Defence Airspace

Issue

Military airspace, used for training and sorties, is marked as restricted areas on aviation charts. Civil airliners have to avoid such paths even when air force or navy planes are not flying. 

What has been done

Airports Authority of India (AAI) has started implementing flexible use of airspace, which allows civilian aircraft to fly over military installations. This allows airliners to save fuel and time besides avoiding unnecessary detours.

The proposal was made many years ago and was approved in 2013.

AAI has begun training air traffic controllers and staff, and has drawn up a manual to conduct route-specific trials between cities where detours are lengthier.

Developments

The first, the Kolkata-Hyderabad route was opened and this saves almost 15 minutes of flying time. 

The first was conducted between Kolkata and Jaipur.

Advantages

It will eliminate detours of cross-country flights. Chennai, though, has not been considered as of now since it is located at the farthest corner and does not fall between flight routes connecting major cities.

But Chennai would benefit if detours a flight takes before nearing the city airport come into focus. Flight paths over the city will be decongested if routes to the airport are designed to bypass the airspace used by Tambaram air force station and Arakkonam naval station.

Flexible use of airspace will be beneficial for Benguluru and Chennai which are surrounded by military installations.

It will be a major time and fuel saving exercise over cities like Delhi, and all other centres which have air bases or military cantonments.