To offset the acute shortage of air traffic controllers (ATC) due to the unprecedented growth of air traffic in the country, 371 junior ATC officers have been inducted into the Airport Authority of India (AAI) in the last two and half years. Efforts to fill another 148 posts of junior engineers (ATC) are also in progress, sources said.
The government is also looking at recruiting 100 ATC officers every six months while utilising the services of retired ATCOs wherever possible. But according to sources, this is nowhere near enough.
Civil aviation ministry sources say that around 1,000 ATCs are needed over the next one year. But sources within the ATC community believe this number is closer to 2,000 needed by the end of 2008. At present, there are 1,100 ATCs in the country and there is an immediate need for another 1,500. ?India is the only country that has multi-tasking ATCs ie one ATC may handle radar control for a while and then move on another aspect of traffic control whereas in other countries more often then not an ATC handles one job at least till he moves to a supervisory position,? the source said. Recruitment is not the problem but the skill level impedes faster recruitment. One ATC can give his undivided attention to at the most 15 aircraft at a time and around 30 aircraft an hour, he added.