<p class="title"><span class="bold"> </span>Inside the Kempegowda International Airport's hyper-busy Air Traffic Control (ATC), the high precision monitoring of incoming and outgoing aircraft can get extremely stressful. Yet, the women were confidently in control on Thursday, as they connected the dots in a jiffy.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Even a minute's delay in making that critical decision could prove risky - for the aircraft, airport and thousands of lives. "If you are on a particular channel, communicating with the pilot, ground staff and the control towers, you are entirely responsible," explained ATC manager Nisha P.</p>.<p class="bodytext">An approaching aircraft is tracked right from its originating station till it lands and switches off the engine. Display monitors indicate the aircraft's altitude, speed and code. "If a flight takes off from the Chennai airport, our route radar tracks it from a height of 26,000 ft. The approach radar control takes over when it descends to 14,000 ft and gets into position for final approach and landing."</p>.<p class="bodytext">But a safe landing has to be followed up quickly with the rapid exit of the taxiway for other incoming flights.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"Every minute, 38 aircraft either take off or land. We need to ensure that the flights are 6.5 nautical miles apart. The aircraft should leave the runway within 65 seconds," a top ATC official informed.</p>.<p class="bodytext">As KIA gets busier, the plan is to reduce this time to 42 seconds within the next three months. The additional Rapid Exit Taxiways (RETs) is in line with this plan.</p>.<p class="bodytext"><span class="bold">Self-bag-drop facility</span></p>.<p class="bodytext">KIA's self-bag-drop facility will be expanded through tie-ups with select airlines. Besides saving manpower, this will ensure the process is completed in 45-50 seconds, a BIAL official informed. The Automatic Tray Retrieval System, now installed at four locations, will be expanded by adding 14 machines over the next 18 months.</p>.<p class="bodytext"><span class="bold">Women staff: 15%</span></p>.<p class="bodytext">About 15% of the airport staff are women. KIA has proposed to raise this to 20% by preferring more women for the second terminal management and related jobs.</p>
<p class="title"><span class="bold"> </span>Inside the Kempegowda International Airport's hyper-busy Air Traffic Control (ATC), the high precision monitoring of incoming and outgoing aircraft can get extremely stressful. Yet, the women were confidently in control on Thursday, as they connected the dots in a jiffy.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Even a minute's delay in making that critical decision could prove risky - for the aircraft, airport and thousands of lives. "If you are on a particular channel, communicating with the pilot, ground staff and the control towers, you are entirely responsible," explained ATC manager Nisha P.</p>.<p class="bodytext">An approaching aircraft is tracked right from its originating station till it lands and switches off the engine. Display monitors indicate the aircraft's altitude, speed and code. "If a flight takes off from the Chennai airport, our route radar tracks it from a height of 26,000 ft. The approach radar control takes over when it descends to 14,000 ft and gets into position for final approach and landing."</p>.<p class="bodytext">But a safe landing has to be followed up quickly with the rapid exit of the taxiway for other incoming flights.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"Every minute, 38 aircraft either take off or land. We need to ensure that the flights are 6.5 nautical miles apart. The aircraft should leave the runway within 65 seconds," a top ATC official informed.</p>.<p class="bodytext">As KIA gets busier, the plan is to reduce this time to 42 seconds within the next three months. The additional Rapid Exit Taxiways (RETs) is in line with this plan.</p>.<p class="bodytext"><span class="bold">Self-bag-drop facility</span></p>.<p class="bodytext">KIA's self-bag-drop facility will be expanded through tie-ups with select airlines. Besides saving manpower, this will ensure the process is completed in 45-50 seconds, a BIAL official informed. The Automatic Tray Retrieval System, now installed at four locations, will be expanded by adding 14 machines over the next 18 months.</p>.<p class="bodytext"><span class="bold">Women staff: 15%</span></p>.<p class="bodytext">About 15% of the airport staff are women. KIA has proposed to raise this to 20% by preferring more women for the second terminal management and related jobs.</p>
