The Civil Aviation Authority is looking forward to upgrading and replacing Air Traffic Management (ATM) & Voice Communication and Control Systems (VCCS) at two major airports in the county with a projected cost of Rs 3.396 billion.
The decision was made when a committee including navigation experts had suggested the replacement and up-gradation of the decade-old Air Traffic Management (ATM) & Voice Communication and Control Systems (VCCS) at the area control centers of Allama Iqbal International Airport (AIIA), Lahore, and Jinnah International Airport (JIAP), Karachi, according to the information revealed by official documents.
Further details said that the existing systems are nearly 12 years old and have outlived their useful life. These systems are thus prone to frequent breakdowns and causing huge difficulties in maintaining their operation at an optimum level of efficiency because of systems obsolescence and non-availability of spare support from the manufacturers and even the international and local market. Accordingly, a reliable, accurate, and dependable operation of existing systems cannot be ensured for a longer period. The system(s) are basically essential to provide air traffic services.
Moreover, the project intends to ensure the availability of satisfactory communication, navigation, and surveillance (CNS) infrastructure to provide safe and secure aircraft operations to meet the obligatory requirement of the Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority (Pak-CAA).
The scope of the project envisages that the authority will equip area control centers of Karachi and Lahore with the up-to-the-minute technology of Air Traffic Management (ATM) and Voice Communication and Control Systems (VCCS) including efficient safety Nets for secure and safe air traffic operation.
It will help to increase the additional Air Traffic Control sectors as well as the latest ATC tools to cope with the ever-increasing Air-traffic density in the region for the next 05-10 years; replace the hardware of ATM & VCCS systems with new generation technology, which is now obsolete in terms of technology; and improve the Pak-CAAs capability to make its airspace secure and to have more watchful and efficient control of its skies.