DGCA must be proactive, says aviation secretary

...says airport modernization process is well under way

BY A CORRESPONDENT
April 20, 2006

Civil aviation secretary Ajay Shankar Prasad today said that while the work at the metro, non metro and Greenfield airports across the country were meeting their deadlines, the airport management will have to work increasingly harder to meet the new challenges that would occur with the immense growth in the civil aviation sector.

Mr Prasad was speaking a conference on “Modernizing Indian Airports – the Challenges Ahead”. He said that the first of the challenge would be the physical and technical one of handling the new generation of large aircraft like the Airbus 380. The next, he said, was the multiplicity of services that would be required to be provided to be passengers keeping in view the vast growth of passenger traffic that is taking place in the Indian aviation sector.

He said that the limitation on the use of non-aeronautical land at the airports was a major deterrent. Land should be able to generate revenue and be of use to the passengers using the airport. He called for more technological advancement of the CNS ATM Technology so that they could handle more traffic.

Mr Prasad also stressed on the flexible use of air space. Regarding aircraft safety, he said that the DGCA should become stronger and more pro-active in enforcing safety of aircraft. In this regard, he said that the recommendations of the Kaw Committee on restructuring of DGCA were under the consideration of the Ministry of Civil Aviation for implementation. Lastly, he stressed upon the requirement of trained manpower in all sectors of civil aviation.

He informed the gathering that the work at the Greenfield airports at Bangalore and Hyderabad were progressing in a time-bound manner and in all likelihood, the two airports would be commissioned by April 2008. He also announced that the first meeting of the two joint venture companies for the restructure and modernization of Delhi and Mumbai Airport would take place tomorrow.

The other dignitaries who spoke at the meeting were Lt General K.M. Seth, Governor Chattisgarh and Dr. S.S. Sidhu, Governor Manipur and others.