Executive Vice-President Asia & Pacific - D.K. Behera

Mr Behera was elected as Executive Vice President Asia-Pacific (EVP-ASP) at the Annual Conference at Amman, Jordan in April, 2011 for a period of two years, and his responsibility, among other things, is to oversee all activities of IFATCA within the Asia-Pacific Region. 

After completion of post graduation degree in Physics, Mr Behera joined the Civil Aviation Department in 1987 as an Air Traffic Controller. Following a one-year ab-initio training programme at the Civil Aviation Training College, Allahabad, India he acquired all procedural and radar ratings at Kolkata International Airport involving highly complex continental and oceanic airspace over the Bay of Bengal. Mr Behera also worked as on-the-job training instructor (OJTI) from 1994 to 1999. 

In 1999 Mr Behera joined the Civil Aviation Training College (CATC) as an instructor and continued there until 2004. In addition to performing an instructional job in procedural and radar faculty, he worked as designated Subject Matter Expert (SME) for the course development unit. Mr Behera’s expertise in an Instructional Development Programme (IDP) and PANS-Ops Instrument Approach Procedures, contributed to the faculty work. 

Mr Behera’s relationship with the Air Traffic Controllers’ Guild (India) almost goes back to his early days in the aviation circles, and he has held positions including Regional Secretary, Eastern Region, for five years and Branch Secretary CATC for five years. In 2004 Mr Behera was elected as President and in March 2006 General Secretary, a post he still holds in New Delhi. During his tenure, ATC Guild (India) was successful in applying for membership of IFATCA at the Melbourne conference in 2005. 

Mr Behera has contributed significantly to the ATC community in India by liaising with Ministry, DGCA and the Airports Authority of India. He actively participated in the restructuring of Indian Airspace, procurement of equipment, massive recruitment of ATCOs, introduction of social security schemes and a revised remuneration package for ATCOs. 

Considering the fact that the ATM System has come under severe pressure consequent to the phenomenal growth in aircraft movements in the Asia-Pacific region, Mr Behera’s long experience in ATC Guild activities and exposure to various International forums will be of immense help. International exposure like participation in the Navigation Systems Panel (NSP) of ICAO, member of Customer Relations Working Group (CRWG) and Human Resources Working Group (HRWG) of CANSO will be of great help in discharging his duties as EVP-ASP.

Contact evpasp@ifatca.org