India Delays Selecting Provider Of Approach Surveillance Radars
Air Traffic Management Aviation Daily Oct 07 , 2010 , p. 09 Neelam Mathews Despite the need to improve an aging air traffic management system, the Airports Authority of India (AAI) has delayed the selection of a company to set up eight Approach Surveillance Radars (ASRs). The radars are required for eight congested and expanding cities including Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai. Only two companies—Raytheon and Thales—made the cut of the six that submitted bids in July. However, in August, Eldis, a Czech company with an unproven product, was added to the list after government officials took a trip to the Czech Republic to visit the company. No reason was given for the decision to add Eldis to the list, even though the company does not adhere to the main requirement of the AAI that finalists must have installed radars at a major airport with at least 1.5 million passengers passing through it annually. With India’s growing aviation traffic—8% annually—approach radars are see...