Juhu chopper operators want ATCs to improve coordination

A Mumbai ATC official who was present at a coordination meeting with Juhu operators,both ATCs,and the DGCA earlier this week,said operators had made “certain demands,which cannot be met.”

After helicopter movements were banned from CSIA in an effort to reduce congestion delays for scheduled commercial flights out of Mumbai,many VIP helicopters have started using the Mahalakshmi Racecourse as an alternative boarding point. In such cases,the helicopter takes off from Juhu,goes to Mahalakshmi Racecourse helipad,picks up the passenger and then heads off to locations like the Dhirubhai Ambani Knowledge City (DAKC) or the Reliance Corporate Park (RCP) (if it is the Ambani brothers).

The Mumbai ATC has insisted that since there is no ATC at Mahalakshmi Racecourse,the pilot would have to initiate takeoff procedures all over again after landing from Juhu — which is to say they would have to switch off engines,call the ATC and wait in line for a fresh clearance. Sometimes,this can cause delays,operators say,as Mumbai ATC is primarily busy clearing commercial flights.

“It cannot be helped. We have asked Juhu airport officials for specific instances where the delays were extraordinary; once we get these details,we will investigate each of these instances,” said the Mumbai ATC officer.

Officials also say that it is unlikely that the CSIA will be used again for helicopter operations. A DGCA official said that coordination between both ATCs would be improved as much as possible,without jeopardising the commercial flight movements at Mumbai. A lot of capacity enhancement studies — most notably one conducted by KPMG last year — have been conducted in the past to augment Juhu’s infrastructure to siphon off some traffic congestion load from Mumbai’s CSIA,but they have not been implemented as yet.

According to a study commissioned by the Mumbai International Airport Limited (MIAL) earlier this year,any increase in traffic movements at Juhu airport would be a hindrance to CSIA movements.

However,Juhu operators say that in the past,they have had to cancel sorties altogether because of delays. “A Kingfisher aircraft was slated to go to Pune a few months ago,it was set to take off in the afternoon,but the delay was so enormous that the pilot had to cancel the flight as it could not land in Pune in the evening. Even sorties undertaken by the Bombay Flying Club flights have to be cancelled because of the delay,” said an operator. Operators are also asking for a special controller to be posted at Mumbai,specifically to control the Juhu traffic.