Agency for Aeropolis feasibility study selected

Thiruvananthapuram: The government has entrusted the feasibility study for the proposed Aeropolis project to be created around the international airport here to Knight Frank India Ltd.
The firm was selected from the five, including majors in global advisory and audit services Mott Macdonald Pvt., L&T Ramboll, KPMG, and Ernst & Young, who had bid for carrying out the feasibility study. The agency was selected by an expert committee based on the presentations and the technical and financial bids.
Confirming this, Tom Jose, Principal Secretary (Aviation) and Managing Director, Kerala State Industrial Development Corporation (KSIDC), told The Hindu here on Friday that the agency would be asked to complete the study and submit the report in 12 to 13 weeks.
The KSIDC is the nodal agency for the Aeropolis project, initiated by the State Planning Board on the basis of a proposal put forward by Airport Director V.N. Chandran, to develop the premier airport of the State into a multi-modal hub.
The same firm had carried out a study for the KSIDC for setting up a feeder airport in Wayanad.
31/08/13 S Anil Radhakrishnan/The Hindu

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Only 10 AAI airports register profit last fiscal: Prabhudas Lilladhar

Kolkata: Among the 125 airports maintained by the Airport Authority of India, only 10 made profits last fiscal. After registering a collective loss of approximately $0.1 billion in FY13, Indian airports are likely to lose money also in FY14, a Prabhudas Lilladhar industry research report said on Friday.
However, the development of regional airports is still on the priority list, which is expected to aid traffic growth, analyst Rupa Shah of Prabhudas Lilladhar, said
Indian airports witnessed passenger traffic fall of 1.9 per cent in FY13, after witnessing a 13.2 per cent growth in FY12. 159 million travellers used the airport facilities.
There was a 200bps Y-o-Y fall in the share of domestic passengers. International passenger traffic growth, however, remained subdued at 5.4 per cent in FY13, compared to 7.6 per cent in FY12.
30/08/13 Business Line

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Itanagar to be connected by air in 2015, says Arunachal CM

Itanagar: Arunachal Pradesh's capital is expected to come on the aviation map of the country in 2015 with a civilian airport coming up in its proximity, Chief Minister Nabam Tuki said here Friday.
Talking to a group of visiting media persons on issues concerning his state, Tuki also said 90 percent of contracts had been given for the construction of a trans-Arunachal highway linking 11 districts in the state.
He said work would begin this year on construction and restoration of some advanced landing grounds (ALGs) in the state.
Tuki said the state had so far realized less than one percent of its hydroelectric potential of 58,000 MW but contracts had been awarded to boost power production.
Answering queries, Tuki said the old sites for airport in Itanagar had been found to be technically unfeasible and land had been acquired at a new site at Holongi, 18 km from Itanagar, close to the border with Assam.
30/08/13 IANS/Business Standard

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Asaram in airport row

Telegraph: Air India officials at Bhopal airport prevented rape accused Asaram Bapu from boarding a flight to New Delhi this morning, while Jodhpur police despatched a team to Bhopal to take him into custody for questioning.
The Jodhpur police had on Tuesday summoned the 72-year-old spiritual guru to arrive by Friday midnight for questioning about an alleged sexual assault on a 16-year-old girl at his Jodhpur ashram on August 15. A lookout notice has been issued to all airports to prevent Asaram leaving the country.
At Bhopal’s Raja Bhoj airport, the self-styled godman was denied permission to board Flight AI634 on the ground of “late arrival”, which frayed tempers and led to an assault on journalists by his followers.
Jodhpur deputy commissioner of police Ajaypal Lamba said Asaram had requested 20 days’ extension of the deadline citing a busy schedule but this had been rejected.
Sources in Jodhpur said a three-member police team would reach Bhopal, question Asaram, take him into custody and bring him to Jodhpur for further interrogation.
31/08/13 Telegraph

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BJP MPs meet aviation minister for cargo complex at Ahmedabad airport

After Gujarat Agro Industries Corporation Limited (GAIC) failed to get NOC from Airport Authority of India (AAI) for more than a year, several BJP MPs from Gujarat led by national vice-president Purushottam Rupala have approached the Union Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh for clearance of Centre for Perishable Cargo at city's Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport.
This cargo complex was readied last year at a cost of Rs 5 crore, but got stuck days before it was supposed to be inaugurated. The airport authority smelled a rat in the manner in which the GAIC, a Gujarat government undertaking, brought a third party said to be a beneficiary into the whole scheme without informing the authority as per the norms.
31/08/13 Satish Jha/Indian Express

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Chennai airport security gets a boost

Chennai: The area outside Chennai airport, all the way till GST Road, has now come under surveillance by the city police with the installation of 41 new hi-tech CCTV cameras.
The footage of the cameras that function on a WiFi network will be monitored at an exclusive control room at the airport and simultaneously be available for viewing by the Commissioner of Police at his office.
The insides of the domestic and international terminals are equipped with surveillance facilities and manned by CISF personnel. Outside, the area including the parking lots and the main entry and exit routes falls under the purview of the city police.
A team under the supervision of Commissioner S. George recently carried out a swot analysis on the security outside the airport and installed the CCTV cameras, of which 39 are functioning, two weeks ago. The other two are yet to be connected to the network.
A new police booth set up at the airport functions as the immediate control room where the footage will be managed round the clock.
31/08/13 Petlee Peter/Sunitha Sekar/The Hindu

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Radioactive material lies unclaimed for five years at Chennai airport

Chennai: An unidentified radioactive material has been lying unattended in a corner of Chennai airport's cargo hold for more than five years. While clearing unclaimed cargo, airport officials stumbled upon two boxes marked 'radioactive material'. Experts from the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB) inspected the consignments and found one to be radioactive and the other inert.
It is unclear why the boxes were not claimed by the addressee. Airports Authority of India (AAI) is taking steps to re-export the material, which arrived from the US in 2008. The boxes contain non-fissile material classified as grade III, which means it is highly radioactive.
A senior official of AAI said the consignment was brought using a 'special form' as per rules governed by International Air Transport Association (IATA) and Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA). "It was kept in a secluded spot designated for such materials till consignees claimed it. However, it was not claimed and remained there for some reason," he said.
31/08/13 Times of India

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How to stop ceiling crash?

Chennai: Lack of integration of the heating, ventilation and air conditioning system (HVAC) with the building management system (BMS) is the main reason for the condensation problem that led to false ceiling crashes at the new terminal in Chennai airport, says principal architect of Creative Group, Charanjit S. Shah, who is the architect for the new terminals.
Talking to Deccan Chronicle, Prof Shah, who visited the new terminals in Chennai last week, said that he had explained to AAI officials about the need for immediate calibration of BMS, and was informed that the works have mostly been completed. “Hereafter, there shouldn’t be any problem related to condensation,” he said, adding that altering the entrance gates of the terminal would not help much.
Recently, the Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) had asked the Airports Authority of India (AAI) to form a committee to look into the false ceiling collapse incidents at the new domestic terminal. “We are concerned about these incidents at Chennai airport. We have asked the AAI to form a committee and take expert opinion,” said DGCA Arun Mishra.
30/08/13 S. Sujatha/Deccan Chronicle

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Dreamliner flight touches down in Australia for the first time

The first commercial flight of a Boeing 787 Dreamliner to Australia touched down on Friday morning, in an event that also marked the return of Air India resuming direct flights here.
Flight AI312 touched down at Sydney Airport at 8.29am, 14 minutes behind schedule. The flight continued on to Melbourne - originally scheduled for 11.20am, but finally landed at 11.59am.
The arrival of flight AI312 from Delhi marks the first time a Dreamliner has arrived in Australia on a passenger flight. The cutting edge aircraft has been plagued with problems during its initial construction and has run into further difficulties since entering service.
Japan's All Nippon Airways became the first airline to begin flying the Dreamliner in October 2011, three years behind schedule. In January this year the US Federal Aviation ordered the grounding of Dreamliners after a series of safety scares, including an emergency landing by ANA in January following a battery malfunction.
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The grounding delayed what was to be the first Dreamliner flight to Australia - a Qatar Airways flight from Doha to Perth.
The Dreamliner is the first airliner to be made of carbon fibre, not aluminium, and promises airlines more fuel efficiency – a saving of 20 per cent. It also offers 20 per cent less carbon dioxide emissions than comparable aircraft.
30/08/13 Craig Platt/Syndey Morning Herald

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Air India starts Delhi-Sydney flight after 22 years

New Delhi: After a gap of 22 years, Australia got a direct connection from India with Air India launching its daily direct flight to Sydney and Melbourne from today.
The flight had over 60 domestic transfer passengers and more than 40 international transit passengers, of whom more than 20 were from London.
With this, Delhi has positioned itself as premier hub airport of South Asia offering convenient connections to travellers on the ultra-long-haul Europe-Australia sectors.
"Delhi's Indira Gandhi International airport is now connected to Australia with the launch of Air India's daily flights to Sydney and Melbourne. Air India's first flight to Sydney took off this afternoon after a gap of 22 years," said a spokesperson of Delhi International Airport limited (DIAL).
DIAL CEO, I Prabhakara Rao, said the service was long- awaited and Air India has now connected not only the two countries but the two continents.
29/08/13 Economic Times

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Collectors to sort out proposed airport issues

Thiruvananthapuram: With protests mounting against the proposed Idukki and Wayanad airport projects, the Kerala State Industrial Development Corporation (KSIDC) has sought the help of the respective district collectors to sort out the issues.
The ongoing feasibility study on the two projects to promote tourism have been hit due to protests from local people raising various issues, including concerns over environment and agriculture.
"We have requested the Idukki and Wayanad district collectors to initiate talks with the agitators to sort out the issue," said KSIDC Managing Director Tom Jose.
18/08/13 Deccan Chronicle

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Govt open to full private ownership in 8 planned airports

New Delhi: The ministry of civil aviation is open to giving 100 per cent equity to a private concessionaire in the development of new airports.
A senior official at the ministry said: “We are open to 100 per cent equity participation from private players in the development of greenfield (new) airports. But in instances such as the one in Jamshedpur, where the Tata Group has specified that they want the Airports Authority of India (AAI) to be a partner in the development of a new airport, we will consider partnerships.”
The government had also said airports’ operations and maintenance through public-private partnership (PPP) contracts will be introduced in Chennai, Kolkata, Lucknow, Guwahati, Jaipur and Ahmedabad. These six airports were scheduled for privatisation this year.
The request for qualification (RFQs) for Chennai and Lucknow would be issued next week, it said. The one for Kolkata would follow later.
“In the case of brownfield (existing) airports, operations, maintenance and development agreement (OMDA) under the PPP model will be considered,” the ministry official said.
30/08/13 Sharmistha Mukherjee/Business Standard

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AAI asks defaulting airlines to pay interest

Minister of State in the Ministry of Civil Aviation, K. C. Venugopal said today that the aviation companies fail to pay the dues due to one reason or the other. AAI takes adequate efforts to recover the dues by regular monitoring, he said.
Action is also taken as per the approved credit policy of AAI. Defaulting companies have to pay interest as per AAI Credit Policy on delayed payments.
In cases where delay persists, besides encashing the security deposit, the defaulting airlines are put on 'cash & carry basis'.
29/08/13 Myiris

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India’s latest export to Doha: Rats from Mumbai

Mumbai: Mumbai International Airport Ltd was put to severe embarrassment when a rat on its premises ferreted its way on to an overseas flight and arrived at Doha International Airport last week. The crew of the flight were wishing people as they deplaned after the three hour, 25 minute flight when they came face to face with the unauthorised lowlife from India.
At least four airlines - Jet, Continental, Emirates and Qatar - have reported rat sightings along bay numbers 48 to 55 at Mumbai international airport, where there is a sudden rat menace. Officials have narrowed down the problem spots to the aerobridges where the rats are believed to be nesting and breeding.
"Rodents are a cause of worry as they could damage sensitive aircraft wiring, and this would mean disaster," an American pilot who docks his aircraft at these bays, and who has brought the matter to the notice of his superiors, said. "Rats are fond of gnawing off the insulation paddings in aircraft. This could result in malfunctioning or failure of aircraft systems," he added.
30/08/13 Aditya Anand/Mumbai Mirror

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Hubli airport to recruit more women security personnel

Hubli: : The terrorist threat to blow up London's Heathrow airport using female suicide bombers with explosives concealed in breast implants has prompted Hubli airport authorities to put in place more women security personnel on its premises.
Sources said airport authorities are finding it difficult to check all women passengers due to lack of women security personnel. KM Basavaraj, director, Hubli Airport, said, "The number of women passengers has increased after flights to Mumbai, Delhi, and Bangalore were introduced. Of 78 seats, about 30%-40% passengers are women in flights to Banglaore and Delhi."
He added, "We have only two women security personnel trained in anti-sabotage and anti-hijack tasks and they frisk women passengers. They're not enough to subject each woman passenger to a thorough checking as it takes a lot of time," he said.
30/08/13 Times of India

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What has airport done for us, ask villagers

Bangalore: Where's the water, the promised jobs, the good roads? Villagers living around the Bengaluru International Airport (BIA) gave vent to their fury against the aerodrome's expansion plans. They demanded to know what the airport has done for them in the past five years at a public hearing conducted by the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB).
The GVK group, which built the airport, explained its expansion plans while Bangalore Rural district deputy commissioner V Shankar chaired the hearing.
"Other than distributing some hundred textbooks to schoolchildren and conducting eye check-up camps, what have you as a profitable company done for the public in neighbouring villages in the past five years? We are facing drinking water crisis, bad roads and connectivity to the highway and poor sanitation in the absence of public toilets. If you are spending 2% of your profits under the head of corporate social responsibility, why is there no improvement in the vicinity of the airport?" A Chandrashekar, president of Anneshwara gram panchayat, asked the BIAL.
30/08/13 Times of India

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Bombay HC dismisses HDIL plea in airport slum project

The Bombay High Court has refused to grant  Mumbai developer HDIL interim relief in the case challenging  the termination of slum rehabilitation contract awarded to it by Mumbai International Airport.
However the High Court has given HDIL  time till September 16, 2013 to appeal in higher court.
Ranjit More of Bombay HC said that HDIL failed to make a case in its favour and dismissed its petition which sought to restrain MIAL from retendering and reodering the SRA project to any third party amongst others. The court observed that prima facie MIAL's termination of rehabilitation contract was not illegal.
30/08/13 Business Standard

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Transfer of Panna airstrip to Madhya Pradesh govt. being finalized: Venugopal

New Delhi: Union Minister of State for Civil Aviation K C Venugopal has said that the modalities for the transfer of the Panna airstrip from the Airports Authority of India (AAI) to the Madhya Pradesh government is being finalized in consultation with AAI and the state government.
 In a written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha yesterday, Mr Venugopal said the state government had requested AAI for transfer of the airstrips located at Panna, Satna and Khandwa to it.
30/08/13 NetIndian

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Only 10 AAI airports register profit last fiscal: Prabhudas Lilladhar

Kolkata: Among the 125 airports maintained by the Airports Authority of India, only 10 made profit in the last fiscal.
After registering a collective loss of approximately $0.1 billion in FY13, Indian airports are likely to lose in FY14 also, a Prabhudas Lilladhar industry research report said on Friday.
However, development of regional airports is still on the priority list, which is expected to aid the traffic growth, analyst Rupa Shah of Prabhudas Lilladhar said
Indian airports witnessed passenger traffic fall of 1.9 per cent in FY13 after witnessing a 13.2 per cent growth in FY12. Some 159 million travellers used the airport facilities.
There was a 200bps YoY fall in the share of domestic passengers. International passenger traffic growth, however, remained subdued at 5.4 per cent in FY13 as compared to 7.6 per cent in FY12.
30/08/13 Business Line

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Gold disguised as silver lands in customs net

Panaji:  In the second incident of gold smuggling in ten days, customs officials seized 900g of gold from two passengers at the Dabolim airport on Wednesday.
The gold, in the form of jewellery, was being smuggled on an Air India flight from Dubai to Goa via Mumbai.
The duo, however, added an ingenious touch to their smuggling operation-two items of gold jewellery, a thick chain and a 'kada', or men's bracelet were plated with some cheap silver-lookalike material, to evade identification as gold. One of them was wearing the smuggled jewellery when they were intercepted by sleuths in the 'green channel' at the airport.
30/08/13 Times of India

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Mangalore : Gold, Cigarettes, Ghutka worth Rs 4 lac seized at Airport

Mangalore: In an operation carried out by the customs officials at Bajpe international airport, items which included 173 grams gold, cigarettes and Ghutka were seized from two passengers on Thursday August 29.
The total worth of the seized valuables is said to be Rs 4,23,850.
On receiving authentic information, Abdul Rehman Kunhi who arrived from Dubai was stopped by customs officials. During the operation they found 20 gold chains weighing 173 grams in an extension cord box, which was seized.
30/08/13 daijiworld.com

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SpiceJet on cash-and-carry, Jet warned

New Delhi: State-run Airports Authority of India (AAI) has decided to put SpiceJet on cash-and-carry after the low cost carrier's (LCC) dues reportedly crossed its bank guarantee and were not cleared despite reminders from AAI. The authority has also warned Jet Group to keep its dues within bank guarantee limits or else it too may be denied credit.
"SpiceJet will be on cash-and-carry from Friday (August 30)," AAI chairman V P Agrawal said. Being denied credit by AAI hurts airlines immensely as the PSU provides air traffic services across Indian airports, including the private metro ones. Five private airlines, including those which have stopped flying like Kingfisher and Paramount, owe Rs 357 crore to AAI.
In a statement, SpiceJet denied running up dues over bank guarantee. "SpiceJet has been making payments to AAI as per the agreed schedules... We always have good support from AAI in our day to day operations... Our dues are covered within bank guarantee limits," SpiceJet CFO Sam Issac said.
29/08/13 Saurabh Sinha/Times of India

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Govt open to privatising 6 airports

New Delhi: The Civil and Aviation Ministry will soon float Request for Qualification (RFQ) document for select six airports including the recently refurbished Chennai and Kolkata airports and is open to offering 100 per cent stake to private players.
Highly placed sources in the Aviation Ministry said RFQ for Kolkata and Chennai airports along with four others – Guwahati, Jodhpur, Ahmedabad and Kolkata would be also issued in the next few weeks. ``These airports would be given on the concessional basis to the private parties for a period of 30 years and Airport Authority of India (AAI) may not have equity participation as we are open to giving 100 per cent stake to private parties,’’ sources in the Ministry said.
Sources said AAI, during the 30-year period, will continue to get revenue share which will be decided on the basis of discussions held with the prospective bidders. To a question as to why AAI, which had put in thousands of crores to modernise these airports would not have any stake participation, sources said even in the existing private airports, AAI does not have any say in operation and management therefore it was felt not to go in for equity stake.
29/08/13 The Hindu

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Airlines companies owe over Rs 2,111 cr to AAI

New Delhi:  Airlines companies owe over Rs 2,111 crores to Airports Authority of India, with national carrier Air India alone accounting for over two-third of the dues.
As on March 31, Air India and its subsidiaries owe Rs 1539.75 crore to the state-owned airport operator, while various foreign airlines collectively owe Rs 193.49 crore, Minister of State for Civil Aviation, K C Venugopal said in Lok Sabha today.
Vijay Mallya owned, now defunct, Kingfisher Airlines owes Rs 186.26 crore.
Jet Airlines has due of Rs 100.16 crore, SpiceJet of Rs 80.17 crore, Go Airlines of Rs 8.71 crore and IndiGo Rs 2.89 crore.
He said the aviation companies fail to pay the dues due to one reason or the other, but AAI takes adequate efforts to recover the dues by regular monitoring.
29/08/13 Economic Times

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Private operators of Kolkata, Chennai airports to hire staff on existing terms

New Delhi: Days after the Prime Minister's Office announced the privatisation of airports in Kolkata and Chennai, the Airports Authority of India (AAI) has decided to mandate private operators to hire their existing staff (around 1,600) at these airports on the existing terms and conditions.
The PMO, in July, decided to award these two airports projects on public-private partnership and set a deadline of completing the award of the projects by March next year.
"We have decided to mandate it in the bidding norms that the new private airport operator will have to hire our employees on their existing terms and conditions. We also plan to offer a choice of Kolkata and Chennai to all our employees across the country, as a lot of our employees from these cities work at other locations and would like to go back," said a senior AAI official.
29/08/13 Mihir Mishra/Indian Express

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SpiceJet to start Pune-Sharjah flight

Pune: Low-cost carrier SpiceJet has announced the launch of a direct flight service between Pune and Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) from September 21. The airline has opened bookings for the new service.
This will be the third flight service connecting Pune with an international destination, following Air India Express' service on the Pune-Dubai route and German airline Lufthansa's service on the Pune-Frankfurt route.
SpiceJet, in a press release issued recently, has stated that it will deploy its new generation Boeing 737-800 aircraft, with the capacity to take 189 passengers on the Pune-Sharjah route. "Pune is the third Indian destination to be connected with Sharjah on SpiceJet network. The airline already operates on Varanasi-Sharjah and Lucknow-Sharjah routes," the release stated.
29/08/13 Times of India

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Jet Airways increases daily service between Mumbai-Singapore

Mumbai: Jet Airways introduced a second daily direct frequency from Mumbai to Singapore. This new service will start from November 1.
The airline will deploy Boeing 737-800 aircraft on the Mumbai-Singapore route. With the addition of this new frequency to Singapore, Jet Airways will have six daily direct flights connecting Singapore with Delhi, Chennai and Mumbai.
The new service will depart Mumbai daily at 0950 hrs and arrive in Singapore at 1800 hrs (Local Time).
29/08/13 Business Line

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New domestic terminal dream at Thiruvananthapuram likely to take wings

Thiruvananthapuram: The prospects of setting up a new domestic terminal for the Thiruvananthapuram International Airport, adjacent to the international terminal complex here, has brightened with Chief Minister Oommen Chandy announcing on Wednesday that a consensus had been reached for acquiring 8 hectares of land.
The Airports Authority of India (AAI) and Airport Director V.N. Chandran had been putting pressure on the State government for providing 32.8 hectares of land to set up the new domestic terminal and ancillary facilities. Mr. Chandy’s announcement, during an interaction with media persons, after reviewing the T-VoA facility in the airport terminal came in as a surprise. The Chief Minister said a consensus had been reached over acquiring 8 hectares of land and it would be handed over to the AAI soon.
Mr. Chandy evaded the query on whether any special package would be announced for those being evicted for airport development.
29/08/13 The Hindu

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24x7 air cargo clearance at Coimbatore airport

Coimbatore: Coimbatore is one of the designated airports in the country for 24x7 Customs operation (facility for clearance of export and import goods).
According to an official of the Commissionerate of Central Excise, Customs and Service Tax here, exports from Coimbatore, especially air cargo, include food items, flowers and perishable goods and as a trade facilitation measure, the 24x7 facility has been introduced. It was already in practice, even before Coimbatore was designated for the facility.
R. Rajesh Kumar, president of Coimbatore Custom House and Steamer Agents’ Association, said that the facility was introduced here last month and it was expected to take another month to be implemented fully.
Coimbatore has two international flights – flights to Singapore on four days a week and flights to Sharjah on all days of the week. The maximum volume of goods that can be sent is two tonnes to three tonnes on a flight. The focus is on passenger traffic and the major air cargo from here is garments, perishable items and small machinery.
29/08/13 M. Soundariya Preetha/The Hindu

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Passenger allegedly smuggling in gold dozes off, caught with 5 kg bars

Kochi: Five kg of gold bars, valued at Rs. 1.40 crore, were seized from a passenger who arrived in Kochi from Sharjah by the customs officials.
The passenger, Vafsamaraikyar Habeer of Ramanathapuram district of Tamil Nadu, who had kept the gold bars in his laptop bag when he embarked the flight, had planned to tape the gold bars on his leg inside the toilet just before the flight landed at Kochi.
However, his plans went haywire as he dozed off and woke up after the flight reached Kochi airport at 5:20 am yesterday and the passengers had started disembarking, customs sources said.
The flight was to leave on its domestic leg for Chennai and the man then hid the bars under the seat using adhesive tapes to stick them. It is suspected that the accused must have passed on the seat number to the consignor who had entrusted him the gold bars.
29/08/13 NDTV

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Bengal’s first private airport to be ready early next year

Kolkata: Bengal’s first private airport at the industrial town of Durgapur may be operational only by early next year.
Promoted by Bengal Aerotropolis Projects Ltd (BAPL) — a JV between Changi Airports International (26 per cent) and four Indian companies — the commissioning of the airport is held up due to delay in shifting an electricity transmission line passing through the runway. According to a BAPL statement, rest of the construction is near complete.
Though the West Bengal State Electricity Transmission Company Ltd (WBSETCL) allowed BAPL to shift the transmission facility, construction work is inordinately delayed due to local resistance to land acquisition, according to sources.“We estimate that the high-voltage power transmission line will be re-aligned within this calendar year, immediately after which we will initiate the process for final stage DGCA approval,” a BAPL official told Business Line.
28/08/13 Ayan Pramanik/Business Line

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Landowners in 3 villages hinder Gaya airport expansion

Gaya: Land owners of three revenue villages have virtually blocked the decade old plan to expand the Gaya airport and its run way to accommodate A-310 type of planes with 250 passenger capacity. The present shorter runway can only take type A-320 type of planes with 140 passenger capacity. The villagers want higher rate of compensation for their land.
Going by the statement of minister of state for civil aviation KC Venugopal made in Rajya Sabha on Tuesday, the state government and the Airport Authority of India (AAI) are not on the same page as far as additional land and its cost is concerned. Whereas the minister's Rajya Sabha statement puts the land requirement at about 200 acres, the ongoing acquisition exercise is only for about 100 acres.
Moreover, the state government and the AAI differ on land cost. For more than a decade now, the state government wanted the AAI to foot the land bill, the airport authority, as, is apparent from the minister's Rajya Sabha statement wants land free of cost.
28/08/13 Abdul Qadir/Times of India

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Visa on arrival to boost tourism of Kerala

Thiruvananthapuram: The state will market tourism in Japan and Finland, two of the 11 countries included in the tourist visa on arrival (VoA) facility between September and January, tourism minister A P Anil Kumar said.
The minister was addressing a press conference after visiting the VoA counters at the Trivandrum International Airport. Chief minister Oommen Chandy, too, visited the counters on Wednesday.
The chief minister said the Airports Authority of India had requested the state government for land to complete the phase two of the airport project. "Compensation for the families is yet to be decided, but land around 20 acres will be handed over to the AAI shortly," he said, adding that the remaining 60 acres would be acquired in a phased manner.
The chief minister, who had cancelled a meeting scheduled for August 2 regarding the development of Trivandrum Aeropolis and multi-modal hub said the meeting would be held in the first week of September.
28/08/13 Times of India

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Management contract, not outright privatisation, for AAI airports

Mumbai: The civil aviation ministry has dropped its plan to privatise six Airport Authority of India (AAI) airports on a long term lease basis. Instead the government wants to appoint  private companies to run these airports on a management contract on a revenue share basis.
“We are going in for a management contract. A request for a proposal is being prepared,” said Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh.
The ministry has been planning to develop six AAI-run airports — Chennai, Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Lucknow, Jaipur and Guwahati - on a public private partnership (PPP) basis. Last month, an inter-ministerial group gave its nod to develop  Chennai and Kolkata airports on the PPP model on the lines of Mumbai and Delhi airports. The Planning Commission too has been in favour of the PPP model of development for AAI airports on a long-term lease basis.
Singh, however, said the AAI airports would not be sold or leased to private companies and the government would continue to own the assets.
He said these airports would require expansion and some would require construction of new terminals in the next three to five years and the government would take a call on the development model for expansion at a later date.
28/08/13 Aneesh Phadnis/Business Standard

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Defunct pvt airlines owe Rs 206 crore to AAI: Minister

Several private airlines, now defunct, owed over Rs 200 crore to state-owned airport operator Airports Authority of India (AAI), which is making efforts to recover the outstanding amount, the Rajya Sabha was informed.
In a written reply to a query in Rajya Sabha, Minister of State for Civil Aviation K C Venugopal said these airlines have defaulted in payment of airport rentals, taxes, etc, which amounts to Rs 206.30 crore. As on March 31, Vijay Mallya-owned Kingfisher Airlines  owes the maximum amount (excluding penal interest) of Rs 186.26 crore, followed by East West Airlines Rs 14.31 crore, NEPC Airlines Rs 2.74 crore, Paramount Airways Rs 1.75 crore, Continental Airlines Rs 0.95 crore and VIF Airlines Rs 0.29 crore.
The minister said AAI has taken some steps like monitoring of dues against private operators, issuing notices to airlines to settle their dues, charging of penal interest on account of delay in settlement of the bills and put airlines on 'cash and carry' if delay in payment persists to avoid recurrence of similar situation.
27/08/13 moneycontrol.com

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No clearance yet for Aranmula airport, Sonia tells Sugathakumari

Pathanamthitta: Congress president Sonia Gandhi has written to poet Sugathakumari that the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) has not yet cleared the proposed airport project at Aranmula. The project has been put on hold by the Minister due to several representations received from NGO activists and eminent citizens, the letter said.
In a telephonic conversation with The Hindu, Ms. Sugathakumari said she had received a letter in this regard from Dhiraj Srivastava, private secretary to Ms. Gandhi, on Tuesday. KGS Group, promoters of the private airport project, had earlier claimed to have procured all requisite clearances.
The letter, dated August 21, says that “the project has been strongly recommended by the Government of Kerala, and the establishment of the greenfield airport at Aranmula was also mentioned in the President’s address to both Houses of Parliament in the beginning of the year.” The Minister had assured the detractors that no action would be taken till all facts were verified, it said. “The MoEF has sought clarifications from the State government vide letter No. 10-51/2010-IA-III, dated July 17 and 18, 2013.”
28/08/13 radhakrishnan Kuttoor/The Hindu

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United Airlines' flight from Delhi makes emergency landing in Moscow

Moscow: Over 260 passengers on an American airline flight from New Delhi to Newark were stranded at an airport here today after the aircraft made an emergency landing because of a mechanical problem.
The United Airlines' Boeing 777-200 with 267 passengers and 16 crew landed at 3.50 am Moscow time. The malfunction of a central accumulator unit caused the emergency landing, Itar-Tass news agency reported.
The passengers were "fuming" at Domodedovo Airport after being stranded for hours without food or a place to sleep, said a report in The Moscow Times.
No one was injured in the landing and no visible damage was found to the aircraft, reports said.
After disembarking at Domodedovo's international terminal, the passengers were told they would have to wait until 11 pm for the plane to continue its flight to Newark in New Jersey.
The passengers became "frustrated" when the flight crew disappeared and United Airlines did not provide representatives to offer assistance, reports said.
27/08/13 PTI/Economic Times

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8 kgm gold seized at Varanasi airport

Lucknow: A team of Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) caught five youths this morning carrying eight kg of gold concealed in their private parts soon after they de-boarded a Sharjah flight at Varanasi airport.
The DRI officials took the youths to Deen Dayal Upadhyay hospital where the doctors helped them take out the gold from their bodies.
Sources confirmed that the DRI team had laid a trap following a tip-off and caught them soon after they came out of the airport around 7.30 am. The youths, who belong to Punjab and Haryana, were questioned by officials and later taken to the hospital.
28/08/13 Indian Express

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Fatigue during flight operations challenge for aviation sector

New Delhi:  Human fatigue among pilots and air hostesses has become a major challenge for the aviation sector as it results in their performance going below required levels as they generally have long hours of work.
Experts from various countries will gather here to discuss the issues of human fatigue during flight operations, ways to address them as well as developments in aviation medicine at an international seminar on Saturday.
The Aeronautical Society of India (AeSI), in association with aviation regulator DGCA, is organising the seminar on "Advancement in Aviation Medicine and Human Fatigue".
"The seminar will focus on advancement in aviation medicine, which aims to protect the most vulnerable link in the man-machine complex, the human being," said Debasish Saha, Joint Secretary of AeSI.
Eminent speakers from International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), DRDO, the armed forces and medical institutions like the Singapore Medical Centre and Medanta would participate in the discussions.
28/08/13 PTI/Economic Times

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Cities gets on-arrival visa facility

New Delhi: Tourist visa on arrival facility has been extended to four more airports in the country — Bangalore, Hyderabad, Thiruvananthapuram and Kochi.
The facility of visa on arrival can be availed by citizens of 11 countries in these airports in addition to four already designated international airports — Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata. Citizens of Japan, Singapore, Finland, Luxembourg, New Zealand, Cambodia, Laos, Vietn- am, Philippines, Myanmar and Indonesia — can avail the facility in the eight airports, a Home Ministry official said.
The visa on arrival facility would also be extended to Goa airport as soon as infrastructure and manpower requirements are in place, the official said.
28/08/13 PTI/Business Standard

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AI flight grounded for flat tyre

Bhubaneswar: A Delhi-bound Air India flight was grounded after one of its rear tyres was found deflated at the Biju Patnaik Airport here on Tuesday night.Technical support from Delhi has been sought to repair the problem while all the 63 passengers were shifted to hotels by the national carrier.
Sources said the snag had developed during the take-off from the Indira Gandhi International Airport, New Delhi at 6.30 pm but the flight landed without any hiccup at the city airport two hours later on the scheduled time.In fact, the Captain of the flight, carrying 85 passengers, was not aware of the problem till the Air Traffic at Bhubaneswar airport pointed it out.The Air Traffic at Delhi had apparently noticed the problem with the tyre and intimated its counterpart in Bhubaneswar, sources at the Biju Patnaik Airport said.
28/08/13 New Indian Express

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'Allahabad-Mumbai flight now four days a week'

Allahabad:  Union Civil aviation minister Ajit Singh has agreed to increase the frequency of Allahabad-Mumbai flight from two four days a week. The minister took the decision after meeting with local MP and Samajwadi Party (SP) national general secretary Reoti Raman Singh. The local MP highlighted the rising number of people travelling to Mumbai from the district and the long waiting list in trains.
Talking to TOI, media in-charge Vinay Kushwaha said that an alternative mode of transportation was required as the waiting list in trains running between Allahabad and Mumbai extended for months. Although the weekly Duronto Express had reduced the problem up to some extent, increasing the frequency of flight was much in demand.
28/08/13 Times of India

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Kingfisher owes Rs 186 cr to AAI

New Delhi: Kingfisher Airlines owes Rs 186.26 crore to Airports Authority of India while East West Airlines owes it Rs 14.31 crore till March 31 this year, Minister of State for Civil Aviation K.C. Venugopal told the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday.
The Minister said AAI was making efforts to recover the dues from private airlines which have defaulted in payment of airport rentals and taxes among others. The actual amount which these and some other airlines owe is likely to be a lot more as penal interest on the outstanding amount has not been calculated, the Minister said.
27/08/13 Business Line

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Says Mopa airport needs reality check

Margao: In a statement that could make the BJP government uncomfortable, senior Congress leader and All India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary Luizinho Faleiro on Monday said  the proposal for a second airport at Mopa should be looked at from the point of view of financial viability and feasibility when reports say that two airports for Goa are not viable and feasible in the state.
Speaking to Herald, Faleiro said that airport and mining are two issues plaguing Goa and they should be solved to keep all sections of Goan society happy. “My stand on the Dabolim airport is very clear from day one. I don’t think for the next 20-30 years, there will be viability or feasibility for another airport. Dabolim is an international airport where the Centre has spent Rs 500 crore for its upgradation. The proposal regarding Mopa should be looked at from the financial feasibility and viability. There are reports that two airp-orts in Goa are not feasible”, he asserted.
27/08/13 Herald

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Alliance Air to launch 3 new flights from Mumbai

New Delhi: Expanding its network, Air India subsidiary Alliance Air will launch three new flights from Mumbai to Agra, Allahabad and Gwalior next month.
“Alliance Air will be introducing new flights and routes on its network from September 9 from Mumbai to Allahabad, Agra and Gwalior,” an Air India spokesperson said here today.
The flights would also help to boost religious and culture tourism, he said. Presently, Air India operates flights from Delhi to Allahabad and Agra.
Aiming at connecting tier-II and tier-III cities with the metros, the national carrier had launched a daily Delhi- Gwalior-Mumbai flight in April 2011. However, the flight was discontinued in May this year due to poor load factor.
27/08/13 PTI/Business Line

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Huge hike in air fares to Gulf countries

Kochi: Airlines have jacked up fares to the Gulf destinations from Kerala’s three international airports following heavy demand for seats.
Fares have been hiked 60 per cent and more, even three-fold in certain cases. Travel agents say the fare hike has been an annual feature around this time for some years now.
“Usually, there is heavy demand for seats during July-August as schools in the Gulf countries reopen in August and there is a rush of return travel by NRK (non-resident Keralite) families vacationing here,” a travel agent said.
He also pointed out that in May and June every year there would be a rush and fare hike on the opposite side as Malayali families working in the Gulf visit home during their children’s summer vacation.
27/08/13 Business Line

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Indian airports on alert over women suicide bombers carrying explosives inside breasts

After the London's Heathrow airport, major airports in India have been put on alert over intelligence inputs on possible attacks by women suicide bombers carrying explosives implanted in their breasts.
As such, CISF personnel have been told to step up security checks on women passengers in the absence of full body scanners in Indian airports, said a newspaper report on Monday.
The issue here however is of women passengers objecting to the increased checks and accusing the security personnel of violating their privacy.
A top CISF official said in the report that they were trying to coordinate with international agencies on detecting such improvised explosive devices concealed in implants since there was no foolproof solution.
26/08/13 India Today

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Ban on duty-free TVs to hurt sales at airports

Bangalore/New Delhi: The ban on duty-free import of high-end, flat screen plasma television sets from August 26, 2013 is bound to hit sale of such TV sets at duty free (DF) shops at Indian airports also.
According to the partner at consulting firm BMR Advisors, Mahesh Jaising, the notification applies to DF shops at airports. “Duty Free shops in India are located outside the customs frontiers and procurements from duty free shops (purchases at DF shops) are also counted towards baggage allowance. Hence, the above restriction equally apply to TVs sold through duty free shops in India as well.”
A source at Nuance Group (India), which runs duty free shops at Bangalore International Airport (BIA) said that the sale of such TV sets is close to 100 units a month at DF shops at BIA.
The ban, notified by the government recently, is aimed at curbing the runaway current account deficit, as the concession to Indian travellers is perceived as non-essential import. The ban came in by way of inclusion of such TV sets in Annexure I of Baggage (Amendment) Rules, 2006 (Baggage Rule, 1998).
26/08/13 PTI/Deccan Herald

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Airport privatisation may lead to higher fares: IATA

New Delhi: The global airline industry has warned the Indian government that flier in the country would end up paying much higher airfares if six major public sector airports in two metro cities and four state capitals are privatised after thousands of crores of public money have been spent to modernise them.
The civil aviation ministry, in co-ordination with the Prime Minister's Office and the Planning Commission, wants to hand over a majority stake and the operation and maintenance responsibilities of the Lucknow, Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Chennai, Kolkata and Guwahati airports to private players. These airports are owned and managed by the Airports Authority of India (AAI) and have been recently upgraded.
Expressing grave concern about the move to privatise these airports without stakeholder consultations, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) has said that "any unnecessary private shareholding" may increase the focus on "profit-maximisation" and lead to higher user costs.
27/08/13 Vikas Dhoot/Economic Times

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Clients versus hostages in Bengaluru International Airport

It is baffling that the state government last week decided not to oppose a hike in the fee currently charged to passengers for using Bangalore airport. Most frequent users of the airport don't feel that they have reached home when they land because the drive home is almost always longer than the flight. But the commute times of frequent fliers should hardly be a consideration for public policy; I'd like to make the case to the government that it should not only oppose the hike in passenger fees but also explore longer-term options for enhancing competition on three counts:
The first case is based on competition and transparency. Bangalore airport doesn't have clients but hostages who are currently forced to pay Rs 231 for each domestic flight and Rs 952 for international. This despite questions raised during the early days about shareholders giving themselves contracts for construction and whether the 13% stake the state government got via KSIIDC for 4,008 acres of land was adequate.
26/08/13 Manish Sabharwal/Times of India

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Haryana to take PPP Route for Cargo Airport in Rohtak

Chandigarh: To expedite the proposed cargo airport in Haryana, the state government will take up Public Private Partnership (PPP) mode for the greenfield project at Meham in Rohtak. The Haryana State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation (HSIIDC) will be the equity partner for bearing the cost of land acquisition for the project.
In wake of adverse investment scenario, the capital infusion (in form of buying 4,000 acres land for the project) by the HSIIDC will catalyze private investment and not let delay due to lack of funds from the AAI. The wait for seed investment from the AAI that relies on budgetary allocation for mega investments could cause inordinate delay, sources in the HSIIDC said.
25/08/13 Prashant Krar/Economic Times

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Chennai not on Malindo Air’s radar for now

Johor Baru: The latest addition to the local aviation scene, Malindo Air, does not expect to add Chennai to its network anytime soon as it is yet to obtain rights for the route from the Malaysian government.
According to Malindo Airways Sdn Bhd CEO Chandran Rama Muthy, rights given to the Malaysian government has been "exhausted" by Malaysia Airlines (MAS) and AirAsia.
International air traffic rights are governed by bilateral air services agreements between governments which contain provisions on the routes that airlines can fly, including cities that can be served, and the number of flights that can be operated or passengers that can be carried between the bilateral partners among other provisions.
AirAsia and MAS both provide double-daily services to Chennai from Kuala Lumpur right now.
Chandran however is confident that its first three international routes into India, New Delhi, Bombay and Kochi, will start by October this year, which will help it achieve its 1.5 million passenger volume target by year-end.
26/08/13 Liew Jia Teng/The Sun Daily

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Terror alert: Defence establishments, airport security beefed up in city

Pune: Threat alerts given by intelligence sources have prompted authorities to beef up security at major defence installations in the city and Lohegaon airport.
A statement released by defence public relations officer on Monday stated that security will remain enhanced at these places during the festival season.
Defence authorities will be carrying out random identity checks of civilians and military personnel who will be travelling through defence areas, including Pune cantonment.
However, the defence statement made it clear that army personnel will not be carrying out actions like checking of vehicle documents, wearing of helmets and driving within speed limit etc.
27/08/13 Daily News & Analysis

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CIAL domestic traffic dips

Kochi: The Cochin International Airport has registered an upswing in the number of passengers in the international sector while the number of passengers in the domestic sector has fallen. The phenomenon has happened corresponding to the rise in the number of international flights from the airport and fall in those of domestic flights.
The bane of the domestic sector has been the fall of the Kingfisher Airlines which had eight flights per day from the airport to different destinations, such as Bangalore, Chennai, Mumbai, Delhi and also Agathi.
In the international sector, Etihad and Kuwait Airlines added three flights per week while Sri Lankan Airlines came up with seven flights per week and Tiger Airlines with four additional flights weekly.
In the international sector the passenger traffic grew by 13.37 per cent to 29,34,017 in 2012-13, from 25,880,32 in 2011-12.
26/08/13 Deccan Chronicle

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Swanky air terminal set to take wing

Panaji:  Come October, the cramped waiting halls, rickety lifts and never-ending queues at the Goa international airport at Dabolim will hopefully be history. With the commissioning of the new terminal building -- the swanky glass and steel span structure with a sprawling floor space of around 64,000 sq m -- four times larger than the present airport terminal, the flow of passengers through the airport will be much smoother, promises airport director M Suresh.
"The expansion of the Goa airport is probably the last among other airports across the country; it was long overdue," admits Suresh.
"The airport is jam-packed in the afternoons, as civilian flights are only operational after 1pm. Irrespective of their flight timings, people tend to reach the airport by 1pm, as most hotels have 12 noon check-out timings-this results in overcrowding and queues," he pointed out, while stating that the new terminal building will be able to accommodate 2,750 passengers per hour.
27/08/13 Anisha Francis/Times of India

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3rd phase of land acquisition for Kannur airport begins

Kannur: The third phase of land acquisition process for the proposed International airport here has begun and the aim was to commence runway work in Ocotber, Kerala Minister for Excise and Ports K Babu today said.
In the third phase, a total of 783 acres of land needed be to be acquired and for this Rs 310 crore was required, he told reporters here.
Already, 1,200 acres has been made available to the airport.
26/08/13 PTI/Economic Times

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Security tightened at Begumpet airport

Hyderabad: In the wake of increasing threats to Hyderabad, security at the old airport in Begumpet has been tightened considerably with increased patrolling and restriction in place over civilian movement.
After the airport was shifted to Shamshabad in 2008, the lax security resulted in civilians flocking to the premises for jogging and morning walks. The internal roads and the parking area inside the airport was a hit with hundreds of walkers from surrounding areas. Many used the premises as parking lot and sometimes even miscreants used to find their way inside.
In December 2012, a chopper used for ferrying chief minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy was gutted along with six other aircraft in a blaze at this airport. This raised suspicion about possible sabotage and forced authorities to take stock of the security scenario.
07/08/13 Times of India

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Get a stamp made while waiting for flight at Chennai

Chennai: Air passengers can now have a postal stamp made with their own photo while departing the Chennai domestic airport.
India Post has opened a counter at the airport to provide this facility. Passengers can make their own postal stamp with their photo by paying Rs 322 for 12 stamps of Rs 5 each. The postal department has such a facility in all major post offices.
Passengers need to fill up the required proforma at the counter with identity proof and a recent passport size photo. The twelve photos will be sent by the postal department to the given address within ten days.
26/08/13 Business Line

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Private airlines have Rs 357 crore as dues towards Airport Authority of India

New Delhi: Five private airlines, including those which have closed down, have nearly Rs 357 crore as dues pending towards Airport Authority of India.
Jet Airlines, Jetlite Airlines, Spicejet, Kingfisher Airlines and defunct Paramount Airways have pending dues of Rs 357.39 crore, says data provided by the AAI in response to an RTI application.
The figures available as on March 31 show that the largest sum of dues were pending against Kingfisher Airlines which owes Rs 175.30 crore towards the authority which is followed by Jet Airlines with Rs 80.38 crore, SpicejetBSE 4.33 % with Rs 80.17 crore, Jetlite Airlines with Rs 19.76 crore and Paramount Airways with Rs 1.75 crore as on March 31.
The authority said it is taking action for litigation against Kingfisher Airlines and Paramount Airways for realising its pending dues.
In its comment, Kingfisher Airlines spokesperson said, "As a matter of policy, we do not publicly comment on supplier and partner relationships."
25/08/13 PTI/Economic Times

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New radar to be commissioned soon at Thiruvananthapuram

Thiruvananthapuram : Work on replacing the 18-year-old Airport Surveillance Radar and the Monopulse Secondary Surveillance Radar (MSSR) at the Thiruvananthapuram International Airport, at an estimated cost of 1.60 lakh Euros, has entered the last phase with the Site Acceptance Test.
The Site Acceptance Test has begun after the installation of the new radar by the Czech Republic-based company ELDIS Pardubice. The Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) will carry out the mandatory inspection next week on completion of the SAT..
On Friday, the Airports Authority of India carried out the safety audit for airlines, personnel of the Air Traffic Control, and other stake-holders as per Civil Aviation requirements before commissioning the radar.
The new radars that had been installed in the premier airport of the State include a Route Surveillance Radar and an Approach Surveillance Radar.
24/08/13 S Anil Radhakrishnan/The Hindu

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Air customs seize gold bars worth Rs 3.8cr at Chennai airport

Chennai:  In one of the biggest hauls at Chennai airport, the air customs intelligence officers seized 12kg of gold from three passengers early on Friday. Customs officials said the seizure was made after a raid on passengers who arrived on two flights from Dubai. They seized 12 gold bars with foreign markings, valued at Rs 3.79 crore.
Officials said they were alert about some passengers trying to smuggle in gold after the import duty was increased. "In one incident, six gold bars weighing 1kg each were recovered from Habeeb Rahiman Thankayathil, 47, a native of Kannur in Kerala. The man, who runs an advertising business in Dubai, had hidden the bars in false pockets," said the official.
In the second incident, passengers Medoth Muhammed Shafeeque and Vallikettummel Pakku Mohammed were arrested with six gold bars hidden in an elastic belt tied to their waist. They were arrested and remanded in custody.
24/08/13 Times of India

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Delhi flight makes emergency landing

Ahmedabad:  About 102 passengers on board S2-4107 JetKonnect Mumbai bound flight had a close shave on Saturday after their flight made an emergency landing at Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport, following a technical snag.
Airports Authority of India (AAI) officials said the pilot of the flight realized after crossing Udaipur that one of the flight's engine had stopped working. He then decided to divert the flight to Ahmedabad. The flight made an emergency landing at Ahmedabad at 6.30 pm.
This created a major tension among the passengers on board. However, they heaved a sigh of relief as the plane made a safe landing. AAI officials said that all the 102 passengers were then sent to their destination Mumbai in other flight.
25/08/13 Times of India

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'People for Mopa' garners support in Mapusa

Mapusa: NGO 'People for Mopa' held a public meeting in Mapusa to garner support for the Mopa airport project. This is the first meeting the NGO held outside Pernem. The NGO has held meetings in almost all villages in the Pernem Taluka which were well-attended and supported by many people.
"Few elements from South Goa are misguiding people over the Mopa airport project by spreading wrong information. In reality, Mopa is the need of the hour and it's high time people come in large numbers to support the project," said Mapusa Municipal Council (MMC) chairperson Sandip Fulari at the meeting.
The meeting was attended by former MMC chairperson Sudhir Kandolkar, Shiv Sena Goa chief Ramesh Naik, People for Mopa Bardez convenor Eknath Mhapsekar and a large number of people.
24/08/13 Times of India

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World’s second best airport in deep water

New Delhi: On June 16, the Indira Gandhi International Airport recorded 117.8 mm of rainfall in four and a half hours between 1 p.m. and 5.30 p.m. The water-logging that occurred subsequently forced passengers to wade through knee-deep water, crippled the baggage handling system and affected X-ray machines, elevators and escalators. It was an unfortunate situation for the airport operator — Delhi International Airport Ltd. (DIAL) — as it came a few days after IGI received the title of the second best airport in the world.
What followed was finger pointing between the airport operator, government agencies such as the Public Works Department (PWD) and the Delhi Jal Board (DJB), and villagers in the adjoining areas of Mahipalpur and Rangpuri. While DIAL claimed flight operations carried on unaffected, they attributed the flooding to “choked stormwater drains” on the periphery of the airport. The clogging, they said, was caused due to sewage water entering these drains.
The PWD, which built the peripheral drain, said the airport’s internal drainage system was unable to handle the water. The department said it wanted to see the internal drainage system’s map but the requests were ignored.
For its part, the DJB claimed that the commissioning of its sewage treatment plant in Kapashera has little to do with the airport since it is not for managing stormwater. As for the villagers in the area, they said when pillars were constructed by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) for elevated corridors, several drains were broken, leading to acute water-logging in these parts.
25/08/13 Sowmiya Ashok/The Hindu

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Goa, the new destination for smuggled gold?

Dabolim: Drugs may not be the only contraband to find favour in Goa now. A rising pan-India trend of gold smuggling and sudden seizures of the yellow metal in Goa, otherwise a narcotics haven, has forced customs authorities in the state to step up vigil not only at the lone airport, but also on the sea routes to stop gold smugglers.
Earlier this week, there were three seizures at the Dabolim International Airport when two Sri Lankans and an Indian were caught with 4.12 kgs of gold valued at Rs.1.33 crore ($13 million) in the Indian market. "This seems to be the beginning of a new trend. Our air intelligence staff and air customs officers could retrieve the gold and seize it. This is so far the biggest seizure," Commissioner Customs and Central Excise VPC Rao told IANS. Gold smuggling, he said, has become a regular feature at the Goa airport.
The two Sri Lankans had boarded the flight as domestic passengers at Mumbai, but they had taken delivery of the gold from some passengers coming from Dubai, he said. "The gold was stuffed in their rectums. When they were passing through the green channel, our official saw something unusual with their movement. That is how they were busted," a Customs official said. The Indian was from Kerala and had the gold strapped on his body under his trouser.
25/08/13 IANS/Daily News & Analysis

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Customs seize gold worth Rs 1.15 crore at IGI airport

New Delhi:  Even as the rupee continues to slide, the ever-rising duty on gold imports to curb it is having a cascading effect on the smuggling of the yellow metal.
Customs authorities at IGI airport in Delhi on Saturday seized smuggled gold worth Rs 1.15 crore from a passenger coming from Singapore. Based on suspicion, the said passenger was searched and 31 gold bars were recovered from specially designed pockets in his trousers.
According to sources, on Saturday, while keeping surveillance on the passengers coming from Singapore sector, one passenger who arrived at IGI Airport from Singapore on flight No. SQ-406 was intercepted after he crossed the green channel.
The passenger's movement was suspicious and customs authorities profiled him for further examination as it was suspected he may have been carrying goods for which duties were not paid.
24/08/13 Deeptiman Tiwari/Times of India

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Jet Airways to snap its services in Bhubaneswar

Bhubaneswar: Jet ways, India’s premier international airline, has reportedly decided to withdraw its air services from Bhubaneswar - Bangalore October 27 onwards.
According to reports the airlines is considering not commercially viable to operate in comparison to other tier-II. Presently the airlines is operating Bhubaneswar-Bangalore, Bhubaneswar-Delhi and Bhubaneswar Mumbai flights daily.
 The Airport Authority of India (AAI) officials are however tight lipped over the development.
23/08/13 Odisha Today

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Tariffs at Kolkata, Chennai airports may be determined before awarding projects

New Delhi: To ensure that the proposed privatisation of Kolkata and Chennai airports do not result in higher charges for passengers, the amounts to be levied at these airports following their privatisation are likely to be determined prior to the award of these airport projects.
"There is already a lot of criticism around privatisation of airports due to very high charges being levied to passengers for using the newly-built private airports. The charges at the airports to be awarded in the country can be made reasonable by fixing these charges prior to their award and linking their increase to the wholesale price index," said a source in the Planning Commission.
The source added that the model request for proposal (RFP) and request for qualification (RFQ) documents for Public-Private Partnership projects allows the government to award projects by predetermining charges and fees.
23/08/13 Mihir Mishra/Indian Express

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You could pay more flying from Bangalore

Bangalore: Declining to give higher equity participation, the state cabinet on Friday permitted the shareholders of Bengaluru International Airport (BIA) to increase the user development fee (UDF) for both domestic and international passengers to mop up revenue.
BIA's shareholders - GVK (43%), Siemens (26%), Zurich Airport (5%), Airports Authority of India and Karnataka State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation ( KSIIDC) (13% each) - had sought additional Rs 150 crore equity participation from the state government.
Law minister TB Jayachandra told reporters that the shareholders had sought to the increase following expansion and other infrastructure development at BIA. However, the government asked them to mop up revenue by increasing UDF on a par with Rajiv Gandhi International Airport, Hyderabad.
RGIA charges UDF of Rs 430 for domestic and Rs 1,700 for international passengers. BIA charges Rs 231 for domestic and Rs 952 for international passengers.
23/08/13 Times of India

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Chennai airport expansion turns damp squib

Chennai: Air passengers may want to cast wary glances upwards while walking inside the terminals of Chennai airport.
After all, one never knows when a false ceiling may collapse. False ceiling panels that collapse frequently, cracked glass panels and granite flooring, stinking toilets and pigeon droppings in the terminals, which cost over Rs. 2000 crore, have marred the experience of flying for passengers.
Thirty-five-year-old T. Satish, a corporate head in a private firm, and a frequent flier, said, “Considering the money invested, this airport is a disappointment. The swanky look is pointless if passenger facilities are not upto the mark. Once I had to board a domestic flight from the old international terminal; I was not told about this in advance and so had to walk a long distance due to the lack of a walkalator. Toilets in the new domestic terminal are an eyesore too,” he added.
23/08/13 Sinitha Sekar/The Hindu

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AAI team in Hazaribag to identify land for runway

Hazaribag: A six-member team of the Airports Authority India (AAI), visited Hazaribag to inspect Nagwan airstrip for construction of runway.
Deputy commissioner Sunil Kumar said the team was impressed with the Nagwan airstrip, situated 6km from Hazaribag along NH-33. About 6,000 square ft is needed to construct the runaway for 55 to 72 aircraft.
However, the DC said AAI was informed about the prevailing resentment among some farmers, who had filed a writ petition in the high court for compensation. But 2,700 sqft was bought in 1944 by the then British government by paying compensation.
The state secretary for the civil aviation said all efforts are being made by the state government to dispose of the pending writ petition in the high court as the state has also moved the court in this regard.
23/08/13 Times of India

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PIL for including Madurai airport in the BASA agreement

Madurai: A PIL seeking inclusion of Madurai airport as a "point of call" in the Bilateral Air Service Agreement (BASA) was admitted by the Madras High court bench here today.

A Division Bench comprising justices N Paulvasanthakumar and P Devadoss ordered issuance of notice to officials including the Secretary, Ministry of Civil Aviation, Director General of Civil Aviation, Chairman, Airports Authority of India, and Director AAI, returnable within two weeks.
The petitioner J Mahendra Varman said a number of foreign carriers were interested in operating flights to Madurai. But the Aviation Ministry was not inviting them, he said.
23/08/13 PTI/Economic Times

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Port Blair to get new terminal by 2018

K C Venugopal, Minister of State at the Ministry of Civil Aviation informed the Lok Sabha that the requirement of land projected initially by Airports Authority of India (AAI) for construction of a new terminal building at Port Blair was 26.50 acres, which was reduced to 18.71 acres on request of the Andaman & Nicobar Administration. Close to 10.60 acres of land have been handed over by the Andaman & Nicobar Administration and PWD to AAI, the process is currently on for obtaining working permission for 4.72 acres of land from the Indian Navy, while 3.39 acres of land requires to be acquired.
23/08/13 Travel Daily Media

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Advanced radar for Kochi airport

Kochi: The Rs 12-crore advanced radar system procured by the Airport Authority of India will be installed at the Cochin International Airport in October.
The dry run of the facility, which will reduce the landing time to three minutes from the present 6 to 9 minutes, has begun.
The Czech-built radar is a combination of approach surveillance radar and mono-pulse secondary surveillance radar. It is expected to greatly increase the airport safety and help improve the utilisation of the runway.
23/08/13 Business Line

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Govt not to oppose hike in user fee at BIA

Bangalore: The State Cabinet on Friday decided not to raise any objection if the Bangalore International Airport Limited (BIAL) proposes to hike user development fee to raise funds for the airport expansion.
Law and Parliamentary Affairs minister, T B Jayachandra explained that private stakeholders had approached the government seeking an equity investment for the expansion of the airport.
“The Cabinet, in its meeting held on Friday decided that the government is not in favour of any capital investment for the airport expansion plan. However, in order to meet the financial requirements of BIAL, we have allowed the stakeholders to hike the UDF to suit their needs,” he said.
The government has considered the Hyderabad International Airport as the benchmark for hiking the UDF.
23/08/13 Deccan Herald

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Mumbai's international airport to charge passengers after Rs 15,500-crore makeover

Mumbai: The operator of Mumbai airport plans to charge passengers and airlines more once a state of-the-art terminal is opened to traffic next year. Mumbai International Airport (MIAL), the GVK-led consortium that operates the airport, is revamping the airport with an outlay of Rs 12,500 crore. Last year, it had increased tariffs by 150%, citing cost-revenue gap.
"Putting the terminal on stream will increase tariffs, though it is difficult to determine by how much," a top MIAL executive, who did not wish to be named, said. The tariff increase, if cleared by the Airports Economic Regulatory Authority (AERA), will take Mumbai airport past Delhi in airport charges. The airport revamp, which will include a four-level , stateof-the-art terminal to integrate international and domestic airline operations, will increase the annual passenger handling capacity by over a third to more than 40 million.
23/08/13 Anirban Chowdhury/Economic Times

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Tariffs at Kolkata, Chennai airports may be determined before awarding projects

New Delhi: To ensure that the proposed privatisation of Kolkata and Chennai airports do not result in higher charges for passengers, the amounts to be levied at these airports following their privatisation are likely to be determined prior to the award of these airport projects.
“There is already a lot of criticism around privatisation of airports due to very high charges being levied to passengers for using the newly-built private airports. The charges at the airports to be awarded in the country can be made reasonable by fixing these charges prior to their award and linking their increase to the wholesale price index,” said a source in the Planning Commission.
The source added that the model request for proposal (RFP) and request for qualification (RFQ) documents for Public-Private Partnership projects allows the government to award projects by predetermining charges and fees.
23/08/13 Mihir Mishra/Financial Express

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Three held with 12 kg gold at city Airport

Chennai: The customs officials seized nearly 12 kg of gold biscuits from three Keralites who arrived in two different flights at the Airport here on Friday.
The first catch on Thursday was made when the customs sleuths frisked one Abi Rahman, of Kannanur in Kerala, who had arrived at 12.10 am from Singapore. He was carrying 60 biscuits, each weighing 100 grams, concealed in his dress and suitcase. The total worth of the gold seized was estimated to be about Rs 1.8 crore.
23/08/13 New Indian Express

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Mumbai shifts to single runway to boost flight capacity

Mumbai: Cross-runway flight operations at Mumbai airport, given the green signal by the ministry of civil aviation in 2009, have been scrapped after airport officials argued simultaneous use of both runways was reducing the airport's capacity.
The idea behind simultaneous operations was to optimize the airport's flight handling capacity to 45-48 movements per hour. However, sources said the capacity did not go beyond 40 flights, so Mumbai airport is using only one runway for flights and reserving the second as a contingency option.
In an April meeting, Air Traffic Control (ATC) and Mumbai International Airport Pvt Ltd (MIAL) asked for cross-runway operations to be scrapped. Officials said using the main runway increased flight movements to 46 an hour.
22/08/13 Chinmayi Shalya/Times of India

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Thiruvananthapuram Aeropolis takes a big stride

Thiruvananthapuram: Five agencies, including majors in global advisory and audit services, have bid for the feasibility study for the Aeropolis project to be created around the Thiruvananthapuram international airport.
The agencies — Mott Macdonald Pvt., L&T Ramboll, Knight Frank India, KPMG, and Ernst & Young — made their presentations on the project put forward by the Airports Authority of India at a meeting here on Wednesday.
Based on the presentations and technical and financial bids of these firms, official sources said, an agency will be shortlisted soon for carrying out the feasibility study.
The Kerala State Industrial Development Corporation (KSIDC) has been appointed nodal agency by the government for the project, initiated by the State Planning Board on the basis of a proposal put forward by Airport Director V.N. Chandran, to develop the airport into a multi-modal hub.
Principal Secretary, Transport (Aviation), Tom Jose, holding the charge of KSIDC Managing Director, Planning Board member G. Vijayaraghavan, Mr. Chandran, and others reviewed the presentations.
22/08/13 The Hindu

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UP Cabinet okays land for airport's expansion

Kanpur: The state Cabinet on Tuesday paved the way for a modern airport in the city. The Cabinet decided to provide 50 acres of land free of cost to Airport Authority of India for the modernization and expansion of the Chakeri airport. Besides, the government also decided to provide land for three more airports in the state.
The AAI has already identified around 100 acres in Sheikhpur and Mayaiya villages for the expansion plan. Both villages are adjacent to Chakeri airport and a report regarding the land has been sent to the Union civil aviation ministry. Sources in the ministry said that expansion and modernization of the airport would enable direct air links to Gujarat, Tamilnadu and Maharashtra.
Kanpur airport, also known as Chakeri airport, was originally designated to Indian Air Force. Regular flights were operated from the airport to Delhi, Ahmedabad, Allahabad, Kolkata, Bangalore, Chennai and Mumbai in 1970s. However, due to some reasons the flights were later confined to Kolkata, Allahabad and Delhi only.
22/08/13 Anant Shekher Misra/Times of India

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Ahmedabad airport to install new radar soon

Ahmedabad: The city airport is set to replace its 15-year-old radar with a new, more capable radar system in three months. The installation of the new radar will begin at the Sardar Vallabhbbhai Patel International Airport on August 23.
As part of the airport's modernization, which began in 2010, the current Monopulse Secondary Surveillance Radar (MSSR) will be replaced with next-generation Mode S Capable MSSR. "We have already got an automated air traffic system and the setting up of the new radar is the next big step," said Aryama Sanyal, joint GM, head of Air Traffic Services in Ahmedabad.
The installation will begin on August 23 and the radar is expected to be operational from the first week of December. The Mode S capable radar, built by ELDIS Pardubice of the Czech Republic, will provide flight locations up to 300 nautical miles from Ahmedabad, while the old radar could do so up to 200 nautical miles.
22/08/13 Times of India

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Hubli airport gets cargo service

Hubli: People can now easily export various commodities from Hubli as the long-awaited cargo service started at the Hubli airport recently. After the introduction of flight service to Bangalore, Mumbai and Delhi from Hubli, there has been demand for cargo service. After much discussion and studying the feasibility, the Airports Authority of India had given its approval a few days back.
The Hubli Airport Authority had given permission to Blue Dart and DTDC courier companies, which have been handling cargo service since few days. K M Basavaraj, director, Hubli Airport, said: ''The long-pending demand of the people has been met. As of now, we have allowed two private courier companies to handle cargo service. Depending on the response, we will give permission to more companies to handle the service.''
22/08/13 Basavaraj F Kattimani/Times of India

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'Improved infrastructure can cut airport delays'

Mumbai:  Mumbai airport has switched to using a single runway to enhance its flight handling capacity, but lack of proper infrastructure has made delays almost perennial at the airport, say senior officials.
In July, 304 flights were delayed more than once in five times they operated from the runway. The figure was 82% more than May, when only 167 flights were repeatedly late. January and February witnessed the maximum delays with more than 350 flights delayed repeatedly. Only in May did the number of delayed flights drop below 200.
Officials said currently, the network of taxiways is not fully ready. "Currently, most aircraft exit the runway in about 49 seconds, which goes up to even a minute. With better infrastructure, it can be brought down to about 45 seconds or less," said an airport official.
22/08/13 Times of India

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Cracks widen in Chennai airport upkeep

Chennai: Despite huge sound effects and AC, false roofing at cinema theatres have been standing firm for ages, but Chennai airport has witnessed three false ceiling collapses in the last three months. While the Airports Authority of India (AAI) gives some reason or the other for the mishaps, air passengers are agitated at the turn of events in the city airport.
“It is disgraceful that such things are happening. They attribute some reason, often, technical reasons. Does that mean they have built the terminal without technical advice? You cannot spend more than Rs 2000 crore without technical knowledge,” said Air Passengers’ Association of India (APAI) president D. Sudhakara Reddy.
Noting that the APAI is going to take up the issue seriously, Reddy said that he would write to AAI chairman V.P. Ag­rawal on Wedne­sd­ay about the recent mis­haps at the city airport.
21/08/13 S Sujatha

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New terminal building at Port Blair Airport to be commissioned by March 2018

New Delhi: Union Minister of State for Civil Aviation K C Venugopal today said that the construction of the new terminal building of the Veer Savarkar International Airport at Port Blair in Andaman Islands was slated for completion by December 2017 and it would be commissioned by March 2018.
In a written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha, Mr Venugopal said the requirement of land projected initially by the Airports Authority of India (AAI) for the airport was 26.50 acres, which was reduced to 18.71 acres on the request of the Andaman & NIcobar Administration.
22/08/13 NetIndian

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Air passenger held for attempting to smuggle in rough diamonds

Mumbai: An Indian passenger has been arrested at the international airport here for allegedly trying to smuggle in 4.9 kg of rough diamonds valued at Rs 1 crore from the United Arab Emirates, a customs official said yesterday.
Prashant Harsora had arrived from Sharjah on an Air Arabia Airline flight at Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport on Sunday, a Customs Air Intelligence Unit officer told PTI.
22/08/13 PTI/India Tv News

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Dabolim gold seizure trail points to Sri Lankan smuggler

Panaji: The catch of gold by the customs at the Dabolim airport has revealed the involvement of a Sri Lankan smuggler, but more details will be available only after a couple of days, officials said on Wednesday.
One of the Sri Lankans was being "controlled" by a smuggler in Sri Lanka. They had arranged a complex system- he was told to expect a phone call from a man, who would give him the serial number of a 5 note in his possession. Once the code was given, the courier would have to follow further instructions. No phone call has been received on his phone yet. Officials are afraid it is a dead end because the carriers do not have any details.
22/08/13 Times of India

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3kg gold found in man's underwear

Hyderabad:  In one of the largest hauls in recent times, customs sleuths seized 3.3 kilogram of gold worth over Rs 1.1 crore concealed in the undergarments of a city-based smuggler at the Rajiv Gandhi International (RGI) Airport on Wednesday morning. The air passenger had arrived from Dubai.
Rasheed Ahmed, hailing from the Old City, arrived at the RGI Airport from Dubai by flight number AI 952 on Wednesday morning. He opted for the green channel at the customs check area, declaring that he was not carrying any dutiable goods on him. At 7.30 am, air intelligence wing sleuths intercepted Rasheed as his travel pattern to Dubai looked suspicious.
22/08/13 Times of India

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Iranian saffron seized from passenger at MIA

Mangalore: Customs officials at Mangalore International Airport seized Begonia brand of Iranian saffron weighing 12kgs from a passenger who arrived from Dubai on Thursday. The value of the contraband is approximately Rs12 lakh and was recovered from Abdul Rasheed Karimboonnummal Vadakkayil, a resident of Mattannur, Kannur district of Kerala. A departmental communique here stated that the saffron was concealed along with clothes and other personal belongings inside one carton box that Abdul Rasheed had in his possession.
22/08/13 Jaideep Shenoy/Times of India

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Indian held at Dhaka airport, 8 kg gold seized

Dhaka: An Indian national was arrested and 65 gold bars weighing eight kilograms were seized from him at the Shahjalal International Airport.
Customs officials challenged Dipak Kumar Acharya, 60, who was moving in a suspicious manner, and recovered the gold bars from his hand bag around 10.30 pm Monday.
Alamgir Hossain, senior assistant superintendent of Armed Police Battalion, told The Daily Star Tuesday that 11,225 memory cards and 11 iphones were also recovered from him.
The seized gold is worth 3.5 crore Bangladeshi takas while the other items are worth 50 lakh Bangladeshi takas.
20/08/13 Zee News

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Smugglers held with gold worth Rs 1.3 crore concealed in their rectums

Panaji:  In the largest seizure of smuggled gold that Goa has seen, two Sri Lankan nationals and an Indian from Kerala were held at Dabolim international airport by customs officers on Tuesday, for smuggling 4.5 kg of the precious metal concealed in their rectums. The haul, valued at over 1.3 crore, was being smuggled into the country from the Middle-East.
The three unidentified men were traveling on an Air India flight from Dubai, via Mumbai to Goa.
"We are yet to establish the link between the three, but we suspect that they had received the smuggled gold on board the flight, and had concealed it in their rectums just before landing," customs commissioner V PC Rao said.With the price of gold crossing the Rs 31,000 mark (per ten grams) in India, cases of gold smuggling are becoming increasingly common, Rao said.
21/08/13 Times of India

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Digitised MSSR radar installation at SVPIA from Aug 23

Ahmedabad: Installation of the most modern digitised Monopulse Secondary Surveillance Radar (MSSR) will soon begin at the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport (SVPIA), officials said here today.
"A planned scheduled withdrawal of radar will be under taken from August 23, as we get into the process of installing the most modern MSSR radar here. All stakeholders (airlines and pilots) have been informed about it well in advance to avoid inconvenience," SVPIA Joint GM, Air Traffic Control, A Sanyal told reporters.
During the around three-month scheduled withdrawal period, SVPIA will operate without a radar. However, it shall operate on external assistance taken from three MSSR installed airports of Porbandar, Bhopal and Udaipur, and would follow the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) procedure control codes for navigation.
21/08/13 PTI/Business Standard

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Air India to begin new services linking Mumbai to Gwalior and Agra from Sept 9

New Delhi:  Air India is to start new flights linking Mumbai to Gwalior and Agra. In addition, the airline will also start operating on the Delhi-Allahabad-Mumbai sector.
In a communication to travel agents, the airline has said that the Mumbai-Gwalior return flight will operate on Monday and Thursday, while the Mumbai-Agra return flight will operate on Tuesday and Friday.
The airline is also starting a four days a week service connecting Delhi to Allahabad and then onwards to Mumbai. This flight will operate on Monday, Tuesday,Thursday and Friday.
21/08/13 Ashwini Phadnis/Business Line

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No travelator yet at Chennai's new airport terminals

Chennai: The new domestic and international terminals at Chennai airport were constructed at a cost of over Rs. 2,000 crore, but still do not have travelators – moving walkways to transport people.
With the two terminals nearly 800 metres apart, the lack of travelator is bound to affect passengers, especially those on transit, said an official of the Airports Authority of India (AAI).
Though a new travelator was part of the original airport expansion project, it was temporarily dropped owing to cost escalations.
“The installation and procurement of a travelator will cost around Rs. 50 crore. It’s not that we have decided against getting one – the purchase has been pushed as the costs of other aspects of the airport expansion project have gone up. Getting and installing a travelator will probably not take place until early next year since the necessary clearances for this facility have not yet come through,” said another official.
21/08/13 Sunitha Sekar/The Hindu

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SpiceJet to start Pune-Sharjah flight

Mumbai: Low cost airline SpiceJet today announced the launch of direct services between Pune and Sharjah that will begin from September 21.
The airline will be deploying its New Generation Boeing 737-800 (189 seater aircraft) on this route, SpiceJet said in a release issued here.
Pune is the third Indian destination to connect with Sharjah on SpiceJet network.
The airline already operates on Varanasi- Sharjah and Lucknow- Sharjah routes.
SpiceJet also operates flights to Dubai. It currently operates four daily flights to Dubai from Delhi, Mumbai, Ahmedabad and Kochi.
21/08/13 Economic Times

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11 Indonesians who arrived without valid visas sent back

Chennai: Eleven members of a group of Indonesians who arrived in the city by a Tiger Airlines flight from Singapore on Monday early morning were sent back by the same airline on Monday night as they did not have valid Indian visas.
Police said the group led by Mohamed Gulam had taken a flight from Singapore without a valid tourist visa issued by the Indian embassy there. The group members told immigration officials that they were misled by someone who said visas were issued on arrival in India.
They tried to reason with officials saying they were to take a train to New Delhi from the city as part of their tour package. Immigration officials refused and sent them back to Singapore and told them that they could come only on a valid visa issued by the Indian diplomatic mission.
21/08/13 Times of India

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AP murder accused held at Mumbai airport after Interpol alert

Hyderabad: An accused in a murder allegedly committed in Vizianagaram district of Andhra Pradesh, against whom the Interpol had issued a look out circular, was detained by Mumbai airport immigration authorities when he tried to fly abroad, a senior police officer said here on Wednesday.
Immigration authorities informed Andhra Pradesh police about Manavelti Guruprasad's detention and a police team has been sent to Mumbai to take him to Vizianagaram district, CID Additional Director General of Police T Krishna Prasad said.
21/08/13 PTI/Zee News

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Three conduits held at Goa airport for smuggling gold

Panaji: Three persons, including two Sri Lankan nationals, were arrested at Dabolim airport in Goa for allegedly smuggling over 4 kg of gold, valued at Rs 1.33 crore, Customs officials said today.
The seizure has rung alarm bells in the department which believes that the incident is not an isolated one and could be an indication of the revival of gold smuggling through air and porous sea routes in the coastal state.
Commissionerate of Central Excise and Customs department sleuths today said the trio were apprehended following a tip-off.
"We seized 4.129 kg of gold worth Rs 1.33 crore in Indian market. One of the arrested persons had concealed part of gold in his rectum and another in a music system," Central Excise and Customs commissioner VPC Rao told reporters here.
21/08/13 PTI/Business Standard

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3 AAI officials under CBI scanner for favouring builders

Mumbai: Three senior Airports Authority of India (AAI) officials are being investigated by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for allegedly tweaking rules to reduce fees to grant no-objection certificates to real estate projects in the vicinity of the Juhu airport, thereby causing loss of around Rs 11 crore to the cash-starved AAI.
The officials on the CBI radar have been identified as J M Negi, general manager, no-objection certificate department, deputy general manager S KDasgupta, and V K Datta.
According to civic aviation guidelines, buildings aren't allowed within 300 mt of a runway, and height of the buildings near airports shouldn't be more than four per cent of its distance from the edge of the runway. For instance, if a building is a km from a runway, it can be around 30 mt tall (roughly seven storeys). However, in February 2011, a special committee of AAI, headed by the then executive director Negi, submitted a report saying the Juhu airport runway 16/34 was no longer operational as per the AAI records, and it shouldn't be a factor while issuing no-objection certificates to real estate projects in the vicinity.
20/08/13 Abhijit Sathe/Mumbai Mirror

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Bird hit threat builds at Pune Airport

Pune: Over one hundred passengers on a Mumbai-Jaipur flight suffered a lucky escape when their plane landed safely seconds after being hit by a bird about 10 days ago. The impact was so huge that it rocked the plane from side to side, almost causing it to crash. Fortunately for those on board, the pilot managed to keep his wits, ensuring a safe landing.
At the Pune International Airport bird-plane collisions are a disaster waiting to happen. Rule 91 of the Aircraft Act 1937, framed especially to reduce bird hits, prohibits slaughtering of animals or throwing garbage in the open within a 10km radius of the airport’s reference point (the centre point of the airport). But that rule is seldom followed.
The Director General Civil Aviation (DGCA) reveals that incidents of bird hits has caused the aviation industry crores of rupees in losses. Not just in repairs, but also in terms of cancellation of flights. And while grandiose measures have been announced to curb the incidence of bird hits time and time again, little has
been done.
20/08/13 Prateek Goyal/Pune Mirror

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GVK expects turnaround with airport stake sale, loan revamp

Hyderabad: GVK Power & Infrastructure Ltd is set to commission two expressways, two power plants, including the flood-hit Alaknanda hydel power plant, and the new international airport terminal in Mumbai during the current fiscal. The commissioning is expected to add to the cash flows of the company, which has been adversely hit by lack of natural gas supplies impacting two of its power plants, resulting in losses.
During the current fiscal, three companies under the energy sector — the 330 MW Alaknanda Hydro Power Company Ltd, 540 MW GVK Power (Goindwal Sahib) Ltd and GVK Coal (Tokisud) Pvt Ltd and two companies under the transportation sector — will be commissioned.
The two expressways include the 83-km Deoli-Kota Expressway and 102-km Bagodara-Vasad Expressway.
GVK Group Chairman G.V.K. Reddy told shareholders recently that the commissioning of these projects would add to the company’s revenue stream this fiscal.
20/08/13 V Rishi Kumar/Business Line

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Vizag airport can touch new heights in Seemandhra

Visakhapatnam: While the issue of bifurcation looms large over the state, the city of Vizag finds itself in a unique position as it is the only city in Coastal Andhra to boast of an international airport. Vizag already has international connectivity to two global transport hubs - Singapore and Dubai.
With the thrust entirely on developing international connectivity between Hyderabad and other global destinations during all these years, industry and air travellers feel it is high time that Vizag gets its due with the airport being made operational 24/7 at the earliest.
According to D Varada Reddy, president (Vizag chapter), Air Travellers Association of India, in the event of the creation of a new state, Vizag should be made the air travel capital. "There should be new flights from Vizag. We are already expecting a number of carriers to commence new flights, including an Air India early morning flight from Delhi to Vizag and onward to Bangkok as well as a flight from Hyderabad to Kuala Lumpur via Vizag.
20/08/13 Times of India

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Residents near Kochi airport demand revival of canal

Kochi: People living in panchayats near the Cochin International Airport Ltd (Cial) went on warpath on Monday, demanding the revival of Chengalthodu canal which was blocked for the construction of the airport.
Residents claimed that the flooding on August 5 was a result of blocking the canal for the construction of compound wall for Cial. Nearly 250 families living in Thuravumkara area had to be rehabilitated due to the flooding.
Prior to the construction of airport, the entire area was a paddy field with adequate provisions to drain off rainwater through the canal, protesters claimed.
They demanded that the canal be revived without affecting the runway. Check dams should be constructed across Periyar to prevent flooding of the Chengalthodu canal. They also demanded the construction of flyovers or bridges across low-lying areas of Thuravumkara area.
20/08/13 Times of India

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'Flyers, airline employees get same security scan'

Ahmedabad: Those wishing to become airline employees have to go through police verification and be approved by the city police commissioner before getting to work at the airport. When hiring a person, all airlines have to carry out his or her complete background check.
Once the verification is over, the airlines apply for an employee's gate pass to the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS). "Once we get the application for a gate pass, we scrutinize the details and then accordingly provide the pass," said A K Chaturvedi, deputy commissioner of security, BCAS.
"Every employee is issued a different pass depending on the work area. The pass indicates which areas in the airport are accessible and which are out of bounds for the employee," said Chaturvedi. The BCAS ensures that the persons implementing security controls are appropriately trained and are competent to perform their duties.
20/08/13 Piyush Mishra/Times of India

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