Kolkata: Air traffic controllers in Kolkata prepare to replace international international flights through Mumbai or Ahmedabad instead of Delhi to avoid volatile Afghan airspace, sources in Kolkata Air Traffic Control (ATC) said on Tuesday.
The detour can mean an additional flight time of 20 minutes to more than an hour, requires the plane to bring more fuel.
“Some flights may want to avoid airspace above Afghanistan because of the absence of civil air traffic services in this country.
Although the US said it would provide ATC services, the situation was very fluid and the airline might not want to take risks.
In such a case, we will guide it.
Excessive aircraft through Jamshedpur-Nagpur-Mumbai or Jamshedpur-Bhopal-Ahmedabad instead of Varanasi-Lucknow-Delhi so they can avoid Afghanistan airspace, “said a Veteran Atco.
A similar situation has occurred in February 2019, when Pakistan closed the airspace after a strict of surgery by the Indian Air Force.
Several hundred flights must be redirected through Mumbai, which leads to great pressure on the ATCOS in Kolkata and Mumbai.
“The biggest challenge allocates the desired flight level.
We must control the flow that requires changes within flight time to overcome the flight,” telling another ATCO.
Pakistan and Afghanistan Airspace presents the main traffic flow between Europe and Asia.
On Monday, the Afghan Civil Aviation Authority (ACAA) declared the airspace of Kabul – which covered the entire country – “uncontrollable”.
ACAA issued two notices to Airmen (NOTAM), advising the commercial aircraft that was too large to divert the route and declare the civilian side of the Kabul airport closed until further notice.
But the situation arising from the Afghan crisis tended to be less challenging than the closure of Pakistani airspace for seven months three years ago, only because the current number of flights was a few because of a pandemic.
With large Southeast Asian countries have not opened, their own operators and those from Europe do not operate on these routes.
“Usually, Kolkata handles 700-plus overflights every day.
But at this time, the amount fell to almost 100.
Most of the operating flights were from the Gulf.
Even the Ocean route (Over Bangal of Bangal) which carries 60% of excessive traffic Now serving only 30% of traffic, “said a controller.