The Airports Authority of India or AAI is a statutory body working under the Ministry of Civil Aviation, Government of India is responsible for creating, upgrading, maintaining, and managing civil aviation infrastructure in India. It provides Communication Navigation Surveillance / Air Traffic Management (CNS/ATM) services over Indian airspace and adjoining oceanic areas.
AAI is currently managing a total of 137 Airports, including 23 International Airports, 10 Customs Airports, 81 Domestic Airports, and 23 Civil enclaves at Defense Airfields. AAI also has ground installations at all airports and 25 other locations to ensure the safety of aircraft operations. AAI covers all major air-routes over Indian landmass via 29 Radar installations at 11 locations along with 700 VOR/DVOR installations co-located with Distance Measuring Equipment (DME). 52 runways are provided with Instrument landing system (ILS) installations with Night Landing Facilities at most of these airports and Automatic Message Switching System at 15 Airports.
History of Airports Authority of India or AAI
The Government of India constituted the International Airports Authority of India (IAAI) in 1972 to manage the nation’s international airports while the National Airports Authority of India (NAAI) was constituted in 1986 to look after domestic airports. The organizations were merged in April 1995 by an Act of Parliament, namely, the Airports Authority of India Act, 1994, and has been constituted as a Statutory Body and were named as AAI. This new organization was to be responsible for creating, upgrading, maintaining, and managing civil aviation infrastructure both on the ground and air space in the country.
Organizational Structure
AAI having its Corporate Headquarters at Rajiv Gandhi Bhawan, New Delhi is operating from its 5 Regional Headquarters through India.
- Eastern Regional Headquarter at Kolkata, West Bengal
- Western Regional Headquarter at Mumbai, Maharashtra
- Northern Regional Headquarter at Delhi, NCR
- Southern Regional Headquarter at Chennai, Tamilnadu
- North-Eastern Regional Headquarter at Guwahati, Assam.
AAI has five training establishments, including three ATS training organizations (ATSTO) viz.
- The Civil Aviation Training College (CATC) at Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh,
- Hyderabad Training Centre at Hyderabad (HTC)
- National Institute of Aviation Training and Management (NIATAM) at Gondia, Maharashtra.
- Indian Aviation Academy NIAMAR at Delhi (a joint venture of AAI, Directorate General of Civil Aviation (India) and Bureau of Civil Aviation Security, Govt of India) and
- Fire Training Centres (FTC) at Delhi & Kolkata.