The Hindu : New Delhi News : A new command centre goes live at IGI Airport

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Sunday, Apr 27, 2008
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New Delhi

A new command centre goes live at IGI Airport

Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI: Delhi International Airport Limited has set up a state-of-the-art Airport Operation Command Centre to streamline the operations at the airport and maximise the efficiency of available resources.

The new command centre that went live this past week is located in the old Air Traffic Control tower at the domestic terminal of Indira Gandhi International Airport.

“The centre will be a high-technology asset which will monitor and co-ordinate operations within the terminal, air side, cargo and other support functions of the airport. It will significantly improve the resource allocation at the airport which will lead to greater efficiency in airport operations. Passengers will be greatly benefited as it would lead to quicker processing for them at the terminals and faster aircraft turnaround, thereby reducing delays,” said a senior DIAL official.

“The [command centre] is being fed with real-time data from the ATC tower, passenger terminals, airlines, ground handling team, cargo terminals, fire and rescue station and maintenance facilities. This allows it to map these resources on to a single data base known as the Airport Operational Data Base, which will streamline daily operations by integrating information from multiple application systems.” The Airport Operational Data Base, the foundation for an information technology-driven airport system, is a fully scaleable high performance data base storing all information related to flight movements, aircraft details and airport-related resources.

All the information recorded is collated in the data base which in turn provides the most recent data to the Flight Information Display System screens deployed on the terminals for passengers’ and visitors’ convenience.

“A large number of video cameras are also being installed on the air side which will be used to monitor various activities there and also to find out the occupancy of aircraft parking stands. The Airport Operation Command Centre will monitor a flight from the moment it touches down and will be responsible for allocation of resources such as parking bay or aero-bridge, check-in counter and baggage belts,” the official added. The command centre will function round-the-clock with a team of five to seven personnel manning it. “The Centre will also be the first line of action during aircraft emergencies or low-visibility procedures or weather warnings, ” said the DIAL official.

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