(a) whether the Airport Authority of India has accorded high priority on air traffic management of major airports in the country;
(b) if so, the names of airports which are likely to be upgraded for the purpose;
(c) whether some airports which have been handling international flights and declared as international airports have been included in this scheme; and
(d) if so, the reasons therefor?
THE MINISTER OF CIVIL AVIATION ( SHRI SYED SHAHNAWAZ HUSSAIN )
(a), (b), (c) & (d) :- Yes, Sir. Upgradation of Air Traffic Management infrastructure are under implementation at the airports at Agartala, Ahmedabad, Agatti, Allahabad, Aurangabad, Bhavnagar, Barapani, Bangalore, Bellary, Belgaum, Bhubaneshwar, Vadodara, Kolkata, Chennai, Cochin, Dibrugarh, Dimapur, Goa, Guwahati, Hyderabad, Jammu, Jodhpur, Jamshedpur, Katihar, Kanchipuram, Lilabari, Madurai, Mangalore, Moga, Mumbai, Nagpur, Patna, Port Blair, Ranchi, Raipur, Silchar, Trivandrum, Trichy, Udaipur, Varanasi, Vijaywada, Visakhapatnam, Srinagar, Amritsar, Calicut and Bangalore. Besides, there are plans to provide new Dedicated Satellite Communication Network at 80 Stations by March, 2004. The airports handling international flights have also been included in the scheme of upgradation for modernizing the communication, navigation and surveillance facilities available at these airports.