Aviation: Minister Hardeep Puri inaugurates Air Traffic Flow Management - Central Command Centre

Hardeep Singh Puri, Minister of State for Civil Aviation, on Saturday inaugurated the Air Traffic Flow Management - Central Command Centre at Vasant Kunj, New Delhi in the presence of Chairman, AAI; Board Members and senior AAI officials. The C-ATFM system is primarily meant to address the balancing of capacity against the demand to achieve optimum utilization of the major resources viz., airport, airspace and aircraft at every Indian airport where there is a capacity constraint, the ministry said in a release. In a series of tweets, Puri said, "I am delighted that with the commissioning of the cutting edge Central Command Centre, Central Air Traffic Flow Management today, India takes a lead in global air traffic harmonization & facilitating efficient flow across our skies. Being seventh largest aviation market with 187 million passengers in 2017-18, India is on a high growth trajectory. It is imperative that we build technological capabilities to keep pace with this growth."

"I have been flying around the world for decades but was never really aware of the intricate behind-the-scenes procedures that keep our aviation sector streamlined. My visit to the new ATC Tower at IGI Airport today was a great learning experience," Puri said in another tweet. 

I have been flying around the world for decades but was never really aware of the intricate behind-the-scenes procedures that keep our aviation sector streamlined.

My visit to the new ATC Tower at IGI Airport today was a great learning experience. pic.twitter.com/WRcZVaT4N3

— Hardeep Singh Puri (@HardeepSPuri) June 22, 2019

What is C-AFTM?

The C-ATFM system integrates flight data from various subsystems like ATC Automation System, flight updates and flight update messages. The system also displays weather information along with static information about airports, airspaces and air routes. The system processes the demand and capacity information and provides decision-making tools to the ATFM Flow Manager for collaborative decision making and to ensure regulated flow of traffic at each airport in India.

The C-ATFM system is supported by 36 Flow Management Positions (FMP) at various airports including Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Bengaluru and Hyderabad among others. Eight defense airports are also part of the ATFM network which are provided with FMPs.

After successfully implementing the Air Traffic Flow Management System, India has become the seventh country after the US, Europe, Australia, South Africa, Japan, Brazil.

“With the commissioning of the Central Command Centre of the Central Air Traffic Flow Management Complex, we have made a humble beginning today. With this facility, in the next five years, we will be comparable to what the best of the world have to offer,” said Dr Guruprasad Mohapatra, Chairman, Airports Authority of India.