TBM Staff - Mumbai
India has initiated the process of consolidating its four airspace regions into one encompassing the entire nation to streamline and improve air traffic management.
The Airports Authority of India (AAI), responsible for air traffic management (ATM) services, recently called for expressions of interest (EoI) to prepare a detailed project report for Indian Single Sky Harmonised Air Traffic Management at Nagpur (ISHAN).
This move is expected to benefit both airlines and passengers by enhancing operational efficiency, increasing flight handling capacity, and reducing congestion and flight times.
Currently, the AAI provides ATM services over Indian airspace and adjoining oceanic areas, covering over 2.8 million square nautical miles. This airspace is divided into four flight information regions (FIRs) at Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, and Chennai, along with a sub-flight information region at Guwahati.
Unifying these FIRs will centralise management and control at a single point, Nagpur, making air traffic operations more efficient, safer, and seamless, thus enabling the handling of increased capacity.
This initiative is particularly crucial given the significant growth in the aviation industry. According to the credit rating agency ICRA, domestic air passenger traffic for FY2024 is estimated to be around 154 million, a year-on-year growth of 13%, surpassing pre-Covid levels. By 2030, the industry expects domestic passenger traffic to double to 300 million.
