Responsibilities

  • Carry out air traffic control in Indian airspace, directing flights accurately and safely from airports around the clock according to the procedures and established regulations established.
  • Providing navigational services and guidance required to organize air traffic at airports and through airline routes in coordination with monitoring centres operating in the region.
  • Monitoring the equipment and personnel in the manoeuvring area and parking aprons including baggage vehicles and maintenance employees
  • Assist pilots by giving directions, taking the necessary and required actions, informing the concerned authorities and coordinating with them to deal with any incidents, in case of emergency.

Eligibility

Nationality Indian only
Educational Qualification BSc degree ( 3 years) with physics and maths or B.E / B.Tech – Degree in Electronics/Telecommunications/Information Technology. Min 60% aggregate. Final year students are not eligible to write exam
English Proficiency ICAO language minimum proficiency level 4
Age Maximum: 27 years There are relaxations given for reserved categories. OBC (3 years), SC/ST (5 years), Ex-servicemen (3 years), AAI Employees (10 years)
Medical Fitness General physical fitness is mandatory. Vision in one is required to be perfect i.e. 6/6 eyesight whereas the other eye imperfection should be in state of correction with the help of spectacles, lenses etc.

Process

AAI conducts Junior Executive (ATC) exam every year

How To Apply

  • Apply Online through AAI website www.aai.aero in English only.
  • The link is available on www.aai.aero under tab “CAREERS”.
  • Complete the 2 STEP registration process.
  • Registration starts from July – September

Online Examination

  • The Online Examination may be held at centres in TEN CITIES (Delhi / Mumbai / Kolkata / Chennai/ Hyderabad/ Trivandrum / Allahabad / Guwahati / Nagpur / Ahmedabad) only.
  • Written Test of 120 questions of 1 mark each consisting following sections.
    Part A (60) – English (20), General Knowledge (10), General Intelligence (15), General Aptitude (15)
    Part B (60)- Questions from Engineering Branch Math (30) and Physics (30)
  • Syllabus available at the Link given under Careers tab of www.aai.aero.
  • No negative marking.
  • Passing cut-off is different for different categories. List is available on the website.

Voice Test

Fluency and Clear audibility in spoken English

Interview

Personal HR Interview

Medical Test

Medical Fitness as per ICAO Annex 1
Myopia is acceptable if correctable by lenses 6/6.

Training

  • Candidates will start a 1-year training at Civil Aviation Training College, Allahabad, UP or Area Control Training Centre, Hyderabad.
  • Cost of training is borne by AAI.
  • Subjects to be studied during training are

    Air Traffic Services

    Aerodromes and Ground Aids

    Air Legislation

    Meteorology

    Communication Procedures

    Technical

    Search and Rescue

Employment

  • As the training is successfully concluded, the candidate is employed as Junior Executive (ATC).
  • HAL and small private airports recruit ATCs mainly from AAI.
  • Defence recruits their ATC independently

Salary (Starting)

INR 40,000 pm + 3% annual increment + allowances

Career Progression

  • Junior Executive (Joining)
  • Assistant manager (3 years)
  • Manager (3 years)
  • Senior manager (3 years)
  • Assistant General Manager (performance based)
  • Deputy General Manager (performance based)
  • Joint General Manager (performance based)
  • General Manager (performance based)
  • Executive Director ATM (performance based)
  • Member (ATM) in AAI Board (performance based)

Lifestyle

Air traffic controllers are among the highest paid across the globe. One can go to an ATC school and get the license which is acceptable in most countries. Indian ATC program is however only through AAI, and AAI or DGCA does not issue any license for it, hence making it impossible to switch to higher paying jobs abroad.

The pay and benefits however is very attractive as per Indian standards.

Pay

5 Years or longer Tenure
6 cities that are recognized under this category. These are – New Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Bengaluru and Hyderabad.

2-3 Years long Tenure
Majority of the Indian airports other than the 6 mentioned above fall under this category

1 Year Short Tenure
There are also few such airports located at very remote or comparatively inaccessible locations like Agatti Airport in Lakshadweep Islands, or Leh Airport in Ladakh region of Kashmir.

Duty cycle

3-5 day duty cycle depending on station.

Shifts and Hours

Shifts are 6 hours long in morning and afternoon duties. Night shifts are 12 hours long. Midway, half of the controllers (1st team) go to sleep for about 4 hours in office dormitories. The controllers sleeping earlier, wake up and relieve the controllers who were working until morning when the shift ends. During duty, every controller works for 1 hour and gets relieved for 1 hour.