Sunday, July 24 2005 17:00 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: In order to radically increase the number of flights at Delhi and Mumbai airports, aviation authorities are taking a fresh look at air traffic management and considering several steps to beef up flight operations across the country.

The steps being considered include spreading off lights throughout the day to get rid of the present clogging during morning and evening hours and fixing hourly slots for operations of smaller aircraft like turbo-props as they take longer time to clear the runway during take-offs and landings.

The steps are being taken when several new domestic airlines have either launched operations or are in the process of doing so.

Those, which have started operations, include Kingfisher and Spice Jet, while those on the anvil include Paramount, Visa Air, IndiGo, Go Air and Indus.

While these two airports can each currently allow 20 to 25 flights an hour with a peak of about 30, several international airports with single runway operations can handle as many as 60 flights. Mumbai airport handles 526 flights a day that is about 21 an hour.

Keeping this in mind, the Airports Authority of India has appointed an international consultant to firm up fresh airport traffic procedures or re-design them to enable these two airports handle greater volume of traffic, official sources said.