Jet flight lands in Delhi with snag

Passengers and crew members of a London bound Jet airways flight had some anxious moments when their aircraft had to make an unscheduled landing at the Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi on Saturday. The Amritsar-London Jet Airway's flight (9W124), which took off from Amritsar's Raja Sansi airport about 2.30 pm, was made to land at the Delhi airport at about 3.50 p.m. after the pilot team noticed some problem in the windshield of the K330 airbus.
According to sources, the aircraft entered a storm as soon as it crossed the international boundary. "The windshield of the aircraft apparently developed a crack.
It can be dangerous to undertake a long journey with cracked windshield. It cannot fly at high altitude.
Since Amritsar is a small station, and there was a spare aircraft available at Delhi, the flight was brought to Delhi and the passengers were moved to another aircraft," an airline source said. The flight, with 226 passengers aboard, finally took off at about 6.30 pm from Delhi, he added.
31/08/08 Hindustan Times/news.yahoo.com

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Actor-couple detained at Hyderabad airport

Hyderabad: Actor Rajasekhar and his wife Jeevitha were detained for a while at the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport after security personnel found a revolver in their hand baggage on Saturday.
Police let them off after ascertaining that Rajasekhar had a valid licence for the weapon and that he had mistakenly carried the Smith and Wesson revolver into the airport.
The actor-couple was to take a Jetlite flight to Chennai at noon, but had to cancel their trip as police detained them for questioning.
The couple checked in at 11.30 a.m and security personnel found the revolver in Jeevitha’s handbag.
They were asked to step aside and local police called in.
The couple was later taken to Shamshabad police station from the airport for questioning.
“His gun licence is valid till 2009. The unloaded revolver was found in the baggage,” said Cyberabad DCP B. Srinivasulu.
The actor explained to the police that his maid or security guard could have put the weapon in the handbag by mistake while packing.
31/08/08 The Hindu

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Ombudsman to regulate airport tariff structure

New Delhi: An ombudsman will be appointed for regulating tariff structure at all airports and competition among fuel suppliers.
The decision was taken on Friday by the Cabinet, which accepted several recommendations of a parliamentary standing committee on the Airports Economic Regulatory Authority of India Bill, 2007. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh presided over the meeting.Amendments to the Bill, pending in the Lok Sabha since last September, will be moved in the coming session, Science and Technology Minister Kapil Sibal told journalists. Once the Bill is approved, it will be notified in three months, according to a Civil Aviation Ministry spokesperson. The committee recommended that the AERA be empowered to decide on both aeronautical and non-aeronautical service tariffs and that the fuel supply infrastructure at airports be brought under its purview.
The panel wanted the authority’s functions to cover all airports across the country, irrespective of their size or ownership. The government fully accepted four recommendations and partially accepted two, including the one on fuel infrastructure at the airports. It decided to partially accept the recommendation on inclusion of non-aeronautical revenue within AERA ambit. Charges for core services such as landing, parking, communication, navigation and air traffic control are the monopoly of the airport operator. Non-core services like office space, car parking and food denote non-aeronautical services.
30/08/08 The Hindu

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Airports may get to cross-subsidise

The traditional airport development model hinges almost entirely on revenue generation from aeronautical activities and does not take non-aeronautical revenues into account.
But things are set to change, with the Union Cabinet on Friday approving an amended Airports Economic Regulatory Authority (AERA) Bill, 2007, which, among other things, provides for revenue cross subsidisation. The Bill also seeks to create a regulator for better airport infrastructure development.
The Bill has incorporated many suggestions of a Parliamentary Standing Committee and will be tabled in the next session of Parliament. It will take three months after being passed by both Houses for the Bill to be notified.
Aeronautical charges include fees airport developers charge airlines for landing and parking of aircraft, navigation etc. Non-aeronautical revenue comes from activities such as shopping malls, food courts and parking within the airport.
The Cabinet decision would allow AERA to examine the quantum of non-aeronautical revenue and factor this into the overall revenue generation for any airport project. Simply put, this allows private developers of non-metro airports to offer some of the unused land for development of hotels, conference halls, shopping malls etc and use the revenue so generated to cross-subsidise aeronautical charges airlines pay at present. This process would ideally bring down both the charges airlines have to pay to park and land aircraft etc as well as additional levy passengers have to pay to use airport facilities.
30/08/08 Sindhu Bhattacharya/DNA MONEY/Sify

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Cabinet nod may lower airport fees

New Delhi: In a move that could help keep airport charges low for both passengers and airlines, the Cabinet on Friday approved amendments to the Airports Economic Regulatory Authority (AERA) of India Bill, 2007. While the Bill is pending in Lok Sabha since last September, a Parliamentary standing committee had recommended changes in it. These included asking airport developers to keep in mind non-aeronautical revenue while determining aero charges and ensure competition among fuel suppliers there.
A Cabinet meet chaired by PM Manmohan Singh on Friday accepted many of the recommendations of the committee. These amendments to the Bill will be moved in the coming session of the Parliament. Once cleared, the new law will be notified in three months and the much-delayed economic regulatory authority could be in place may come into existence by the year-end.
The aviation ministry was not in favour of the regulator determining non-aero charges but accepted that developers must try to maximize this revenue so that aero charges like landing, parking and navigation charges or user development fees could be as low as possible. The need for a regulator arose as airports are no longer run by government alone and private participation is increasing.
30/08/08 Times of India

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Enter Centre to clear airport skyline

Ranchi: If the expansion of the capital’s airport is being held up due to the construction of highrises around its periphery, the Birsa Munda Airport has now been armed, albeit indirectly, to take care of the problem.
For, the Union civil aviation ministry has issued guidelines making the state government responsible for taking action against those constructing apartment blocks, towers or installations like high chimneys around the airport in violation of the provisions of the Aircraft Act, 1934.
Till now, the Airports Authority of India (AAI) in Ranchi has been at the mercy of a lackadaisical Ranchi Municipal Corporation (RMC) for taking action against private builders for violating height restrictions around the airport. But, the civil aviation guideline will now ensure that the onus remains on the state government to clear the skyline. “Any structure constructed after one month of issuing of this notification would automatically be considered as illegal and has to be dealt with by the district administration and local authorities for removal/reduction of the height,” said the notification issued by the joint secretary, ministry of civil aviation, K. N. Shrivastava.
According to the notification, which the AAI in Ranchi received a couple of days back, a certified copy of any new construction would have to be deposited with the AAI and the state government after a project’s completion.
29/08/08 Aneeta Sharma/The Telegraph

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At IGI, flyer guzzles honey to defuse explosive charges

New Delhi: The security officials at the IGI Airport found themselves in a rather sticky situation on Sunday morning. They detained a passenger for carrying what they initially claimed were explosives, but which eventually turned out to be honey.
According to sources, Chuk Lay Hoon, a Singapore national, was travelling on Air India flight AI 480 from Delhi to Singapore. His bag had reached the third level of the in-line baggage check system when the screener of the Delhi International Airport (P) Ltd (DIAL) presumably identified explosives in the bag. He alerted the CISF immediately who came and inspected the bag with an explosive-trace-detector machine. This machine identified the suspicious object in the bag as 70% explosive.
The passenger was immediately summoned to identify the bag and display its contents. "The man was called down and he was initially quite surprised. When he was told the officials suspected him of carrying explosives, he burst out laughing and opened his bag to reveal three bottles of honey. To reassure the officials that he wasn't lying, he drank about 10% from one bottle and also offered it to the officials..." said sources. Thoroughly confused after this, the security officials refused to let Hoon carry the honey along which apparently enraged him.
Officials pointed out that the inline system, while extremely sophisticated and in use across the world, required a highly trained staff to manage it. DIAL has outsourced the task to a private company.
29/08/08 Neha Lalchandani/Times of India

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Landing plane crushes dog on airport runway

Mumbai: A dead dog on the runway delayed three-four flights at the Mumbai airport on Tuesday afternoon.
According to airport sources, a Jet Airways pilot, who was making a landing at 2.40 pm, alerted the Air Traffic Control (ATC) about the presence of a dead dog on the runway. Following this, a van was sent to check the runway which found the dog crushed. Jet Airways completely denied any such occurrence. "We have no such incident reported in our operation," said a Jet spokesperson.
However, Mumbai International Airport Pvt Ltd (MIAL) confirmed the incident. "Jet flight 9W 473 reported a dead dog on the runway. Consequently, the runway was closed from 2.45 pm to 3 pm," said an MIAL spokesperson. "The dog was found lying on the intersect between the two runways," he said, adding, "It was a small puppy."
ATC sources said the canine apparently found its way to the main runway through one of the many gaping holes in the airport perimeter wall, and got smashed by one of the aircraft making a landing.
It is however, unclear whether the dog was hit by the arriving Jet flight, or was smashed by another aircraft landing before it.
According to airport sources, dog intrusions on the runway has become a perennial problem, which poses high risks in flight operations. ATC officials as well as pilots say that such an incident of a plane hitting the aircraft could also have resulted in a catastrophe.
29/08/08 Chinmayi Shalya/Times of India

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Airports need 1,000 more ATC officers

New Delhi: If you thought that the IGI airport in Delhi is the only one suffering a shortage of air traffic controllers (ATC), think again. The country has 1,500 ATC officers, which is only 60 per cent of its requirement of 2,500 ATC officers.
And despite new recruitments and training, the shortage will remain for the next few years, forcing ATCs to work much more than the stipulated working hours. In fact, even the existing numbers are not all on ground controlling aircraft. “1,500 is just the total number of the officials across the country. Since the officials have several other duties and have to be present in the headquarters also, the total number of ATC officials (ATCO) actually controlling aircraft in the country at any given time comes to around 1,200,” said an AAI official.
Take the case of the Delhi airport, which currently has 200 ATC officials in all, out of which around 120 are senior officials.
The airport recently inaugurated its third runway and the internationally accepted requisite number of ATCOs for an airport having three runways comes to 350, a figure the airport will only reach in a year’s time, given the recruitment plans.
Mumbai airport has a different set of problems. The airport has two intersecting runways operating, which would call for more precision in controlling the aircraft movements to avoid collision.
Hyderabad airport currently has no shortage of ATC officials but executives said that it had faced a problem in the initial two months after it started due to lack of trained manpower in handling the equipment.
The Hyderabad and Bangalore airports have in turn put further pressure to an already thin staff as a large of number of officials from various airports were deployed at Hyderabad and Bangalore.
Waking up to the staff crunch now, AAI has sent 300 ATCO aspirants for training to the Civil Aviation Training College (CATC), Allahabad, the only such institute which imparts ATC training. People who want to join ATC services first sit for an exam conducted by the Airports Authority of India (AAI).
Those selected after the exam are sent to CATC for a training of six months to a year. The 300 new recruits are expected to join the airports by February 2009, which would ease the pressure on ATCs a bit.
29/08/08 Anirban Chowdhury/Business Standard

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Delhi airport to use new runway in tandem with existing ones

Mumbai: Commercial operations on Indira Gandhi International Airport's new runway 11-29, will begin from late September in a phased manner. Delhi International Airport Pvt. Ltd. has notified the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), the Airports Authority of India (AAI) and other concerned bodies in this regard.
In the first phase lasting two weeks, the new runway will be used in tandem with one of the existing ones for a few hours. In the next phase, the usage would increase up to 16 hours a day giving pilots experience on night operations. In the third and final phase, the new runway will be operated in line with ATC procedure, to provide the maximum available safe throughput.
This progression would give ATC, pilots and the airport operator valuable experience on operating on the new infrastructure in tandem with the existing runways. This decision was taken following the successful trial flights from the new runway by Air India, Kingfisher, Indigo and Jet Airways aircraft on August 21, 2008. Completed more than six months ahead of scheduled date of February 2009, the 75m wide runway is among the longest in Asia at 4430m.
29/08/08 India Infoline.com

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DIAL adding 300 seats at Terminal 1-B

New Delhi: Seating has always been a problem for passengers waiting at Indira Gandhi International Airport. Things are, however, looking up for domestic passengers, with Delhi International Airport Ltd (DIAL) adding nearly 300 seats at Terminal 1-B.
To create more space in the crowded terminal building, DIAL has relocated the X-Ray machines of low-cost airlines, from their original locations within the terminal building, to the new extension area. “We have realigned our X-Ray machines for additional seating area inside the terminal building. All X-Ray machines of Air Deccan, Spicejet, Indigo and Go Air have been shifted to the extension area,” Arun Arora, of DIAL corporate communications, said.
DIAL originally built the extension last year to handle additional rush during the winter, when passengers are stranded because of fog. Now the same canopy has been converted into a permanent area.
There are several gates that lead here and passengers travelling on low-cost airlines can access their X-Ray areas from gates 2 and 3. Inside, four separate queues lead to the baggage X-Ray machines of the respective airlines.
29/08/08 Delhi Newsline

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Sri Lanka aviation expert slams govt international airport plan

Sri Lanka risks losing a race with south Indian airports to become an aviation hub in south Asia owing to misguided plans by politicians to build a second international airport, an aviation expert has warned. Its sole international airport at Katunayake, north of Colombo, remains too short and narrow for modern long-haul commercial jets, said Dayanthe Athulathmudali, Director, Dubai World Central, a Dubai government enterprise building a big new airport at Jebalali.
The situation is so bad that cargo from the national carrier, Sri Lankan Airlines, has to be unloaded and loaded onto to competitors' aircraft as the runway is too short to support its biggest aircraft at full load, he noted.
Instead of building a second international airport in the south, which could end up a 'white elephant' as international airlines have not asked for it, the best solution is to have the political will to acquire land near the existing airport for another runway.
"I have a request to all of you!" Athulathmudali, a former director at Sri Lanka Airports and Aviation Services, which operates the island's airports, told a seminar on transport infrastructure organised by the Chamber of Construction Industry.
"Contact your favourite politician and convince him that Sri Lanka’s priority should be to become the South Asian `Hub’."
29/08/08 Lanka Business Online, Sri Lanka

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AG grounds second Delhi airport

The country’s highest law officer, the attorney general of India, has told the Centre that setting up a greenfield airport in Greater Noida on the outskirts of New Delhi would clearly violate the agreement signed between the GMR group-led consortium upgrading the Capital’s Indira Gandhi International Airport and the ministry of civil aviation.
This means that the proposed Rs 5,000-crore Taj International Aviation Hub at Jewar in Greater Noida—first conceptualised in 2001 by UP chief minister Mayawati’s previous administration—is unlikely to come up now. The verdict also grounds Haryana’s first proposed airport at Jhajjar. Both airports would lie within 150 km of Delhi airport, violating the developer-ministry concession agreement.
In February, a group of ministers had given the Greater Noida airport in-principle approval, while also creating another group to look into the legal issues. The second GoM had asked the law ministry to examine the matter, which, in turn, sought the attorney general’s views. With the attorney general agreeing with the law ministry’s view that the Greater Noida airport would violate the concession agreement, the Mayawati government has few options left to see the project though.
According to a source, the state government is contemplating legal recourse to counter the attorney general’s opinion.
28/08/08 Deepa Jainani/Shauvik Ghosh/Financial Express

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BJP demands clarification on 'anonymous investment'

New Delhi: BJP on Wednesday demanded the government to clarify its permission for an "anonymous investment" of Rs 1,200 crore in airport modernisation.
"The union government should clarify an anonymous investment of Rs 1,200 crore in airport modernisation and infrastructure by a company called AGAM SPV SIX Ltd based in Cayman island in the Caribbean islands group," party spokesperson Prakash Javadekar told reporters here today.
"It is interesting to know that Cayman island is a country with a population of 50,000 and has around 80,000 companies registered there. This island country is infamous for money laundering, drugs and terror funds.
"It seems the authorities in India have turned a blind-eye to these facts while giving permission for investment in a crucial sector like aviation", Javadekar said.
27/08/08 PTI/The Hindu

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Airlines tussle with GMR on higher UDF

It hasn't been a smooth takeoff for the GMR consortium, which runs the brand new Hyderabad airport. The airline operator plans to negotiate with the civil aviation ministry for higher user development fees (UDF). But it's facing stiff opposition from airlines. GMR consortium or GHIAL (Greater Hyderabad International Airport Limited)expects airlines to include the user development fee as part of the airfare. Airlines say they want a part of the pie in terms of 1 to 1.5 % of commission if they are forced to add on the surcharge and collect it on behalf of the airport operators. Wolfgang Prock-Schaeur, CEO, Jet Airways said, “We have clearly stated that we don't want to collect UDF and propose to postpone it for a certain period of time. If however this fee is introduced, we will ask the airports and communicate to the respective channels through the FIA (Federation of Indian Airlines) that the airports collect this fee on their own.”
Airlines are also saying they are not in a position to levy any additional charges as they plan to raise air fares in Septemeber. They are already seeing a significant fall in passenger traffic. But the GMR consortium officials say they have been collecting user development fee of 1000 rupees from international outbound passengers for the past three and a half months.
27/08/08 Shivani Muthanna/CNBC-TV18/Moneycontrol.com

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Higher levies to make Mumbai airport costlier for airlines

At a time high ATF prices are making a hole into airlines’ bottomlines, flying and landing at Mumbai international airport may become costlier for the players in the sector. The GVK consortium, which is developing Mumbai international airport, is likely to get civil aviation ministry’s approval for hiking aeronautical charges by 10%.
However, the GMR-led consortium, developing the Indira Gandhi International Airport at New Delhi may not be allowed to do so as it has not been able to complete the mandated 20% of capital project works within the stipulated time period of two years. The developers of the Delhi and Mumbai airports have been lobbying with the ministry and other stakeholders so as to be allowed to hike the charges they levy on airlines for landing and parking among other charges. But the ministry has been holding them back the idea citing ongoing financial difficulties faced by the airlines.
Ministry sources confirmed that while GVK’s plea is being considered favourably by the ministry as the grounds for their request seem more pliable, GMR may not get permission for a similar hike. “The developer of the Delhi International Airport has not finished the mandated 20% of capital project works within the stipulated time period of two years, so no permission would be granted to them for the hike in aeronautical charges this time,” the source said.
28/08/08 Shauvik Ghosh/Financial Express

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'Swiss challenge' ruled out in airport PPP projects

New Delhi: Private airport developers under the public-private partnership (PPP) model will not be able to get additional contracts in and around the airport that are part of the original project (like real estate development) by merely matching the lowest bidder without participating in the bidding process.
The government recently shot down an informal proposal from the GMR-led consortium Delhi International Airport Ltd (DIAL) that would have enabled GMR to win the contract for the real estate and hospitality district at the airport in this manner. DIAL plans to lease out 45 acres of the airport land area to real estate and hospitality companies through a competitive bidding process.
Called the Swiss challenge system, which is prevalent in several countries, the process would entail the inclusion of a clause in the request for proposals (RFP) sent to real estate companies to the effect that GMR had a right to match the lowest bid and take the contract without participating in the bidding process.
“Such an idea had come up in one of the DIAL board meetings recently. But it was discouraged by the government representatives there only since it undermined the purpose of a bidding process,” a senior civil aviation ministry official said. “So the proposal never came to the civil aviation ministry,” he added. DIAL spokespersons, however, denied that GMR had any intention of developing the hospitality project.
28/08/08 Anirban Chowdhury/Business Standard

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Indian detained at San Antonio airport still In Federal custody

A man detained at the San Antonio International Airport Tuesday remains in federal custody.
The man, who officials say is from India, was stopped for going through security with several suspicious electronic devices.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials say the 36-year-old man is still in federal custody, and his immigration status is in question.
Airport officials became suspicious when the man tried going through an security checkpoint with an MP3 player, wrapped in tape and batteries, and connected with wires to another electronic device. Officials said they also checked his flight itinerary and found he'd booked 3 one-way flights.
27/08/08 WOAI, Texas, USA

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Chennai Customs Seize 200 Ornamental Fish From Cook

Chennai: Airport Customs officials, while conducting routine checks on air passengers, stumbled on 200 live ornamental fish, hidden in a luggage belonging to a passenger who arrived from Kuala Lumpur on Tuesday.
Officials detained 55-year-old Abdul Wahab, a hotel cook in south India, who was believed to have gone to Malaysia on a vacation and returned with the fish without any valid documents.
The exotic fish was valued at about RM8,000 in the local market.
"The fish were in different sizes and kept in polythene covers filled with oxygen and water.
"As the passenger was not in possession of any valid document for the illicit import, the live fish were confiscated under the provision of the Customs Act 1962," said Chennai Commissioner of Customs (Airport) Parminder Singh.
He said the all the fish would be returned to the Malaysian authorities immediately as required.
India imposes strict regulations on the import of ornamental fish. Importers need a license from the Director-General of Foreign Trade and clearance from the Animal Quarantine Department.
These exotic species, often kept as pets or for the purpose of "Vastu", the Indian version of Feng Shui, are popular in India and fetch good value in local markets, thus encouraging smuggling.
28/08/08 P. Vijian/Bernama, Malaysia

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Danfoss India bags HVAC drive contracts in 4 airports

Chennai: Danfoss India, a leading solution provider in mechanical and electronic components and solutions, has announced that it has bagged heating, ventilating, and air conditioning (HVAC) drive contracts in four airports in India, including the New Delhi airport.
Ravichandran Purushothaman, Senior Sales Director, Asia Pacific, Danfoss Motion Controls Division, told reporters here last night that the company had been awarded a $1 million contract for the Indira Gandhi Airport in New Delhi, where upgradation works are on for the 2010 Commonwealth Games.
However, Purushothaman declined to disclose details on the other airports "since the company is not a a position to do so now."
Danfoss was also looking to bag similar business in 106 other airports in the country, he said.
Sven Ruder, President, Danfoss Motion Controls Division, said the company has since its inception in India in the late 1990s, invested $20 million.
28/08/08 Press Trust Of India/Business Standard

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Private domestic carriers thrown out of six airport terminals

Kolkata: In a bid to reduce congestion and overcrowding at airport terminals, the government has decided not to allow private domestic carriers to undertake handling of baggage at six airports from next year.
The six major airports identified under the
Airports Authority of India are Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Hyderabad and Bangalore, official sources said. Private carriers would not be allowed to carry out the task from January 1, 2009.
As per the prevailing system, many domestic carriers outsource jobs like baggage handling and managing passenger coaches to smaller contractors.
The civil aviation ministry has now decided that for these six airports, a global tender will be floated and the contract will be given to one company for all the six airports. Tenders will be invited from companies with Rs 300 crore annual turnover and an experience of five years.
According to sources, no Indian company has been able to meet the criterion and thus a foreign company is likely to be invited soon. Private airline carriers are thus apprehensive that the costs might go up once a foreign company comes in.
At present, around 3,000 handling agents work at the Kolkata airport for various private domestic carriers.
27/08/08 Kolkata Newsline

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17 airports, one safety officer

Calcutta: The safety of air operations at Calcutta and other airports in the east is being compromised because of a shortage of air safety officers (ASO).
Although crores are being spent on the upgrade of communication, navigation and surveillance (CNS) equipment in Calcutta for the past three years, there is only one air safety officer for surveillance of 17 airports in the region.
“There are 29 ASOs in the four regions of the country, with one officer in Calcutta looking after the entire eastern region,” Kanu Gohain, the director-general of civil aviation (DGCA), said over the phone from Delhi.
“We have requested the civil aviation ministry to increase manpower. Recruitment will begin soon,” he added.
The air safety controller’s office in Calcutta is supposed to conduct surprise checks across the region to catch drunk pilots and cabin crew and to ensure in-flight safety, like having oxygen masks and life jackets for every passenger.
At the airports, too, the ASO is supposed to check whether runway lines and lights can be seen clearly by pilots during landing and whether the runways are safe for operations. They also have to ensure all CNS systems at the air traffic control are working properly.
In the early 1990s, when Indian Airlines and Air India were the only carriers in the domestic sector, the regional air safety office had three ASOs.
27/08/08 Sanjay Mandal/The Telegraph

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Renovation later, false ceiling gives way at IGI terminal

New Delhi: Merely two months after DIAL’s announcement that renovation work at the international terminal has been completed, signs of wear and tear seem to be creeping in. On Saturday, a few tiles of the false ceiling at the international terminal broke off. Fortunately no passenger was injured .
The incident happened on Saturday midnight — normally peak time at the terminal with international flights queued up. Officials said the false ceiling in the security hold area, close to the Alpha duty-free shop, gave away.
“Thankfully, the ceiling panels fell on the rack of the duty-free shop and no passenger was hurt,” said an airport official. Along with the false ceiling, the water accumulated on the tiles poured down as well, as shocked passengers stood watching.
The DIAL maintenance staff later found out that water leaking from the AC shafts led to the softening of the false ceiling tiles, which eventually gave way. “The DIAL maintenance and housekeeping team quickly rectified the problem with minimum impact to operations,” Arun Arora of DIAL corporate communication, said.
26/08/08 Sobhana K/Delhi Newsline

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Coach, tanker collide at airport

A major tragedy was averted at the Indira Gandhi International Airport when an airline passenger coach collided with a fuel tanker on Saturday.
The windshields of both the vehicles were damaged in the accident but no one was injured.
Sources at the airport said the fuel tanker, belonging to an Oil PSU, was filled with aviation turbine fuel (ATF) when it hit the Kingfisher Airlines passenger coach.
Though the passengers inside the coach and the drivers were not injured, the result could have been disastrous if the ATF had caught fire. The incident happened right outside the domestic departure terminal 1A, which could have been destroyed, sources said.
The incident occurred when the passenger coach driver was trying to park the vehicle in front of terminal 1A’s boarding gate.
Both Kingfisher Airlines and airport operator Delhi International Airport (P) Ltd. (DIAL) confirmed the incident.
“If the tanker was hit by the coach on the side or rear, both the vehicles would have blown up. There would have been far more casualties, as the vehicles were next to a terminal,” said an airport source.
“There was no space near the boarding gate, as coaches of other airlines were lined up there. The driver overtook a vehicle to park at the next slot when the fuel tanker was coming from the opposite direction,” said an eyewitness who did not want to be named.
The damage was limited, as the brakes were applied just in time, sources said. The road takes a curve after the boarding area and was the reason why the drivers couldn’t see the other vehicle till they came close.
26/08/08 Sidhartha Roy/Hindustan Times

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Global tender for airlines’ agency

Kolkata: The Civil Aviation Ministry has decided to do away with the present system of ground handling of airlines by different agencies appointed on contract.
The ministry has invited 10 global tender to select one agency, which will do the work of ground handling for such airlines from 1 January 2009. Air India does the ground handling of its flights, by its own employees while other airlines including Jet Airways and Kingfisher have engaged agencies on contractual basis for the purpose.
The ministry wants one agency to do the ground handling. Reportedly, these airlines have sent their representation to the ministry against its decision today.
26/08/08 The Statesman

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Dead deer on runway, AAI asleep

Nagpur: A barking deer is tough to spot even in the forest given its rarity and quickness. But a full-grown female barking deer pregnant with two fawns was found dead on the runway of Babasaheb Ambedkar International Airport on Sunday night.
This is the second such incident in little over two months giving a lie to the Airports Authority of India (AAI) officials' claim that they have made the runway safe from stray animals.
Earlier, another barking deer, with one unborn fawn, was crushed under the wheels of an aircraft on June 7. This shows that the airport continues to be a breeding area for the barking deer.
Airport sources claimed that the barking deer might have been hit by an aircraft during take-off or landing late in the night.
However, S N Borkar, airport director, denied that the deer died due to a plane hit. He told TOI, "It is true that a barking deer was found dead on the runway but I think it was not hit by an aircraft. Any pilot would have reported the matter, but no pilot reported the matter."
However, sources said that intrusion of animals on the runway of Nagpur airport is not new.
26/08/08 Sachin Dravekar & Vijay Pinjarkar/Times of India

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Fliers queue up to pay user tax at Bangalore, Hyderabad airports

New Delhi: Domestic airlines have, for now, decided not to include user development fee (UDF) that outbound passengers have to pay at new airports in Hyderabad and Bangalore in their ticket costs. As a result, fliers will have to shell out this fee, that goes to airport developers as one of the measures of recovering investment made, by lining up at the airport when they go to catch their flights.
"Short-haul traffic out of Hyderabad and Bangalore has already suffered. We are not in favour of levying a UDF as this would further dent traffic. if developers want this fee, they'll have to collect it themselves for the time being," Jet Airways CEO Wolfgang Prock-Schaeur said. He added this issue is being raised at the level of the Federation of Indian Airlines (FIA), an umbrella organization of all domestic carriers, which would take a final call.
The aviation ministry has allowed the GMR-led Hyderabad airport consortia to charge Rs 375 from each outbound domestic flier. The Siemens-led Bangalore airport JV is soon going to be allowed to levy a UDF. A senior aviation ministry official said this charge should be as a part of the overall ticket cost.
While airlines don't disagree with this logic, they point out air travel is currently registering negative growth in India.
25/08/08 Times of India

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Himachal proposes international airport in Balh valley

New Delhi/Shimla: The Himachal Pradesh government has proposed an international greenfield airport to be built at a cost of Rs 700 crore in the Balh valley of Mandi district.
The state government has sent a proposal to the Union Civil Aviation ministry so that wide-bodied larger aircraft can be accommodated.
"Himachal is the only state in the region which doesn't have a big airport. This is proving to be a big impediment to attracting high-paying foreign tourists to the state," said Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal on Sunday.
"The techno economic feasibility study has already been carried out at the identified site by the Airport Authority of India experts and a report has been submitted to the higher authorities," he said.
The proposed site is close to Sundernagar town, which falls almost in the middle of the state.
In the near absence of railways and an air network in the state, road travel in the rough terrain is the major source of transport in the hill state.
25/08/08 Baldev S Chauhan/Business Standard

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Airport drama manager flies home

A manager who had to be admitted to the Psychiatric Hospital following a mental breakdown at Bahrain International Airport almost two weeks ago, flew home last night.
The Indian man began showing signs of recovery last week and flew home at 10.30pm after doctors confirmed that he was cured and fit to travel.
He was on transit from Dammam, Saudi Arabia, to Bangalore, India, on August 13 when he started acting strangely, according to sources.
The 24-year-old had worked as a manager for a recruitment agency in Ras Tanura, near Dammam, for more than a year.
He reportedly started showing worrying signs of depression after he was blamed for an accident involving a company car and was asked to pay BD5,700 compensation.
He wouldn't speak to the official at the immigration counter, give his name or other details or budge from the queue, the GDN had reported.
The man was admitted to the Psychiatric Hospital, Salmaniya, on August 15, after continued refusal to board other flights, even after appeals by social workers and his sponsor, who came to Bahrain to resolve the matter.
25/08/08 Begena P Pradeep/Gulf Daily News, Bahrain

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Design Solution eyeing Delhi, Mumbai airports

Los Angeles: When airport retail started to take off a few years ago, brands viewed the stores as a way to snatch a few extra bucks from travelers with time to kill.
Now, though, it’s a soaring business.
Airport retail generated $34 billion in sales in 2007, up from $29 billion in 2006. Luxury goods accounted for 35.5 percent of those sales, a 16.6 percent increase over 2006, according to research service Generation Databank. That’s why Bally, Prada, Ferragamo and Chloé, among others, are all going along for the ride.
For many brands, India is at the top of the wish list, partly because its elite consumers are used to shopping in airports. “India’s own domestic middle class has been growing at a phenomenal rate, but the quality and amount of retail downtown never caught up,” said Robbie Gill, an architect and a director of The Design Solution, a London firm that plans and designs airport retail. “Indians had to travel to buy it.”
So now the market is coming to India. Gill’s firm is preparing retail plans for three new terminals in the Delhi and Mumbai airports, one opening in December and the others in 2010. “There will be a large luxury component,” he said.
A change in airport ownership is also boosting commerce in India, Gill said. “Private entities bought both airports, so the whole face of Indian airport travel will be transformed.” But he doesn’t want to transform it into a luxury paradise. “We’ll have a design area dedicated to craft, with Indian retailers. It will be different from what you see in the rest of the world. You’ll see the richness of a culture through its retailers,” he explained. “[The luxury concentration] is not a problem for sales, but it might be in the future because if you replicate the same names worldwide, there’s no sense of difference.
25/08/08 Anne-Marie Otey/Footwear News, NY

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Bag sans tag sets alarm bells ringing at airport

New Delhi: Unclaimed bags found on consecutive days at final round of screening of the Inline Baggage Screening System.
On August 15, a day when the entire country is on high alert, an unidentified bag without a tag was found at the end of Inline Baggage Screening System in the international terminal. The same incident happened the very next day, raising a serious question mark on the functioning of the latest system at Indira Gandhi International Airport.
The Customs is carrying out a detailed investigation of both lapses. The Inline Baggage System was introduced at the international terminal on June 15 this year to ensure fool-proof security.
Once the passenger has checked in his baggage, it goes through three screening levels. If there nothing suspicious is detected, the passenger sees it only at the destination. In case there is something objectionable, like explosives or narcotics, the baggage is detained at the third level and the owner summoned.
On August 15 afternoon, however, DIAL security officials working at the Inline Baggage System were foxed after an untagged (check-in tag missing) green soft top suitcase was found at the third security level of the screening system. Clueless, they took the baggage to the arrival hall and made an announcement for passengers to identify it.
“No one came forward, as the baggage was outbound and not incoming. Finally they came to us with the baggage at 3:00 pm,” said a Customs officials. The investigation carried out by Customs revealed there was only one Pakistan International Airline flight leaving for Karachi at 2:30 pm. Surprisingly, the baggage reconciliation chart of PIA showed all checked-in baggage had been boarded.
This is not an isolated case. A similar incident was repeated at night on August 16 when Jitender Kumar, DIAL supervisor for security and vigilance, noticed an unclaimed baggage at level 3 of the inline baggage system around 11:30 pm. The baggage was untagged and after X-ray screening and explosive trace detection it was found that there was nothing suspicious inside.
25/08/08 Sobhana K/Delhi Newsline

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No more intl flights at Terminal 2A

Terminal building 2A of the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport at Sahar was cleared out on Sunday paving way for the construction of a new building for domestic and international airlines. International flights will now dock at terminal 2B and and C.
A spokesperson for Mumbai International Airport Ltd (MIAL) said, “The groundwork for clearing out all operational activity from the 2A terminal site initiated in July in order to house the modern terminal building has been completed today. Once the process of removal of fittings and other effects from the 2A is completed, demolition work will be undertaken.”
According to him, terminal buildings 2A and 2C had been handling international flights of 46 airlines till now. “Since the 2A site has been chosen for the construction of the new building, arrivals will now be at 2B and 2C. Constructed in the late 1980s, terminal 2B that had never been put into use till now owing to some reason or the other,” he said.
25/08/08 Renni Abraham/Daily News & Analysis

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Airport eye catches bribe duo

Calcutta: An Air India employee and a worker of the Airports Authority of India were caught on camera allegedly taking a bribe from a Myanmarese passenger at Calcutta airport this morning.
The commercial helper of Air India and the trolley puller employed on contract by the airport authority had taken Rs 1,300 from M. Kudu for “helping” him get his excess luggage cleared, a Central Industrial Security Force officer said.
Air India does the ground handling for Thai Airways here. Kudu was told at the check-in counter that he had around 10kg excess luggage. At this juncture, the duo approached him.
“They helped the passenger get clearance for his excess luggage and got the boarding pass for him, but after that they demanded Rs 1,300,” a CISF officer said. “The passenger refused to pay so much and an altercation followed,” a CISF official said.
Kudu relented and paid Rs 1,300, but by then Thai Airways had sniffed something amiss. When Kudu realised that the duo had taken a bribe from him, he said he would lodge a complaint with the airport authorities.
“During interrogation, we told them the closed-circuit television images had shown them taking the money from Kudu so they gave in and returned the cash in the presence of the our personnel and the Thai Airways officials,” a senior CISF officer said.
The duo were handed over to the police, who released them later. “Since the money was not in their possession, a bribery case was not started. Also, the passenger wrote in his complaint that he had paid the money but had also got it back,” said a police officer.
23/08/08 The Telegraph

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False bribery charge against airport officials

Kolkata: A frequent flier from Myanmar brought false charges of bribery against two contractual staff at the city's airport early on Saturday. Police said the passenger, a businessman from the country, levelled false accusations against them to avoid paying Rs 1,300 for excess hand baggage.
M Kudus, who was booked on Saturday morning's Thai Airways flight, reached the checkin counter as scheduled and declared that he was carrying additional baggage, for which the airline charged him Rs 1,700 and handed him a receipt.
He proceeded for the security check, where he was stopped by the staff as they suspected his hand baggage exceeded the stipulated limit of 8 kgs. He was sent back to the check-in counter.
There, he claimed that he had already paid Rs 1,300 - the amount payable against the excess weight of a flier's cabin luggage - to the two employees.
When the airline staff denied the allegations, Kudus complained against the duo to the Central Industrial Security Force officers (CISF), who took Kudus and the two staff to the police.
Police interrogation revealed that Kudus was a regular flier and was well aware of the rules. "It's unlikely that a regular flier will be asked to bribe the staff to clear his baggage," an officer said.
On being cornered, Kudus admitted his 'mistake' and excused himself calling the entire episode a mere "communication gap" .
Finally, he was able to catch the flight after paying for the excess cabin luggage. He, however, paid around Rs 400 to the two staff as bakhsish, he said.
24/08/08 Arpit Basu/Times of India

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Kamat plans Delhi trip to lobby for Dabolim

Margao: Chief Minister Digambar Kamat has said that he would proceed to Delhi after the Assembly session to pursue and protect the interests of Dabolim airport, even as Rajya Sabha MP Shantaram Naik sought to remind bureaucrats that the decision to retain Dabolim as an international airport was taken by none other than the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh.
Both Kamat and Naik pleaded ignorance of the reported decision by the Public Investment Board as reported by a section of a press rejecting proposal by the Airport Authority of India for upgradation of the Dabolim airport at a cost of Rs 500 crore.
“I am unaware of any such decision. In fact, I was told by the Union Civil Aviation Minister, Praful Patel that he would come down to Goa to lay foundation stone for airport upgradation work at Dabolim,” Kamat said.
Saying that the decision of the Public Investment Board is not a setback to retaining Dabolim airport, the chief minister asserted that he would go to Delhi immediately after the Assembly session and meet the Civil Aviation Minister and other Central leaders on the subject.
The Rajya Sabha MP, when contacted, told Herald that Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh has given clear-cut assurances to retain Dabolim airport and that the Public Investment Board cannot overrule the PM’s assurances.
Saying that Goa is a special case unlike Bangalore and Hyderabad, Naik said the Union government will honour its commitment to retain Dabolim and sanction the promised funds to the tune of Rs 500 crore for the new terminal building and aero bridges.
24/08/08 Herald Publications

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Air India plane hits stationary step-ladder

Another incident of a collision between an aircraft and a step-ladder has made the director general of civil aviation (DGCA) think seriously about these recurring incidents.
On August 19, the engine of an Air India (AI) aircraft which was about to take-off from Ahmedabad airport suffered damage as it hit a stationary step-ladder while pushing back from the parking bay. The DGCA is conducting an inquiry into the matter. This is the third such incident reported in the last four months.
At 2.15 pm, the Ahmedabad-Mumbai-New York flight AI 191 faced problem taking off with 400 passengers on board. “During push back, a step-ladder kept on the right side of the aircraft for another incoming aircraft hit the right engine of the plane,” said an AI official from Ahmedabad airport. However, after checking, the aircraft took-off for Mumbai at 2.30 pm.
On May 12, Jetlite’s Mumbai-Goa flight S2 655 got delayed as the horizontal stabiliser of its left wing was hit by a step-ladder that was in the process of being removed. On May 15, an AI Mumbai-Chennai flight was delayed by four hours as the aircraft was pushed back even when the aero-bridge was not removed, damaging aeroplane’s door.
23/08/08 Navita/Daily News & Analysis

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Waterlogging at IGI, New Runway Flooded

New Delhi: The problem of hovering endlessly before touching down at Delhi's choked airport may not end even after the inauguration of the third runway on Thursday. Due to lack of a proper drainage network, the new runway has been getting waterlogged, a problem which DIAL recently took up with the DGCA and Airports Authority of India.
The problem lies not only in the waterlogging , but also in the fact that the lights on the runway cannot be switched on till they dry up since it could cause a short circuit . The problem is severe on the taxiways.
According to Delhi International Airport (P) Ltd (DIAL) officials, heavy rain in the past few days led to flooding of the storm-water drain. The only permanent solution to this is a sewage treatment plant (STP) which is to be constructed by the Delhi Jal Board. With no signs of the STP coming up for another two years, DDA has cleared DIAL's pending application for pumping the water into the Dwarka drain.
DIAL had a meeting with DGCA and AAI officials on Monday over the issue. Officials say the issue has been sorted out and there is no problem with the runway which will host its first flight on Thursday. However, the problem of waterlogging at the runway has been persistent for a while. The STP, that is necessary to control flooding at the site of the new runway, being planned for the villages of - Kapas Hera, Mahipalpur, Rajokri, Rangpuri and Sambhalka at Kapas Hera - has been cleared, but work for the same is yet to be awarded. Once this is done, it will take a minimum of 15 months for it to be constructed, revealed DJB sources.
22/08/08 Neha Lalchandani/RedOrbit, USA

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Mandakalli airport: work to be comlete in Jan

Mysore: Even as the long cherished dream of Mysoreans of having their own Airport is going to be fulfilled in the near future, there seems to be some confusion about the actual timing of its inauguration for public use.
There is no unanimity in the opinions of the officials of Airports Authority of India (AAI) and Airport Building Corporation.
The Joint Secretary of Civil Aviation Ministry Srivastav and Karnataka Infrastructure Department Principal Secretary Aravind Jadhav visited the Mysore Airport yesterday along with MP C.H. Vijayashankar and officials of Civil Aviation Ministry and inspected the works. Later speaking to newsmen they said that the work is going on briskly. If the pace is maintained, the Airport will be fit for use by January end.
But prior to this, Executive Director of AAI G.K. Choukiyan told newsmen in the presence of Vijayashankar that the Airport will be ready for public use by February end. Executive Director of National Building Construction Corporation (NBCC) S. Baliga disclosed that the terminal building which can accommodate 150 people will be ready by January end. "As per agreement, we should have completed the work by now. But it has not been possible. We need a few more months to complete the entire work", he observed.
22/08/08 Star of Mysore

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Tuticorin airport gets more facilities

Tuticorin: Tuticorin airport is being modenrised to augment operational and non-operational infrastructure and facilitate handling of more aircrafts.
Speaking to The Hindu, T. K. G. Nair, Manager and Officer in-charge, Tuticorin airport, said that a Rs. 28-lakh X-ray baggage inspection equipment would be commissioned soon. This German-made computerised gadget would help detect explosives.
A salient feature of the equipment would be that images could be stored in e-files for future reference. Besides, an Explosive Trace Detector was installed at a cost of Rs. 42 lakh. An X-ray baggage inspection equipment for ‘hand baggage’ was also commissioned recently at a cost of Rs. 22 lakh.
Airports Authority of India sources said that to expand the runway, 664 acres were to be acquired. The length of the runway would be extended from 1,300 metres to 3,000 metres to facilitate handling of wide-bodied aircraft. Now, only smaller-sized ATR-72 model aircraft could be handled here.
23/08/08 R. Vimal Kumar/The Hindu

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3rd runway to help IGI handle 60 flights/hr

New Delhi: IGI airport's third runway finally saw its first flight when an Air India Boeing 777 landed on it at 10.45 am on Thursday. The flight first did a flypast - aborted landing as it reached the runway - and then returned to finally land.
The new runway is Code F compliant, that will enable it to handle aircraft as big as A-380s. It also has the instrument landing system at both ends, which will enable landing from both sides during low-visibility. IGI is now the only airport in the country to have multiple runways. Officials said that the runway would handle both domestic and international flights, though domestic airlines said they would prefer landing on it and not taking off as that would require a long taxiing time. The only connecting taxiways between the new and the main runways are towards the Dwarka side.
Working to make the airstrip a runway were personnel from Airports Authority of India (AAI). Teams from the Air Traffic Control (ATC) and the Communications Navigational Services (CNS) spent days working out the instrument landing procedures and setting up the equipment required for aircraft navigation.
After setting up the ILS, officials of CNS sat in a small Dornier aircraft and flew for hours over the runway to calibrate the equipment set up.
22/08/08 Times of India

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4,430-metre runway opens for trial runs at Delhi international airport

New Delhi: With the landing of an Air India Boeing 777-300 (extended range), the third runway, 4,430 metres long, of the Indira Gandhi International Airport here — among the longest in Asia — opened for trial runs on Thursday morning.
The aircraft, with the pilot and cabin crew on board the inaugural flight, first performed a low flypast without landing and returned 10 minutes later.
The runway has been built by the Delhi International Airport Limited, a GMR group-led joint venture consortium mandated to operate and modernise the airport. The aircraft was given the traditional water cannon salute by fire tenders of the airport fire service.
However, the presence of a dog on the new runway just moments before the maiden flight landed and of birds after the landing gave anxious moments to DIAL and Civil Aviation Ministry officials.
Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel, who received the aircraft, told journalists that the new runway would be ready for commercial operations next month.
Completed more than six months ahead of schedule, the runway is equipped with the CAT IIIB Instrument Landing System at both ends allowing compatible aircraft to land even when visibility is as low as 50 metres.
22/08/08 The Hindu

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Curious incident of dog on new runway

New Delhi: Moments before the country's longest runway was inaugurated at the Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport on Thursday morning (August 21), a stray dog somehow found its way into the main runway.
The incident raised a few laughs, but the fact remains such a situation can be quite dangerous during a take off or landing of the aircrafts in the second busiest airport in India.
21/08/08 Times Now.tv

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Aviation, AAI officials inspect works at Mysore Airport

Mysore: With work on developing the Mysore airport going on at a brisk pace, senior officials from the Civil Aviation Ministry and the Airports Authority of India (AAI) inspected the progress of the works on Thursday.
Joint Secretary of Civil Aviation, K N Srivatsa, Principal Secretary for Infrastructure of Karnataka, Arvind Jadav and MP C H Vijayshankar inspected works on the terminal building and the already completed runway. They were accompanied by senior officials of AAI, overseeing the project.
Speaking to reporters, Vijayshankar said the State Government had completed all the ground works to hand over about 123 acres of the required 310 acres for the phase II expansion of the airport project. "The final notification is issued and the transfer will happen soon," he said.
On the compensation to land-losers, he promised that farmers would be paid market value. The officials have been directed to assess and prepare a report on the market value of the land. He also said that Chief Minister Yeddyurappa has set aside 30 per cent of the cost of the phase II project.
The two passages in the compound wall surrounding the airport for villagers?movement will be closed as the zilla panchayat has agreed to construct alternative roads.
22/08/08 Newindpress

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Indian Airport Retail Booming

The worldwide slowdown in economy may have shaken the confidence and optimism of many organised retail companies across the globe, but airport retailing including the duty free sales is predicted to continue booming with retail spending at Indian airports expected to grow from $127m in 2007 to $318m in 2012.
The good news for overseas wine producers is that when airport arrivals and departures start understanding the potential of selling premium wines at these duty free outlets, it would help expand their market; there is plenty of pent up demand with travellers waiting to be wooed with product quality, storage, pricing and display which is sorely lacking at the moment.
According to the latest report from Verdict Research, a Data monitor company, retail sales at airports will grow by 11% in 2008 to $30billion, making it the fastest growing channel of retail after the Internet. Indeed sales through these channels will continue to grow strongly over the next five years. The impact will be stronger in the emerging markets, driven by the rapid increase in air travel and major investment in new airports and retail facilities.
Increasing passenger numbers are a key driver with the strong growth witnessed over the last five years set to continue, particularly in emerging markets according to Verdict.
21/08/08 Indian Wine Academy

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Spirit of India store opens at Hyderabad

Hyderabad International Airport Limited (HIAL) has announced the opening of the Spirit of India store, which sells ethnic and contemporary fashion and accessories, jewellery, local foods and gifts from a range of suppliers across the country. These include tribal and regional handicrafts, pearls, lac bangles and spiritual books and music.
HIAL’s partners include EMPOWER, a social initiative which sells products such as traditional toys directly sourced from women’s Self-Help Groups (SHGs) from rural Andhra Pradesh, and TRIFED, a tribal handicrafts supplier set up as part of a central government initiative.
21/08/08 Nicole Mezzasalma

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Malaysia Airlines plans maintenance hub in India

Kuala Lumpur: Malaysia Airlines said Wednesday it has teamed up with the operator of India's Hyderabad airport to set up an aircraft maintenance hub to capitalize on India's fast-growing aviation market.
It is the airline's first such overseas venture and part of its efforts to boost income as it reels from high jet fuel cost.
Under the pact with GMR Hyderabad International Airport Ltd., the Malaysian flag carrier said a maintenance, repair and overhaul center would be established to service narrow and wide-bodied aircraft at the new Rajiv Gandhi International Airport.
There are currently some 300 aircraft in operation in India, with more than 200 new planes expected to take to the sky in the next two years and up to 2,000 new planes over the next decade, the airline said in a statement.
Currently, most of the aircraft are sent to Malaysia and other maintenance centers overseas for heavy maintenance, it said.
The airline will provide technical and management expertise in the joint venture with GMR Hyderabad, he said.
20/08/08 The Associated Press/International Herald Tribune, France

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HAL airport may reopen to take burden off BIA

Bangalore: The probability of the old HAL airport being reopened for commercial operations is rising. Now, the ministry of civil aviation (MoCA) is now pushing this idea. Top civil aviation ministry officials told TOI that the MoCA has held a series of discussions to reopen HAL airport, given that the new Bengaluru International Airport (BIA) is saturated.
"If needed, we, together with the other promoters of BIA, will relook at the concessions agreement," said the official who requested anonymity. The MoCA, he said, has endorsed the Airports Authority of India (AAI) report on BIA, which states that the airport had reached full capacity the moment it opened. MoCA is also pushing BIA for an immediate capacity expansion.
In June, MoCA had designated a 4-member team from AAI to study the capacity issues at BIA. As per the report, a copy of which is with TOI, the terminal at BIA can only handle 9.78 million passengers as against the city's reported passenger traffic of 10.12 million passengers in 2007-08.
The ministry is looking at re-opening HAL airport to all domestic operations - both long-haul and short-haul. A new terminal block at BIA would take anywhere between 18 and 24 months to build.
21/08/08 Anshul Dhamija/Times of India

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For aviation ministry, no case for reopening old Bangalore airport

New Delhi: The Union civil aviation ministry has concluded after a fresh study that congestion is a problem at Bangalore’s new airport only during peak traffic hours, which does not neccesitate reopening the old city airport, a senior ministry official said.
The official, who wished to remain anonymous, spoke two days before the Karnataka high court takes up a petition to reopen the Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) airport that has been shuttered since the night of 23 May, hours before the new facility opened.
Though a final call will be taken by the courts, there is “no case” for the old airport to be reopened, the official said, adding that the ministry had asked the airport operator, Bangalore International Airport Ltd (Bial), a consortium led by German conglomerate Siemens AG, to reinforce arrangements to handle peak-hour traffic.
Some citizens groups and companies in Bangalore have lobbied for reopening the old airport, complaining that the commute to the new airport is too long as it takes up to two hours from the city. They argue that the Union government is encouraging a private monopoly by not allowing competition for Bial.
Senior aviation ministry officials, together with those from the Airports Authority of India (AAI) and aviation regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation, met on Tuesday with Bial executives in Bangalore to discuss the new study. No consensus was reached at the meeting, the same official said.
The final study on passenger demand and capacity at the airport, conducted by AAI, has been submitted to solicitor general Goolam Vahanvati, who will present the government’s case at the hearing in the Karnataka high court, another civil aviation ministry official said.
20/08/08 Tarun Shukla/Livemint

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Gr Noida airport faces further delay

The 150-km clause in the agreement between civil aviation ministry and the GMR-led consortium that bars any airport to come up within 150 kilometre of Delhi airport is turning out to be quite a headache for the government. The consortium is incharge of Delhi airport modernisation.
The law ministry, which has been examining the proposal of Greenfield Taj International Aviation Hub (TIAH) in Jewar near Greater Noida ever since a GoM was constituted in February, has now decided to refer the issue to the attorney general of India. The move may cause further delays for the Rs 5,000 crore project.
The GoM, with the law ministry, was to look into implicit and explicit agreements signed with the operators of the Delhi's IGI airport, located just 70 km away from IGI and assess if the proposed airport would violate contractual obligations. Sources in the civil aviation ministry said the Jewar project-first conceptualised in 2001 by the then Mayawati government-is now likely to take even longer.
“The proposal for the airport has been passed on to the attorney general for a view by the law ministry. It is unlikely that it would be approved now, given the current political situation,” sources said. “The law ministry has been surveying the issue for more than four months now,” he added. While the civil aviation ministry had forwarded a favorable assessment of the Jewar project to the law ministry well over six months ago, the latter is yet to come back with a view.
21/08/08 Shauvik Ghosh/Financial Express

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Non-metro airports: ‘AAI ignored’

New Delhi: The chairman of the parliamentary standing committee on transport and tourism, Mr Sitaram Yechury, today said an Inter-Ministerial Group (IMG) headed by the civil aviation secretary had decided to hand over terminal building work of the country’s 35 non-metro airports to public-private-partnership, deviating from a decision of the Committee on Infrastructure headed by the Prime Minister.
After submitting the committee’s reports on tourism in Jammu and Kashmir and modernisation of airports to the Rajya Sabha chairman, Mohammed Hamid Ansari, Mr Yechury said the Prime Minister-headed committee wanted the non-metro airport terminals’ work to be carried out by the Airports Authority of India.
He said such an attitude could cripple the Authority financially, leading to suggestions that it should be privatised. Mr Yechury’s report said the committee “expects the Prime Minister’s Office to issue a clarification” if the IMG had the approval of the Committee on Infrastructure to make the deviation.
The report said existing problems at Mumbai and Delhi airports were the result of the lack of coordination between government agencies and private developers. The committee hoped the lessons learnt at the airports would help avoid similar problems elsewhere in the country. The committee suggested that the closed old airports at Bangalore and Hyderabad could be used for the operation of short-haul flights which had slowly disappeared from the new airports of the two cities.
20/08/08 The Statesman

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Charters up, but will they all land?

Panaji: Around 827 charters have booked landing slots at Dabolim airport for the coming tourist season, but rooms to accommodate as many passengers have not been booked.
While the figure of 827 flights beats last season's number of 758 charters, the tourism industry is being cautious and says this is a projected figure that need not necessarily translate into landings.
Subhash Phegade of Aircon Aviation Services and station manager of Monarch Airlines said that the bookings were tentative. "They have asked for slots. However, bookings this year are not even 50% of last year's. An airline could book four landing slots per week. If there is a fall in bookings, they transfer the passengers and cancel slots."
Tourism players say bookings for landing slots are done in bulk prior to the season. "September is the time to make payments. That's when we will see the real figures. Right now it's time to submit applications," said Ralph de Sousa, president Travel and Tourism Association of Goa.
This was echoed by Alu Gomes Pereira, COO, Thomas Cook Charters and TCI-Thomas Cook Charters.
21/08/08 Andrew Pereira/Times of India

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Airline fee to go up at Mumbai, Delhi airports?

New Delhi: Close on the heels of clearing the levy of Rs 375 as user fee from passengers flying out of Hyderabad, the aviation ministry could now make India’s biggest airports costlier for both airlines and fliers.
After initially disallowing GVK’s demand for a 10% hike in aeronautical charges for Mumbai airport on the ground that it would further hike costs and make flying more expensive, the ministry is now learnt to be favourably considering the same.
“A 10% hike in aeronautical charges in third year of operation was allowed in the agreements with both GMR and GVK groups for Delhi and Mumbai airports, respectively. Mumbai International Airport (MIAL) has been pursuing this demand as its financial model has been based on higher revenues in third year and it is being considered at highest level in the ministry,’’ said
If Mumbai is allowed the hike, the GMR Group is also likely to ask for a similar treatment as it is spending huge amounts on building the new runway and upcoming terminals.
As part of the higher airport charges, MIAL has also asked for a hike in the passenger service fees (PSF) that is levied on each ticket. Airlines are likely to pass on the increased costs to passengers.
20/08/08 Saurabh Sinha/Economic Times

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Airport regulator may oversee cargo services

Bangalore: The government is set to regulate transport of cargo by air, a senior commerce ministry official told a meeting of representatives from trade and cargo associations.
Cargo services at airports have been included in the draft Airports Economic Regulatory Authority of India Bill, 2007, R. Gopalan, additional secretary, commerce ministry, said in Chennai recently, according to a person who attended the meeting but didn’t want to be named.
In the initial draft Bill, cleared by the Union cabinet in May 2007 for introduction in Parliament, the authority was meant to fix and approve tariffs for aeronautical services, apart from monitoring pre-set performance standards at the country’s airports, but cargo activities were not included. “We want cargo services also to be brought under the ambit of the proposed Airports Economic Regulatory Authority Bill,” said J. Krishnan, vice-president of the Air Cargo Agents Association of India. “Otherwise, anybody can charge anything and get away with it.”
Trade bodies had sought the inclusion of cargo activities in the proposed legislation, which is modelled on a UK regulatory system where aeronautical services do not cover cargo and related activities.
21/08/08 P Manoj/Livemint

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Today, big bird to test new IGI runway

New Delhi: This is as big as it gets: the first flight to land on the new runway at Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport, at 10.30 am Thursday, would be a Boeing 777-300 ER Air India flight, one of the largest aircraft in the country. It can carry up to 368 passengers.
Union Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel would felicitate the Air India pilot who lands the first flight at the third runway.
“It is like a report card for the runway,” said an official of the Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL), the joint-venture company renovating the airport. “The pilot will visually inspect the runway, give report about the markings, and basically analyse it.”
There would be no passengers on board the aircraft, which would take off from the IGI Airport itself.
Trial flights would continue at the runway for at least one week. DIAL expects to begin operations on the runway by August 28, after all airlines agree to use it and DGCA gives a nod.
21/08/08 Expressindia.com

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Delhi gets Asia's longest runway

The Delhi airport will get a brand new long runway later on Thursday. At a cost of Rs 1000 crores, this is the longest runway in Asia and is expected to end the congestion that has become a daily nightmare for the capital's domestic and international flights.
The endless delays at Delhi's airports have given Delhi passengers and pilots heartburn for many years. The new runway is meant to be the solution.
It is 4.4 km long, the longest not just in India but in Asia and, therefore, it can handle the biggest and newest planes like the Airbus 380.
The new runway will allow the airport to double the number of flights it handles every hour with one flight taking off or landing every minute, which means no more circling in the air.
Faster take-offs and landings will mean less fuel will be wasted and lower pollution.
The runway also has CAT 111 B landing facilities, which means planes can land even when visibility is as low as 50 metres.
So far, Delhi's international and domestic flights have shared two runways. The first runs from the Dwarka side to the Vasant Kunj side. It's intersected by the second runway. The new one runs from the Dwarka side towards Gurgaon.
However, some experts caution that the new runway may encounter two basic problems.
The new runway runs near the Shiv Murti, which also has a picnic spot so bird hits are a potential hazard. Also, the distance between the domestic airport and the new runway is about eight km. So eventually, it may make more sense to use the new runway for international flights.
21/08/08 Alok Pandey/NDTV.com

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Domestic outbound passengers to pay Rs.375 extra at Hyderabad airport

New Delhi: Domestic passengers leaving Hyderabad international airport will now have to pay an additional Rs.375 as user development fee (UDF), the airport operator said Wednesday.
In a regulatory statement, GMR Hyderabad International Airport Ltd (GMR-HIAL) said the user fee had been approved by the civil aviation ministry and will be applicable from Aug 22.
The approval comes just two days after the ministry announced draft guidelines for levying UDF at airports.
According to a company release, the fee will be collected at the airport before boarding passes are issued from passengers who had purchased tickets before the government notification was made.
GMR-HIAL chief commercial officer Viswanath Attaluri said the UDF was necessary in view of huge investments made by the GMR-led consortium, with the first phase developed on an outlay of Rs.24.78 billion.
20/08/08 IANS/Economic Times

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Airports strike disrupts about 200 flights

New Delhi/Mumbai: At least 50 people were injured today during the day-long strike called by trade unions, which badly affected services in rail, road, aviation, banking and various other sectors in many parts of the country, particularly in the three Left-ruled states.
The strike by the Airports Authority of India (AAI) employees led to the cancellation of close to 200 flight movements (arrivals and departures), mostly from and to Kolkata.
Besides, airports in Haldia, Visakhapatnam, Guwahati and Pune were also affected by the stir.
Apart from Kolkata, a complete bandh was observed in Jharkhand, Manipur, Kerala and Tripura. The delay in flights from these places, however, had a cascading effect on flights to other places. For instance, 10-12 flights to Hyderabad were delayed due to the delay in arrival of the connecting flights. Some flights to Delhi and Mumbai were also delayed. Sources said around 150-200 departures, mostly out of Kolkata, were cancelled today.
As a contingency measure, about 250 Indian Air Force (IAF) personnel were deployed at 21 airports in the country to maintain safety and fire services.
Meanwhile, protesting privatisation and mergers, about 900,000 public sector bank employees went on a strike today, paralysing most of commercial operations throughout the country.
21/08/08 Business Standard

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Three foreigners with fake documents arrested in Bangalore airport

Bangalore: Three foreigners were arrested at the Bengaluru International airport while they were trying to board a flight to Paris with fake documents today August 20, 2008. The arrested are one from Uzbekistan and other two from Afghanistan.
According to the sources in immigration, the trio including one Uzbek woman bound for Paris by Air France flight No 191, were questioned by immigration official D N Sidde Gowda on suspicion. Upon further investigation and verifications of their papers like passports and visa, it was found that they were fake.
All of them had visas issued in Latvia and they had given false names. After intense questioning, they revealed their correct identity. Feruza Salieva(33), a belly dancer by profession, belonged to Uzbekistan. Matiullah(20) and Fakim(21) belonged to Afghanistan.
After obtaining boarding pass at the Air France counter they were waiting for immigration clearance when they were caught.
The arrested were handed over to Bengaluru International Airport Police Station.
21/08/08 Mangalorean.com

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Flight check-ins at Metro stations

New Delhi: The airport is soon coming to the heart of the city with two Metro stations on the Airport Express Line being developed as City Airport Terminals (CATs). Now, fliers will not have to wait to get to IGI for airline and baggage check-ins. The stations — New Delhi Railway Station and Shivaji Stadium — are both spread across sprawling 7,000 sq metre and will be equipped with all the facilities offered at airport terminals.
So, you can buy your air ticket, check in your baggage and collect the boarding pass and shop at the CAT before you board a fast train to reach the actual airport terminal. Since the final security checks will be carried out at the airport just before the commuter boards the flight, the Metro stations will only conduct frisking of passengers and hand-baggage. The terminal will also be equipped with machines like specialised X-ray scanners to check baggage, which will be delivered at the destination city.
Both the terminal buildings will be equipped with over 50 check-in counters each, which will be used by different airlines on a rotation basis. The counters will have connectivity to the airport for details of seat allocation and will allow baggage check-in at the Metro station itself. The city terminals will have ticket counters where passengers who have not booked themselves onto a flight, can buy tickets and head straight for the check-in. Flight information boards on the lines of what we see at the airport will be put up at the Metro station, as well as inside all trains, to inform passengers about the status of their flights. Any delays or cancellations will also be reflected all over the network.
21/08/08 Megha Suri/Times of India

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Shutdown jitters log out airport

Kolkata: On the eve of a very busy day at Kolkata airport — more than 8,500 passengers are booked in Wednesday's flights — chaos reigned at every booking counter in the airport and across the city.
Thanks to Bengal's bandh culture, the Citu-sponsored industrial strike is turning into a total shutdown in Kolkata, grounding every flight supposed to take off after 6 am on Wednesday. Even air traffic controllers, who are exempted from the strike, are afraid of joining duty.
Only Lufthansa announced that it would stick to schedule.
Be it the Jet Airways city office on Park Street or the Kingfisher ticketing counter beside the departure gate of the airport's domestic terminal, every airline office had long queues.
With the Airports Authority Employees' Union (AAEU) deciding to join the strike called by the Committee of Public Sector Trade Unions (CPSTU), all flight operations will be stopped after 6 am on Wednesday, sources said.
Airlines are trying to squeeze in a few flights before the clampdown starts. But it's not proving to be easy. Jet Airways has rescheduled its Dhaka flight to 5.30 am on Wednesday. Air India will fly to Mumbai and Port Blair and IndiGO will also operate its Mumbai flights — all before 6 am. Passengers of remaining flights will be accommodated on other dates.
Air traffic controllers find themselves facing the same anxiety as fliers. They fear they might be stopped from entering the airport on Wednesday. They have worked out a roster, which would ensure that all officials enter the airport on Tuesday night and stay till Thursday morning.
20/08/08 Arpit Basu/Times of India

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Airport user fee set to take off in Hyderabad

Hyderabad: A flight out of India’s showpiece airport just got costlier.
In a first for domestic air travel in India, passengers leaving the five-month-old Rajiv Gandhi International Airport will have to pay a user development fee of Rs 375 from the midnight of Friday, August 22.
The decision comes a day after the Centre issued draft guidelines on the fee, which private airport developers want to levy as a means to recoup costs.
The swanky, new-age Rajiv Gandhi airport at Shamshabad, which started operations on March 23, had levied a user development fee of Rs 1,000 ($25) for overseas travel in June. It is India’s first private greenfield airport and is designed to accommodate the world’s largest planes.
The new Bengaluru (Bangalore) International Airport charges Rs 1,070 as user fee from international passengers, but is yet to levy any charge for domestic travel.
Earlier this month, GMR Hyderabad International Airport Limited, which owns and operates the Shamshabad facility, had announced it had submitted five fee models to the civil aviation ministry. Sources in Delhi said the ministry had given its nod to GMR to levy the fee of Rs 375 as an “interim arrangement”.
19/08/08 GS Radhakrishna

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Civil Aviation team visits BIA

Bangalore: A team of Civil Aviation Ministry officials along with senior officers of the Airport Authority of India (AAI) visited the Bengaluru International Airport( BIA) on Tuesday to inspect the facilities.
The team comprised Ashok Chawla and K N Srivatsava, Secretary and Joint Secretary of Civil Aviation, along with AAI Chairman R Ramalingam.
Later they held a meeting with the State government represented by Chief Secretary Sudhakar Rao to discuss the submissions to be made before the High Court hearing on August 22, with regard to the petition filed on reopening of the HAL airport.
However, no crucial decision was taken and the meeting remained inconclusive.
"A meeting was held between the Government and the stakeholders to discuss the submissions to be made before the court and no concrete decision was taken," said Joint Secretary of Civil Aviation K N Srivatsava.
The team is expected to formulate a report on its findings at the airport in a couple of days before it makes a presentation before the court.
In June, a team of AAI officials had visited the airport to conduct a study on the air traffic movement and on the passenger capacity at the BIA.
20/08/08 Newindpress

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Airlines face higher charges at Delhi, Mumbai airports

New Delhi: Close on the heels of clearing the levy of Rs 375 as user fee from passengers flying out of Hyderabad, the aviation ministry could now make India's biggest airports costlier for both airlines and fliers.
After initially disallowing GVK's demand for a 10% hike in aeronautical charges for Mumbai airport on the ground that it would further hike costs and make flying more expensive, the ministry is now learnt to be favourably considering the same.
"A 10% hike in aeronautical charges in third year of operation was allowed in the agreements with both GMR and GVK groups for Delhi and Mumbai airports, respectively. Mumbai International Airport Pvt Ltd (MIAL) has been pursuing this demand as its financial model has been based on higher revenues in third year and it is being considered at highest level in the ministry," said sources. If Mumbai is allowed the hike, the GMR Group is also likely to ask for a similar treatment as it is spending huge amounts on building the new runway and upcoming terminals.
As part of the higher airport charges, MIAL has also asked for a hike in the passenger service fees (PSF) that is levied on each ticket. Airlines are likely to pass on the increased costs on them to passengers. Mumbai is the busiest airport of India and along with Delhi handles over 60% of the about 3,760 aircraft movement daily. Airlines say higher charges at Mumbai and Delhi would affect their overall cost of operations and lead to higher fares.
20/08/08 Saurabh Sinha/Times of India

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Immigration’s ‘human error’ lets Haywood slip out

New Delhi: A slip-up by a Bureau of Immigration official at the Delhi airport allowed Kenneth Haywood to fly out of the country, despite a Look Out notice.
“It was a human error… Action has been taken against the official concerned,” a Bureau source said.
This is the second time in less than three months that the Bureau has tripped, forcing red-faced officials at the Home Ministry to run for cover.
In May, an overzealous immigration officer at Delhi airport had dug out an old Look Out circular to deny entry into India to human rights campaigner and former Pakistani minister Ansar Burney.
In Kenneth’s case, the ministry still seemed to be looking for answers.
Sources, however, suggested an error by the immigration officer in feeding Haywood’s details into the computer could have been responsible for the goof-up.
It is possible that due to the typographical error, the computer linked to a database of people who should not be allowed to leave the country, did not link Haywood to the lookout circular issued by the Anti-Terror Squad of Mumbai Police.
An official said the immigration officer concerned had been suspended; there was, however, no confirmation on this count.
20/08/08 Aloke Tikku/Hindustan Times

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Waterlogging at IGI, new runway flooded

New Delhi: The problem of hovering endlessly before touching down at Delhi's choked airport may not end even after the inauguration of the third runway on Thursday. Due to lack of a proper drainage network, the new runway has been getting waterlogged, a problem which DIAL recently took up with the DGCA and Airports Authority of India.
The problem lies not only in the waterlogging, but also in the fact that the lights on the runway cannot be switched on till they dry up since it could cause a short circuit. The problem is severe on the taxiways.
According to Delhi International Airport (P) Ltd (DIAL) officials, heavy rain in the past few days led to flooding of the storm-water drain. The only permanent solution to this is a sewage treatment plant (STP) which is to be constructed by the Delhi Jal Board. With no signs of the STP coming up for another two years, DDA has cleared DIAL's pending application for pumping the water into the Dwarka drain.
DIAL had a meeting with DGCA and AAI officials on Monday over the issue. Officials say the issue has been sorted out and there is no problem with the runway which will host its first flight on Thursday. However, the problem of waterlogging at the runway has been persistent for a while. The STP, that is necessary to control flooding at the site of the new runway, being planned for the villages of — Kapas Hera, Mahipalpur, Rajokri, Rangpuri and Sambhalka at Kapas Hera — has been cleared, but work for the same is yet to be awarded. Once this is done, it will take a minimum of 15 months for it to be constructed, revealed DJB sources.
20/08/08 Neha Lalchandani/Times of India

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Airport development in North East region faces topographical challenges

Guwahati: The airports in the North East, which feature in the 32 non- operational Indian airports to be turned operational by the Airport Authority of India (AAI), face issues like odd geographical location and poor topography. The airports which the AAI plans to update, develop and modernise include, Tripura, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Assam and Mizoram. Apart from this, AAI is also scouting for land to expand the existing small airports in Kamalpur and Kailasahar in Tripura and Teju and Pasighat in Arunachal Pradesh.
Talking about the challenges faced by the region while developing airports, V Swamasundaram, Spokesperson, AAI said, “Despite receiving huge funds from the center, we are striving to build good airports. We struggle to achieve proper topographical condition to ensure visibility and safety for the airlines. The region, despite having enormous tourism and industrial potential, is still not well-connected. These airports are too small to accommodate the aircraft. That is why they have been non-operational all these years.”
Apart from the lack of proper space in the region to build airports, lack of proper visibility is another problem. “We are currently trying to identify airports where we can start Visual Meteorological Condition (VMC) operations. Very few North East airports enjoy VMC operation,” said an AAI official engaged in the NE Airport Development Project.
19/08/08 Satarupa Chakraborty/TravelBizMonitor

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Indian Oil JV eyes Mumbai, Delhi airports for fuel deals

Bangalore: IndianOil Skytanking (IOSL), a consortium of Indian Oil Corporation, Indian Oiltanking and Germany’s Skytanking, is eyeing Delhi, Mumbai airport modernisation projects for expansion of aviation fuel storage systems.
The company, which has successfully commissioned the ‘open access’ fuel storage system for the first time in the country at Bangalore International Airport, has submitted its expression of interest (EoI) for the projects. Currently, IOC, HPCL and BPCL are providing fuel storage services at Mumbai and Delhi airports.
According to R Ravi Kumar, CEO, IOSL, the company is the first fuel farm operator in the country to carry out single-man refuelling at any airport.
“For the first time in India, we have proved that single-man refuelling can be done. We have showed that at Bangalore International airport. We are now looking at all the 15 locations, where Airports Authority of India (AAI) is planning to develop airports, to expand our business,” he said.
IOSL has set up its fuel farm project spread over 11 acres at a cost of Rs 105 crore at Bangalore International Airport. It has set up three oil tanks with a combined capacity of 10,000 kilo litres in the first phase. The fuel farm is a common fuel storage shared by all the oil companies.
At present, state-owned oil companies such as Bharat Petroleum Corporation, Hindustan Petroleum Corporation and Indian Oil Corporation are using the fuel storage and IOSL is refuelling on their behalf.
19/08/08 Mahesh Kulkarni/Business Standard

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Passenger information: global carriers miss second deadline

New Delhi: International airlines flying into India have missed another deadline to put in place a system to provide information on inbound passengers to aviation and security officials.
No international carrier had complied with the order to implement the so-called advanced passenger information system, or Apis, by 1 August to screen inbound passengers that Indian officials say is a critical security requirement. The first deadline had expired on 1 July.
To conform with the order, airlines need to hire a company locally to set up computer hardware and software systems at six international airports in the country: New Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad and Kochi. International airlines that Mint spoke to, said they were still preparing to implement the system.
“The main reason (for the delay) is engaging the service provider who can give the information in the format provided by the ministry of home affairs (MHA) and the time it will take for the service provider to put in place the hardware systems,” said a senior civil aviation ministry official.
Another meeting between international airlines and officials of the home and civil aviation ministries will likely deal with the issue, said this official, who did not wish to be identified. No date for the meeting has been set.
18/08/08 Tarun Shukla/Livemint

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Probe into bullet case

Calcutta airport authorities have ordered a probe to find out how a passenger nearly boarded an Air India flight to Aizwal on Saturday with two bullets in his cabin baggage.
“The CISF has been asked to submit a detailed report on why the bullets could not be traced during mandatory security checks,” said a senior airport official on Monday.
The bullets in Mizoram-resident Lalma Lalsama Zasai’s bag were found during an extra security check.
The CISF men said they did not scan the bag because it had gone though the X-ray for registered luggage and carried a security tag.
Zasai was carrying it as cabin baggage because his registered luggage had exceeded the 20-kg limit.
An Air India official said on Monday that Zasai’s bag might not have passed through an X-ray.
19/08/08 The Telegraph

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Flemingo begins new Calicut International Airport duty free concession

Flemingo Duty Free Shop has accelerated its expansion in India with the opening of two new stores at Calicut International Airport. And later this month it will follow up with the opening of Arrivals and Departures stores at Mangalore International Airport.
Flemingo CEO R Krithivasan told The Moodie Report: “We opened up our Calicut stores on the 28th of July; the Mangalore store will be opened before the end of this month.”
At Calicut International (pictured), Flemingo was awarded the retail concessions for all categories of duty free items at the Main International Terminal building. The Arrivals store is 138.5sq m and the Departures outlet is 47.5sq m.
At Mangalore International Airport Flemingo will operate a 10.20sq m Arrivals store and a 8sq m Departures store.
18/08/08 Martin Moodie/MoodieReport, UK

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Kenneth Haywood slips out of country from Delhi airport

Mumbai: American national Kenneth Haywood has left Indian security agencies red-faced by leaving the country along with his family though a look-out notice had been issued against his name.
The American, who was living in the Sanpada area of Navi Mumbai, left for the US from the Indira Gandhi International airport in New Delhi on the intervening night of August 16-17.
The look-out notice had been routinely issued by the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) as it had asked him not to leave the country pending investigations after the email warning sent by Indian Mujahideen minutes before the July 26 Ahmedabad serial blasts was traced to his Internet Protocol address.
Additional commissioner of police (ATS) Param Bir Singh said that there was apparently a security lapse at the Delhi airport and the police there would look into it.
Haywood fled even as the reports of the polygraph and the brain-mapping tests conducted on him turned out to be negative. Haywood and nine others were subjected to polygraph test and brain-mapping at the Kalina Forensic Sciences Laboratory by the ATS on August 13.
Preliminary reports also suggest that Haywood’s three computers the ATS had sent for forensic were not used to send the terror email and his WiFi network is suspected to have been hacked to send the terror message.
19/08/08 Somendra Sharma/Daily News & Analysis

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