Indian aviation to have hi-tech GPS soon

India's aviation sector would have a fully functioning satellite based navigation system (GPS) in place next year, Aviation Minister Praful Patel, who met US Commerce Secretary Gary Locke and US Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said.

He held discussions on how to take the 2007 US-India Aviation Cooperation Program to the next level.

He also said the Federal Aviation Administration that conducts safety audits had "rated India pretty good in the last round of safety and it has ranked India among the better countries in governing technical standards worldwide."

Patel, in an interaction with the Indian media said, "We now have a ground-based navigation systems, but we have a lot of things to learn from the experience of the United States."

He said that once the satellite based navigation system is set up, "we will be joining the select few countries in the world - maybe the fourth or fifth- which has satellite based navigation and that will shorten our air routes especially at a time when global warming and other environmental issues are paramount."

"We need to have shorter air routes so that less emissions, more efficient aircraft - all these are issues which because of the Aviation Cooperation Program, we are taking part in," Patel said.

He said the GPS system would be place next year and not sooner "because our own satellite has to be launched, which will be done next year. In the meantime, we will be running some trial runs on borrowed satellite time, on other transponders we will be getting."

Patel said that "the GPS systems when in place would include the Indian network - the entire footprint over India and the entire territory, which we man because we have a lot of air space over the Indian Ocean. So, our entire air mapping will be done on GPS by satellite."

Meanwhile, asked if the Boeing aircraft delivery schedule that Air India had purchased was being met, the Minister said that since these deliveries have been delayed, "Boeing is going to be paying compensation to Air India for the delay of the 787. But that notwithstanding, the overall transaction with Boeing is for 68 planes and so its 27 planes, which are the 787's are delayed definitely by more than a year and a half. So Boeing will be paying compensation for that.