Air traffic controllers to operate with 10% additional staff during G20 Summit

55 VVIP flights are expected to land at Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International (IGI) airport. According to airport officials, 60% of the VVIPs are expected to land in Delhi by 7pm

In order to ensure all flight movements and their coordination are in place and on time, the air traffic controllers (ATCOs) will be operating with an extra 10% of staff on all three days of the G20 Summit being held in New Delhi this weekend, officials familiar with the matter said on Friday.

The leaves of staff of Delhi ATCOs have been cancelled in view of the G20 Summit (File Photo)

“The ATCOs are working with more staff i.e. 10% than usual, to handle the flight movements throughout the G20 summit. A few of them have been called to work at Delhi airport from various other stations,” a government official said.

The ATCOs are working in three shifts (7.30am to 2pm, 2- 80.30pm and 8.30- 7.20am) and two coordinators are placed in each of these shifts to synchronize with the control room and various other teams.

According to an airport official, these coordinators will be on duty round the clock until all VVIP aircraft land.

Moreover, the leaves of staff of Delhi ATCOs have been cancelled in view of the G20 Summit, said the airport official, adding each shift has at least 59 ATCOs on duty during the Summit.

The flights carrying dignitaries began arriving in the national capital on Thursday and Friday to take part in the G20 Summit that is to take place over the weekend in New Delhi.

55 VVIP flights are expected to land at Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International (IGI) airport. According to airport officials, 60% of the VVIPs are expected to land in Delhi by 7pm.

“A total of 55 aircraft are expected to land in Delhi with VVIPs and other dignitaries. While many of them will be parked at T3, a few of them (mostly including the ones from the US) will land at Palam Air Force station. All these landings will be completed by Saturday noon,” the government official said.

The Delhi Airport International Ltd. (DIAL) officials earlier had said that dedicated gates and corridors to ensure seamless immigration for G20 delegates and a team of senior officials will monitor arrival and departure operations related to the summit.

“While many of the guests will be arriving at Air Force Station on the Palam side, there are many other heads of States, as well as, other delegation members, who will arrive at Terminal-3. We have made special arrangements for them,” DIAL CEO Videh Kumar Jaipuriar had said.

Meanwhile, other flight operations at the Delhi airport saw delays in departures and arrivals of 20-30 minutes.

Officials had previously stated that passengers flying to and from Delhi are likely to face some inconvenience between September 8 and 10, as flights will be affected due to heavy movement of VVIPs owing to the G20 Summit, likely causing delays in take-off and landing.

Sikandar Dubey (name changed) who landed in Delhi in the afternoon said, “My flight was delayed due to the air congestion in Delhi. The flight was delayed for take off in order to ease the possible congestion of the air space in Delhi .”

A second passenger on condition of anonymity said, “There are additional security checks at the airport due to the VVIP movements. All airlines were conducting secondary ladder point checks (SLPC) for passengers.”

The SLPC is a secondary-level security procedure mandated by the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) under which the airline staff have to frisk passengers and their hand luggage after the security clearance from the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), right before boarding the aircraft.