New Delhi: India has expressed willingness to manage Afghanistan’s air traffic control (ATC) as the US-led international military coalition — that have been running the war-ravaged country’s airspace since 2001 — are going to stop doing the job from June 30, 2015.
A senior member of AAI said they had submitted an expression of interest (EOI) for the job. Afghanistan is tendering out the work of managing its airspace and will give the contract to someone with a proven ability and track record. India is one of the biggest air space managers of commercial air travel in southeast Asia.
India is awaiting details of what the job entails as that would be known once the tenders are made public. A final decision on whether Airports Authority of India (AAI) pursues its EOI to the logical conclusion. “We are waiting for the tender document to get all details,” said the official.
Sources say six international companies, including AAI, have shown interest in bidding for Afghanistan’s ATC. Afghanistan is a crucial air corridor on the Europe-Asia route and the country has to find a successor to the US-led forces to manage the ATC that is criss-crossed by almost 300 aircraft daily.
Unless the transition happens smoothly — in just over a month — many international airlines could stop even overflying the country or to Afghanistan. Air India and SpiceJet fly to Kabul and an Afghan airline comes here.
All Indian and some foreign carriers flying between India and the west overfly Afghanistan. If the country becomes a virtual no fly zone, they would have to take a longer detour over central Asia thereby leading to longer flying time and more expensive flying due to extra fuel burn. AI and Jet’s flights to Europe overfly Afghanistan.
For Afghanistan also, overflying is a big revenue spinner as it is learnt to charge anywhere upto $500 per overflying aircraft. “Afghanistan does not have properly trained ATC officials for handling the traffic. They would need overseas personnel and are not exactly willing to take up the job on their own. Indian ATC is highly regarded the world over. For instance, the Mumbai ATC covers a huge oceanic area and the vast traffic that goes through there between the west and Asia-Australia region,” said another official.
US-led forces have been managing Afghan ATC since 2001, or the fall of Taliban. Before that, the Taliban had a free run at Afghan airports. AI officials and pilots involved in the hijack of IC 814 Kathmandu-Delhi flight that was taken to Kandahar recall dealing with Taliban members at the airport there.
“Taliban virtually controlled the Kandahar airport as well as the ATC. It was a very unsafe place,” a senior commander directly involved with that case said.