Despite increased air traffic related to VVIP and delegation travel during the 18th BRICS Summit, Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGI) maintained full operational capacity for scheduled flights, Airports Authority of India (AAI) Northern Regional Director Ajay Kumar Kapur said on September 13.
Mr. Kapur explained that Delhi Air Traffic Control (ATC) is managing the peak arrivals of VVIPs and delegations during the summit period while ensuring uninterrupted civil aircraft operations. The two-day summit held at the Bharat Mandapam concluded on the same day.
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He detailed the various air traffic management measures implemented, including arrival management, addition of flexible ATC sectors, deployment of additional supervisors and coordinators, speed control, runway and taxiway management, active coordination between ATC and airport bays, and enhanced information exchange.
“From an ATC operations perspective, no significant delays have been observed. No diversions due to movement of VVIPs have been reported. IGI is operating at full capacity for scheduled flights. Proactive air traffic flow management measures are in place to manage slots,” Kapur said.
Highlighting the expertise accumulated over the years, Mr. Kapur said, “We handle maximum VVIP flights. We use three to four runways very efficiently. For scheduled flights, the runway is rotated systematically. For VVIP flights, we have an empty runway, for commercial flights, we rotate the runway. When there are no VVIP flights, we seamlessly rotate the runway.”
Regarding the resumption of general aviation and irregular flights after the lifting of restrictions on the night of September 13, Prime Minister Kapur confirmed that airspace restrictions will be normalized immediately.
“Airspace restrictions for irregular flights will be normalized immediately after the restrictions are lifted,” he added.