About Us
Airports Authority of India
Airports Authority of India(AAI) was constituted by an Act of parliament and came into being on 1st April,1995 by merging erstwhile National Airports Authority and International Airports Authority of India. The merger brought into existence a single Organization entrusted with the responsibility of creating , upgrading maintaining and managing Civil Aviation infrastructure both on the ground and air space in the country. Despite many tragic occurrence like 9/11, Afgan war, Irag war and SARS that struck the Civil Aviation sector the world over during the last few years and left it bleeding, AAI has set for itself ambition targets for upgrading the infrastructure during the 10th Five - Year Plan and is working steadily to achieve tease targets.
AAI has set for itself ambitious targets for upgrading the infrastructure during the 10th Five - Year Plan and is working steadily to achieve these targets. AAI manages 126 airports, which include 11 international airports, 86 domestic airports and 29 civil enclaves at Defence airfields. AAI provides air navigation services over 2.8 million square nautical miles of airspace. During the year 2002-03, AAI at various airports handled about 5 lakhs aircraft movements (4 lakhs domestic and 1 lakh international); 40 million passengers (26 million domestic and 14 million international) and 9 lakh tones of cargo (3 lakh domestic and 6 lakh international.
1. PASSENGER FACILITIES :
Improvement of passenger facilities is a continuous process. AAI has to cater to very demanding customers who in the wake of globalization have the exposure to the best of facilities are available at other international airports in the world over and the airlines operators who by virtue of their nature of operation are exposed to the best of facilities and services available at other international airports.
AAI has been continuously striving to meet these challenges. Customer satisfaction surveys conducted periodically by outside agencies has been a vital source of feedback on the deficiencies of the system as also the expectations of the traveling public. It has been our endeavour in AAI to address these issues on priority.
2. AIR NAVIGATION SERVICES :
In tune with global approach to modernization of Air Navigation infrastructure for seamless navigation across state and regional boundaries, AAI has been going ahead with its plans for transition to satellite based Communication, Navigation, Surveillance and Air Traffic Management. A number of co-operation agreements and Memoranda of Co-operation have been signed with US Federal Aviation Administration, US Trade and Development Agency, European Union, Air Services Australia and the French Government, co-operative projects and studies initiated to gain from their experience. Through these activities more and more executives of AAI are being exposed to the latest technology, modern practices and procedures being adopted to improve the overall performance of Airports and Air Navigation Services.
Induction of latest state-of-the-art equipment, both as replacement of old equipments and also as new facilities to improve standards of safety at airports and in the air is a continuous process. Adoption of new and improved procedure go hand in hand with induction of new equipment. Some of the major initiatives in this direction are introduction of Reduced Vertical Separation Minima (RVSM) in Indian airspace to increase airspace capacity and reduce congestion in the air and implementation of GPS and Geo Augmented Navigation GAGAN jointly with ISRO which when operationalised would be one of the four such systems in the world.
3. SECURITY :
The continuing security environment has brought into focus the need for strengthening security of vital installations. There was thus an urgent need to revamp the security at airports not only to thwart any misadventure but also to restore confidence of the traveling public in the security of air travel as a whole, which was shaken after the 9/11 tragedy. With this in view, a number of steps were taken including induction of CISF for airport security, CCTV surveillance system at sensitive airports, latest and state-of-the-art X-Ray baggage inspection systems. Perimeter security and surveillance systems, smart cards for access control to vital installations at airports are also being considered for introduction to supplement efforts of security personnel at sensitive airports.
4. AERODROME FACILITIES :
In Airports Authority of India, the basic approach to planning of airport facilities has been to create capacity ahead of demand. In our efforts towards implementation of this strategy, a number of projects for extension and strengthening of runway, taxi track and aprons at different airports has been taken up. Extension of runway to 7500 feet to support operation of Airbus-320 / Boeing 737-800 category of aircrafts at all airports where jet aircrafts currently operate has been taken up. Among the major projects currently in progress/completed during the last year include new terminal buildings at Bhuj, Kangra and Pathankot, Ahmedabad, Porbandar constructions of canopies, extension of terminal buildings at Bangalore, Calicut, Ahmedabad extension and strengthening of runway at Agartala, Varanasi and Jaipur.
5. HRD-TRAINING :
A large pool of trained and highly skilled manpower is one of the major assets of Airports Authority of India. Development and technological advancements and consequent refinement of operating standards and procedures, new standards of safety and security and improvements in management techniques call for continuing training to update the knowledge and skill of officers and staff. AAI has a number of training establishments, viz. NIAMAR in Delhi, CATC in Allahabad, Fire Training Centres at Delhi and Kolkata for in-house training of its engineers, Air Traffic Controllers, Rescue & Fire fighting personnel, etc. NIAMAR & CATC are members of International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) TRAINAIR programme under which they share Standard Training Packages (STP) from a central pool for imparting training on various subjects. Both CATC & NIAMAR have also contributed a number of STPs to the Central pool under ICAO TRAINAIR programme. Foreign students have also been participating in the training programmes being conducted by these institutions.
6. IT IMPLEMENTATION :
Information Technology holds the key to operational and managerial efficiency transparency and employee productivity. AAI initiated a programme to inculcate IT culture among its employees and this most powerful tool to enhance efficiency in the Organization. AAI website with domain name www.airportsindia.org.in or www.aai.aero is a popular website giving a host of information about the organization besides domestic and international flight schedules and such other information of interest to the public in general and the passengers in particular.