A Kolkata-bound flight taking off from Hyderabad first flies eastward to reach the coast and then takes a northerly route with more deviations to reach its destination. The route has been designed to avoid military installations at Begumpet near Hyderabad and at Barrackpore near Kolkata. But with the restricted military airspace being opened up for civilian flights last month, pilots can now take a direct northerly path.
Airports Authority of India (AAI) has started implementing flexible use of airspace which allows civilian aircraft to fly over military installations. This allows airliners to save fuel and time besides avoiding unnecessary detours. In June, the Kolkata-Hyderabad route was opened and this saves almost 15 minutes of flying time. As this been successful, AAI is planning to allow flights to use military airspace on the Delhi-Goa route on weekends and on the Nagpur-Pune route on Sundays very soon.
Military airspace, used for training and sorties, is marked as restricted areas on aviation charts. Civil airliners have to avoid such paths even when air force or navy planes are not flying. After much deliberation, defence ministry has decided to relax rules.
The proposal was made many years ago and was approved in 2013. Implementation has picked up momentum now. AAI has begun training air traffic controllers and staff, and has drawn up a manual to conduct route-specific trials between cities where detours are lengthier. The first was conducted between Kolkata and Jaipur.
An airline official said, “There was a training programme in Delhi in June. Another meeting was held in Hyderabad last week. The concept will improve safety as there will be less number of restrictions for pilots and air traffic controller.”
Chennai, though, has not been considered as of now since it is located at the farthest corner and does not fall between flight routes connecting major cities. The aim now is to eliminate detours of cross-country flights.
But Chennai would benefit if detours a flight takes before nearing the city airport come into focus. Flight paths over the city will be decongested if routes to the airport are designed to bypass the airspace used by Tambaram air force station and Arakkonam naval station. Flexible use of airspace will be beneficial for Benguluru and Chennai which are surrounded by military installations.
An AAI official said civil-military aviation cooperation is also being carried out as per the direction of International Civil Aviation Organisation which says that “shared use of airspace by civil and military aviation shall be arranged to ensure safety, regularity and efficiency of international civil aviation as well as the requirements of military air traffic.”
