Fatigued ATCOs seek help from other airports to manage traffic

In a letter to Ahmedabad, Nagpur, Chennai and Muscat airports, ATCOs said fatigue wing to burdened schedule is leading has disrupted their schedule.

Citing fatigue owing to the handling of heavy air traffic, which has been diverted westward following the closure of the airspace over Pakistan since February 27, Mumbai air traffic controllers (ATCOs) have sought help from other domestic and international airports.

In a letter to Ahmedabad, Nagpur, Chennai and Muscat airports, ATCOs said fatigue wing to burdened schedule is leading has disrupted their schedule. (REUTERS)

In a letter to Ahmedabad, Nagpur, Chennai and Muscat airports, ATCOs said fatigue wing to burdened schedule is leading has disrupted their schedule.

This comes three days after traffic collision avoidance system (TCAS) in two planes sounded an alarm after they came dangerously close to each other while flying over Mumbai.

Around 30% extra flights overflew Mumbai airspace on February 27 as compared to February 26.

A senior official from Airports Authority of India (AAI) said, “Suggestions have been made to nearby airports and their heads after discussing the current problems faced by Mumbai ATCOs.”

Before the closure of Pakistan airspace, air traffic from east and south would overfly Mumbai airspace.

But now, the air traffic from the north is using the airspace to reach the Middle East.

“The controllers are fatigued, as their workload has doubled. So the ATCOs have asked the neighbouring airports to allow flights arriving at Mumbai to fly at a lower altitude to avoid domestic flight management along with the overflying flights,” said a senior AAI official.

ATCOs also had a meeting with their general manager on Monday to discuss solutions to handle the current situation effectively. However, the meeting ended without a solution.