New taxiway for faster take-offs

Kolkata: Amitava Basu was booked on Jet Airways morning flight to Mumbai on December 2008. Bad weather forced authorities to suspend operation at the airport for three hours that morning. Finally, Basu managed to board his flight and the aircraft door closed 2 hours behind schedule. But congestion at the runway led to a further delay of over 30 minutes.
Basu's travails are set to end with Airports Authority of India planning to inaugurate a new taxiway that will reduce runway congestion and hasten takeoff by 20-45 minutes.
The new taxiway, christened kilo-taxiway, will connect the end of the secondary runway to the primary runway just ahead of takeoff run at the Madhyamgram end. "We will commission the new taxiway in two days. It will save nearly Rs 3 crore per month in operational and fuel cost," said airport director R Srinivasan.
Currently, the airport has four taxiways A, B, C and D . To take off from the Madhyamgram side (19L) of the 11,900 feet primary runway, an aircraft has to taxi from the parking bay through taxiway A. The take off distance from taxiway A to the Rajarhat end of the primary runway is 7,100 feet which is enough only for ATRs, other small aircraft and narrow body planes that weigh less. Wide body and fully-loaded narrow body aircraft have to backtrack and taxi another 3,000 feet till the Madhyamgram end of the runway, do a U-turn and then start the takeoff run.
The new kilo taxiway is so located that it will allow aircraft a 10,000-ft free take-off run without having to back-track.
31/12/09 Arpit Basu/Times of India

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Flights delayed due to dense fog at IGI

New Delhi Dense fog enveloped the airport in New Delhi on Wednesday morning delaying over half a dozen domestic flights.
Seven morning flights to Amritsar, Mumbai, Leh, Chandigarh, Pune and Patna were delayed by up to one hour as the visibility at the runway dropped to 100 metres, airport sources said.
"The runway visibility hovered between 200 to 350 metres at around 8 am, leading to implementation of CAT-III instrument landing system," Director of the Indira Gandhi International Airport MeT department R K Jenamani said.
The general visibility at the airport was recorded at 150 metres while the runway visibility of main runway (28/10) dipped to a low of 600 metres.
Also poor visibility conditions at Patna, Amritsar and other northern cities led to rescheduling of a few flights.
Unlike last year, Delhi has not experienced any major flight disruption or diversion due to dense fog this time around.
30/12/09 Express India

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User fee at six more airports proposed

New Delhi: Air travel from Mangalore, Tiruchi and Visakhapatnam is set to become more expensive.
This follows the Airports Authority of India's (AAI) move to seek a nod from the Government to levy a user development fee (UDF) on all passengers departing from six airports, including the three in the South.
Udaipur, Amritsar and Varanasi are the other airports for which the AAI has sought Government nod to levy the UDF, official sources said.
The exact quantum of fee which would be levied on the passengers will be clear only after the approval from the Government. The airports want to levy a fee ranging between Rs 250 and Rs 900.
Earlier, the state-owned airport operator had also approached the Government seeking to levy a development fee on the users of Chennai and Kolkata airports. No decision has been taken on the issue yet.
Official sources told Business Line that all the proposals are being examined by either the newly appointed Airports Economic Regulatory Authority (AERA) or the Ministry of Civil Aviation.
Currently, no UDF is levied on any of the airports managed by the AAI.
30/12/09 Ashwini Phadnis/Business Line

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Mock drill at Mumbai airport

Mumbai: Mumbai Airport authorities today carried out a mock security drill at the airport to check the effectiveness of security systems in the eventuality of a bomb threat.
The exercise, which lasted about one hour and saw participation by all agencies concerned, affected the operation of five flights, an airport official said.
"The security agencies and MIAL conducted an evacuation drill at Terminal B of the domestic airport. This is an standard practice, which is carried out every year," Mumbai International Airport Limited (MIAL) spokesperson said.
30/12/09 Press Trust of India

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FBI probes account of Michigan couple in Flight 253 case

US federal agents and Dutch counter-terrorism officials are investigating whether a second man helped the Nigerian bombing suspect get on the flight to Detroit on Friday without a passport, as a man from Newport, Mich., said he saw before he boarded the flight.
Lori Haskell said that FBI agents spoke with her and her husband, Kurt, Tuesday morning after the two spoke to news media outlets about Kurt Haskell's account that he saw an older, well-dressed Indian man help suspect Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab in his effort to board the flight in Amsterdam, Netherlands, without a passport.
The Reuters news service reported Tuesday that Dutch military police and Holland's national counter-terrorism agency NCTb were reviewing closed-circuit video and any other evidence that might corroborate Kurt Haskell's account. Sandra Berchtold, an FBI spokeswoman in Detroit, referred all news media inquiries to the Department of Justice in Washington, D.C. A spokesman there declined to comment.
Lori Haskell said she was questioned for about 10 minutes and recognized a photo of the suspect from several that agents showed her. She said her husband was interviewed for at least an hour.
She said they were interviewed separately at their law offices in Taylor.
30/12/09 Naomi R Patton & Ben Schmitt/Freep.com

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Over 20 countries for Dubai airport show

Dubai: Airport authorities and contractors from more than 20 different countries will visit an upcoming airport show in Dubai aiming to place orders and to learn about new products and services offers, organisers said.
The 10th edition of Airport Show will run from April 25 to 27, 2010 at Airport Expo Dubai.
Mohamad Bader-Eddin, show director, Reed Exhibitions, organisers of the show, said the organisers expect to see the number of project buyers attending the event double over the previous year.
The organisers have increased the focus on further improving the return on investment (ROI) that exhibitors and visitors can generate from their participation, he added.
More than 80 purchasing decision makers and project leaders from live and current airport construction projects across the region are expected to attend.
A significant number have already confirmed their participation, including representatives from Doha International Airport in Qatar, Khartoum New International Airport in Sudan, Maharashtra Airport Development in India, Cairo Airport Company in Egypt, as well as Oslo Airport in Norway, Tan son Nhat International airport in Vietnam and Cape Town International Airport in South Africa.
30/12/09 Trade Arabia, UAE

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Policy on ground handling being deferred again

Mumbai: The civil aviation ministry is set to defer the implementation of a new ground handling policy for the third time in a row. The policy, which has been opposed by domestic private airlines, was to come into force from 1 January.
Approved by Parliament on 1 February 2007, the policy seeks to bar private carriers such as Jet Airways (India) Ltd and Kingfisher Airlines Ltd from ground handling at the six metro airports.
It envisages ground handling only by subsidiaries of Air India, airport operators and service providers, selected through competitive bidding at the airports of Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Kolkata.
“The implementation of the new ground-handling policy would be deferred for now. We will review the policy after inter-ministerial consultations shortly,” civil aviation minister Praful Patel told Mint on Monday. “Private airlines will continue to do self-handling at metro airports.”
Loss-making Indian private airlines have been lobbying hard against the policy out of concern that at least 10,000 employees will become jobless and retrenching them would not be an easy option. They would also need to spend three times more if the government implements the policy.
Dedicated ground-handling companies have been keenly waiting for the change in policy to grab the business, worth an annual Rs2,000 crore.
Air India, one of the leading ground-handling companies in the country, is carrying out its ground operations through a subsidiary, Air Transport Services Ltd, and earns around Rs1,000 crore a year.
Ground handling includes general administration, baggage, freight and mail handling, loading and unloading of aircraft and transport of crew, passengers and baggage, fuel and oil handling and catering services.
The Federation of Indian Airlines, or FIA, has been fighting against the proposed new policy on behalf of Jet Airways, Kingfisher Airlines, SpiceJet Ltd, Go Airlines (India) Pvt. Ltd (GoAir), Paramount Airways Ltd and InterGlobe Aviation Ltd (IndiGo).
30/12/09 P.R. Sanjai/Live Mint

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Ground handling status quo

New Delhi: The cabinet committee on security today put on hold a new ground handling policy in airports that was to be brought in from the New Year as it feared job losses.
It also decided to tweak the policy, which will now take effect from 2011, by allowing airlines to handle baggage within a terminal building.
The Congress-led government had earlier decided to limit the number of ground handling agencies to three per airport. The decision to limit ground handlers, taken at the insistence of the home ministry, was meant to limit the number of people in the tarmac side of an airport, which is the area where planes land and park.
Under the new rules, airlines will handle cargo on the terminal side, but on the tarmac there will only be three ground handling agencies.
However, airlines under the Federation of Indian Airlines complained that this would lead to job losses.
Officials said over 50,000 people employed by foreign and domestic airlines at the Delhi, Mumbai, Calcutta, Chennai, Bangalore and Hyderabad airports risked losing their jobs.
Air India unions, representing 20,000 ground handlers, had also threatened to go on strike to oppose the government’s decision to set up a ground handling joint venture between Air India and Singapore Airport Terminal Services.
30/12/09 Jayanta Roy Chowdhury/The Telegraph

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Nagpur set to become first multimodal air cargo hub

New Delhi: Nagpur appears set to become the country’s first multimodal air cargo or express delivery services (EDS) hub. The new Nagpur airport project is expected to be completed by 2010 and targets to serve 14 million passengers and handle 0.87 million tonnes of cargo.
The decision to build the multimodal cargo airport in Nagpur was taken four years ago. For, the absence of a cargo airport was coming in the way of realising the full potential of cargo traffic growth in India. However, the Planning Commission’s recent study of the integrated logistics sector pointed out that Delhi was better suited to be developed as a hub than Nagpur. This put a question mark on this Rs. 3-billion project of the Maharashtra government and the Maharashtra Airport Development Company Ltd. (MADC). But the study findings cut no ice with the government.
According to plans, the Nagpur airport will have a captive power plant and a road terminal on 60 hectares with parking space for 1,000 trucks. There are likely to be 14 godowns in addition to the space dedicated to private players for developing their own warehousing facilities. The airport is centrally located and well connected by road, air and rail. India Post has shifted its hub to Nagpur, while some Indian freight forwarders have already established their presence in the city.
30/12/09 The Hindu

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Minister late, not allowed to board plane

New Delhi: Chaos ensued at IGI on Tuesday after Union minister of trade and commerce Anand Sharma reportedly arrived late and was not permitted to board the aircraft.
According to airport officials, Sharma was headed to Goa on Spicejet 257, which departs around 5.30pm. But by the time he got to the airport, the doors of the aircraft had been closed. He tried hard to gain entry into the aircraft and even entered into an argument with airline staff at the terminal.
Sharma then was forced to wait at the airport for a few hours before he left for Mumbai on IC 810 around 8pm.
30/12/09 Times of India

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India's airport security being beefed up

New Delhi: Days after an attempted attack on board a Detroit-bound American plane, security at Indian airports is being beefed up with the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) deciding to have a re-look at the present systems and regulations.
In view of the failed attempt to blow up the Northwest Airlines plane, "we are having a re-look at the entire gamut of security systems which are already in place," official sources told PTI.
International airports from South Korea to Paris have ramped up security leading to long queues and inconvenience to passengers, mostly holiday travellers.
Airlines managed to keep the disruptions and delays to a minimum though, by giving many travellers advance warning of the new security measures.
Carriers in the US and Europe were asking passengers to carry only one hand baggage and arrive at airports early for additional security checks.
30/12/09 Press Trust Of India/IBN Live

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AI to acquire 3 new mid-sized aircraft to get services to Mysore

Mysore: As stakeholders are batting for commercial launch of Mysore airport, there is good news.
Air India has proposed to acquire three mid-sized aircraft for operations in southern states. In what has come as a boost to Mysores operation, Air India is headed by Arvind Jadhav, a Karnataka cadre IAS officer, who, before taking up assignment in the Union civil aviation ministry, was principal secretary in the infrastructure development department in Karnataka. He was overseeing development of the airport. Also, he has visited the facility many times.
When Mysore MP H Vishwanath contacted Jadhav, the latter confirmed that the airline will acquire three new mid-sized aircraft.
Vishwanath also approached civil aviation minister Praful Patel and sought his intervention to get air services to Mysore.
Non-availability of ATR-type mid-sized aircraft with Air India is a hindrance for air operations in South India, which Vishwanath realized at a meeting on December 17. The meeting was held to discuss the commercial launch of Mandakalli airport.
29/12/09 H M Aravind/Times of India

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Pilot leave grounds AI's Gulf fliers

Thiruvananthapuram: Over 5,000 Gulf passengers from Kerala have been stranded after Air India ( AI) cancelled 28 of its flights from Kozhikode, a district in the northern part of the state.
The carrier is facing a temporary staff crunch with many of its pilots and cabin- crew, flying in the Kozhikode- Gulf sector, going on leave.
Even on Tuesday, the carrier announced the cancellation of its Dubai, Sharjah and Abu Dhabi flights.
With this, the number of flights cancelled by AI and its subsidiary Air India Express during the past eight days has gone up to 28.
A source in the company said, " Some pilots and cabin crew had applied for leave at least four months in advance.
They went on leave when there was no communication from the management." For those stranded, there cannot be a worse end to their holidays. Some even fear dismissal for not resuming office on the scheduled date.
As several flights were cancelled in the eleventh hour, AI failed to inform the passengers in advance. These days, heated arguments between stranded passengers and the airline officials are a common sight.
To add to the passengers' woes, AI officials have not been able to inform them about their next date of travel.
The passengers also alleged that AI staff at the airport never answered their phone calls.
In a week, AI and Air India Express jointly operate 89 flights from Kozhikode to various Gulf destinations. Most of the cancelled flights were scheduled for Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Sharjah, Muscat, Doha and Bahrain.
30/12/09 Mail Today/India Today

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FBI yet to make headway in Indian Airlines hijack case

New Delhi: Success seems to be eluding the US' Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in the hijacking of the Indian Airlines plane in 1999 as even after a decade the American probe agency has not been able to chargesheet any accused who are roaming freely in Pakistan.
Moreover, the FBI, which entered into cooperation with the CBI in 1999 to jointly crack the case, did not hand over a single document collected by American forces from a Kandahar house despite repeated reminders by the Indian probe agency, official sources said.
29/12/09 Press Trust of India

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Flights delayed due to fog at IGI

New Delhi: Dense fog enveloped the airport here on Wednesday morning delaying over half a dozen domestic flights.
Seven morning flights to Amritsar, Mumbai, Leh, Chandigarh, Pune and Patna were delayed by upto one hour as the visibility at the runway dropped to 100 metres, airport sources said.
“The runway visibility hovered between 200 to 350 metres at around 8 am, leading to implementation of CAT-III instrument landing system,” Director of the Indira Gandhi International Airport MeT department R K Jenamani said.
The general visibility at the airport was recorded at 150 metres while the runway visibility of main runway (28/10) dipped to a low of 600 metres.
Unlike last year, Delhi has not experienced any major flight disruption or diversion due to dense fog this time around.
Over 1,000 flights were delayed last season despite two CAT-III B compliant runways at the Delhi airport.
30/12/09 PTI/The Hindu

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Bag, items missing on flight

A family flying from New York to Calcutta on Air India alleged that clothes and a few other items were missing from one of their six bags that arrived several days late. The family was carrying one more bag which is yet to be traced.
Another family flying the same airline on the route also alleged that their baggage had arrived late.
Bidyut Ghosh, a scientist with Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, US, had arrived in the city with his family on December 25.
“We were carrying seven bags but were told that none arrived. The airline tracked down the baggage and handed it over to me at the airport on Monday. But on returning home to Phoolbagan, we found that the lock of a bag was broken. Clothes and some other items inside were missing. Besides, we are yet to get one more piece of the luggage,” said Ghosh.
The other family arrived in the city on December 19. “After landing at Calcutta we were told that not one of our eight bags had arrived,” said Kalidas Paul, who has put up in a hotel in the city. “One of the bags contained my medicines,” added Paul, a cardiac patient. The family members said they repeatedly tried to approach the claims department of the airline but the calls went unanswered.
30/12/09 The Telegraph

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Open-door scare forces AI plane to land

New Delhi: On Sunday, an A-310 flight AI 349 from Delhi to Mumbai took off from IGI Airport at about 9.45am. According to sources, when it was about 70-80 miles away from the capital, the pilot contacted the air traffic control, asking for an emergency landing as there was a possibility that one of the cabin doors had not been shut properly during take-off. "A full emergency was declared at 9.50am and the aircraft landed on the main runway shortly after 10am. Within 10 minutes, it was parked in one of the bays and by 10.13am, the emergency was lifted and normal operations commenced at the airport," said airport sources.
An airline official said: "...As a precautionary measure, the pilot decided to land the flight back at Delhi. There was no emergency landing and only a precautionary landing was made. On landing, the aircraft was checked by engineers and it turned out to be a false alarm. The flight took off again half an hour later with all passengers safe."
However, sources said that unless there was an actual problem, the pilot would have decided to continue with the flight since it is easy to detect a false alarm. "One sure shot indicator of an open door is that cabin pressure starts changing. If the alarm was false, the pilot should have known by looking at the pressure gauge and would have continued towards the destination. It is difficult to prove if the alarm was false or not but no pilot would have chosen to return unless he felt there was a serious problem," said sources.
29/12/09 Neha Lalchandani/Times of India

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Pay retirement benefits to AAI workers, DIAL and MIAL told

New Delhi: Cracking the whip on private airport operators of the Delhi and Mumbai airports, the ministry of civil aviation has issued an order recently, asking them to pay Rs 460 crore to the Airports Authority of India as the retirement benefits of the authority’s nearly 900 employees — who weren’t absorbed by these airports — by March 31, 2010.
The GMR Infrastructure-led consortium that runs Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL) and the GVK Infrastructure and Power-led consortium that runs Mumbai International Airport Limited (MIAL) had been dilly-dallying making these payments, which they had previously agreed to in accordance with their contractual obligations under the Operations, Maintenance and Development Agreement signed with AAI in 2006.
As per the agreement signed between these two private airports and the AAI separately, each was to absorb 60 per cent of the total AAI workforce deployed within three years, failing which they were to cough up the retirement benefits for the remaining. Of the total 2,400 AAI employees who were to be absorbed by these two airports, 1,500 have conceded. The remaining 900 — around 600 at the Mumbai Airport and around 300 at the Delhi airport — are still on AAI’s rolls, forcing the authority to explore the option of transferring these employees elsewhere or offering them a lucrative voluntary retirement scheme.
29/12/09 Smita Aggarwal/Indian Express

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More security checks for US-bound flyers

Mumbai: Passengers boarding their flights for the US from India should be prepared to undergo heightened scrutiny and security checks at all international airports in the country, including Mumbai. After a terror attack attempt was foiled in the USA, security officials in India received detailed manuals of the checks to be conducted on US-bound flights.
The security officials became more alert after a suspected Nigerian Al-Qaida operative tried to blow up a US plane going from Amsterdam to Detroit by lighting an incendiary device in air. He was overpowered by passengers who staved off what could have been a devastating terror attack. Apart from the usual setup checks, the passengers hand baggage will be manually checked by security agencies. Airlines operating to the USA have been asked to conduct a ladder point check on all passengers boarding aircraft.
This would mean that apart from the frisking done within the terminal building, the passengers will also be frisked just before boarding. These checks were already being conducted by USA-based airlines after the 9/11 terror attack. But now even India-based carriers have been asked to follow the same procedure on a mandatory basis, said a senior security official.
29/12/09 Chinmayi Shalya/Times of India

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Airports put on maximum alert

New Delhi: In the wake of Friday’s bid by a Nigerian to blow up a Detroit-bound Northwest Airlines flight and due to the holiday and festival season, all international and domestic airports in India are in a state of “maximum security alert,” according to senior officials of the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), which is responsible for security at all airports.
The state of “maximum alert” was sounded more than a week ago and it has been continuing since then. Extra security measures were in place for U.S.-bound flights. Ladder-point checks of passengers and hand baggage were being done by respective airlines, the officials said.
Officials of the Directorate-General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) said the authorities were keeping a close watch on security and the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) was reviewing the existing measures.
Air India, which operates four daily flights to the U.S. (of which two are direct, non-stop services), was adhering to a strict security schedule.
Jitender Bhargava, who heads the corporate communication wing of the airline, said security regulations at the last point of embarkation were being enforced strictly for all international flights.
“In the case of the U.S. bound flights, the last points of embarkation for direct flights are Delhi and Mumbai and for other flights it is Frankfurt. All security regulations are being strictly enforced by us. We have additional personnel dedicated to security duties and stringent regulations. We not only manage our own security but also provide service to other carriers,” Mr. Bhargava told The Hindu here on Monday.
Curbs overseas
29/12/09 Vinay Kumar/The Hindu

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Air India stews passengers for hours in flight minus AC

Mumbai: For the second time in a week, Air India (AI) passengers had to spend hours locked up in a plane as their Mumbai-Hong Kong flight landed back in Mumbai within 45 minutes of takeoff. The aircraft came back due to a technical problem on Saturday evening and finally took off after five hours on Sunday. In a similar incident on December 21, nearly 180 passengers on AI's Mumbai-Chennai flight had to remain in the plane for more than an hour without air-conditioning. But Air India said the flight got delayed due to an alleged brawl between the crew and passengers.
On Saturday (December 26), Bharat Shah (name changed) was to travel by AI's 7pm Mumbai-Hong Kong flight. "The flight took off but came back after 45 minutes as there was some technical problem in the aircraft," says Shah. "After we landed at Mumbai, the crew refused to tell us what the status was and when we were to leave for Hong Kong."
The passengers said the plane's air-conditioning was turned off after its landing and they started feeling breathlessness. "Rather than addressing us, the crew started fighting among themselves. They told us that though their flight duty time limit (FDTL) was over, they were on board because of us!" a passenger said.
The passengers were made to remain in the plane till 11pm. "We sat in the plane for three hours. We requested the crew to deplane us, but they said they could not as they did not have adequate buses to ferry us to the terminal," Shah said. The passengers were deplaned and taken to the transit lounge after 11 pm. Only at 2am was the problem in the aircraft rectified, and the flight took off for Hong Kong.
29/12/09 Naveeta Singh/Daily News & Analysis

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Second-largest terminal after Beijing set to wow the world

New Delhi: The state-of-the-art integrated terminal, called T3, of Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) in New Delhi is poised to be the world’s second-largest, after Beijing in China, in terms of size. Once T3 starts operations before the 2010 Commonwealth Games in October, IGIA will become the world’s sixth-largest in terms of capacity. T3 would increase the capacity of IGIA to 60 million passengers annually, from 23 million after it starts commercial operation in July next year. The airport is expected to increase capacity to 100 million passengers by 2030 depending on traffic growth.
The terminal, built at a cost of Rs 8,996 crore, has four boarding piers with 48 boarding gates and 78 aerobridges, which is the highest for a terminal of its size. Three aerobridges would cater exclusively to Airbus 380 aircraft.
T3 also has many firsts to its credit. It would have 89 travelators, eight of which would be inclined — a first-of-its-kind in India. The 118-metre travelator would be the longest in Asia. The terminal would also have 63 elevators and 31 escalators. The airport is being built by Delhi International Airport Ltd (DIAL), a consortium led by Bangalore-headquartered GMR, comprising Airports Authority of India, Malaysian Airport and Frankfurt Airport.The terminal has an eight-storied main building housing 168 check-in areas and 90 immigration counters. The other floors would have a 60-room hotel, lounge exclusively for industrialists, airline offices, floor for baggage handling and two arrival-departure floors. The airport would also boast an advanced five-level secure in-line baggage handling system with latest security systems.
29/12/09 Mihir Mishra/Business Standard

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Fifth largest airport ready for July take-off

New Delhi: The new integrated airport terminal is just three months away from completion. In the first week of July, after three months of extensive trials, it will finally be thrown open to passengers. Times City gives you a sneak peek into what is in store for us when the fifth largest airport in the world becomes operational in the capital.
The under-construction terminal, meant to accommodate 34 million passengers annually, is a hub of frenetic activity as labourers and officials are struggling against a tough deadline to complete the work. The first thing that captures your attention is the sheer size of the building.
Compared to the older terminal buildings, the new terminal is spacious, modern and, thanks to the generous use of glass, brilliantly lit. A walk through the building might take your the entire day. Spread across 5.2 lakh sq m, each pier to which the 78 boarding bridges have been connected is 1.2 km long.
A whopping 22,000 workmen are working here round the clock. ‘‘We were set back by three months during a problem with the workers earlier this year. Had things been on track, we would not have needed more than 10,000 workers. However, since we have no option but to finish work on at least the entire passenger area by March 31, we have had to increase the manpower. At present, about 85% of the work has been completed,’’ said I Prabhakar Rao, CEO (airport development), DIAL.
‘‘By the first week of July, all airlines will start moving in. This will also mean maximum utilisation of the new runway as it will take barely a few minutes for an aircraft to taxi to the terminal after landing on runway 29/11,’’ said officials.
29/12/09 Neha Lalchandani/Economic Times

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Upcoming terminal at IGI to be disabled friendly

New Delhi: Delhi airport’s upcoming integrated Terminal 3 will offer barrier-free movement to all passengers, including those with special needs and reduced mobility.
The new terminal, which will cater to both international and domestic flights, is expected to open by July 2010.
The private airport operator Delhi International Airport Ltd. (DIAL) said while many measures were taken at the existing terminals to make them disabled friendly, the upcoming terminal would be much better.
“The design of the terminal has been made keeping in mind these requirements that are reflected in the way the flow of passengers is laid out,” said a DIAL spokesman. “The terminal itself is barrier-free and in fact there are no level changes at all for passengers flying out of Delhi.”
“Most Indian airports have provisions for the disabled but not of the right standards. At some airports such as Port Blair, special toilets meant for the disabled are kept locked,” said Anjali Agarwal of Samarthya, an NGO that promotes a barrier-free environment for disabled people “Delhi Airport is much better, compared to some other airports but some issues like slippery floors and lack of signages could be looked into.”
DIAL said that the upcoming terminal would not leave any room for complaints.
28/12/09 Sidhartha Roy/Hindustan Times

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New terminal for domestic flights at Bhubaneswar

Bhubaneswar: Work on construction of a terminal for domestic flights would be started soon in the Biju Patnaik airport here. Chairman of the Airports Authority of India (AAI) VK Agrawal informed this to Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik here today.
Agrawal met the Chief Minister at the Secretariat here today and discussed the upgradation of the Biju Patnaik airport into an international airport and development of the existing airstrips at several places to enable flights to land.
Naveen assured Agrawal all cooperation from the State Government for development of the airport here. Agrawal said that Rs 150 crore would be spent for construction of the new terminal at the airport.
Agrawal said that the AAI had started upgradation of the Jharsuguda airport to felicitate landing of domestic flights as per the demand of the State Government. This will help in making Jharsuguda more accessible and help the industrialisation of the belt further.The Jharsuguda airport has a runway of 6,000 feet which is sufficient for landing of domestic flights.
29/12/09 ExpressBuzz

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Decade after hijack, it’s still a chilling birthday gift

Chandigarh: It is an autographed birthday gift which still makes Pooja Kataria shiver at the thought of having been aboard the hijacked IC-814, but takes centre stage in her living room.
The beautiful Kashmiri Pashmina shawl was given to her by none other than one of the terrorists who seized the Indian Airlines plane in December 1999 from Kathmandu and commandeered it to Kandahar in Afghanistan. Ms. Kataria, newly-wed, was returning from Kathmandu and coincidentally, her birthday fell during the week the hijack drama continued. Ms. Kataria still has vivid memories of her cutting an apple, with the hijackers singing birthday wishes.
29/12/09 PTI/The Hindu

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AI plane hit by stone, Jet blast to blame

New Delhi: On Sunday evening, an Air India A-321aircraft was damaged when, during a jet blast from a Jet Airways flight in front of it, a 'foreign object' from the ground hit its windshield. The flight, carrying 162 passengers, had to return to the parking bay where passengers were made to board another aircraft.
The flight — Delhi-Mumbai IC 683 — was in line for take-off at the taxiing bay around 5pm when the pilot of Jet Airways flight 9W 334 from Delhi to Mumbai applied throttle. The ensuing blast from the engine was so powerful that some foreign material, stones and dust flung onto and cracked the windshield of the Air India aircraft.
"With the aircraft damaged, there was no way we could have operated it. It was turned back to the bay and passengers were made to disembark. Later, we arranged for another aircraft which flew the passengers to Mumbai. Instead of its scheduled departure at 5pm, the flight finally took off at 7.30pm," said an Air India official.
According to sources, the taxiway where the incident occurred was cluttered with small stones and other construction material due to ongoing work at taxiway Echo.
While Jet Airways did not officially comment on the issue, sources said the maintenance of the airside was in a highly poor condition and the accident could have been avoided had the taxiway been clear.
28/12/09 Neha Lalchandani/Times of India

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India denies entry to Sri Lankan Tamil MP

Colombo: Indian authorities have denied permission for Sri Lanka Tamil national Alliance parliamentarian and presidential candidate M.K. Sivajilingam to enter the country.
According to Indian media reports Sivajilingam has come to Chennai from London via Dubai. The Indian immigration officials have detained him at the airport and sent him back to without allowing him to enter the country.
Immigration officials clarified that the Tamil MP was not deported but denied an entry visa. The order to detain him and send him back has come from the central government, the officials said.
Sivajilingam, the Tamil National Alliance parliamentarian from Jaffna is contesting Sri Lanka presidential election as an independent candidate. He was an ardent supporter of the vanquished terrorist outfit of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).
During the height of the war, Sivajilingam was in Chennai after taking leave of absence from the Sri Lanka parliament in October 2008. In December 2008, Indian government ordered Sivajilingam to voluntarily leave India or face deportation due to his controversial political conduct.
28/12/09 ColomboPage, Sri Lanka

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Did cost-cutting by AI lead to security breach?

New Delhi It was a cost-cutting exercise that seems to have gone horribly wrong for the cash-strapped Air India. Each year during Haj season, the airline used to send some of its security personnel from India to Medina for ensuring safe operations. Among other things, this team would maintain a register of ground handlers going inside aircraft for maintenance work and tick off their names as they came out.
However, for the first time this year AI awarded a comprehensive ground handling contract at Medina airport which included providing security also. And for the first time ever, AI also witnessed a maintenance worker hiding himself in the aircraft toilet and flying as a stowaway to Jaipur last Friday.
An AI spokesperson, on his part, said the stowaway incident could not be linked to the new arrangement this year. "This time we gave a comprehensive contract that includes security. But it is mere conjecture to presume that not posting India-based security officers there in any way compromises security." The airline has, as in past years, sent the complete commercial team for handling Haj flights from Medina but only excluded security officials this time.
Unlike other international airports where AI operates regular flights and has a complete security setup, Medina sees special Haj flights for only a few weeks every year. Hence, security personnel were sent from India to the holy city for this period only as this is a vital sovereign function of the state.

Airline insiders are unhappy at the decision to outsource security service operations, something that has always been supervised by Indian government officials (AI employees) at Medina. "The loss of reputation caused by this stowaway incident cannot be measured in terms of cost saving done by the decision of not sending security officers to Medina. That airport, to say the least, is extremely crowded at Haj time with millions of pilgrims leaving simultaneously. So having our own personnel there meant greater comfort level in terms of security. The Gulf has always been full of unhappy and exploited Indian workers but they could never manage to fly back home like this," said sources.
28/12/09 Saurabh Sinha/Times of India

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Aviation panel notice to Medina airport

New Delhi: The Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) has sought a report from Medina airport authorities on Air India’s stowaway case which saw a ground staffer, Habib Hussain, hiding himself in a plane’s toilet and flying to Jaipur last Friday.
Air India, under fire for this breach, has also asked its ground handling agency there to explain how their employee stayed back on the aircraft.
‘‘The incident happened at Medina airport and we’ll need a report from there apart from our own internal probe. Local laws of the land will apply. But, the matter concerns the security of an Indian carrier, we are pursuing it very seriously and will make changes if needed,’’ said a senior official. A specific pre-flight check standard operating procedure may be framed following this incident, said sources.
While all agencies are unanimous that AI cabin crew should have been more watchful and noticed the person hiding in toilet, Indian aviation authorities claimed they have adequate checks in place that such a thing does not happen here.
AI on Sunday defended the captain’s decision to fly. ‘‘The commander decided to continue the flight to its destination after satisfying himself that there was no security threat to aircraft or the passengers,’’ an AI statement said.
28/12/09 Economic Times

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Extra security for US-bound planes

Mumbai: Following the foiled Detroit terror attack on the Norwest Airlines flight, airlines have stepped up security for US-bound flights on advice of the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
On Saturday, a Nigerian tried to detonate an explosive device onboard Norwest Airlines flight 253 but failed. The flight was bound for Detroit from Amsterdam carrying 278 passengers, all of whom are safe.
Saroj Datta of Jet Airways, said his airline has already started implementing instructions issued by the US authorities. "We are putting additional security measures in place," he said.
Jet operates two flights daily to two US airports -- JFK and Newark. State-owned Air India, which has four daily flights to the US, has also tightened passenger and luggage screening procedures to conform to the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security and the upgraded US government security rules.
What would the heightened security mean for travelers? Stringent screening of baggage and security checks at several points by airports and airlines. An official from the Transport Security Administration (TSA), US government body, told DNA that the DHS has asked airlines to carry out more random checks and secondary screenings.
Mumbai International Airport Ltd (MIAL), on a tip-off from the Intelligence Bureau (IB), had increased security at Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport. So the Detroit terror has not drastically changed security procedures being followed at the Mumbai airport.
Even the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) said they were already prepared to meet any eventuality and have not pressed the panic button.
27/12/09 Daily News & Analysis

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Suspected airline terrorist to force delays and added security at airports

If you thought some day soon you might be able to board an airliner without taking off your shoes while going through security: Forgetaboutit! Umar Farouk Abdul Mutallab of Nigeria has seen to that. He's the man now charged after an attempt to mix explosives to blow up a Delta/Northwest jet flying from Amsterdam to Detroit Christmas Day. Subdued by passengers he is now in FBI custody. In what has been a fast moving story the suspect claims he was doing it on behalf of the terrorist group Al Qaeda.
While Abdul Mutallab was not successful in his attempt, reaction to the "terrorist," attack as it is being called by US government officials, was swift as was reaction by some airlines. Powders will come under closer scrutiny since the explosive he used was a powdery substance. Canada was the first to announce new rules saying all passengers must remain in their seats for one hour before landing on flights entering the US. Security was immediately increased at all US airports by order of the White House and probes began in London where the suspect studied, and in Yemen where it is believed he obtained the explosives.
Additional immediate changes include the TSA being instructed to include body pat downs of all passengers flying into the United States. Homeland Security chief Janet Napolatano said Americans should expect increased security checks as the days unfold. Longer lines are expected as well.
KNX Newsman Charles Feldman, an aviation expert, said security does differ from country to country from what he's seen just recently.
"When I left Thailand recently the security check was very extensive but when I flew out of Rio it seemed almost non-existent by comparison," Feldman told this reporter. "They didn't even ask me to take out my laptop and I volunteered to do so."
Sriram is a native of India but a naturalized US citizen. He flies internationally and domestically often on business and said he has not seen much difference in checks in the US compared to Asia. He said laptops in China or Hong Kong always comes out for inspection. The incident is certainly bound to lead to not only increased security but probably profiling, whether intentional or not. As far as profiling goes?
Between convicted shoe bomber Richard Reid and suspected Nigerian bomber Abdul-Mutallab, the issue of profiling itself may change very quickly. While most everyone is a suspect it is likely security examiners will more closely keep an eye on certain individuals who might fit a profile over the general public.
26/12/09 Bob Brill/LA International Affairs Examiner, USA

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Man hides in toilet on Haj flight to India

Jaipur/New Delhi: In a serious security lapse that revived concerns about counter-terrorism security measures, a stowaway on an Air India flight hid in the plane's toilet to fly to India. The lapse occurred on a special Haj flight operated by AI on the Medina-Jaipur sector on Friday, with 273 passengers on board.
Habib Hussain, a 26-year-old from Moradabad, had gone to Saudi Arabia six months ago and was employed as a loader by an agency providing services at Medina Airport. Habib went aboard for maintenance work in the Airbus A-330's loo and reportedly locked himself in there. Eyewitnesses say he was detected 45 minutes after takeoff when he walked out and sat on a vacant seat. He easily stood out among the Haj pilgrims because he had his overalls on.
However, other sources said an airhostess reported to the chief purser that a toilet was locked for a very long time. "The cabin crew can open a toilet door from outside in case of an emergency like someone fainting inside or simply not knowing how to unlock. Once the door was opened, the stowaway was discovered," the source said.
Habib's story has sent alarm bells ringing in security circles as it has exposed how easy it is for someone to smuggle himself on board. Police say it was "criminal negligence" on the part of the flight crew which led to the incident. The negligence was such that the red-light above the toilet door, which is on when it is occupied, went unnoticed. "It must have been on even before the flight took off," SP (East) Biju G Joseph said.
AI did not accept a security breach theory. "Only authorized personnel enter an aircraft for maintenance after clearing security checks in the sterile airport zone. Pilots announce before takeoff that all ground personnel must deplane. There is no practice of checking toilets or under seats to look for hidden passengers. The boarding card stub taken from passengers at the aircraft ladder is used to do a headcount with people seated inside. This is what airlines do," said AI spokesman Jitendra Bhargava.
The crew alerted Jaipur Airport Authority and handed him over to the CISF and immigration officials soon after the plane landed at 9.45pm. The local police were informed around 2 am on Saturday.
Police plan to take action against Habib as well as Air India officials.
27/12/09 Nitesh Sharma & Saurabh Sinha/Times of India

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Festive Plans Go Awry - Air India’s Christmas Shocker for Gulf Passengers

Mangalore: For many of Gulf-bound passengers this Christmas, Air India Express turned into festive spirit dampener when their flights failed to take-off on scheduled time.
Several flights bound to Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Muscat, and Kuwait were either cancelled or delayed for hours and the result unbelievable inconvenience faced by the passengers. The chaos witnessed at Mangalore Airport was one of the worst in the recent times.
Several passengers were very expressive of their dissent that the Air India officials were rendered helpless as far as effectively managing the irked passengers or in calming their nerves were concerned. Many passengers, who were successful in getting a ticket during the Christmas paying thrice the amount lost their temper and gave the local staff their piece of mind, while few other passengers were seen pleading other airlines to start a direct service in order to avoid Air India Express in the future. Certainly, the officials here had to pay the price for irresponsible attitude of top officials in Mumbai.
On December 24, 2009 Dubai-bound flight was delayed for good 24-hours, finally taking off only on the next day. But passengers waiting to reach other destinations were in for greater shock with flights either being rescheduled or cancelled at the last moment even on the day of Christmas.
The efforts were made by Air India local staff to accommodate Dubai passengers in the night flight, and some of them were sent through Indian Airlines via Mumbai. The unprofessional approach and plans going awry resulted in greater trouble for the passengers for many of flight commandants had gone on Christmas leaves, especially the commandants of foreign origin who were away on at least a weeklong holiday from December 24 onwards.
26/12/09 Daijiworld.com

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AAI paying 600 staffers in Mumbai for no work

New Delhi: There are 600 employees of the Airports Authority of India (AAI) in Mumbai who draw their pay with no work to do.
They were associated with Mumbai Airport prior to its privatisation three years earlier. When the airport was handed from AAI to Mumbai International Airports Ltd (MIAL), the private operator, there were 2,500 employees. MIAL was to give an offer to 60 per cent of them to join it; only 200 accepted.
AAI was to get the rest redeployed over the next three years. That period ended in May this year. Some employees opted for voluntary retirement. Some others were transferred to airports at Pune, Goa and Aurangabad. But 600 still remain. They report to the AAI in Mumbai and draw a salary, but have no work.
AAI authorities said the problem was pressure from a “regional political party”, which has insisted those who don’t wish to go out of Mumbai can’t be removed against their will. However, they said, the process is on, and the size of the problem had gradually lessened, with time.
26/12/09 Mihir Mishra/Business Standard

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IGI Airport's new terminal gets ready for world's largest airliner

New Delhi: IGI Airport's new terminal T3 is being equipped to handle Airbus A-380, the world's largest commercial carrier which can carry 555 passengers. At the moment, only Hyderabad airport is equipped to handle the aircraft.
But none of the five international carriers that own the aircraft — Air France, Singapore Airlines, Emirates, Quantas and Lufthansa — operate it in India.
The A-380 has been designed to carry a maximum of 840 passengers, though most airlines have opted for a configuration that allows the plane to carry 555 passengers. A Boeing 747-400, the second largest passenger carrier, can carry 416 passengers.
The A-380 has a wingspan of 79.8m and is 73m long from nose to tail. Maximum take-off weight is more than 5.40 crore kg. The aircraft has a double deck configuration for passengers and another lower deck for cargo.
Terminal T3 will have nine dedicated contact parking stands with aerobridges — six at the international terminal and three at the domestic terminal — and three remote stands without aerobridges — two at the international apron and one at the domestic apron — to serve the aircraft. Dedicated A-380 gates have also been put up to cater to the large passenger flow to and from the aircraft. In the arrival section, of the 12 baggage belts, five will be wide baggage belts to clear luggage from each flight.
26/12/09 Neha Lalchandani/Times of India

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ATF is more expensive at Indian airports

Mumbai: A recent analysis by industry body Assocham reveals that aviation turbine fuel (ATF) prices at Indian airports is much higher, compared with eleven other international airports across Asia, Europe and North America as on July 2009.
In India, ATF is priced lowest at the Hyderabad airport. Yet, it is 46% higher than Kuala Lumpur, where ATF is priced at Rs 22,800 per kilolitre. ATF, which is priced highest at Kolkata, is almost twice as expensive as that in Kuala Lumpur.
While the prices of ATF range between Rs 23,000- 26,000 at international airports, in India the cost is anything between Rs 34,000 -Rs 47,000 per kilolitre at Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore and Kolkata airports. The airports with which comparisons are drawn in the study are Bangkok, Dubai, Hong Kong, Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur, Seoul, Singapore, Tokyo, London, Paris and New York.
Assocham president, Swati Piramal has taken up the case and has written to the government that the sustainability of the airline industry would be severely eroded if it is not recognised as a ‘core industry’, which will ultimately lower taxes to 4%on ATF across India. Currently, taxes on ATF range from from a mere 4% in Andhra Pradesh to over 30% in several other states.
26/12/09 Financial Express

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Rule rein on tarmac traffic

Calcutta: Flights and fliers are at risk at the city airport with too many vehicles plying on the tarmac and rules being flouted regularly.
Congestion on parking bays, taxiways and in adjoining areas, which comprise the tarmac along with the runways, coupled with rash driving have prompted the directorate general of civil aviation (DGCA) to direct the airlines to impose restrictions on vehicles.
The decision was taken at a meeting between A.K. Chopra, the joint director-general of civil aviation, Delhi, and representatives of the airlines and the Airports Authority of India in the city last week. “Several measures have been prescribed to the airlines to reduce hazards on the tarmac. The fewest possible vehicles should be allowed in the operational area, speed governors must be installed and those working in the area have to wear fluorescent jackets,” said H.N. Mishra, a senior air safety officer (eastern region) of the DGCA.
Similar measures are in place at the Delhi and Mumbai airports. The airlines operating out of Calcutta have three months to implement the runway rules.
Thirty to 35 vehicles break tarmac traffic rules every month, said an airport official. “The most common violation is crossing the taxiway while an aircraft is on the move.”
26/12/09 The Telegraph

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BIAL will only make some cosmetic changes

Bangalore: According to official sources, the BIAL has refused to make any major changes in the existing airport building to make it look attractive and upgrade the aesthetics to international standard.
“The BIAL has informed the Government that it is not feasible to re-work on the existing design. Nothing much can be done now as far as the look of the building is concerned,” sources said.
Faced with criticism over, among others, poor designing of the airport building, the State Infrastructure Development (ID) department had recently got a new design done from a private consultant firm. The department had directed the BIAL to incorporate changes in the structure as per the new design and to improve the aesthetics.
However, the BIAL replied that it is not feasible. It has only agreed to do landscaping in the vacant plot adjacent to the terminal building and put up replicas showcasing the Karnataka culture.
BIAL is a consortium that includes Siemens Project Ventures, Larsen and Toubro Ltd, India’s largest engineering company, and Unique Zurich Airport, which operates the international airport at Zurich, Switzerland. Airports Authority of India and the Karnataka Government hold 13 per cent equity in the project. An estimated Rs 2,470 crore has been spent on the project.
25/12/09 P M Raghunandan/Deccan Herald

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Six AI Express flights cancelled

Kozhikode: Disruption of Air India Express service from here to Gulf destinations over the last few days has resulted in cancellation of at least six flights today.
Utter confusion prevailed at Karipur international airport here with the Air India Express cancelling flights to Manama, Abu Dhabi, two services each to Sharjah and Muscat while services to other Gulf destinations including Kuwait, Sharjah and Dubai were delayed indefinitely, airport sources said.
The AI Express, which operates several flights to the Gulf region, had recently withdrawn ground handling personnel of a firm after its contract expired without making alternate arrangements resulting in complete disruption of flight schedule over the last few days and cancellation of as many as six flights today to the Gulf sector, the sources said.
25/12/09 Press Trust of India

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Bird hits engine of El Al plane in India

A bird hit the engine of an El Al plane taking off from Mumbai, India towards Tel Aviv on Thursday (Dec 24) night, Ynet has learned. The pilot on flight LY072 decided not to take any chances and turned back. The company stresses that the passengers or plane were not in danger during the incident.
Last week, an El Al plane was involved in a serious safety incident at Ben-Gurion Airport, as it was taking off from the same runway a Lufthansa plane was about to land on. The incident is believed to have been caused by the control tower.
25/12/09 Ynet news.com, Israel

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Pilots forced to skip alcohol test, still end up derostered

New Delhi: Flying on time to ensure passengers are not left stranded abroad and also to save huge financial loss for the airline, cost two Air India (domestic) pilots dear last week. The pilots had to fly an empty Airbus A-330 from Jaipur to Medina to get close to 300 Haj pilgrims back to India. But with no facility for getting pre-flight alcohol test done in Jaipur, they flew out only to find themselves derostered later.
Then on Monday, another crew supposed to operate the same flight from Jaipur to Medina refused to fly as they cited the fate of their colleagues. They first insisted on special permission for breathalyzer exemption to avoid being derostered, and then flew only after getting the exemption. This flight normally operates on the Mumbai-Medina-Jaipur-Mumbai route and does not involve crew change in the Pink City. So pilots are routinely checked for alcohol in Mumbai itself. But last week, the route was changed to Mumbai-Medina-Jaipur-Medina for operational reasons. Another set of crew had to be flown in from Mumbai to operate this flight.
25/12/09 Saurabh Sinha/Times of India

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A decade after IC 814 hijack, India is more prepared

New Delhi: Ten years after the hijacking of Indian Airlines flight IC 814, on its way from Kathmandu to New Delhi, India remains vulnerable to such assaults but key protocols are in place to thwart such incidents, say security experts and strategists.
If circa 1999 exposed the total unpreparedness of both the security and political establishments to resolve swiftly one of the country's most trying crises, a decade later much water has flown under the bridge ensuring that such incidents are unlikely to recur.
In place now is a tough anti-hijack policy that lays down procedures for shooting down a hijacked aircraft, heightened security presence in all airports by the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), sky marshals in flights and a fortified internal security mechanism.
"We have an anti-hijack policy that rules out negotiations with hijackers. What is more important is that we have ironed out the bureaucratic delays during crisis situations. But we still have to be cautious," Minister of State for Railways E Ahamed said.
The Bureau of Civil Aviation Security has prepared an aviation security manual that lists out a three-stage classification process for shooting down a hijacked aircraft.
When India was celebrating its last Christmas eve of the millennium, IC-814 was commandeered by five Pakistani militants and forced to land in three different airports - Amritsar, Lahore, and Dubai - before spending a week on the tarmac in Kandahar with 186 hostages on board.
On New Year's eve, former external affairs minister Jaswant Singh, accompanied three terrorists to Afghanistan, in exchange for the release of the hostages.
In contrast to 1999, when there was a hostile Taliban regime in Kabul, India now enjoys excellent relations with the Hamid Karzai government in Afghanistan having invested $1.2 billion in socio-economic reconstruction.
The CISF that took over the security of airports soon after the Kandahar incident in early 2000 maintains that it is fully geared to prevent such incidents.
24/12/09 Indo-Asian News Service/Hindustan Times

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IC 814: 10 yrs on victim speaks about husband's killing

New Delhi: Ten years ago on this day the IC 814 hijacking took place. An Indian Airlines plane with 174 passengers and 11 crew members onboard was taken over by terrorists and a passenger was brutally killed.
Rupin Katyal, a 27-year-old electronic engineer from Chandigarh and his wife Rachna, had gone to Nepal to spend their honeymoon there. On their way back in the flight Rupin was stabbed to death by the hijackers.
His wife Rachna remained a hostage till the end of the crisis not aware that her husband had been killed. Speaking out for the first time in a television interview with CNN-IBN, she said, “I want to remember the good time. I had no idea that he was stabbed. I don’t know why it happened to me.”
A decade after the stunning hijack, Nepal, whose economy was devastated by the incident, is ready to narrate its own version of the disaster.
From early 2010, Nepali film director Dayaram Dahal is planning to shoot the first Nepali film on the mid-sky drama.
24/12/09 CNN-IBN

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Hijacked IC 814 to be relived in Tamil, Telugu cinema

Actor-turned-director Prakash Raj has just finished the first schedule of his Kannada directorial venture, Naanu Nanna Kanasu but he is already thinking about his next bilingual film to be produced under his own Duet Movies banner.
Pavanam (Journey) will be made in Tamil and Telugu, and star himself. It is budgeted at Rs 11 crores, and is based on the hijacking of Indian Airlines' IC 814 from Nepal to Kandahar.
Radha Mohan, who had directed Mozhi and Abhiyum Naanum, will direct the film.
"I will play the role of a bureaucrat from the Prime Minister's office in Payanam. Radha Mohan did a lot of research while writing the script. I was inspired to make this film after reading the book Flight Into Fear by Captain Devi Sharan," says Prakash Raj.
24/12/09 rediff MOVIES

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Commuters’ body demands action against AI for delay

Passengers of Air India flight IX 206 travelling to Chennai from the city on Monday are seeking compensation for the seven hour-long ordeal and action against the airline staff.
The 180 passengers were made to sit inside an aircraft without air-conditioning for nearly two hours after the plane developed a technical snag. When passengers complained about suffocation, the airline deplaned them calling it ‘unruly behaviour’ and left them stranded in the terminal for five hours without food and water.
On Wednesday, the Air Passenger Association of India (APAI), a body formed by fliers, shot a letter to directorate general of civil aviation (DGCA) seeking compensation and action against the national carrier.
Sudhakar Reddy, national president, APAI. Many aggrieved travellers on the Chennai-bound flight shared their experiences with the passenger body.
Air India spokesperson, Jitendra Bhargava, said on Monday that the flight was suspended because passengers became unruly despite an announcement from the pilot, who said that the air- conditioning would be normal as soon as the aircraft gets airborne.
24/12/09 Sarthak Gupta/TopNews.in

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Air passenger held for carrying unlicensed revolver

Kozhikode: A man was arrested for carrying a revolver along with 10 cartridges in a handbag without valid documents at Karipur airport here today, CISF officials said.
35-year-old K Ashique was held by CISF personnel for carrying a revolver, whose licence was found to have expired in May 2007, as he was about to board an Air India flight to Kochi this morning, they said.
Relatives of the passenger later furnished documents to prove that Ashique had applied for renewing the revolver's licence.
24/12/09 Press Trust of India

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Airlines system vulnerable to hackers at BIAL

With the Bangalore International Airport leaving the wi-fi hotspots unsecured at the airport, a hacker can break into the servers containing your databases and tamper with sensitive information pertaining to flight schedules and passenger details.
Not only that. The e-mail ID of a passeger surfing the net while waiting for his flight can be hacked to send a terror
mail, and he could end up under the scanner of security agencies while the real culprit remains undetected.
Shockingly, the wi-fi access points in a sensitive area like BIA are still vulnerable to hacking, even after the danger facing open and weak wi-fi networks was exposed by Bangalore Mirror three months ago (‘Wi-fi Way to Terror’, Sept 2).
To gauge the threat level facing wi-fi networks that service the international airport, Bangalore Mirror decided to check out the loopholes with the help of the team from www.indiacyberarmy.in (ICA). During the process of ‘war driving’, we found that nearly 90 per cent of all wi-fi networks are based on WEP (wired equivalent privacy) encryption and can be easily hacked into.
“This time, our entire operation lasted 15 minutes and the results were appalling. All we did was to check their security level, and all of them were quite weak, which means anyone with a reasonable knowledge of computers and the internet can easily penetrate the network.
“Just as importantly, almost all the wireless routers (internet access points) belonging to almost all airlines operating through BIA were open,” the moderator of the ICA team said. However, he chose not to elaborate on the weak networks due to security concerns.
23/12/09 Debi Prasad Sarangi/Bangalore Mirror

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America flashes visa virus alert

Washington: The US government has just stopped short of asking its citizens not to visit India in the light of mounting tales of harassment of Americans by immigration officials at airports across the country.
The harassment is the result of severely red faces in the Union home ministry over revelations that not only David Coleman Headley, but Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the mastermind of the 9/11 attacks, also visited India with impunity.
Adding to the pressure on the home ministry to take draconian measures against arriving foreign tourists, those fighting turf battles against North Block have dug up proof showing that Masood Azhar, head of the terrorist outfit Jaish-e-Mohammed, arrived in Delhi on a questionable Portuguese passport in 1994. Waved in by immigration officials, he went on to co-ordinate several terrorist plots on Indian soil.
It is the contention of South Block and others engaged in these turf battles that North Block lost no sleep for as long as 15 years over these gaps in internal security which may have contributed to the planning of the Mumbai attacks last year.
But because immigration officials at Indian airports are now suddenly going to another extreme and treating almost every arriving foreigner as a potential terrorist, the US embassy in New Delhi has issued the following advice to citizens planning trips to India: “American citizens travelling to, or departing from, India are urged to review travel plans in light of these changing procedures.”
23/12/-09 K P Nayar/The Telegraph

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Buddha disrupts flight path at Delhi airport

Delhi: Airline pilots trying to land on a controversial new runway at Delhi's international airport face an unusual hazard in the form of a giant statue of Buddha.
Work has already started on the 16-metre-high (54ft) copper statue on a religious site which lies in the landing funnel area of the flight path about 1km from the end of the runway.
Yesterday craftsmen working on the statue insisted the fault lay with the airport for failing to take the presence of the religious site into consideration when deciding where to build the runway. The man in charge of the site, who declined to give his name, said the statues were important religious symbols.
The 1,000 crore rupee (£133m) runway at Indira Gandhi International airport has been beset by problems since it opened in August last year.
Pilots already have to cope with a 24-metre-high statue of Lord Shiva, one of the most important Hindu gods, which stands, clutching a trident, close to the Buddha site.
Its presence means that only 2.4km of the runway's 4.4km length is available to pilots landing from the east.
Reports in India suggest some pilots are already reluctant to use the runway, with particular concerns raised about flying in the dense fog which frequently descends during the Delhi winter. The fog is said to be more dense around the new runway than around the old main runway, although more pilots are being trained to carry out instrument landings.
Air traffic controllers have complained that it is too far from the tower, and there have been glitches with the ground radar system which enables them to identify what is on the runway.
23/12/09 Gethin Chamberlain/The Guardian.co.uk, UK

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Delhi airport proposes “noise” tax on old aircraft

Frankfurt: The consortium running the Indian capital’s airport proposes a new tax on older aircraft by 2012, especially on those landing late evenings and early mornings, to curb noise pollution and encourage efficient engines, officials said.
“Our plan envisages noise-monitoring and encouraging the use of new generation, low-noise aircraft by tying landing charges to actual noise emission levels,” an official of Delhi International Airport Ltd (DIAL) told IANS.
The official also indicated that the environmental cue would be taken from their joint venture partner, Fraport, that is already implementing a similar programme at Frankfurt airport for the past few years.
“We are committed to active noise abatement measures by taxing carbon dioxide and nitrogen oxide components. This will encourage new generation aircraft to fly to Frankfurt airport,” said Stefan Schulte, chief executive of Fraport.
“Emissions are expected to reduce by 30 percent by 2020,” Schulte, whose company manages the airport here and also holds a 10-percent stake in the airport venture in the Indian capital, told IANS.
Power, realty and infrastructure major GMR has a 54-percent stake in DIAL, the Airports Authority of India holds a 26-percent share and Eraman Malaysia has 10 percent. The Indira Gandhi International Airport handles some 650 aircraft movements daily.
Officials explained that India currently has no noise emission standards at its airports and all rules and regulations needed clearance from a variety of authorities.
These include the Airport Economic Regulatory Authority, the aviation ministry, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation, the Airports Authority of India and the environment ministry.
India’s aviation industry has comparatively higher number of fuel-efficient aircraft, but many of the flying machines from abroad are of vintage descent. Newer aircraft make less noise because they are equipped with quieter engines.
23/12/09 Neelam Mathews/IANS/Thaindian.com, Thailand

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Two days a week, Chennai airport will be closed for 90 min

Chennai: The Airports Authority of India (AAI) has decided to close the secondary runway for ten months, starting January 6, to raise the level of the runway with that of the extended portion across the Adyar river and to build a box-culvert-type bridge across the river. AAI will also extend the 2,035-metre secondary runway by 1,400 metres across the river as part of the expansion plan.
With the airport being able to use only one runway during the period, it will lead to a complete shutdown of the airport for one-and-a-half hours on Tuesdays and Saturdays for three months when maintenance work will take place on the main runway.
"To undertake routine maintenance work, the main runway shall be closed on Tuesday and Saturday between 2.30pm and 4pm on January 9 and it will continue till March 2010", said E P Hareendranathan, who took over as airport director on Monday.
To minimise disruption of aircraft movement, AAI has reduced the closure period of the main runway from two hours a day for three days to one-and-half hours a day for two days.
24/12/09 Times of India

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Secondary runway to be closed for 10 months

Chennai: The secondary runway at the Chennai airport will be closed for 10 months from January 6 next year.
Hareendranathan E.P., who took over on Monday as the new Chennai Airport Director, said the runway would be closed for taking up strengthening works, construction of a bridge across the Adyar river and for the construction of box culverts. As the proposed bridge on the river is at a higher level, re-grading of the existing secondary runway is essential to match the extended portion of the runway, he said.
The main runway would be closed for one and half hours for two days a week to take up routine maintenance work. It would be closed on Tuesdays and Saturdays between 2.30 p.m. and 4 p.m. from January 9 next year till March 2010, he said. On earlier occasions, during the closure of the main runway for maintenance work on three days a week for two hours, the secondary runway was available for smaller aircraft. When the closure of the secondary runway and the main runway for three hours on two days a week comes into effect, no runway would be available at the Chennai airport. A decision in this regard was taken at a meeting in which representatives of airline operators, Air Traffic Controllers and other authorities participated, he said.
24/12/09 P Oppili/The Hindu

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Better Bengaluru airport years away

Bengaluru/New Delhi: Those looking for a more efficient Bengaluru airport may have to wait a few more years for the next phase of expansion to be complete.
The Bengaluru International Airport Ltd (Bial) is a consortium of Siemens, GVK Group, Unique Zurich Airport, Karnataka State Industrial Investment & Development Corporation and Airports Authority of India. Phase-II of the airport was to be commissioned in early 2009, but was postponed as the global aviation business nose-dived.
Phase-II, the construction of which is expected to begin by the second half of 2010, includes a second terminal and a second runway. Its cost was estimated at Rs 3,500 crore (Rs 35 billion) last year, around Rs 1,000 crore (Rs 10 billion) more than that of Phase-I. According to industry analysts, once work begins, the second phase will take three years to conclude.
While Bial maintains it will review the report of the Karnataka Assembly's House Panel and implement its recommendations to the extent possible, Minister for Civil Aviation Praful Patel is more candid: "I accept that the design is a bit faulty. It was worse earlier. So, I got the design modified in 2004 and incorporated Phase-I in the airport construction when I joined as minister. Even after those changes, it is not as good as Hyderabad and other international airports."
He said the airport would be on a par with other airports after Phase-II of the work at the airport was completed.
A Bial spokesperson said the company had "always been forthcoming and transparent in its interactions and information sharing with the committee."
Others entities, which were slammed by the House Panel, refused to comment.
23/12/09 Business Standard/Rediff

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Tech on flights may end delays

New Delhi: There's some hope for fliers fed up of hovering for anywhere up to 90 minutes before landing at Mumbai's choked airport in peak hours.
The Airports Authority of India (AAI) has sought DGCA nod to begin testing a hi-tech procedure that could allow aircraft to land on Mumbai's secondary runway from the obstacle side of Trombay Hill.
The procedure involves using Required Navigation Performance (RNP) to land at the secondary runway (14/32) by bypassing the Trombay Hill. Aircraft having this hi-tech system on board and being flown by specially trained crew will be required to follow a very specific flight path to land on this side of the runway.
The success of this system-which has no room for error of deviating from specified path-is crucial for Mumbai's airport. At present, both the main and secondary runways can be used for take-off with the former being used mainly by international departures and latter by domestic flights.
"But landing happens only on main runway from Kurla side. When there's rush hour for departures, we can have planes leave one after other from both runways. But when there's arrival rush hour, only one runway can be used and that leads to congestion,'' said a top AAI official. The authority has devised procedure for landing on secondary runway from Trombay Hill side and if this works, both runways could be used in peak arrival time and help cut hovering time.
24/12/09 Saurabh Sinha/Times of India

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Nepal pledges better safety in wake of IA hijack trauma

Kathmandu: Recovering from the trauma of the sensational hijack of an Indian Airlines aircraft 10 years ago, Nepal’s civil aviation authorities say they have learnt from the past experience and strengthened security measures at the country’s only international airport.
The hijacking had ended with the brutal killing of a passenger and the release of three Islamic terrorists by India in exchange for the safe release of the remaining passengers.
“We regret the incident 10 years ago,” said Dinesh Prasad Shrestha, general manager at the Tribhuvan International Airport in Kathmandu. “We have learnt from it and today, security measures have been enhanced at the airport to prevent a repetition.”
According to the official, Nepal Police are now entrusted with security measures inside the airport while Nepali Army looks after security on the periphery of the airport.
Security provisions at the former sleepy airport have been beefed up in accordance with the International Civil Aviation Organisation guidelines that include X-raying of baggage at the antry point and body searches of passengers.
For additional security, the airport has also introduced random checks of hand baggage for 50 percent of outgoing passengers while it is enforced for the remaining 50 percent.
In addition, passengers bound for India, Pakistan and the Middle East states are thoroughly examined, which includes their hand baggage.
23/12/09 Sudeshna Sarkar/IANS/Thaindian.com, Thailand

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SRK's airport detention topped the shocker list of 2009

New Delhi: The year 2009 was not so happening for Bollywood with big budget flops and few surprise hits. But the never-ending list of shockers more than made up for the box office drought with 'Badshah of Bollywood' Shahrukh Khan's US airport fiasco taking the top slot.
India was ushering in its 62nd independence year, but the news which flashed across all news channels was the detention of Bollywood superstar at Newark airport which left the actor "angry" and "humiliated".
23/12/09 Press Trust of India

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GVK Power May Buy Siemens’ 40% in Bangalore Airport

GVK Power & Infrastructure Ltd., an Indian builder of airports and power plants, is evaluating an option to purchase the 40 percent stake owned by Siemens AG in Bangalore International Airport Ltd. GVK’s shares rose.
“There are a number of issues that need to be resolved before we can buy the stake,” A. Issac George, chief financial officer of Hyderabad-based GVK Power, said by telephone today. “It is still preliminary.” A part of the stake is locked in till May 2011 and the remainder until May 2015, he said.
GVK is seeking to increase its stake to expand its airport business after it purchased 17 percent of the Bangalore operations from a unit of Larsen & Toubro Ltd. this month, taking its holdings to 29 percent. The company partly owns Mumbai International Airport Pvt. in India’s financial hub.
Shirley Burla, head of press relations at Siemens Ltd. in Mumbai, didn’t immediately respond to an e-mail seeking comments.
GVK shares rose 1.4 percent to 47.40 rupees as of 11:03 a.m. in Mumbai trading, compared with a 1.7 percent increase in the benchmark Sensitive Index of the Bombay Stock Exchange. The shares have climbed 113 percent this year. GVK Power had 2.2 billion rupees ($47 million) in cash and short-term investments as of March 31, 2009, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
Last month, GVK had bought Zurich Airport’s 12 percent stake for 4.85 billion rupees, the Mint newspaper reported today without saying where it got the information.
23/12/09 Rakteem Katakey/Bloomberg

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DGCA admits AI pilots dozed off in cockpit

Mumbai: Over a year and a half after an Air India flight overshot its destination, a right to information query filed by TOI has confirmed that both pilots had dozed off in the cockpit. The DGCA response confirms that the pilots did not react to the air traffic controllers and that the aircraft did not start descending on reaching its destination -- Mumbai. Till date, no action has been taken against the pilots as the airline continues to deny the incident.
On June 4 last year, Air India's Jaipur-Mumbai flight IC 612 did not land on reaching the city but overshot it and continued to fly south, maintaining a cruising altitude of 30,000 feet for several kilometres. It then turned back, descended and landed safely after intervention by air traffic controllers. TOI reported the incident on June 26, 2008, stating that the pilots were woken up by the Mumbai air traffic controllers.
An Air India spokesperson had called the TOI report "misleading" and denied that the aircraft overshot Mumbai due to pilots sleeping at the controls. "The pilots had temporarily lost contact with the ATC and, therefore, the aircraft had strayed 10-15 kilometres away from Mumbai," the airline's letter said.
But the DGCA response to the RTI query blows the lid off the attempted cover-up. The investigation carried out by the directorate-general of civil aviation (DGCA) concluded that it was a "case of induced sleep". The matter, say aviation experts, is yet an another example of how both airlines and regulatory authorities treat such serious cases in India.
The RTI response confirms that the aircraft continued to fly south even as the air traffic controllers tried to contact the pilots using the SELCAL facility a number of times. "The exact cause could not be ascertained. However, it appears (to be a) case of induced sleep due to fatigue. Preventive measures were suggested to avoid recurrence of such incidents. Based on those, an Air Safety Circular 2 of 2009 has been issued," said the reply given by DGCA director (air safety), Bir Singh Rai. A copy of the said air safety circular was also attached to the reply.
23/12/09 Manju V/Times of India

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Second airport for Mizoram

Silchar: The Airport Authority of India (AAI), in association with the Mizoram government, is now all set to construct the second airport in the state as part of its scheme to ensure quick journeys in this hilly section of the region.
According to a senior government official, the airport will be set up at Kawmzawl, about 25km from the state’s second biggest town of Lunglei in its southern flank bordering both Bangladesh and Myanmar.
The official added that the civil aviation ministry had already given a go ahead to the scheme to construct the second airport in Lunglei district, nearly 235km south of the capital Aizawl.
At present Mizoram has a lone airport at Lengpui, about 40km from Aizawl, where aircraft like Boeing and Airbus can land.Lengpui was commissioned in 1994 at the cost of Rs 375 crore.
The official said the tentative deadline for the construction for the Lunglei airport at Kawmzawl has been set for early 2012.
The runway length of this small airport will be 750 metres and its width is estimated at 150 metres.
The source said at first only small aircraft, ranging from those which are nine-seaters to others having 19 seats, would be used for landing and taking off from this airport.
22/12/09 The Telegraph

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IL&FS arm eyes airport market

Mumbai: IL&FS Transportation Networks (ITNL) plans to intensify its public-private partnership model to target the airport development business in global markets.
The firm recently signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Airports Authority of India (AAI) for usage of its technical expertise in setting up airports outside India.
“Although we participated in the development bids in Mexico and the Philippines, we could not bag the projects. We are now looking at some other projects internationally,” K Ramchand, managing director, IL&FS Transportation told Financial Chronicle. This will help the firm easily fulfil the technical qualification requirements normally set for consortiums bidding for such critical infrastructure.
The initial cost of development for airports outside India may be $200 million (Rs 960 crore).
The company could not participate in the first round of bidding for Bangalore, Delhi and Hyderabad airports in India, as it was advising the AAI on bidding issues.
However, “now we would like to participate in any new airport that may come up for development in India,” said Ramchand.
22/12/09 Vikas Srivastav/mydigitalfc.com

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Youth arrested in IGI for hijack threat

New Delhi: A youth was arrested from the IGI airport here for allegedly threatening to hijack a Mumbai- bound Jet Airways fight after he and his companions entered into an arguement with the crew in an "inebriated condition".
Police said Anil, hailing from Haryana, also falsely claimed that he had a "bomb in his bag".
The youth was boarding the plane along with his five companions last night. They began an altercation with the crew over the rescheduling of the flight from 10.30 pm to 12.30 am, according to police.
23/12/09 Press Trust of India

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IPO-bound AAI hires KPMG for valuation

The Airports Authority of India (AAI) has appointed consulting firm KPMG to value the organisation prior to its listing on the stock exchanges through a public offer.
“KPMG would give its report in six months. As per our estimates, our assets should be valued at a minimum of Rs 100,000 crore,” a senior AAI official, who did not wish to be identified, told ET. AAI currently owns and runs 92 airports and 28 civil enclaves at defence airports in the country.
The proceeds of the initial public offer (IPO) would part-fund the development works of 35 non-metro airports and the two major airports in Kolkata and Chennai.
Civil aviation minister Praful Patel had recently said the government would corporatise AAI and list it after amending the AAI Act. This is a first tentative step towards the IPO. AAI has not even decided on the size of the public offer.
It, however, needs to raise equity quickly, both to bring more equity funds and also to leverage the higher equity base to raise more debt. The AAI’s airport modernisation works involve an investment of Rs 12,434 crore during the current Five-Year Plan ending March 2012.
The AAI is also trying to increase its non-aeronautical revenue and raise it to global standards. Most of the world’s big operators generate nearly 70% of their revenue from non-aeronautical sources such as retailing of food and beverage, car parking, shopping complexes and hospitality districts around the airport.
23/12/09 Faizan Khan & Nirbhay Kumar/Economic Times

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Rome keen to offer direct air connections with India in 2010

Mumbai: In a bid to improve air connectivity between Indian cities and Rome, Leonardo da Vinci Airport – the international Airport of Rome has approached Indian carriers to start direct services next year. After the withdrawal of Italian flag carrier – Alitalia Airlines from India, there are no direct services offered on India – Italy route. The airport has approached Indian flag carrier – Air India along with private legacy carriers like Jet Airways and Kingfisher Airlines. At present, only China Airlines (starting December 1, 2009) offers direct services from New Delhi to Rome (thrice a week) through its Taiwan – New Delhi - Rome service.
Divulging further information, a source close to the development said that since the rights to operate on India – Italy sector are open from the Ministry of Civil Aviation of both the countries, it will be convenient for any carrier to start operations of this route. Rome is convinced that there is a business and tourist market in India, which will definitely improve if there are direct air services offered in the market. With China Airlines' direct service from New Delhi to Rome, Rome tourism board is counting on about 1,000 seats a week from Indian market. The international Airport is working towards re-establishing direct flights between Rome and Indian cities in 2010, as the flying rights on the route is already available which is open to use.”
23/12/09 Anita Jain/TravelBizMonitor

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Tokyo, Bengaluru and Ankara confirmed for Qatar Airways

Qatar Airways has confirmed three new destinations for its network, set to launch at the start of next year, Tokyo Japan, Bengaluru India and Ankara Turkey.
These three new destinations brings the total number of destinations in the Qatar Airways network up to 88, as they come online over an eight week period to begin in February next year.
“Tokyo is Japan’s commercial and financial centre and has been on Qatar Airways’ wish list of destinations for a number of years. It is only now that we are able to serve Tokyo due to new traffic rights and slot availability at the city’s main Narita International Airport,” said Akbar Al Baker, Qatar Airways CEO.
“India has been, and remains, one of our most important markets and we are pleased to be strengthening economic and cultural ties with one of the world’s fastest growing economies.”
23/12/09 eTravelBlackBoard

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Rat on board delays AI flight by 24 hrs

New Delhi: A rat managed to delay an Air India flight by almost 24 hours on Tuesday. The cabin crew of Air India's flight AI 822 spotted a rat in the Boeing 747 when it landed in Delhi late on Monday evening, from Riyadh. The rat was spotted after passengers had disembarked from the aircraft and maintenance teams were clearing the aircraft for its onward journey to Riyadh later on Monday night/Tuesday morning.
The protocol that an airline has to follow once a rat is spotted in an aircraft is that the aircraft has to be fumigated and sealed so that the rodent can be made unconscious. However, for this process to be made effective the temperature should be over ten degrees celsius while the temperature is usually in single digits on December nights. This meant that the fumigation process could be undertaken only late on Tuesday morning when the temperature was high. The flight supposed to depart Delhi at 8.20pm on Monday night, finally took off at 6.55pm on Tuesday.
23/12/09 Times of India

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PPP gone wrong: Industry too thumbs down BIA

Bangalore: A day after the Joint House Committee (JHC) in its report on the Bengaluru International Airport (BIA) expressed anguish over the sorry state of affairs and the unresponsive attitude of the management, more voices have come out against the Bangalore International Airport Limited (BIAL).
Globe-trotters and respected names in the industry echoed the views of the JHC and said that the airport failed to meet international standards.
Pioneer of lowcost air travel in India and Deccan Aviation boss G R Gopinath was critical of the BIAL for not encouraging core aviation activities at BIA, and said that it was donning the role of a real estate agency.
“BIAL got concessions from the government. They acquired land at Rs 2 lakh per acre, but now, they are demanding around Rs 2 crore from us to set up an hangar. As a result of this there is no space for charter service at the BIA. The HAL airport, despite being congested, operated around 30 to 40 charter flights every day,” he said.
Though he said that the facilities at BIA were 100 per cent better than those at HAL airport, he felt that the new airport was congested and that two airports should co-exist, a view recommended in the JHC report.
Infosys president Kris Gopalakrishnan found fault in the design of the airport. He said it was not planned to handle a large volume of traffic.
Former NASSCOM president Kiran Karnik said that BIA, in comparison to its contemporaries like the Hyderabad International Airport, stood far behind.
23/12/09 ExpressBuzz

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Lapses in B'lore Airport: Panel for action against Infosys chief NRN, officials

Bangalore: Highlighting lapses in the construction of Bangalore International Airport, the Karnataka State Legislature Committee has recommended black-listing L&T, Siemens and Unique Zurich Airport for a minimum period of five years citing "poor quality" in the construction of airport and "appropriate action" against officials involved in important decisions in the project, including Infosys Chief Mentor N R Narayana Murthy, MP Rajeev Chandrashekar and several other official in the Government.
BJP MLA D Hemachandra Sagar, who headed the 21-member (15 MLAs and six MLCs) joint legislature committee (JLC), tabled report on "Examination of Construction of BIA" in the Legislative Assembly on Monday and noted serious lapses in drafting the Concession Agreement to construct green-field Bengaluru International Airport on public private partnership (PPP) model which was heavily loaded to benefit the private participants.
The JLC was constituted to examine the lapses and suggest measures for improving the airport, which became operational in May, 2008, to international standards.
The report said "Considering the poor quality of workmanship executed, the trading of shares for profit without showing an iota of concern for the general public, the arrangement of entrustment of all airport works amongst the private players in the BIAL and total apathy towards the needs of the users, the partners in the project such as L & T, Siemens and Zurich should not be considered for entrustment of any work by both the Governments or their agencies for a minimum period of five years."
It alleged that the infrastructure created (BIA) did not match international standards. D K Shivakumar of the Congress alleged that BIA lacked very basic facilities.
The panel said in October this year, one of the promoters, the Unique (Flughafen Zurich AG) Zurich Airport, Switzerland, made a profit by off-loading 12 per cent (Rs 46.15 crore) of its 17 per cent (Rs 65.38 crore) stake at whopping value of Rs 484.60 crore. "The private promoter walked away with an over 1050 percent return in just four years. This indicated that the private players have set their eyes on huge multiplication of their investment and have cut many corners for the sake of short-term profit".
21/12/09 Mangalorean.com

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Panel for reopening of HAL airport

Bangalore: A Joint House Committee of the Karnataka State Legislature has suggested to the Government to consider reopening of the HAL airport for “low-cost carriers, regional flights, courier services, executive jets and so on”.
The panel said: “The Government should consider the valuable inputs in the report of Airports Authority of India and the Parliamentary Consultative Committee on Civil Aviation, and also notings of this committee” and give “fresh thought on the re-opening of the HAL Airport for healthy competition and convenience of the public”. It said that the Executive Order issued for closure of the HAL Airport “be reviewed by the Centre, and the airport allowed to function”. This would improve connectivity to Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities, an objective of the aviation policy.
Bharatiya Janata Party MLA D. Hemachandra Sagar, who headed the 21-member joint legislature committee (JLC), tabled the report on “Examination of Construction of BIA” in the Legislative Assembly on Monday.
The committee report expressed disappointment over the facade of the terminal building of the BIAL which had failed to depict the “culture and glory” of Karnataka.
21/12/09 The Hindu

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