New system blinks, holds up flights at city airport

[pk363]

MUMBAI: Flights departing from Mumbai airport were delayed by 30-45 minutes on Sunday when an Air Traffic Control (ATC) system, Autotrack-III, collapsed around 3.10 am for two hours. Officials had to switch to the old system, Autotrack-II, to conduct flight operations. It took them 15 minutes to make the switch.

In the past, there have been problems with the system, which is being used on a trial basis at Mumbai and Delhi airports, but these were workstation failures. Sunday was the first time Autotrack-III blacked out completely in Mumbai.

ATC officials said the system went into a 'degraded' mode of operations around 3.10 am. "The screen displaying flight information, routes and levels went blank. We went back to the old system but it took us some time to start it as there is staff shortage at Mumbai airport," said an ATC official. "Due to staff shortage, the second system is not operated as a parallel back-up," he said. Engineers were summoned to rectify the new system, which started functioning at 5.05 am.

Airports Authority of India (AAI) officials said the system was introduced at Mumbai and Delhi airports on a trial basis in 2010. However, there have been constant failures. Last year, there were three reported failures at Delhi airport. Of these, one was a complete blackout during British prime minister David Cameron's visit in July while the other two were workstation failures.

An AAI official said Autotrack-III was installed despite its incompatibility with Indian airports. "Many letters have been sent to the ministry to review the system, but to no avail," the official said. Mumbai International Airport Pvt Ltd spokesperson said flights were delayed by 20-30 minutes

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city ... 093096.cms