Showing posts with label Airports Apr 2018. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Airports Apr 2018. Show all posts

Monday, April 30, 2018

Seven flights diverted as squall hits Calcutta

Calcutta: The Monday morning squall stalled operations at Calcutta airport for more than half an hour, resulting in diversion of seven flights.

Airport officials said no aircraft could take off or land between 10.18am and 10.51am because of strong winds.

Officials at the Met department in the airport said the wind blew at 62kmph for a minute at 10.03am. It slowed down to 34 kmph after some time and remained so till 10.51am.

If an aircraft lands negotiating a strong wind, it might veer off the runway or suffer a tyre burst, a pilot said.

"If there is a strong tailwind, the aircraft has the option of changing its direction and landing from the other end of the runway. But landing is impossible amidst strong crosswinds," he pointed out.
Airport officials said flights faced strong crosswinds on Monday morning.

More than 10 flights hovered over the city waiting for the wind speed to come down. Seven of them had to be diverted to other cities.

A flight each from Jaipur and Chennai of IndiGo airline were diverted to Bhubaneswar. A flight from Mumbai and another from Bangalore, both of IndiGo, were diverted to Raipur and Patna.

A Vistara flight from Chennai, an Air India flight from Bagdogra and a Jet Airways flight from Bangalore were diverted to Bhubaneswar.
30/04/18 Telegraph

Maharashtra Gives Green Signal For New Airport At Chandrapur

Mumbai: The Government of Maharashtra on Saturday (28 April) cleared the decks for the construction of a greenfield airport in the Vidarbha region of Maharshtra at Chandrapur. The will be the second major airport in the region after the Babasaheb Ambedkar International Airport at Nagpur, the winter capital of Maharashtra.

The General Administration Department of the state government issued a notification last week appointing the Maharashtra Airport Development Corporation (MADC) as the nodal agency and special-purpose vehicle (SPV) for the project.

While 332 acres of government land will be handed over for the construction of the airport, 464 acres will be acquired at a cost of Rs 46 crore. The Airports Authority of India (AAI) had in January submitted a pre-feasibilty report giving a nod to the location of the proposed airport. It will come up Vihirgaon, around 40 km away from Chandrapur. An airstrip exists at Morwa, 12 km from the city but is not being expanded due to land constraints in the vicinity.
The first phase of the project will see an airport being developed to handle smaller planes such as the Bombardier Dash 8 Q400 using a 2 km-long and 45 metre-wide runway while the second phase will see an expansion to handle larger aircraft such as the Airbus A320 with a second runway measuring 3 km.
30/04/18 Nagpur Today

AAI issues seven-year retail tender at Chennai Airport

The Airports Authority of India (AAI) is seeking a master concessionaire to design, build, finance, operate and maintain general retail outlets at Chennai International Airport.

The concession spans 12 locations covering more than 1,000sq m and the contract is for seven years.

It is based on a minimum annual guarantee of Rs11.88m ($178,000) or 20% fixed revenue share on monthly net sale depending on which is higher.

The deadline for submissions was 27 April.

Available products will include gifts and toys, tobacco, jewellery and watches, electronics, footwear/leather accessories and writing stationary/instruments, but crucially not liquor which is a key category across Indian duty free.
30/04/18 Andrew Pentol/TR Business

Fourth RCS flight from Punjab to take off on May 1

Adampur: First flight from Adampur Airport to Delhi is going to take off on May 1, 2018 under Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS).

Adampur Airport will be the fourth airport in Punjab to operate RCS flights.

This flight will operate 7 days a week, with Q-400 Bombardier 78-seat Aircraft, said an Airports Authority of India (AAI) statement on Monday.

Adampur Airport is an Airforce airport. Airports Authority of India is developing a Civil Enclave at this airport in two phases.

Since Adampur Airport was selected as one of the Airports for operation of RCS flights in round one and flights were to be commenced at the earliest, a small terminal building of size 375 square metres has been constructed at this airport with Prefabricated structure along with approach road, a small car parking and other associated structures as interim measure.

This Terminal building is fully air-conditioned and has all the modern facilities and passenger amenities including FIDS, CCTV etcetera apart from airlines ticketing counters, and public toilets.
30/04/18 SIasat

New airport at Warangal hinges on GMR nod

Hyderabad: In spite of requests from Telangana government seeking a go-ahead to develop an international airport at Warangal, GMR is reluctant to allow a second airport within 150km radius of the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport (RGIA) at Shamshabad.
The united Andhra Pradesh government, while entering into concessionaire agreement with GMR Hyderabad International Airport Limited (GHIAL) to develop the Shamshabad airport, had incorporated a clause stating that no other airport would be allowed within 150km of RGIA. The clause was put in as a new airport nearby would impact the revenue of the international airport.
image (2)
But now the state government desperately needs an airport at Warangal as it would help attract investments to the Kakatiya Mega Textile Park (KMTP), which is being developed in 1,200 acres. Chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao laid the foundation stone for KMTP in November 2017.
Official sources said that industries minister KT Rama Rao is keen on airport connectivity to Warangal and the Telangana government has written three letters to GMR since 2014 seeking relaxation on the clause. But the GMRHIAL, in which the state government has 13% equity, is ignoring the request. KTR also took the issue up with former civil aviation minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju during his Delhi visits.
30/04/18 Koride Mahesh/Times of India

Vadodara airport to get 2 new aerobridges

Vadodara:  Two aerobridges will be operational soon at Vadodara airport, Airport Authority of India (AAI) chairman Guruprasad Mohapatra, said today.

The AAI had started building these aerobridges last year, to ferry passengers directly from the gate to the aircraft, Mohapatra told PTI over the phone.

“The commissioning of the aerobridges will enable the flights to park close to terminal building making it easier for passengers to board the flight without using the bus. This makes travelling easier for senior citizens, children, pregnant women and wheelchair-bound passengers,” he added.

This new terminal building at the city’s Harni airport was inaugurated by prime minister Narendra Modi on October 22, 2016. Construction, was part of the Centre”s efforts to modernise existing airports and develop them at par with international standards, Mohapatra said.

“The new terminal has helped in accommodating 12 additional flights and passengers which was ten flights earlier,” he said.
30/04/18 PTI/India.com

Surat airport director transferred

Surat: Airport director Dilip Sajnani was transferred on Monday triggering speculation on the social media that he was shunted in wake of the slow progress at the airport.
Sajnani will be replaced by S K Panigrahi from Imphal airport, who will be taking charge soon. Sajnani has been transferred barely a year after he was appointed at Surat airport.
Speaking to the TOI, Sajnani said, “I pray that Surat’s dream to fly internationally be fulfilled soon and the city remains safe and secure always. The love and affection Surtis have showed has been praiseworthy.”
Co-chairman of SGCCI’s aviation committee Manoj Singapuri said, “Sajnani has been forthright in calling a spade a spade. Obstruction surveys for buildings are to be done every two years, but in Surat it was done after 10 years and that too with Sajnani’s persistence. He brought all the shortcomings of Surat airport in public domain and this may have irked the people who opposed progress at Surat airport.”
30/04/18 Ashleshaa Khurana/Times of India

Why airports are unable to handle increasing air traffic

Last month, the tyres on an Indigo flight from Tirupati to Hyderabad burst on touchdown — leading to thousands of passengers being stranded in airports across the country for up to seven hours. Every day, though, delays of half an hour or more, which have a cascading effect on schedules country-wide, are par for the course — a result of soaring passenger traffic, and stagnation in planning and expansion of airports to handle the footfalls.
Airports in India — from the busiest like Delhi and Mumbai to smaller ones in Patna and Guwahati — have become synonymous with queues, delays and congestion. On the airside, failure to add runways and parking bays has meant airports are unable to clear airlines’ requests to add more flights.
“If a flight gets delayed at another city like Delhi or Mumbai, there are delays in all the other sectors. This is beyond our control,” said an airline official. In December, for instance, 45% of flights were delayed at Mumbai.
India has recorded double-digit growth in domestic air passenger traffic for the past 42 months, shows data from International Air Transport Association (IATA), a trade body of global airlines. Passenger traffic at Delhi airport grew 14% in 2017 compared to the previous year, making it the fastest growing airport in the world, according to Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation (CAPA), a global consultancy firm.
It’s the same across the country. Hyderabad airport was meant to handle 12 million passengers per annum, but footfalls crossed 18 million in 2017. Last year, Kolkata’s Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport handled 19.5 million passengers — the terminal can manage 20 million passengers and will run out of space this year. Even at Patna airport, passenger traffic hit 29 lakh last year — a 48% increase over 2016 numbers — when the airport can handle just 7 lakh passengers a year.
Prakash Singh avoids flying in or out of Patna on holidays. “The queue to enter the airport can stretch into the car park,” he said. “There are two baggage scanners, which means you spend a long time completing security check. The airport is the same as it was 20 years ago though the number of flights has shot up. Patna airport can give a bus stand a run for its money,” said Singh, who lives in Noida and travels to his hometown frequently.
30/04/18 Times of India

For now, no GST on goods sold at Indian airports' duty-free shops

Kolkata: Prices of perfumes, chocolates and tobacco sold at duty-free shops in Kolkata and 16 other international airports in the country will not skyrocket. At least not immediately.
Allaying fears of international fliers, tax experts told TOI the pronouncement by the Authority for Advance Ruling (AAR) that goods sold at the duty free shop at Delhi airport should be subject to GST will be challenged as the very existence of duty-free shops is at stake.
“Flyers purchase liquor, confectionery, perfumes and tobacco at duty-free shops as they get international brands at prices that are 30-40% lower than the market. If the AAR decision is implemented, the price of these goods other than liquor could go up by 9-14%. This will take away the sheen from duty-free shops,” said a representative of Flemingo, the largest operator of duty-free shops in India.
A state GST official said he was aware of the AAR ruling but was yet to get any circular from either the authority or GST council.
Prior to GST, duty-free shops were exempt from levy of central sales tax (CST) and value added tax (VAT) as sale from such shops were considered as exports and supplies were taking place beyond the customs frontiers. The New Delhi bench of the AAR has now ruled that supply of goods to international passengers going abroad from ‘duty-free’ shops may be taking place beyond the customs frontiers of India under Integrated GST Act, but the shops are within the territory of India under the Central GST Act, and hence, subject to CGST. GST rate on chocolates and perfumes is 18% and tobacco is 28%. There is an additional surcharge and cess.
30/04/18 Subro Niyogi and Udit Prasanna Mukherji/Times of India
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Yogi govt to showcase Jewar airport, Defence Corridor projects in US meet

Lucknow: The Yogi Adityanath government would showcase its two mega projects viz. Jewar International Airport and UP Defence Corridor totalling over Rs 357 billion during the business meetings in major US cities this week.

Among the top US-based companies scheduled to hold parleys with a top-level UP delegation led by state health minister and government spokesperson Sidharth Nath Singh, include Lockheed Martin, Boeing and Honeywell, which are marquee global aviation corporations.
week.

Among the top US-based companies scheduled to hold parleys with a top-level UP delegation led by state health minister and government spokesperson Sidharth Nath Singh, include Lockheed Martin, Boeing and Honeywell, which are marquee global aviation corporations.

The proposed Jewar International Airport in Greater Noida and the Defence Corridor in Bundelkhand region are projected to boost industrial climate in Uttar Pradesh, which has over the past decades not witnessed setting up of any mega industrial unit barring the National Capital Region (NCR).

A 5-member delegation, also comprising UP infrastructure and industrial development commissioner (IIDC) Anup Chandra Pandey, is leaving for USA today to confabulate with the US industry captains in San Francisco, New York, Washington and Stanford.

The other companies lined up for the series of business and investment meetings include Cisco, Amazon, Intel, Adobe, Oracle, 3M, Gilead Sciences, Pepsico, Medtronics, Guavus (Thales), ChargePoint, Visa, Uber, Varian Medical Systems, Master Card, Pfizer, WaterHealth and Huntsman.

The business meetings are being organised under the aegis of US-India Strategic Partnership Forum (USISPF). On October 23, 2017, top business leaders from blue-chip companies under the USISPF umbrella had met UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath here to explore investment opportunities in the state.

While the Jewar airport is proposed to be developed at an investment of over Rs 157 billion, the Defence Corridor would get a total investment of Rs 200 billion. Both the flagship projects are being pushed up with the active cooperation of the Centre, especially in the backdrop of the 2019 Lok Sabha poll, when prime minister Narendra Modi would seek a re-election.
29/04/18 Virendra Singh Rawat/Business Standard

Customs notified status eludes Surat airport

Surat:  High-flying Surtis are still awaiting announcement from the central government regarding customs notified status for Surat airport. In the first week of April, Navsari MP C R Paatil had stated that the notification will be announced within a week. Paatil had stated at a press conference that a strong representation was made to the civil aviation ministry and the Airports Authority of India (AAI) regarding limited international operations from Surat airport.
“We have been told by AAI and civil aviation ministry that customs notified status for Surat airport is likely to be given in the next one week. With this, Surat airport will have international flight operations,” Paatil had said.
Last month, senior officials from the central government’s bureau of immigration and customs and from finance and civil aviation ministries visited Surat airport for checking the modifications, documentations and related infrastructure before providing customs notified status for limited international operations.
30/04/18 Times of India

Cong conspired to keep Amritsar airport from int'l flights: Malik

Amritsar: After the increase in the frequency of Air India flight form Amritsar to Birmingham, Shwait Malik, state president of the Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP), tore into the Congress, accusing it of deliberately ignoring the Shri Guru Ram Das Jee International Airport in the city.
"The overwhelming response the Amritsar-Birmingham flight has been getting has exposed the conspiracy of the Congress against the Shri Guru Ram Das Jee International Airport. I had stated in my first speech in Rajya Sabha that it was a conspiracy of the Congress against the Amritsar airport to stop the international flights," he said.
According to Malik, the UPA government was hand in glove with a private entrepreneur, who had hijacked the airport and stopped all the profitable flights. The success of flights to Birmingham and Singapore prove that the Congress made the "blunder" during its governance by degrading the airport of the holy city. Congress leaders did this sinful act against the devotees, who were deprived to visit the Golden Temple due to non-availability of flights, he said.
28/04/18 Tribune

Sunday, April 29, 2018

Under UDAN, Jewar airport to bring UP cities closer to NCR: PwC report

New Delhi: The proposed international airport at Jewar in Greater Noida will not only bring places in Uttar Pradesh such as Kanpur and Allahabad closer to NCR under the regional connectivity scheme UDAN, it will also benefit locations in neighbouring states, a techno-economic feasibility report for the airport has stated.

The Uttar Pradesh government is of the view that once the airport begins functioning from 2022-23, people travelling by air in the state will increase significantly.

Air traffic in Uttar Pradesh is currently growing at a rate of 28.8 per cent.

The PwC report stated that when the airport starts functioning, Shimla, Ludhinana, Pathankot, Gwalior and Adampur would be benefitted by it.

These places, including Bhatinda would be benefitted by both the Jewar airport and the IGI airport in New Delhi under the Centres UDAN scheme. The capacity deployment to Kanpur and Adampur at present remains the highest.

It said 88 per cent of Jewar airport traffic would be domestic and the rest international, adding that adjoining districts of Uttar Pradesh such as Agra and Gautam Budh Nagar would be the main contributors to the fliers volume to the airport.

The report said the demand for air travel from the Dellhi-NCR region will increase manifold in the coming years and it will be determined by factors such as "natural growth in air travel demand due to economic progress and model shift from railways to air".

The ambitious regional connectivity scheme, also known as Ude Desh Ka Aam Naagarik (UDAN), where fares are capped at Rs 2,500 for one-hour flights, seeks to connect unserved and under-served airports.
29/04/18 India Today

While government pushes for Udan, airports handle flyers way beyond capacity

New Delhi: While the government is pushing air travel in small cities and towns under Udan, the Regional Connectivity Scheme, many airports in the country are operating in excess of their capacity.

Some of these are located in state capitals and tourist hotspots such as Jaipur and Port Blair.

According to data from the Union Ministry of Civil Aviation for 2016-17, 13 airports, in Rajkot, Nagpur, Patna, Leh, Dehradun, Bagdogra, Jammu, Port Blair, Imphal, Agartala, Guwahati, Jaipur and Coimbatore, are handling far more passengers than they were designed for.

Some even deal with three or four times their capacity, leading to bottlenecks both in the air and on the ground.These 13 airports handled about 21.53 million passengers against their capacity of 14.73 million.

Airports in Patna and Nagpur, for instance, handle several times the amount of traffic they were designed for.

While Patna airport saw 2.11 million air passengers against a capacity of 0.70 million, Nagpur saw 1.89 million passengers against a capacity of 0.57 million.

Ministry officials said that due to the rising number of air travellers and the induction of more aircraft, air traffic in 2030-31 is estimated at 855 million passengers. To deal with this overload, the Airports Authority of India (AAI) and other airport operators have initiated several steps, including the revival of unserved and under-served airports and construction of new greenfield airports.

Officials said the expansion and development of airports is a continuous process undertaken by AAI depending on traffic demand, operational requirements and availability of land.

Recently, AAI has taken up the upgradation and development work of airports at Surat, Kolkata, Dimapur, Amritsar, Tezu, Port Blair, Hubli, Belgaum, Kishangarh, Gorakhpur, Jammu, Calicut, Pakyong, Agartala, Guwahati and Trivandrum. The AAI also plans to invest `20,178 crore between 2016-17 to 2021-22 to upgrade airport infrastructure and services.

Currently, there are 98 operational airports in the country. Officials said there is enough capacity at major airports, including the national capital. Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport is not expected to reach saturation for at least four to six years, while the Chennai airport would reach its handling capacity by 2020-21.
29/04/18 Kumar Vikram/New Indian Express 

Airport trolley woe persists

Calcutta: The city airport now has 1,500 more trolleys but the shortage still persists during the "non-rush hour" such as afternoon or late at night, airlines and airport officials said, blaming the crisis on contractual workers.

The trolley count at Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport has crossed 3,500 following the procurement of 1,500 trolleys since April 1. The authorities decided on the purchase after being flooded with complaints about shortage from passengers.

"The problem has reduced to an extent. There are now enough trolleys during the rush hour in the morning and late afternoon. But the shortage is still acute during the non-rush hour, such as early afternoon or late at night," an airport official said.

"During the non-rush hour, trolley retrievers are still seen standing in the arrival area of the international section whenever a flight lands, offering passengers trolleys for money. The retrievers' job is to ensure that trolleys are in the designated racks throughout the day and night."

Officials said the retrievers were keeping trolleys in the racks during the rush hour because of heightened surveillance. But the trolleys being taken away by passengers are not being retrieved in regular intervals.
29/04/18 Sanjay Mandal/Telegraph

Zoom Air looking to spread its wings to B'desh, Myanmar

Kolkata: Zoom Air is looking to fly to nearby international destinations like Yangon and Chittagong, from Kolkata, a top official of the airline has said.

Last week, Zoom Air launched daily flights between Kolkata and Tezpur in Assam, under the Centre"s regional connectivity scheme (RCS).


"We are planning to operate flights to international destinations such as Yangon and Chittagong from Kolkata. These destinations are likely to be connected with one or two destinations in the North East," CEO cum MD of Zoom Air, Koustav M Dhar told PTI.

"We will be able to introduce international flights from Kolkata, because from now on, we will park two aircraft in the city at night," Dhar said.

At present, only one aircraft is parked at the Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose International Airport (NSCBIA) in Kolkata at night, and very soon the airline is going to park its new, the fifth aircraft, in Kolkata as well, he said.

"The routes on the international sectors are yet to be finalised. The options are Kolkata to Yangon via Guwahati and Kolkata to Chittagong via Guwahati. We are looking at these routes since there is a demand," Dhar said.

Dhar also said that the airline is planning to start flights between Mumbai and Delhi with a stopover in Durgapur.

"We are planning to start flight operations to Durgapur and the route will be Delhi to Mumbai via Durgapur. The Delhi-Durgapur-Mumbai flights are expected to start from August this year," Dhar said.
29/04/18 PTI/Business Standard

Mumbai unserved, underserved airports: Low-cost carriers want to operate more flights

Mumbai: Low-cost air carriers are demanding additional slots from the Mumbai International Airport Limited (MIAL), which manages Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport. The demands come six months after flights to unserved and underserved airports under the Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS) took off from the Mumbai airport. Operating at maximum capacity at present, MIAL officials said it was unlikely to offer additional slots right now. While underserved airports are those which do not have more than a flight a day, unserved airports are those where there are no operations.
Hoping to increase the popularity of their flights to these underserved airports, airlines sought convenient flight timings. At present, Mumbai airport offered eight slots under UDAN to airlines, including TruJet, Air Deccan and SpiceJet. While occupancy on these flights is promising, airlines want to expand their services. Air Deccan, which operates flights to Nashik, Kolhapur and Jalgaon from Mumbai, wants better slots. “We see 70 per cent occupancy on flights that operate from Mumbai to Nashik and almost around 80 per cent occupancy while flying to Kolhapur and Jalgaon. We would like to get additional slots to increase frequency of flights to Jalgaon and Kolhapur,” an Air Deccan official said.
Air Deccan operates one 18-seater ATR flight to connect the RCS routes out of Mumbai. While a Kolhapur-bound flight from Mumbai leaves the airport at 1.15 pm, it reaches Kolhapur at 2.45 pm. It departs from Kolhapur on the same day at 3.05 pm. Air Deccan also wants to increase frequency of Mumbai-Kolhapur flights from three to six days a week.

“We are operating with a single airplane and have accepted the slots given to us by MIAL. Being congested, the airport is unable to provide additional slots at present. As we plan to operate 72-seater planes in future, convenient slots can help us make the flights popular,” the official added.
29/04/18 Neha Kulkarni/Indian Express

Saturday, April 28, 2018

Kerala: Calicut airport all set to take ‘wide’ flight again

Malappuram: Development dreams of Calicut International Airport have taken an active turn with airline companies expressing their interest in resuming more GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) services.
Companies like Saudi Airlines, Gulf Air and Qatar Airways are set to resume GCC services using their wide-body aircraft, provided the airport is found fit for the same. Services of wide-body aircraft to and from the airport were suspended from May 1,2015 for re-carpeting the runway.

To restart them, a meeting of representatives of Airport Authority of India (AAI) and of flight companies as well as top officers of the Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) in November last year prepared a 71-page report and submitted it to the AAI suggesting the airport was fit to resume services of wide-body aircraft like the Boeing 777-200. The airport is now awaiting sanction of the DGCA. Resuming the services of the wide-body Boeing 777-200 aircraft at the Calicut airport will increase the number of flights, which in turn will lead to an increase in seats, resulting in more revenue for the airport. The services will also minimise the inconvenience expatriates face. Restoration of Jeddah-bound aircraft will bring back the Haj embarkation point tag to Karippur. Qatar Airways and Gulf Air will start more services to GCC countries.

To resume services of wide-body aircraft, the Calicut airport authorities developed the Runway End Safety Area (RESA) at the airport and increased its length from 90 m to 240 m. Besides, lighting arrangements have also been made at the end of the runway. The development work were done at a cost of Rs 10 crore.
28/04/18 New Indian Express


Goa will be made logistics hub of India, says Suresh Prabhu

Panaji: Union Commerce and Industry Minister Suresh Prabhu said here today that the government plans to turn Goa into a logistics hub of the country. “We are going to make Goa the logistics hub of the country. There are four coastal states on the Western coast-Maharashtra, Karnataka, Kerala and Goa. After Mumbai, the biggest airport that is going to come up is in Goa (in Mopa),” he said. The minister was addressing a gathering at the ‘Goa Start Up and Innovation Day’ organised by the state Information and Technology Department.

He said the existence of two airports in Goa, including the second facility at Mopa, which will be commissioned in 2020, would help position Goa as a logistics hub. According to him, once the Mopa airport is commissioned, it will have the capacity to handle 30 million tourists annually. “We want to make sure that while it handles the passenger traffic, it also handles the cargo. The government of India is making a cargo policy, wherein the cargo will also drive the country’s economy,” he said.

“Total 40 per cent of the GDP will come from global trading like import and export. We want to make cargo as a major driver (of the economy),” he said. The minister said that he has asked the special secretary in-charge of Union Environment Ministry to visit Goa in the next few days to prepare a concrete plan for the logistics hub. The Centre and the Goa government must work in tandem to leverage the advantages that the state offers, he said. The existing airport at Dabolim is also getting upgraded with the investment of Rs 500-600 crore, the minister added.
28/04/18 PTI/Financial Express

CISF won’t BE removed from ‘non-core’ airport security areas

The suggestion made by the Ministry of Civil Aviation to remove the presence of the Central Industrial Security Force from the “non-core” areas of airport security has been shot down by all the stakeholders looking after the security of the aviation sector in India.

According to sources, the Ministry of Civil Aviation had suggested late last year to do away with the presence of the CISF in certain “non-core” areas of operations in airport terminal buildings as well as other important locations with a view to cutting costs and expenditure being borne by the airport operators. According to highly placed sources, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation, the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security and even the CISF have not agreed to the suggestion that was made by the ministry, keeping in view the sensitivity of the airport terminal buildings and the security threat involved at a time when the world is witnessing a rise in terrorist activities. The proposal from the ministry suggested that the “non-core” areas of security would involve frisking, checking boarding passes, baggage tags as well as guiding passengers and other activities inside the terminal building, and such activities would be conducted by retired Army or para-military personnel, while the CISF would continue to provide security to the airport from outside the terminal buildings.
28/04/18 Dibyendu Mondal/SUnday Guardian

AAI sets target of 4,100 crore rupees on airport infra development

The Airports Authority of India (AAI) has set an ambitious targets of 4,100 crore rupees towards capital expenditure on airport infrastructure during the ongoing fiscal and utilising 94 per cent of the total passenger carrying capacity.

It will also undertake an airport service quality (ASQ) survey at its top 20 airports, the AAI said in a statement today.

The survey will be carried out the Airports Council International, the global trade representative of the world's airport authorities.

The targets have been elaborated in the annual performance contract for 2018-19 which the AAI signed with the civil aviation ministry today.

The memorandum of understanding was signed between Civil Aviation Secretary R N Choubey and Chairman of the AAI Guruprasad Mohapatra, specifying various parameters and targets to be performed by the AAI during the year.

The parameters and targets include all the major areas of the AAI, including finance, capacity utilisation, research and development, project implementation, human resource and cargo.
27/04/18 PTI/Economic Times

SpiceJet likely to operate flights from Darbhanga

Patna:  Darbhanga has emerged as the strong contender in the state for commercial flight operations under the Centre’s much-ambitious regional connectivity scheme (RCS).
If Airports Authority of India (AAI) sources are to be believed, SpiceJet has won the bid to operate flights from Darbhanga airstrip. The private airline has planned flights to Delhi, Bengaluru and Mumbai from Darbhanga. AAI sources said the bidding was held three months back in the national capital in which Kishanganj airstrip was also in the race. However, no airline showed interest to operate flights from Kishanganj. Sources said after Darbhanga, Purnia might be the second airstrip in the state from where commercial flights would operate in the near future.
The commercial flights from Darbhanga are likely to operate from the Indian Air Force (IAF) base spread over an area of 400 acres on the outskirts of the town. The runway at Darbhanga is at least 8,000-feet long in which aircrafts like A-320, extensively used by domestic carriers, can easily operate. “In comparison to Patna airport, the runway at Darbhanga is at least 1,000-feet longer,” they said, adding the basic infrastructure will be of IAF and the Indian Oil Corporation has agreed to supply fuel to commercial aircrafts through browsers (oil tankers).
According to official sources, the first commercial flight may take off from Darbhanga within 10 months.
Captain D K Singh, director (operation), state civil aviation directorate, said the state government had sent proposals to AAI for commercial flight operations from Bhagalpur, Kishanganj, Madhubani, Saran, Purnia and Darbhanga airfields under RCS. “However, except Darbhanga and Purnia, proposals for rest of the towns were rejected as their runways are hardly 3,000-feet long,” he said.
28/04/18 Debashish Karmakar/Times of India

Bhuntar runway expansion my priority: CM

Kullu: Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur said the proposal for the expansion of runway at Bhuntar was on his priority list.
During the three-day tour to Kullu and Manali, he said a Central team would visit Himachal on May 7 and seek the feasibility report for international airport.
He added that this team would also check the feasibility for the expansion of the Bhuntar airport and if the team approved, Bhuntar airport would be expanded first.
Addressing a public gathering at Haat village, he said the welfare of women, the youth, poor, Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes was the priority of the government and several welfare schemes had been announced in the budget for them. He said the state government was working with fixed targets and 100 days of the government witnessed an unprecedented development.
28/04/18 Tribune

Every job at Mopa Airport to be reserved for Goans: Suresh Prabhu

Panaji: Union Minister for Commerce and Industry and Civil Aviation Suresh Prabhu on Saturday said every job at the Mopa Airport will be reserved for the Goans.
Speaking after launching Startup Policy, Schemes and Startup portal of IT Department of Goa Government at Entertainment Society of Goa (ESG) in the city, he said ''Every job at the Mopa Airport is reserved for the Goans. I think the Chief Minister and the minister have made a statement in the assembly. Its part of an agreement. This something which is a reality. Its going to happen.'' Stating efforts were underway to make Mopa International Airport a cargo hub, the minister said the upcoming project would be an employment generator for the youth.
28/04/18 WebIndia123

Bokaro to get wings in June

Dhanbad: Bokaro can expect regular commercial flights from June, thanks to the April 24 MoU between Airports Authority of India and SAIL under the regional connectivity scheme.

Airport owners Bokaro Steel sources said the air traffic control (ATC) at the airport needs upgradation as the existing ATC is equipped only to handle occasional chartered flights. Apart from this, security, lighting and other facilities need to be stepped up for regular commercial flights. Service will start once these facilities are in place, the sources said.

Speaking to this correspondent on Thursday, Bokaro deputy commissioner Mritunjay Kumar Baranwal said the district administration will extend all help to the AAI for the timely launch of the service.
Baranwall further said, given the existing condition at the airport, the service would start with small 42-seater aircraft.

"The existing runway length of around 5,200 feet is adequate for small 42-seater aircrafts. Larger aircrafts require a runway of more than 6,000 feet. We have to clear encroachments near Dundibad Bazar and surrounding areas but not immediately," the DC said.

Bokaro MLA, Biranchi Narayan also confirmed that small 42-seater aircrafts would start flying to Patna and Calcutta while expansion of the runway would be done in the future.

Notably, the Bokaro airstrip has been selected by the government for development under the Phase II of Regional Connectivity scheme or Udan under which several unserved and underserved airports have been taken up for development.
28/04/18 Telegraph

Naval Air Enclave opened at Cochin International Airport

Kochi: The Naval Air Enclave (NAE) at the Cochin International Airport (CIAL), Nedumbassery, for operation of large military aircraft was inaugurated by Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief Vice Admiral A R Karve on Friday.

Large military aircraft such as the P8I that cannot be accommodated at the Naval Air Station in Kochi (INS Garuda) can be operated from the NAE. This will facilitate not only enhanced surveillance capabilities in the Arabian Sea and South Indian Ocean but also undertake other roles such as search and rescue, monitoring sea lanes of communication and anti-piracy missions.

The operational trials of naval taxi link and apron of NAE were undertaken on the occasion. Trials included independent ground movement of aircraft and helicopters between CIAL and NAE, parking of these aircraft at the apron and their sequential departure from CIAL.

The NAE has a large hangar, a spacious dispersal (apron) and a taxi link for connecting the apron to the maneuvering area of CIAL. The facility has been constructed in close cooperation with the Government of Kerala, Military Engineering Service (MES), CIAL, Airport Authority of India (AAI), KSEB, and BSNL.
28/04/18 New Indian Express

Friday, April 27, 2018

Air link for Pasighat

Calcutta: Arunachal Pradesh will have direct air connectivity with Calcutta from May.

Zoom Air, which started its Calcutta-Tezpur (Assam) flight on Thursday under the Centre's regional connectivity scheme, plans to fly to two airports in Arunachal, Pasighat and Tezu, allowing tourists here to reach the Northeast state in about two hours.

"We will start Calcutta-Jorhat flights from May 17 and connect it further to Pasighat from May 24. Tezu, the other airport in Arunachal, is not ready yet. So we are planning to operate flights there from June," said Koustav Dhar, CEO and managing director of Zoom Air. There will be flights on four days to Pasighat and three days to Tezu.

The Bombarider CRJ 200 LR series aircraft with 50 seats will take about an hour to reach Jorhat, where it will stop over for 20 minutes before flying to the two Arunachal destinations, taking another 20 minutes.
Under the Udan (Ude Desh ka Aam Nagrik) scheme, 50 per cent of the seats are subsidised. The fare for these seats will be Rs 3,100 for one way to Arunachal from Calcutta, airline officials said.

Tour operators said there is a good demand for Arunachal in Calcutta but connectivity is the biggest deterrent. Now people usually go to Guwahati and then reach Arunachal by road, which takes about 16 hours.

"Air connectivity to Arunachal will open another nearby hill destination for Calcuttans apart from Sikkim and Darjeeling," said Anil Punjabi, chairman, east, Travel Agents Federation of India.
27/04/18 Sanjay Mandal/Telegraph

Dhaka-bound flight diverted to Ahmedabad after passenger suffers heart attack

Ahmedabad: A Dhaka-bound flight of Saudi Arabian airlines made an emergency landing at Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International airport on Thursday evening because of an inflight medical emergency. The flight that departed from Medina was diverted to Ahmedabad after a passenger reportedly suffered a heart attack.

The Medina-Dhaka flight, SVA 3802-A330, carrying 300 people landed at Ahmedabad airport at 7.10 pm after which the unwell passenger was rushed to hospital for treatment.

Confirming the incident, sources said: "As soon as the pilot of the aircraft intimated the Air Traffic Control (ATC) here, priority landing slot was given by the airport officials. The aircraft landed at 7.10 pm and an ambulance with a cardio specialist was waiting at parking Stand 36. As soon as the flight landed, the passenger was attended by the medicos. While the patient was still undergoing treatment in Ahmedabad, the aircraft departed for Dhaka."

The city has witnessed several diversions and emergency landings in the recent past. On March 30, a Delhi-bound Vistara flight carrying 151 passengers made an emergency landing after a technical snag was reported. On November 21, a Mumbai bound Jet Airways flight with 111 passengers made an emergency landing after the pilot spotted fire in the cargo. On September 30, a Delhi-bound Jet Airways flight from Mumbai was diverted to Ahmedabad after the pilot got a note which said hijackers were on board. On September 19, a Delhi-bound Spice Jet flight from Surat made an emergency landing here after the pilot noticed that the tail fire warning light was on.
27/04/18 DNA

Bangalore Airport Fire Truck Experience

We all have been at an airport sometime or the other. Flying is fast catching up with railways as a popular means of travel and India is the third biggest aviation market in the world, on its way to become the second biggest! Currently, India has 73 functional airports. Of these, the Kempegowda Airport at Bengaluru is the third busiest airport in India, with 640 air movements (take-offs and landings) and over 90,000 people arriving and departing at the airport. Now, keeping an airport safe is a big task! And airports are one of the places where the risk of a fire breaking out is quite high, with aviation fuel (highly inflammable) stored in the aircrafts and tankers. This calls for every airport to have an efficient and a highly capable fire-fighting team and equipment.

And this is what brought us to Bengaluru airport in the first place. The Bangalore International Airport Limited (BIAL) invited a handful of journalists to the Bengaluru Airport to witness the airport's fire-fighting team and machines in action. And after seeing the preparedness and the capabilities of the fire-fighting team, it would be safe to say that we were awestruck.

Starting with the best and the biggest, the Bengaluru airport has four Rosenbauer 6x6 fire trucks which have been exported from Austria. Out of the four, three are pressed into active service and one is a backup vehicle. In case of an emergency, the response time of these fire trucks, to anywhere within the vicinity of the airport, is just two minutes. Oh! And the specifications of the Panther 6x6 will blow you away!

The fire truck uses a Caterpillar engine which displaces 18,000 cc, making 703 bhp. And by no means is it a slouch! The truck does 0-80 kmph in less than 25 seconds and has a top speed of 120 kmph. No mean feat considering the truck weighs 40 tonnes and carries 12,500 litres of water, 1,500 litres of foam and 350 litres of fuel! We did not bother asking the fuel efficiency figures of the truck. We were lucky enough to get a quick spin on the Rosenbauer Panther 6x6 on the runway of the airport as well. It was scary but supremely enjoyable as well!
27/04/18 car and bike

Thursday, April 26, 2018

Residents fear losing land to airport modernisation

Chennai: Residents living on the periphery of the Chennai airport on Wednesday expressed fears that their homes and properties will be acquired for its proposed modernisation.

At the meeting convened by the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board as part of the process to obtain environmental clearance for the project, Federation of Pozhichalur Welfare Associations general secretary J.C. Aruldhas said they would not give up even an inch of land. Recalling how in 2006 a similar public hearing was held and the next year residents received land acquisition notices, he said they had to wage a war to ensure that no lands were taken over.

Residents, like federation president T.V. Sivaraman, refused to place trust in the airport authorities and demanded that they give an undertaking that no land would be taken for the project.

Kancheepuram District Collector P. Ponniah allayed their fears and said that at as part of the present phase II modernisation, no additional land was needed and that the Airports Authority of India possessed the required 1,301.28 acres.

Airport Director G. Chandramouli further clarified to the residents that 150 acres of land would be required for safety and approach, which was in the process of being acquired.

Of this, 40 acres would be defence land and of the remaining 110 acres, very little would be private lands. Mr. Ponniah said lands were being taken from Cowl Bazaar, Kolapakkam and Manapakkam.
26/04/18 The Hindu

Jewar airport to handle 10 crore flyers annually by 2050: Report

New Delhi: The Greater Noida airport at Jewar will start with an annual passenger handling capacity of 60 lakh when it opens by March 2023 and then eventually grow in phases to reach 10 crore flyers every year by 2050.
A detailed PWC report on this infra project’s feasibility and sustainability shows that 85% of flyers to and from here will be domestic and the rest international.
The study says Jewar’s development will see annual passenger traffic grow to 1 crore by 2029-30 and then to 10 crore by 2050 in phases.
“Jewar Airport will be able to connect small cities to Delhi under UDAN. UP districts of Agra and Gautam Budh Nagar will be main contributors to Jewar airport. This airport can serve 8 domestic and 6 international destinations by 2022-23 and 37 domestic and 31 international destinations by 2050,” said a statement issued on behalf of UP government on this project — referred to many by the “MoYo airport” given the way both PM Modi and CM Yogi Adityanath are trying to get it completed at the earliest.
25/04/18 Saurabh Sinha/Times of India

Bar on back-door exit from aircraft

The civil aviation ministry has barred airlines racing to reduce turnaround time from getting some passengers to disembark through the rear door of aircraft once it is attached to an aerobridge.

A circular issued on April 20 also mentions that airlines should be using aerobridges more than they have been doing at airports where these are available.

The directive is the ministry's response to complaints from passengers that they have been forced to disembark through step ladders attached to the rear even when aircraft are parked in a stand with aerobridge facilities.

On occasion, passengers getting out through the rear door are forced to walk till the terminal.

"It has been observed by senior AAI (Airports Authority of India) officials that airport aircraft parking stands having passenger boarding bridges are not being utilised fully. The non-usage of passenger boarding bridges is causing inconvenience to passengers. Further, it has also come to the notice of that when aircraft is parked in an aircraft parking stand with passenger boarding bridge, airlines are disembarking passengers from passenger boarding bridges as well as from the rear gates of aircraft through step ladders," states the circular.
"The aforesaid practices being followed at airports are not acceptable in terms of passenger facilitation and from the security point of view."

The ministry has specified that all available aerobridges should be allocated to airlines before the remote parking bays are used.

"Whenever an aircraft is parked at a stand with passenger boarding bridges, disembarking passengers through the rear gate of aircraft using step ladder shall not be permitted," the circular says.

Mumbai airport's new terminal has about 50 aerobridges but Calcutta's has only 18 for about 460 flights that take off and land every day. No aircraft is allowed to be attached to an aerobridge for more than an hour, an official said.
26/04/18 Sanjay Mandal/Telegraph

Ludhiana to have air link with Shimla, Kullu soon

Ludhiana: Kullu and Shimla will no longer be over the hills and far away. If all goes well, Ludhianvis can soon fly to these tourist spots from Sahnewal airport. The airport is already running a flight between Ludhiana and Delhi, which is witnessing a good response.
Airport's acting director Amardeep Nehra said Air Deccan has submitted a proposal to the Airport Authority of India (AAI) about the flight from Ludhiana to Delhi, Shimla and Kullu.
"Air Deccan has collected data from us about the passenger rush. They also studied condition of airports at Shimla and Kullu. The airlines and AAI in Delhi are finalizing the schedule and other formalities," said an AAI official.
"After the second flight from Delhi to Ludhiana becomes operational, it will fly to Shimla and Kullu, too. The flight will come from Delhi to Ludhiana, go to Shimla and return before flying to Kullu. After coming back to Ludhiana, it will take off for Delhi," he added.
26/04/18 Times of India

Allahabad airport will be ready by December 2018: UP Civil Aviation Minister

New Delhi: Nand Gopal Gupta, the Uttar Pradesh Civil Aviation Minister, in an exclusive talk with Zee Business's Sameer Dixit said, "The state is fully prepared to host the Kumbh Mela to be held in Allahabad and Allahabad airport will be ready by December 2018." Notably, Allahabad Kumbh Mela will be held from January 15 to March 4, 2019.

Gupta said that after being developed, Allahabad Airport will be connected with 13 other cities of the countries, like Hyderabad, Nagpur, Mumbai, Bangalore, Bhopal, Bhubaneshwar, Chennai, Dehradun, Indore, Kolkata, Raipur, Pune and Patna in next 15 months. In addition, 11 major cities of the state, like Kushinagar, Agra, Jewar, Gorakhpur, Kanpur and Allahabad among others will be connected through the airstrip. He also said that other 22 cities like Chitrakoot, Azamgarh, Bareli, Aligarh, Jhansi and Moradabad among others will be connected with Air Routes.

Talking about Jewar Airport, Gupta said that the land acquisition process for the airport will be completed by the end of 2018. He estimates that the Jewar airport will be developed at an estimated investment of Rs 15,000 to 20,000 crore.
Under RCS plans are to connect these underserved airports to key airports through flights that will cost Rs 2,500 for per hour. RCS looks to provide a subsidy to airlines to offer these fares. AAI would invest Rs 17,500 crore in upgrading airport infrastructure over a period till 2019-20. This regional connectivity scheme will be applicable on route length between 200 to 800 km with no lower limit set for hilly, remote, island and security sensitive regions.
26/04/18 ZeeBiz

Massive response to first flight at Adampur Airport as all the seats booked

Adampur: The Deputy Commissioner Jalandhar Mr Varinder Kumar Sharma today visited the airport to review the ongoing preparations for the event. Mr Sharma was apprised by the staff of Airport Authority of India and Spice Jet that the seats for the first flight have already been sold out. Likewise, he was informed that 90% seats for the week ahead of May 1 have also been booked.

The Deputy Commissioner was told that the flight was getting massive response by the people, who were seeking ticket in large number. Meanwhile, Mr Sharma asked the staff at the airport to ensure elaborate arrangements for making this gala event a huge success. He said that all out efforts must be made to ensure that this historic function was organised in a smooth and well planned manner.
The Deputy Commissioner reiterated that this airport once operational would provide air connectivity to the region with the rest of the globe. He further said that besides saving time, money and energy of the people especially the NRIs from the region, this airport would also give boost to the economic development of the region in general and Jalandhar city in particular. They said that the airport would also facilitate the NRI brethren to stay connected with their roots adding that it would also give much needed boost to medical tourism and industrial development in media capital of the state.
25/04/18 Punjab News Express

Zoom Air begins Kolkata-Tezpur daily flights

Kolkata: Zoom Air today began flight operations between Kolkata and Assam's Tezpur under the Centre's UDAN scheme, a top official of the airline said.

The airline operated a 50-seater Bombardier Canadair Regional Jet (CRJ200LR) between Kolkata and Tezpur, the official said.


"We are a full service carrier and the aircraft we are operating in this sector is luxury jet," CEO and Managing Director of Zoom Air, Koustav M Dhar, said.

Zoom Air will operate seven daily flights on the Kolkata-Tezpur-Kolkata route, he said.

"The flight time will be only 55 minutes since it has no stopovers," Dhar said.

The airline presently has five aircraft at its disposal.

He said that the airline"s daily flight between Kolkata and Tezpur will take off from Kolkata at 11.50 am and reach Tezpur after 55 minutes. The return flight will take off for Kolkata from Tezpur at 1.20 pm.

The airline, which started operations in February last year, currently operates another flight out of Kolkata in the Delhi-Jabalpur-Kolkata sector.
26/04/18 PTI/Business Standard

Travel Food Services’ introduces vending men at Mumbai Airport

Travel Food Services (TFS), India’s leading travel food and retail company, recently launched a new concept, ‘Vending Man’, at Terminal 1B and 1C of the domestic airport, Mumbai. Reasonably priced, these vending men will offer a range of ready to eat and drink options with instant billing at the gate.

Inspired by another successful concept by TFS – food@gate, Vending Man has been conceptualised to cater to last minute requirements with its neatly packaged ‘Grab and Go’ options. These vending men are a boon, especially to last minute arrivals and passengers on a busy schedule, who do not have the time to spend at the various outlets. By offering quick and easy access to hot and fresh food, the move promotes the ‘grab and go’ concept for passengers on a busy schedule.

A typical Vending Man would carry a mobile tray with a limited range of best-selling products, and will keep moving at the gates. The tray will be equipped with a Tab and a Bluetooth printer for instant billing and invoicing. The inaugural menu consists of summer cooler drinks and will soon add munchies and quick bites as well.

Gaurav Dewan, COO and Business Head, Travel Food Services, said, “We, at Travel Food Services, are committed to constantly elevating the travel FnB experience in India, and Vending Man is an extension of the same. Considering the volume of travellers and the rush at terminal gates daily, we wanted to create an option for busy passengers to have easy access to quality, freshly packaged, to-go food products. While we are currently testing with two vending men, we plan to increase the number to cater to all kinds of F&B needs of travellers.”
26/04/18 Food Service India

Officials scout Uthiramerur for Chennai's second airport

Chennai: A team of officials from the state government and the Airports Authority of India (AAI) has scouted a site at Uthiramerur in the southern suburbs to evaluate whether the city's second airport could come up there after the state government dropped the plan to build the facility at Sriperumbudur.
Kancheepuram district collector P Ponniah said, "Officials inspected land at Uthiramerur but nothing has been finalised yet. The AAI may have to take a decision on which location is suitable."

Sites at Madurantakam and Gummidipoondi are also being considered for the project. Officials said that large tracts of land are available in those areas which are also close to a highway. The AAI will require 1,000-2,000 acres to build a second airport which the ministry of civil aviation is planning to develop as an Aero City. The airport will have a capacity of 40 million passengers per year.
The ministry of civil aviation has been putting pressure on the state government to identify the land so that a feasibility study and other formalities could begin. “The state government is looking at some options but has not finalised where it should be built,” said a senior AAI official.
26/04/18 Times of India

Now, pay toll on way to Kempegowda International Airport

Bengaluru: Now, motorists heading to the Kempegowda International Airport (KIA) will have to pay toll at the Sadahalli plaza. The system started from 5pm on Wednesday.
Previously, motorists had to pay the cumulative toll fee for both journeys when driving from the airport to the city. Under the new system, motorists can pay one-way toll on their outward or return trips, or choose to pay on the first trip a cumulative toll which is valid for 24 hours.
The move to collect toll in both directions comes in the wake of the opening of an alternative route via Hennur to the airport, which seems to have cut into the toll revenue at Sadahalli plaza. While the move was supposed to kick in from March 27, it was delayed as the required number of police personnel was not deployed for security and protection of their personnel at the booth.
"On Monday, the high court issued an order stating that police protection should be provided immediately as per norms. Since this took a few days to arrange, toll collection on way to the airport started at 5pm on Wednesday. Since we have installed sufficient number of toll booths, there is hardly any traffic," said an official from the NDTPL. The move had angered commuters who were worried about missing their flights due to the build-up of traffic near the toll booth.
26/04/18 Times of India

New terminals planned at Chennai airport

Chennai: In two months, passengers flying through the Chennai airport are likely to witness the construction of new terminals as part of the phase II modernisation project.

The domestic terminal will be split and located on either of the international terminal. So, the existing domestic and international terminals will be modified and refurbished to serve as the new domestic terminal. The old Kamaraj Domestic Terminal and the Anna International Terminal will become the new international terminal.
“This apart, there will also be an exclusive satellite terminal, which will be connected to the domestic and international terminal by a tunnel. This is mainly to ease the growing passenger traffic in the airport,” an official said.

The modernisation, estimated to cost ₹2,476 crore, is required for the Chennai airport, officials said. From the existing capacity to handle 14 million passengers a year, it will be equipped to handle 30 million passengers.

This project not only offers new terminals for the airport but also a host of new facilities like a travelator and a multi-level car parking. Of these, the travelator alone has been completed and opened for the public. The remaining facilities will be completed in three years.
26/04/18 The Hindu

185 m patch of runway yet to get DGCA approval

Surat: It has been almost two months since the Airports Authority of India (AAI) submitted all the safety documents related to the completed 185 metre patch of the existing runway at Surat airport, but they are still awaiting approval from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA).
Airlines operating from the Diamond City are facing unique problem, especially during the summer months, known as ‘load penalty’. This means booking seats less than available.
If suppose Air India is operating Airbus 319 between Surat and Delhi having a total of 140 seats, it could actually accommodate only 105 to 106 passengers due to load penalty, which is aimed at ensuring safe take-off at short runways.
The actual runway length at city’s airport has been increased from 2,250 metre to 2,905 metre. However, the airlines operating from Surat airport can make use of only 1,905 metre of runway — pending approval for 185 metre completed patch of runway and 615 metre runway displaced by DGCA due to building height obstruction at Vesu.
In a reply through AirSewa, AAI stated that the repairing work of 185 metre runway has been completed and document have been submitted on February 28, 2018, for seeking approval from DGCA. The electrical works of ground lighting facilities of 185 metre runway and lighting related to instrument landing system (ILS) has been completed and the SCARS documents for commissioning have already been forwarded to DGCA for approval. As of now 1,905 metre length of runway is available for operations.
26/04/18 Times of India

Wednesday, April 25, 2018

AAI to raise Rs 1,500 crore from debt market

New Delhi: Prodded by the prime minister’s office (PMO), state-run Airports Authority of India (AAI) has decided to raise about Rs 1,500 crore from the debt market, leveraging its balancesheet in the current financial year. Major portion of this fund would go for upgrading Kolkata and Chennai airports, which are facing capacity crunch in the wake of rising traffic.

Official sources said that AAI held an internal meeting on capital expenditure last month where the proposal was discussed. “The plan is to raise about Rs 1,500 crore, but depending on requirement it could be raised further,” an official said.

As the government has decided to expand airport capacity by more than five times to handle a billion trips a year, AAI needs to accelerate capacity expansion of existing airports and also build new ones in smaller towns and cities.

“Due to lack of infrastructure, some of the RCS (regional connectivity scheme) flights have been affected. Also, there is capacity constraint at bigger airports. Therefore, there is need to build capacity at faster pace,” another official said.

Domestic air traffic has been growing exponentially in double digit for the last about 42 months, necessitating airport expansion. Severe capacity crunch at most of India’s major airports has already rung alarm bells among the airlines, threatening to delay their aircraft delivery schedule.
25/04/18 Asian Age

Uttar Pradesh: Centre gives in-principle approval to greenfield airport near Jewar

The Centre has given in-principle approval to the proposed Greenfield Airport near Jewar in Gautambuddh Nagar during a steering committee meeting held in New Delhi.

The approval to this effect was given at the meeting on Monday attended by principal secretary (civil aviation) SP Goyal and other senior officials, Special Secretary, Civil Aviation, Suryapal Gangwar said on Tuesday.

The detailed project report and techno-economic feasibility report for the project has been prepared by Price Waterhouse Coopers. As per the report, acquisition of 1,441 hectare land in eight villages is proposed for the airport which will be built on PPP mode. The work for the project will be taken up in four phases at an approximate cost of Rs 15,754 crores, he said.The airport will have two runways with a capacity to handle 70 million passengers annually and cargo handling capacity of 3 million metric tonnes per year.

Preliminary work on the project had started in April 2017 and it is because of the coordination between the Centre and the state that in-principle approval has been accorded within one year time, he said.
24/04/18 DNA

What Goa’s Dabolim International Airport expansion will mean for passengers

Big news for Goa! The state’s Dabolim International Airport is all set for expansion. In order to expand the Dabolim International Airport of Goa, Rs 400 crore is being invested by the Airports Authority of India (AAI). The expansion of the international airport will also include extension of the existing passenger terminal building and construction of more parking bays, among many others. According to AAI, Goa’s Dabolim International Airport along with the setting up of a new international airport at Mopa in North Goa at a projected cost of Rs 3,000 crore, is expected to give a major boost to Goa’s tourism industry.

A press release by AAI stated that, last year, Dabolim International Airport, which is a civil enclave, handled over 7.5 million passengers and the airport will continue to cater its services to the growing demand for travel and tourism even after the international airport at Mopa becomes functional. Also, the press release mentioned that in order to improve passenger facilities and carry out various expansion works at Dabolim International Airport, Rs 400 crore is being invested by the AAI.

In order to ease traffic and help the airport operator handle more passenger and aircraft movements, the expansion work will include extension of the terminal building, creation of parking bays and construction of parallel taxiway. For enhancing the capacity and passenger throughput, the international airport will get in-line x-ray baggage system apart from a host of self-service kiosks and additional common user terminal equipment (CUTE).

According to the press release, the Goa airport has also become the 12th airport to have an airport operations control center (AOCC). By providing real-time information of flights, the AOCC will improve overall efficiency of the aerodrome operations. The construction work of the new international airport at Mopa in North Goa is expected to be over by year 2020.

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25/04/18 Devanjana Nag/Financial Express

AAI to invest Rs 400 cr in expansion of Goa's Dabolim airport

The Airports Authority of India (AAI) today said it is investing Rs 400 crore in expansion of the Dabolim International Airport in Goa, which includes extension of the existing passenger terminal building and construction of more parking bays, among others.

This along with the setting up of a new international airport at Mopa in north Goa at a projected cost of Rs 3,000 crore, is expected to give a major boost to the tourism potential in the state, AAI said in a release.

Dabolim International Airport, which is a civil enclave, handled over 7.5 million passengers last year and it will continue catering to the growing demand for travel and tourism even after the Mopa airport becomes functional, the release added.

"The AAI has already taken up action to invest around Rs 400 crore to improve passenger facilities and carry out various expansion works at its existing Dabolim International Airport," it said.
The work includes extension of the terminal building, creation of parking bays and construction of parallel taxiway, which will ease traffic and help the airport operator handle more passenger and aircraft movements.

Also, the airport will get in-line x-ray baggage system apart from a host of self-service kiosks and additional common user terminal equipment (CUTE) for enhancing the capacity and passenger throughput.
24/04/18 PTI/moneycontrol.com

Plans to privatise Chennai airport to be renewed?

Chennai: Is Chennai Airport going to be privatised? Airports Authority of India (AAI) has conducted a study to find out the feasibility of privatising Chennai airport, according to a top AAI official.

The official told Express that the feasibility study was conducted six months ago, but he was unaware whether a decision to privatise the airport or not had been taken.“The feasibility study was conducted for airports that have a passenger movement of more than 15 lakh, but we have got nothing in black and white,” said the senior airport official.

This comes in the wake of reports that about 15 airports, including Chennai, could be put under private managements in the second such initiative.The AAI had plans to privatise the operation and maintenance of Chennai Airport in 2013 and  bids were called in 2014.

But they were withdrawn the next year. Sources indicated that since AAI completed a Rs 2,400-crore upgrade of Chennai and Kolkata airports, the then government citing the expensive upgrade did not go in for privatisation. Four of the six metro airports in the country, which include New Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Bengaluru, are currently run by private operators.

Sources indicated that initially, AAI had decided to undertake Operation, Management and Development of the airport through a public-private partnership on Operate, Manage, Develop and Transfer basis.
25/04/18 C Shivakumar/New Indian Express

AAI to invest Rs 400 cr in expansion of Goa’s Dabolim airport

Mumabi: The Airports Authority of India (AAI) today said it is investing Rs 400 crore in expansion of the Dabolim International Airport in Goa, which includes extension of the existing passenger terminal building and construction of more parking bays, among others. This along with the setting up of a new international airport at Mopa in north Goa at a projected cost of Rs 3,000 crore, is expected to give a major boost to the tourism potential in the state, AAI said in a release.

Dabolim International Airport, which is a civil enclave, handled over 7.5 million passengers last year and it will continue catering to the growing demand for travel and tourism even after the Mopa airport becomes functional, the release added. “The AAI has already taken up action to invest around Rs 400 crore to improve passenger facilities and carry out various expansion works at its existing Dabolim International Airport,” it said. The work includes extension of the terminal building, creation of parking bays and construction of parallel taxiway, which will ease traffic and help the airport operator handle more passenger and aircraft movements.

Also, the airport will get in-line x-ray baggage system apart from a host of self-service kiosks and additional common user terminal equipment (CUTE) for enhancing the capacity and passenger throughput. Goa airport has also become the 12th airport to have an airport operations control center (AOCC), which will improve overall efficiency of the aerodrome operations by providing real-time information of flights, according to the release. Being constructed by GMR Goa International Airport Limited, a special purpose vehicle formed by GMR Airports Limited, the first phase of the airport is expected to be completed by 2020.
24/04/18 PTI/Financial Express

Tribunal ruling on Delhi airport tariff provides clarity on pending issues: GMR Infra

New Delhi: The TDSAT ruling on Delhi airport tariff provides clarity on issues pending for the last six years, GMR Infrastructure said today even as the appellate tribunal decided to leave the rates unchanged for now.

The Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) ruling on Monday came on appeals filed against AERA order by Delhi International Airport Ltd (DIAL).

Delhi airport is operated by DIAL, a joint venture where GMR is the majority stakeholder.

The tariffs for the airport were last revised in 2012 when Airports Economic Regulatory Authority (AERA) allowed hiking charges by 346 per cent as against 775 per cent sought by the private operator. The 2012 order was also challenged by airlines.

According to a regulatory filing by GMR Infrastructure, the tribunal has upheld the principles of Operation Management and Development Agreement (OMDA) and State Support Agreement (SSA) relating to the airport venture.

With regard to the rate of return of 16 per cent allowed by AERA for first control period, AERA "may re-do the exercise through a scientific and objective approach, independently of any observation in the third control period. The Civil Aviation Ministry had advised AERA to consider return on equity of 18.5 to 20.5 per cent," as per the filing.
24/04/18 PTI/Times of India

SriLankan Airlines offers Colombo-Hyderabad daily services

Hyderabad: SriLankan Airlines has added two more flights per week to Hyderabad and now offers a daily flight to Colombo and onward connectivity to other destinations. Currently, it operates 145 flights per week to India across 14 destinations.

Chammika Iddagodage, Manager for SriLankan Airlines, in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, said, “India is SriLankan Airlines largest market for holidaying, conferences and even onward connectivity to various locations in Middle East, Far East and lately to Melbourne, which we started late last year.”

The airline, which had strengthened its South India connectivity with three new destinations during July 2017, including Visakhapatnam, Coimbatore and Hyderabad, is now looking to further strengthen its network.

“We started with four flights per week in on July 12, 2017 and added fifth one in November and this has been further bolstered with two more flights. Now we fly seven flights a week. This is a measure of the potential and opportunity for us,” he told BusinessLine.

Mentioning about leisure travellers, Iddagodage said while the Ramayana Tour has been a major attraction for tourists, visitors have begun to explore a number of other locations, including serene interiors. Flight connectivity from over 14 destinations is adding to the convenience of the passengers.
24/04/18 V Rishi Kumar/Business Line

AAI ties up with SAIL for UDAN flight to Burnpur, Rourkela and Bokaro

New Delhi: Airports Authority of India (AAI) and Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL) have signed a MoU for enhancement of regional air connectivity under RCS-UDAN at the SAIL-owned airports of Burnpur, Rourkela and Bokaro.
Now, these three steel cities in West Bengal, Odisha and Jharkhand can be on the country’s aviation map.
The MoU was signed on Monday by AAI member (operations) I N Murthy and SAIL director (personnel) Atul Srivastava.
“As per the MoU, AAI as the implementing agency for RCS-UDAN will operate and manage airport operations (city side as well as air side) on behalf of SAIL for three years and the arrangement will be reviewed after three years with mutual consent. The cost of terminal and airside maintenance/operations will be borne by SAIL directly except ANS operations. As a part of this partnership, AAI will provide all the necessary technical guidance and support,” AAI-SAIL said in a statement.
24/04/18 Saurabh Sinha/Times of India

New Collector Naval Kishore Ram to suggest new land model for airport

Pune: The newly appointed collector of Pune, Naval Kishore Ram, will suggest the Samruddhi e-way model of land acquisition for the proposed Purandar airport to the state government.
The Samruddhi e-way model follows compensation by means of land pooling or a one-time settlement as was done for the Mumbai-Nagpur expressway in order to speed up the land acquisition process.
While a government resolution (GR) is yet to be issued by the Maharashtra Airport Development Company, the collector has told his officials to submit the exact land requirement for the project and the money required for it within a week.
Ram had earlier played a vital role in acquisition of 860 hectare from farmers for the ‘Samruddhi expressway project” that will connect Mumbai and Nagpur.
The collector told TOI that he will work on gaining the trust of the people to expedite the land acquisition process for the proposed Purandar airport too. “I will be holding a meeting with MADC next week to speed up the GR, while initiating dialogue with the villagers. I am confident that if a dialogue is initiated, the villagers will not protest,” he said.
25/04/18 Nisha Nambiar/Times of India

Solar powered Cochin International Airport grows vegetables

After becoming world’s first fully solar powered airport, the Cochin International Airport of India Ltd (CIAL) is now the only airport in the world where vegetables are also grown in large quantities.

The country’s first corporate airport has had a massive yield of vegetables in the free grounds under the solar panels. The solar panels occupy about 20 hectares in the airport, producing 30 mw power. Out of this, vegetables are grown on 3 hectares,  yielding a total of 40 tons of vegetables a year. Organic vegetables, without the use of chemical fertilizers or pesticides are grown there as well.
Covaipost.com/kerala-news describes how the CIAL authorities are planning to increase the area under cultivation and increase the production to 60 tons. Pumpkin, Ash gourd, cucumber, long beans, bitter gourd, lady’s finger, snake gourd, green chillies, cabbage were grown here. The cultivation of turmeric, ginger and drumsticks have also been taken up on an experimental basis.
25/04/18 Fresh Paza

Twitterati slam Hyderabad airport over viral video of rat-infested canteen

New Delhi: In a shocking case of indifference, a video tweeted by a spokesperson for Majlis Bachao Tehreek Amjed Ullah Khan, captured infestation of rats in a canteen located at the parking structure of the Hyderabad airport.

In the video, rats can be seen running around utensils and food in the canteen.

The canteen is located at the parking lot of the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport (RGIA), is operated for providing food to taxi drivers.

The video went viral and caught attention of the Cyberabad Police, who immediately swung into action, while also directing the airport authorities to investigate the matter.
The unhygienic conditions in the canteen let to social media condemnation of facilities provided by the airport authorities. Many asking the airport authorities to shutdown the canteen facility, as it raises question marks over their claims of world class facilities being provided at the airport.

RGI Airport Police Station and RGI responded to the tweets and both the authorities took the matter seriously. They rushed to the scene and warned the owner of the canteen and asked to him clean the canteen immediately.
24/04/18 Statesman

RGIA strikes gold again

Hyderabad: GMR Hyderabad International Airport Ltd. (GHIAL), which operates the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport (RGIA), has been awarded gold in the five-15 million passengers per annum category as part of ‘ACI Asia-Pacific Green Airports Recognition 2018’.

GHIAL CEO S.G.K. Kishore received the award during the Green Airports Recognition Ceremony 2018 on Tuesday at the Airports Council International’s (ACI) Asia Pacific Regional Assembly in Narita, Japan. The evaluation was carried out among 19 eligible submissions.

The review panel praised the airport’s project on ‘Innovation and Technology in Waste Minimisation’. The airport has a captive composting plant for processing food waste and organic manure used in maintaining the sprawling green cover.
25/04/18 The Hindu

Inaugural Flight of Garuda Indonesia from Mumbai is Successful

Denpasar: Garuda Indonesia Airbus A330-200 aircraft of Mumbai-Bali flight route, on its first landing at I Gusti Ngurah Rai International Airport, Bali, was greeted with a flood of water cannons. Greetings like this were often done by the Ngurah Rai Airport to give an appreciation to the airline that opens the first flight route to Bali.

Minister of Tourism Arief Yahya along with Garuda Indonesia President Director Pahala N. Mansury and VIP entourage from PT. Angkasa Pura I, as well as Indian media crew, escorted historic inaugural flight of Garuda Indonesia airline of Mumbai-Bali route which landed smoothly at I Gusti Ngurah Rai International Airport on Tuesday (4/24/2018).

The opening of this direct flight makes the Minister Arief Yahya set to increase the target of tourist visit from India. Based on data from Bali Central Statistics Agency (BPS), the number of Indian tourist arrivals to Bali jumped almost 46 percent. The number of tourists from Bollywood Country was in the top 3. The figure is below China's 1.37 million people and Australia's 1.06 million people.

"For 2018, I have set a target of 700,000 visits of Indian tourists. This is a big target, but we are very optimistic to achieve this target," said Tourism Minister in a press release on Wednesday (4/25).

Minister Arief said that before Mumbai-Bali direct flights, the number of tourists from India to Indonesia has reached 485,314 in 2017. Optimism for 2018 target achievement is based on the growth of the Indian market which reached 30 percent compared to the period 2016, the second highest after China.
25/04/18 Netral

GMR gets Rs1,471-crore refund for DIAL

The Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal has ruled for return of refundable security deposits of ?1,471 crore, earlier put as zero by the Airports Economic Regulatory Authority of India, for Delhi International Airport. It ruled that cargo, and ground handling revenues to be treated as non-aeronautical revenues. DIAL is a joint venture formed as a consortium between the GMR group (54 per cent), Airports Authority of India, Fraport AG & Eraman Malaysia.
24/04/18 Business Line

Cidco plans to go ‘full blast’ to meet Navi Mumbai airport’s 2019 deadline

Navi Mumbai: The next eight months will decide if chief minister Devendra Fadnavis’s plan to see the maiden flight taking off at the Navi Mumbai international airport by 2019-end can be realized. Already working to a tight deadline, Cidco is facing an uphill task of relocating project affected persons (PAPs) and clearing the land by flattening Ulwe hill and diverting Ulwe river by December-end. This will give the concessionaire at least one year for development of the airport.
The government wants one runway (3.7km-long) of the airport ready by December 2019 for the maiden flight. As of now 40% of shifting of villagers has been done and 36% of the hill has been levelled; both the works are closely linked. A Rs 2,033-crore work order for the hill operation and diversion of river was issued on April 24, 2017, but not much work could be done as several months were lost—first to monsoon and then to protests by villagers in October. Now, Cidco officials plan to go full throttle with the work to meet the deadline.
“We have already undertaken the biggest blast, disgorging 41,000 cubic metres of rocky material 10 days ago. But now, it is time for bigger blasts. We have to blast, cut and level the hill at 5.5m and hand over the land by December-end. The daily blasting exercise ensures 1 lakh cubic metre is taken out,” said superintending engineer of the project Sanjay Dahedar. The concessionaire will then level the ground to 8m for the airport to be developed.
Though river diversion work is also on, the waterbody may not change course before the next monsoon. “This monsoon, Ulwe river will continue to flow from south to north via the lowland of the hill. But next rains, it will be diverted to the west, along the southern part of the hill and have a new course of 3km into Moha creek,” he said.

On the rehabilitation front, the Cidco’s rental scheme, which provides for rent to families for 18 months—during which they are are supposed to build or get new houses, too has met with little success. It was started in July, 2016, but only 40% families have opted for it.
25/04/18 Times of India

A 10K for Kempegowda International Airport’s 10th birthday

The Bangalore International Airport Limited (BIAL) which operates the Kempegowda International Airport (KIA) will organise Runway 10K on May 8 to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the airport.
The Runway 10K is a one of a kind run which will be held on the runway of the airport.
BIAL has asked individuals above the age of 18 years to register for the event which is said to the first of kind to be held on an airport runway in India.
Only 100 participants would be selected to take part in the run, which will be between 12.45 pm and 2.30 on May 8.
The last date for registration is April 30.
BIAL has obtained clearance from the aviation regulatory agencies and as the airport is a highly regulated area, the participants will be strictly required to follow the airport entry procedures.
There would be no change in flight plans or disruptions and diversions due to event though the runway would be closed for the run.
BIAL Officials said that May 8 falls on a Tuesday and the airport runway is incidentally closed down every Tuesday between 12.30 pm and 3 for maintenance work.
25/04/18 Bangalore Mirror 

Pradhan bats for airport in Paradip

Bhubaneswar: Union Petroleum and Natural Gas, Skill Development and Entrepreneurship Minister Dharmendra Pradhan in a letter on Tuesday to Union Minister of Commerce and Industry and Civil Aviation Suresh Prabhu sought his personal intervention for setting up an airport at Paradip.

Pradhan mentioned that the Paradip port is being further expanded and modernised and by 2020 it would be able to handle 332 million tons of cargo per annum, thereby making it the largest cargo-handling port in India.

The grand vision of development of Paradip would remain incomplete without an airport, as the nearest airport, the Biju Pattanaik International Airport at Bhubaneswar is 135 km away and it takes more than three hours by road to reach Paradip from Bhubaneswar, he added.
25/04/18 Pioneer

Tuesday, April 24, 2018

India targets second Delhi airport by 2023

Singapore: Plans for the development of a second international airport at India's capital appear to be making headway following government approval of a feasibility study, which targets operations to commence by April 2023.

A techno-economic feasibility study report by Pricewaterhouse Coopers shows that the new airport will be located at Jewar in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh and 72km from the Delhi Indira Gandhi International airport. Construction is expected to commence by April 2019.

PWC says the Jewar airport would "decongest" Delhi airport, which is "soon expected to reach capacity".

Last year, Delhi airport handled 57.7 million passengers, a 10% growth from five-years ago. Although the airport has a plan to raise its capacity from the current 70 million to 109 million by 2034, PWC believes that capacity could be reached earlier due to strong growth in India's air traffic.

"Capacity constraint at Delhi airport along with the horizontal expansion of the city has necessitated requirement of a new airport," adds PWC.

The report adds that the new airport at Jewar will be able to capture the growing traffic, especially spillover traffic from the crowded Delhi airport around 2029/30.

Local media reports add that the government has approved the project and will use a public-private partnership model to develop the airport.

According to the masterplan, the project is estimated to cost Rs157 billion ($2.36 billion), to be spread out over four phases.
24/04/18 AAron Chong/Flight Global

Jewar airport to have 2 train links with Delhi

New Delhi: The long-awaited Jewar airport in Greater Noida, which got the Centre’s final nod on Monday, could be connected by at least two different train systems to Delhi. The UP government is examining the feasibility of having a dedicated Rapid Rail Transit System (RRTS) corridor from Sarai Kale Khan to the proposed airport site. Three RRTS routes have already been approved from Sarai Kale Khan hub to Meerut, Panipat and Alwar.
The Jewar RRTS is being considered in addition to the Greater Noida metro which will be extended to the airport site and another direct link between IGI Airport to Delhi’s second airport, for which a train is among the various possibilities. The airport will also be connected to the Eastern Peripheral Expressway, which connects Palwal with Kundli, bypassing Delhi. This site will also get an Aerocity like Delhi’s IGI Airport.
“We are working simultaneously on connectivity to Jewar airport and the timely completion of its first phase in financial year 2022-23. We have asked the National Capital Region Transport Corporation (NCRTC, which has begun work of RRTS) to examine the feasibility of having a separate line from Sarai Kale Khan to Jewar airport. This rail is faster than metro due to fewer stations where it needs to stop and is well suited for the airport,” Yamuna Expressway Industrial Development Authority chairman Prabhat Kumar told TOI. YEIDA is the nodal authority for building the Jewar airport.
24/04/18 Saurabh Sinha/Times of India

GVK wants to run Ahmedabad, Jaipur airports

New Delhi: Mumbai International Airport (MIAL) operator GVK has expressed interest in running the Airport Authority of India’s Ahmedabad and Jaipur airports, a senior government official said on Monday. GVK has submitted bids for taking over maintenance and operations of the two profit-making airports belonging to the Airport Authority of India (AAI). “GVK has bid for both Ahmedabad and Jaipur airport terminal operations. Technical bids are under consideration. The winning bid will be finalised soon,” a civil aviation ministry official said. Jaipur airport has received four expressions of interest (EoIs) while three companies bid for the airport in Ahmedabad on the last day of submission, April 10.

State-owned AAI adopted a single-stage process for partial privatisation during which the bidders were asked to give financial bids as well. The financial proposals are likely to be opened later this month for bidders which qualify the eligibility criteria.

An AAI official said they were confident of generating interest among big players after significant changes in terms and conditions. GVK did not respond to an e-mail query sent by FE. Ahmedabad and Jaipur airports are among the 15-odd profit-making airports of AAI. While Ahmedabad handles 8.42 million passengers annually, Jaipur currently caters to 4.34 million tourists each year.
24/04/18 Financial Express

Direct flights between Dubai and India’s diamond hub set to boost trade

Finally, direct flights between the world’s two biggest diamond trade centers will take off next week to add some sparkle on the faces of dealers in precious stones on both sides.

Air India Express, the international budget arm of India’s flagship carrier airline, is all set to launch a thrice-a-week service to connect Surat, the global hub of diamond cutting and polishing industry in western Indian state of Gujarat, with Dubai, the second largest market in the world for rough diamond trading.

According to local parliamentarian C.R. Paatil, the last stumbling block for the jinxed project will be removed when the country’s diamond city is accorded the customs notified status by the federal government within in a few days.

The international flights between the two diamond hubs were to be started from May 15 last but it took one year to expand the runway from 2,250 meters to 2,950 meters and provide the required funds and 68-strong immigration staff to the airport of Surat where some 80 per cent of the world's rough diamonds are processed in its 4,500-odd small and large cutting-and-polishing units.

An Air India Express official told Al Arabiya English that the airline would deploy 189-seater Boeing 737-800 aircraft and expected a 50-60 per cent seat occupancy on the route initially, adding that Surat would be air-linked to also Sharjah by October.

As per the rough estimate provided by the tours and travel association, around 400,000 people from Surat and south Gujarat travelled to international destinations during 2015-16. The passenger traffic from the region is increasing by almost 20-25 per cent every year.
24/04/18 Mahesh Trivedi/Al Arabiya

Hi-tech fire tender at airport soon

Patna: City’s Jayaprakash Narayan International (JPNI) Airport will soon be equipped with rapid intervention vehicle (RIV) and six-stretcher ambulance for emergency situations.
Airports Authority of India’s (AAI) general manager (rescue and fire service) Subash Kumar said on Monday the AAI would provide one RIV with content up to the capacity of 1,600 litres at Patna airport by December this year. RIV is a compact airport firefighting vehicle, particularly suitable for rapid and safe operation at small airports and heliports.
“A six-stretcher ambulance will also be bought for emergencies. It will work 24X7 at Patna airport from September. Patna airport is among the busiest airports in India and such safety equipment is badly needed. We are also planning for smart fire station at the airport,” he said.
Subash was here for a five-day training programme -- ‘Basic CBRN Emergency Management Training’ — that aims at enhancing the preparedness of Airport Emergency Handlers (AEHs) to respond to chemical, biological, radiological or nuclear material emergencies at the airports. The programme is being conducted by the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) in collaboration with the AAI, National Disaster Response Force and the Institute of Nuclear Medicine and Allied Sciences (INMAS).
24/04/18 Faryal Rumi/Times of India

‘More facilities for woman travelers at Srinagar Airport’

As a part of Airports Authority of India’s commitment to improve comfort for women air travelers’ sanitary napkin vending machines have been installed at Srinagar International Airport.
As per the statement four machines are installed in ladies restrooms of Srinagar Airport Terminal building in first phase. This facility is available by dispensing machines by inserting the coin Rs. 5 per napkin. This money will be utilised to maintain the napkin stocks in the machines.
“The availability of sanitary napkins at affordable prices inside the airport terminal buildings will ensure comfort to women passengers and promote hygienic practices,” it said.
Sharad KumarAirport Director, Srinagar airport informed that this initiative is in line with Airports Authority of India’s project DISHA (Driving Improvement in Service and Hospitality at Airports) which aims at improving customer service.
Meanwhile a tree plantation drive was organized by Airports Authority of India and SpiceJet Airlines at Srinagar Airport to celebrate the World Earth Day on 22nd April 2018. The programme was flagged off by Sharad Kumar,Airport Director.
24/04/18 Bright Kashmir

Chennai airport slashes user development fee

Chennai: The Chennai airport will be charging just Rs 69 per passenger as user development fee (UDF) from May 1. This is a steep reduction from the present Rs 166 for domestic passengers and Rs 667 for international passengers. However, experts say the airlines may not immediately pass on the benefit by lowering the fares due to increasing fuel prices.

The Airports Authority of India (AAI) has reduced fees in wake of the Airports Economic Regulatory Authority of India passing an order saying that the user development fee is reduced from May 1, 2018.

Once the order is implemented, it will cause the AAI a revenue loss of Rs 200 crore. Interestingly, on April 18, 2017, the AAI proposed to increase the user development fee to Rs 200 per domestic passenger and Rs 400 per international passenger while the AERA had suggested a total waiver of the user development fee in its consultation paper released in February.

The move to charge Rs 69 from both international and domestic passengers was taken after the AAI submitted that it requires an additional grant of Rs 300 crore to meet its operational requirements.Interestingly, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) has suggested that UDF should be removed as pre-funding of infrastructure investment by users. “Abusing airport monopoly by making consumers pre-fund investment is costlier than funding through financial markets,” IATA had observed.

Meanwhile, domestic and international landing charges have been reduced by approximately 89 per cent. This would also impact the revenue collected from landing charge which was Rs 305.6 crore last year. Now it will fall to Rs 59.7 crore this financial year.The move has been welcomed by the aviation industry which suggested eliminating unjustified differentials in landing charges between domestic and international flights.
24/04/18 C Shivakumar/New Indian Express
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