The Airport Operations Control Centre (AOCC), the command, coordination and control centre for the airport here, will be housed in the old domestic terminal on the Shanghumughom side.
The domestic cargo terminal, to be owned and managed by the Airports Authority of India (AAI), will also be housed in the old terminal that has been remaining unused since the domestic flight operations were shifted to the old international terminal. The AAI has already given a portion of the domestic terminal to the Coast Guard for setting up its air enclave.
“The AAI board have given the clearance and the work on the AOCC and the domestic cargo terminal is in full swing,” Airport Director V.N. Chandran told The Hindu . The AOCC will bring airport operations’ management under information technology-based systems with the aim of improving effectiveness and efficiency of services and enhancing security.
The “hidden nerve centre” will bring together diverse processes relating to the three major operational areas — passengers, baggage and cargo, and aircraft. Improved coordination through cross-functional integration and cross-entity interfacing, optimisation of existing airport resources, and improvement on time performance resulting in enhanced customer satisfaction, are the other objectives.
The facility will enable the highest level of airside operations, resources planning and allocation, terminal operations, and security, and will allow various agencies/departments to collaborate real time. Mr. Chandran said the AOCC would help the authorities to keep in touch with other airports and sort out issues such as allocation of bay for an aircraft online. Thiruvananthapuram inairport is one of the 10 airports in the country to have the AOCC.
The domestic cargo terminal would be a big boost to domestic cargo movement from the capital, he said. The new cargo terminal would have all the facilities, including the X-ray scanners.
The Airport Advisory Committee that met under the chairmanship of local MP and Union Minister of State for Human Resource Development Shashi Tharoor on Thursday discussed the setting up of the AOCC, passenger amenities, cleanliness and transport issues in the airport. The Airport Director briefed the meeting on the initiatives being taken to operate Kerala State Road Transport Corporation buses to and from the airport, on the multi-modal hub and aeropolis projects.
The handing over of an oldage home on the airport premises to the AAI, setting up of the Perinelli fish market, and wage revision for bird-scarers were also discussed.
