GAGAN Satellite Navigation System To Reduce Prices Of Flight Tickets

That improvement in technology helps in reducing the prices of flight tickets can be explained with the recent launch of the GAGAN satellite by India. GAGAN is a joint project of ISRO and Airports Authority of India which aims to replace the land-based navigation systems currently being operational at the airports in the country with the satellite-based ones in order to improve the navigation of the airplanes in the domestic skies.

By implementing the GAGAN project, India will become the fourth country in the world to have such a system. This system will help in accumulating the GPS data of the position of the airplanes, for which the country has been currently dependent on US till now. The current land-based navigation systems do not allow the airplane to be in contact with the Air Traffic Controller till the time these come within a particular range of the ATC tower. The ATC cannot locate the airplanes if these are not within its range. With satellite navigation, the ATC will be able to establish location of airplane anywhere and will be able to aid better navigation in skies. But, how does that help in getting the cheap air tickets?

The use of this system will help the pilots to follow the linear path to fly between the two airports. The planes will be able to save on the wastage of the fuel which gets spent unproductively for being within the range of the ATC towers while flying from one destination to the other. And, since fuel prices are quite a big proportion of the air tickets prices, these savings can be passed on to the customer, fully or partly, by reducing the prices of the flight tickets.

Besides helping in providing cheap air tickets, operation of GAGAN will also be beneficial in other ways. It will also result in major savings on time. Also, there will be lesser levels of stress for the flight crews. The GPS data will be far more accurate than the one which is currently being obtained from the US. The greater accuracy of the coordinates of the planes will make the air travel even safer for the passengers. Further, the mandatory distance between the two aircrafts in-flight will be reduced, freeing the airspace for more flights at a point of time. Due to this, the airplane carriers will be able to add capacity in their fleet.