Full form of AAI
- Full form of AAI is Airport Authority of India.
It is a specialized body supervised and managed by the Ministry of Civil Aviation under the guidance of the government of India. The creation of this statutory body was due the Airport Authorities Act of 1994. It came to function in the year of 1995. Currently, an erstwhile IAS officer, Mr. Arvind Singh is the chairman of the AAI.
The AAI at present manages 137 airports of which 23 are international airports. Other than it also manages around 81 domestic airports as well as 23 Civil Enclaves and around 10 customs airports. The main purpose of AAI has been micromanaging the civil aviation facilities in the countries to provide a seamless experience for all.
Functions of AAI –
- The authority looks into matters such as air traffic and adherence to such rules for a legal and unproblematic passage of flights.
- Maintain different operational functions related to aircrafts such as management of navigation aids , communicating equipment.
- It looks after maintaining key features of airports such as the Runaways, terminals and ancillary buildings. The authority also looks into the coordination between each unit.
- Provide and arrange for emergency rescue facilities such as rescue teams and emergency alert teams that coordinate with the flight to guide it to safety as necessary.
- Ensure strict security facilities for passengers at terminals and maintain check points
Achievements of AAI –
- In civil airports in cities like Delhi , Mumbai and Ahmedabad the authority has taken the approach of a performance based navigation system.
- AAI has adopted the Automatic Dependent Surveillance System and has been the first to do so in South-East Asia.
- AAI in association with ISRO is developing the project GAGAN that would make use of satellite images to determine navigation for aircrafts.