ADACEL and Mr Rick Sharpe, Advisor Aviation Business - SERCO Middle East.

All the speakers were greeted and welcomed by floral bouquets.

The first speaker was Mr. Peter William Noyce, Chief Operating Officer, Delhi International Airport Ltd. and he first introduced Delhi International Airport Pvt. Ltd. (DIAL) which is a Joint Venture Consortium led by GMR with a 54% stake. Airports Authority of India (26%), Fraport (10%), Malaysia Airport (10%), the OMDA (Operation, Maintenance & Development Agreement) was signed with AAI on 4th April 2006 and the Airport handed over to JVC on 3rd May 2006. DIAL is responsible for operations, maintenance, development, design, construction, up gradation, modernization, finance and management of the airport whereas important control functions like ATC, Security, Customs, Immigration, Quarantine and Meteorological services are with the respective Government agencies.

Mr Noyce then went on to deliberate on the challenges that DIAL had to face during modernization of IGI Airport such as Capacity enhancement with minimum interruption to the existing operations, Maximise capacity to handle long-term traffic growth, Working in a public domain that attracts lot of Media attention, Making IGI Airport Encroachment Free, Non existence of As-built drawings (for utilities like Electrical/Telephone/IT) and Relocation of offices of airlines and other statutory agencies and DIAL’s contribution to the above challenges to alleviate them.

He then went to detail the roadmap of capacity enhancement to Phase – I of its Master Plan and how from a passenger capacity of 12 Million with 32 aircraft movements per hour not so long ago in 2006 – 2007 to 60 Million passengers with 60 aircraft movements per hour in 2010 – 2011 has been a big leap for all. DIAL‘s future plans comprise of a New Cargo link from Taxiway-P and 4 new Cargo Parking stands, Expansion of T3 Domestic bussing gates, 11 new Parking Stands at Terminal-3 and a new ATC Tower.

The next speaker was Mr Priyanshu Singh, Director, Marketing & Strategic Planning for Honeywell Aerospace in India; and covers both Defence and Commercial Aviation. He spoke on On-board flight safety equipment.
Prior to Honeywell, Mr. Priyanshu spent five years with McKinsey & Company at their London and New Delhi offices. His consulting experience spans multiple industry sectors with companies across India, Africa and Europe. Mr. Priyanshu holds a Bachelor of Science degree from India's National Defence Academy and an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management Calcutta.

Mr Singh spoke on SmartLanding & SmartRunway both proprietary systems from Honeywell, Enhanced Ground Proximity Warning System (EGPWS) for Helicopters and GBAS (Ground Based Augmentation System).
SmartRunway and SmartLanding provide improved situational awareness to help lower the probability of runway incursions and excursions by providing timely aural advisories to the flight crew during taxi, takeoff, final approach, landing and rollout.

The two major causes of commercial-aviation fatalities - controlled flight into terrain (CFIT) and approach-and-landing accidents (ALAs) - accounted for 80 percent of fatalities in commercial transport aircraft accidents in the 1980s. But over the last two decades, flight safety has improved thanks to the introduction of Enhanced Ground Proximity Warning System (EGPWS) technology. EGPWS uses aircraft inputs such as position, attitude, air speed and glide slope, which along with internal terrain, obstacles, and airport databases predict a potential conflict between the aircraft's flight path and terrain or an obstacle. Specifically configured for the dynamic factors of rotary-wing performance, Honeywell's EGPWS for Helicopters help prevent avoidable collisions with the ground, water, and obstacles--even when flying in changing weather with poor visibility, rough terrain, or at low altitudes.

The Honeywell SmartPath™ Precision Landing System is the next generation of precision navigation and control. SmartPath provides a cost-effective Ground Based Augmentation System (GBAS) solution to increase airport capacity, decrease air traffic noise, and reduce weather-related delays. By providing aircraft with very precise navigation data, SmartPath represents the latest technology in a CAT I certified GBAS solution for precision approach and landings, enabling aircraft to fly either complex or straight-in approaches. Easy to install, at major cost savings compared to ILS, SmartPath has received FAA System Design Approval.

The next speaker was Mr. Bharat Lingam, who works with Mahindra Satyam and spoke on: Leveraging IT for Airport business excellence. Mr. Lingam advises clients in the Travel, Logistics & Infrastructure verticals on achieving business excellence by leveraging technology & solution eco systems. He holds a B. Tech. degree from IIT Chennai and over 12 years of diverse experience in the IT industry.

Mr. Bharat Lingam detailed upon such topics as - What are the some of the pressing challenges airports today face and what are the opportunities opening up in the future? How can IT and recent innovations in this area be leveraged for achieving business excellence and winning – both today & tomorrow?

The fourth speaker was Mr. Cyrille Jodas, Vice President, Adacel Inc., Canada, International Simulation and Training and he spoke upon Advanced ATC simulation tools to address shortage of air traffic controllers.

Mr. Cyrille Jodas joined Adacel in 2002 and is currently the Vice President for International Simulation and Training. Cyrille has broad experience in project management, software development, avionics and sales. Mr. Cyrille has held numerous positions with Adacel, including Project Manager for its flagship MaxSim(r) simulator products. Mr. Cyrille holds a BE degree in Electronic Systems and Computer Sciences from IRESTE, University of Nantes, France.

As there is and for the foreseeable future will be a worldwide shortage of air traffic controllers, Mr. Jodas explained how simulation can have an important impact by eliminating lost training days and providing more hands-on experience to graduate, more highly-qualified controller candidates with increased frequency and with a greater degree of training standardization.

The last speaker of the technical sessions was Mr. Rick Sharpe, Advisor Aviation Business, Serco Middle East, and his topic was ‘Unprecedented Aviation Growth – the ATM Challenge – India Vision’

Mr. Rick’s career in aviation spans more than 33 years beginning with air traffic control in 1977 with Transport Canada and subsequently with NavCanada before joining Serco in the Middle East.

Mr. Rick started off by giving an overwhelming introduction to SERCO, both globally and in the Middle East, and then went on to the changes SERCO has made in the aviation scene in the Middle East. He then went on to the ATM challenges in India and how best to go about them. The main challenges of managing Air traffic in India are Airspace Restructuring, Flexible Use Airspace, ADSB (Automatic Dependent Surveillance Broadcast), PBN (Performance Based Navigation) and Air Traffic Control Staffing.

The PBN concept specifies aircraft RNAV system performance requirements in terms of accuracy, integrity, availability, continuity and functionality needed for the proposed operations in the context of a particular Airspace Concept. He also deliberated upon how PBN translates to Increased airspace and airport capacity, Greater operational efficiency, predictability and controllability, Reduced flight times save fuel and cut CO2 emissions, Controlled descent arrivals, Optimized flight level and airspeed profiles and last but not the least Noise reduction or abatement.

He then gave an introduction to the Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) which is a cooperative surveillance technique for air traffic control and related applications being developed as part of the Next Gen transportation system.

He also discussed the role of SERCO and how it can help in the Indian context touching various aspects such as Training, Technology; Solutions are environment specific, Safety Management and Global Standardization / Interoperability.

This concluded the technical sessions and all the speakers were thanked by the chairman of the session by presenting mementoes.

The next and concluding session was the Valedictory Session.

The Session was chaired by Shri V P Agrawal, Chairman, Airports Authority of India.

He said that Air Traffic Control officers have been working tirelessly in Area control Centres and Control Towers and the skies have become very congested. He further said that “We are gearing up and addressing these issues and implementing various schemes and up gradation of various equipments etc. and will be completed by 2011 end. We will be doing more and more up gradation such as SBAS that is one major thing to happen which will require core competencies in that area. Then come Air Traffic Flow Management and flexible use of Airspace which involves use of military airspaces for civil use. We have also acquired Performance Based Navigation (PBN) designed by MITRE Corp. and gradually we are becoming more and more competent. Shortage of ATCOs also came by way of more sectors and more routes and we are addressing the problem in a big way. Also ATCOs should have a feel good factor while working in the present atmosphere and the situation as of now is tense and we are looking forward to work in a lively atmosphere.”

He further said that he had full confidence that we will be able to reach the highest standards by way of the newly appointed post of Member (ANS) and had high hopes from his direction and were aiming at exporting our skills and expertise in the region. He said that there could be several shortcomings and deficiencies here and there and that our officers would understand the limitations and would work out towards looking for in house solutions. Finally he said that “I have a very great confidence on my team of officers and I have seen them handling a crisis situation and steer through it very smartly.” He concluded by saying that ATCOs should keep that spirit up

A brief report on the 2 days’ activity was presented by Mr S Swaminathan, Regional Secretary, ATC Guild (India).

Vote-of-thanks was given by Shri Satyajit Dutta, Jt. GM (ATM), Member ATC Guild (India) to all the participants and members, sponsors and the stakeholders.

The Seminar was very well received by all the stakeholders. The two-day seminar ended with a positive note that all the parties concerned should strive hard to contribute their best in India’s initiatives for Aerospace Infrastructure.

A Gala Dinner was organized on the 21st October for all the participants and their families at the Airports Authority of India Officers Institute lawns.

Compiled extracted and edited by
Mr. A. K. Dutta, DGM (ATM), IGI Airport

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