The civil aviation ministry on Friday said approval has been granted for the creation of 340 additional posts of Air Traffic Controllers (ATCOs) this year amid their acute shortage.

Also, 50 new routes commenced on regional connectivity routes in 2022.

In a brief about the major activities taken up by the ministry this year, an official release said that more than 22,500 Indian nationals were safely rescued from Ukraine by operating 90 evacuation flights under Operation Ganga.

"The country was facing acute shortage of ATCOs. The Ministry, with concurrence of DPE, approved creation of 340 more posts of ATCOs," it said.

Details about the current number of ATCOs could not immediately ascertained.

Meanwhile, 11 aircraft were leased by aircraft leasing entities registered from Gujarat International Finance Tec-City GIFT IFSC at the end of September.

"International Financial Services Centres Authority (IFSCA) issued 'Framework for Aircraft Leases' on May 18, 2022 to enable the aircraft leasing business in IFSCs in India. As of October 31, 2022, eighteen entities have registered for undertaking aircraft leasing business," the release said.

With respect to Air India, which was acquired by the Tata group in January this year, the ministry said that various measures were also taken for the welfare of employees of erstwhile Air India.

"Necessary measures for vacation of quarters by the employees of the erstwhile AIL at New Delhi and Mumbai have been taken. Estates Officer under the Public Premises (Eviction of Unauthorised Occupants) Act, 1971 has been appointed for New Delhi. Out of 3,089 accommodation units in all regions, only 743 are now in possession of the AIL employees," the release said.

According to the release, a special campaign for disposal and pending matters and Swachhata was held in the ministry, its attached offices, organisations and PSUs during October 2 to 31 period.

"The campaign focused on disposal of pending references, weeding out of old/redundant files, discarding of redundant scrap material and the overall cleanliness of the offices with a special focus on space management.

"During the campaign, a total of 43,224 physical files were reviewed, out of which 32,919 physical files were weeded out. 42,786 square feet of space freed and revenue of Rs 2,65,91,760 generated from scrap disposal," it added.