Showing posts with label Airports Dec 2010. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Airports Dec 2010. Show all posts

Friday, December 31, 2010

Want bailout? Trim wages: Cabinet tells national carrier

Mumbai: The government has given a green signal to the Air India management on the sensitive issue of wage rationalisation of its employees.
The cash-strapped carrier has been asked to ‘work towards’ trimming the wage bill — one of the key milestones in the airline’s revival plan. Approving Rs 1,200 crore bailout installment, the cabinet withheld decision on the operationalisation of Strategic Business Units (SBUs). At almost Rs 3,000 crore per annum, Air India’s wage costs comprise 17 per cent of its overall operating costs. The airline had earlier drawn a plan to cut wages by Rs 500 crore but was able to achieve only Rs 100 crore saving on this account. In its proposal, the airline had accepted that it had made little progress in achieving wage rationalisation goals. The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) cleared Rs1,200 crore as equity infusion in the loss-making carrier in its meeting on Thursday.
31/12/10 Indian Express

Many Air India Passengers Still Stranded At Newark Airport

Newark: It’s been four days since the weekend blizzard, and some airline passengers still found themselves stranded on Thursday.
The problems at Newark Liberty International Airport don’t end there, though – there are also hundreds of bags that haven’t been claimed.
Passengers stranded during the blizzard spent the day looking through rows and rows of bags at Newark Liberty.
Many passengers at Air India chose to spend the night at the airport Wednesday, even though the airline offered them hotel rooms, “so they could be first and catch their flight,” they said.
“They said first come, first serve,” Kristin Machado said. “They made a ripple effect, so now every single flight, people are getting affected.”
Kristin Machado and her sister, Alexis, came to the airport only to be told passengers stuck in the blizzard would be given preference.
Still, passengers who want to get home for the New Year say there have been no guarantees for anyone. They took matters into their own hands when they saw no one at the ticket counters on Thursday morning.
“We came here and we did like community work,” Manisha Gopte said. “We put up all the aisles ourselves.”
The one thing many passengers said they were thankful for was to still have their luggage, unlike the hundreds who were still searching for theirs.
Employees at the Air India ticket counter declined to speak on the matter, and CBS 2 was unable to reach anyone at the airline’s corporate offices for comment.
30/12/10 CBS New York

Flight movement smooth at Mumbai, barring a few delays

Mumbai: Flight movement out of Mumbai airport was smooth on Thursday barring a few delays. The secondary runway solely handled flight movement because the visibility was good. For the past few days the Mumbai International Airport Limited (MIAL) had to suspend repairs on the main runway because the
smaller runway is not equipped with the Instrument Landing System, a ground aid used for flight movement during poor visibility.
On Thursday, however, the main runway was shut for eight hours from 9am to 5pm as usual, said a MIAL spokesperson. The runway is shut daily for that period, except Sundays since November 1. A Jet Airways Mumbai-Chandigarh flight was amongst the few flights delayed because of bad weather in north India. The flight scheduled to leave at 9:40 am left the city airport at 11:54 am.
31/12/10 Hindustan Times

First time this winter, fog in Pune disrupts flight schedules

Pune: For the first time this winter, poor visibility caused by heavy fog over the city led to disruption of the early morning flight schedule at the Lohegaon airport on Thursday.
"One flight was diverted to Mumbai while two were delayed by two to three hours. The remaining six of the total nine flights, scheduled for the morning slots between 5.45am and 8am, operated with marginal delays of 15 to 20 minutes," an Airport Authority of India (AAI) official told TOI.
Flying restrictions prevail for civilian flights between 8am and 10.30am every day to facilitate the Indian Air Force's (IAF) low flying exercises. The airport is part of the IAF's strategically vital Sukhoi Mk-1 fighter base. Civilian flight operations resume after 10.30 am.
The flights slotted in the early morning hours cater to destinations like Nagpur, Hyderabad, Chennai, Delhi and Bangalore.
"Visibility was as low as 1,500 mtrs at 6.30am as against the 2,400 mtrs, which is normally required for landing or take-offs," the AAI official said. "Much also depends on the flying experience of the pilot concerned. A more experienced and senior pilot can manage landings or take-offs at visibility levels lesser than 2,400 mtrs." he added.
31/12/10 Vishwas Kothari/Times of India

Snow blocks Srinagar highway, all flights cancelled

Srinagar: Heavy snowfall and inclement weather Thursday cut off the Valley from the outside world as the Srinagar-Jammu highway remained closed and all flights to and from Srinagar were cancelled.
All passenger flights to and from the Srinagar international airport were also cancelled Thursday because of poor visibility and continuous snowfall here.
'No passenger flights were operated today to or from the Srinagar international airport,' an official of the Airports Authority of India said here.
Meanwhile, the weather department has forecast that moderate to heavy snowfall is likely in the Valley Friday.
Authorities have pressed snow clearing machines into service to clear accumulated snow from the roads and highways in the Valley.
Kashmir's Divisional Commissioner Asgar Hussain Samoon told media persons here that there are sufficient stocks of food grains, medicines, petroleum products including LPG cylinders and other essentials to last twenty days in case of any eventuality caused by adverse weather conditions.
30/12/10 IANS/Sify

In Chandigarh, sanity in air traffic

Chandigarh: With the skies opening up overnight, there was a marked change in flight operations at the Chandigarh airport as almost all flights were on time on Thursday, although after a gap of three days.
As fresh showers greeted passengers at the airport there was a sense of relief among airline officials as they confirmed that nearly all flights would manage to take off from Chandigarh, albeit delayed by an hour.
Barring one early morning flight which had to be cancelled due to bad weather, remaining four flights managed to leave Chandigarh airport after a delay of one hour. Similarly, the lone Indian Airlines flight out of Chandigarh was delayed by a little over one hour as was the case with both the GoAir flights. Out of three Jet Airways flights, two were delayed by over two hours, while one managed to leave on time.
31/12/10 Times of India

Jet airways asks passengers to report 2 hours early

Mumbai: Citing security reasons, Jet Airways on Thursday asked its passengers to report two hours before their flight time, saying the check-in will close 45 minutes before departure, even as a fliers' body termed this decision as "impractical".
"In view of enhanced security measures implemented at all airports by the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security", the private carrier advised passengers "to report two hours prior to the departure of the flight. The check-in counters for domestic flights will be closed 45 minutes prior to departure and boarding gates will be closed 25 minutes prior to departure as per existing procedures."
A Jet airways spokesperson said this measure will help passengers in avoiding congestion at airports and the flights will depart on time.
But the move came under attack from the Air Passengers Association of India (APAI), which termed the decision as "ridiculous and impractical".
30/12/10 PTI/Economic Times

Snag grounds AI flight at Nagpur airport

Nagpur: The Air India IC 869 Raipur-Nagpur-Delhi flight was grounded at Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar International Airport after developing a technical snag at about 9 am on Thursday. Consequently, the airline cancelled its Nagpur-Delhi leg, leaving 114 Delhi-bound passengers from Raipur and Nagpur stranded at city airport here for almost 10 hours.
Sources at airport informed the commander of the IC 869 detected severe mid-air vibrations en route to Nagpur. Though the aircraft landed at Nagpur airport normally, the commander alerted the ground staff and air traffic control about the snag. As the further leg was cancelled, the stranded passengers created ruckus at the airport terminal building. They had to face a lot of inconvenience as there was no alternative flight for Delhi.
The official informed that a team of engineers arrived here by a special aircraft and rectified the snag. Thereafter, the flight departed for Delhi at about 7 pm.
Many passengers who had to reach Delhi in the morning had to cancel travelling because of grounded flight.
31/12/10 Sachin Dravekar/Times of India

'Statue delaying Delhi flights'

Delhi: Can the massive flight delays of the past few days at the Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport in Delhi be brushed aside as an act of God? Well, some airport officials have told MiD DAY that an 8-ft tall statue of Lord Shiva near the mouth of the new runway is one of the reasons for travellers' woes.
Pilots, especially those from foreign countries, are jittery in landing their aircraft on the new runway which results in delay in aircraft movement at the airport as only one runway remains open for use, further delaying the schedule of all the arrival and departure flights.
The National Facilitation Committee on airport-related matters headed by Cabinet Secretary KM Chandrasekhar, in June 8, 2010, had asked the Airports Authority of India (AAI) to either relocate the statue, or lower its height in accordance with the no-objection certificate (NOC) issued to them in 1993.
"Domestic as well as international pilots prefer to land in dense fog conditions on the old runway 28/10. Though the new runway is longer in size it witnesses more fog. The angle of descent increases on the runway due to the Shiva statue and it gets shorter by more than 3 km due to this. Also taxiing time during fog increases appreciably," said a senior airport official.
30/12/10 Surender Sharma/MiD DAY

Ground handling policy delayed at Mumbai airport

Mumbai: The new ground handling policy (GHP) that was to come into existence from January 1, 2011 has again been postponed by 15 days. This is because the Delhi high court (HC) has asked the government to ensure that certain security functions are still handled by them rather than outsourced.
The loss of jobs of 22,000 to 30,000 working with 35 ground handling agencies at Mumbai airport is at least safe for the next 15 days.“According to an interim order of the Delhi HC on December 23, the decision on the new GHP will be taken by January 15, 2011,” says an official from Mumbai International Airport Limited (MIAL).“This is because the HC wants government to take care of 13 security functions and not hand them over to private parties,” he says.
This is for the third time that the new GHP that was to be implemented in 2007 at six metro airports — Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkatta, Chennai, Bangalore and Hyderabad —missed its deadline for the third time.
31/12/10 Naveeta Singh/Daily News & Analysis

Thursday, December 30, 2010

Security breach at Patna airport

Patna: In a major breach of security at the Jayapraksh Narayan Interna-tional Airport here on Wednesday, one Kishor Paswan (40) came on to the runway when a plane was about to take off. The incident occurred at around 6:45 pm. There were over 150 passengers on board the G8-344 Go Air Patna-Delhi flight.
Passengers virtually screamed when Paswan reportedly waved at them from outside and tried to touch the plane, sources said.
The pilot immediately pressed the panic button as he informed air safety officials about the incident. Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) personnel then rushed in and took the trespasser into custody.
No illegal object was recovered from him so far. Paswan had his voter ID card with him and a towel, sources said.
Paswan's connection with any militant or terrorist organization has not been established so far. The trespasser was reportedly a lunatic.
The man reportedly hails from Begusarai and had boarded a train for Patna on Tuesday. He is said to be a labourer and reportedly alighted at Phulwari Sharif railway station last night. He had sneaked into the airport from Phulwari Sharif railway station at around 5 pm on Wednesday.
30/12/10 Alok K N Mishra/Times of India

Fog effect: 20% rise in misplaced baggage at airport

Mumbai: The massive snowstorm across Europe and the US as well as the Delhi fog have not just left passengers stranded at airports but also left them endlessly calling airline call centers looking for missing baggage.
Sources at the airport said the amount of misplaced baggage has increased by 15% to 20% this month. "Worst affected are international passengers arriving from the UK or the US," said a ground staff with a foreign carrier.
The problem was compounded for travelers who made multiple break journeys. Misplaced baggage has also been the second highest grouse of domestic passengers. According to data from the civil aviation ministry, 26 % of the complaints against domestic carriers in November were about misplaced baggage.
In August, missing baggage complaints comprised 11 % of the total complaints. The complaints have doubled given the increase in passenger traffic, airlines such as Air India and Jet Airways shifting base from Mumbai to Delhi and beginning of the fog season.
The civil aviation ministry's policy to compensate passengers for delays, flight cancellations and denied boardings does not cover misplaced baggage.
30/12/10 Soubhik Mitra/Hindustan Times

Egypt flight makes emergency landing after fire scare

Mumbai: A Cairo-Mumbai Egypt Air flight landed under emergency conditions at the Mumbai airport on Monday.
"Full emergency was declared at 07:25 am for the Egypt Air Cairo-Mumbai flight MS 968 with 124 passengers and seven crew on board the aircraft due to suspected fire in the cargo hold of the Boeing 738 aircraft," the spokesperson said. Passengers were disembarked safely and all cargo was removed, the official said.
Later an inspection of the cargo was carried out and no fire was found, the official added.
29/12/10 NDTV.com

18hr trip in eight days

Calcutta: Snow in Europe and smog in Delhi through the holiday week stretched a US-based professor’s journey home from 18 hours to eight days while a researcher stranded in the UK finally arrived on Wednesday, only to find his registered baggage missing.
If geography professor Sujoy Chakraborty and his family braved a flight cancellation, a long wait for rebooking, several airport delays and a fog-forced flight diversion before reaching their destination, medical researcher Ambarish Dutta’s ordeal continued even after landing in the city.
“After all the trouble I have been through in the past week, I was desperate to be back in my hometown and meet my wife and little son. But Air India has spoiled the trip for me by misplacing a bag that contains gifts for my family,” Ambarish, 40, told Metro on Wednesday evening.
Not only that, Ambarish was allegedly made to queue up for an hour at the city airport to lodge a complaint about his missing bag. “The officials who received the complaint were unhelpful to say the least. I was so disappointed by their attitude,” he said.
An Air India spokesman blamed “confusion” in Terminal 3 of Delhi airport for the airline’s failure to put Ambarish’s bag — along with the registered baggage of 57 other passengers — on the connecting flight to Calcutta. “We are making arrangements for these bags to be brought to the city on various flights,” he added.
30/12/10 Sanjay Mandal/The Telegraph

Fliers stranded as flight delayed for 4 hours at Mumbai airport

Mumbai: Passengers of a Go Air flight departing for Jaipur kicked up a fuss at the Mumbai airport after their flight was delayed by more than four hours.
The flight which was due for departure at 2.50 pm departed finally at 6.30 pm.
“We have been waiting at the airport since 1 pm. The airline is at fault for not informing us about the flight delay via SMS. We reached the airport to learn that the flight would be delayed by two hours. Still the airline managers did not keep us informed,” said Sushil Vohra, a passenger who was traveling with his wife.
“This is an emergency for us as we have to reach in time for the funeral of my wife’s father. We might as well have opted for the superfast train late at night,” he said.
Go Air officials said the flight was delayed since it arrived late from Bangalore owing to the fog early in the morning.
A Civil Aviation Ministry statement said although low visibility procedures were implemented, flights were not diverted or cancelled from Delhi. However, Jet Airways cancelled its Mumbai-Chandigarh- Mumbai flight citing poor weather.
30/12/10 Indian Express

Lighter in bag flares up CISF, Air India officer tiff

Mumbai: Ajay Kadam (name changed) , a security officer with national carrier Air India (AI) checked in to board his Mumbai-Newark flight (AI 191) on December 7 After his handbag was screened , a CISF official asked him to open his bag again. “He said the X-ray machine showed images of something black and white,” a source from AI told DNA.
Kadam knew that the black thing were coins kept in a pouch and opened his bag again. “Kadam was then told that the coins were seen as bullets in the X-ray scan...,” the source said. “Since Kadam is a security official, he questioned the CISF as to how the coins can appear as bullets. This did not go down well with the CISF and they scolded him.”
Kadam’s woes did not end there. He was sent back from the boarding gate since the tag on his baggage did not have the CISF’s ‘checked’ stamp. He then approached the CISF officials. Kadam’s only mistake was that he left his bag with them while he approached his seniors. On his return, a senior CISF official, who accompanied Kadam, asked two guards — PSI Gulshan and PSI Srivastava — to stamp the tag.
“The guards said they felt something was suspicious and wanted to re-check Kadam’s bag. When they opened it, they found a lighter in it,” the source said. “Having spent years in the airline security, Kadam knew that he cannot carry such articles on board. He was sure the lighter was deliberately put by the two angry officials.” The CISF commander, who came along with Kadam, knew what had happened and resolved the matter on the spot.
Kadam wrote to the security agency to check the CCTV footage and demeaned that the recordings be handed over to him. He wanted to punish the culprits.
Kadam has even written to the bureau of civil aviation security (BCAS) and AI, but no action has been taken till date.
30/12/10 Naveeta Singh/Daily News & Analysis

US airports snowed in, passengers stranded

Mumbai Flight operations were disrupted again on Tuesday with New York, Newark and Boston airports shutting down for a few hours due to heavy snowfall. “Passengers are avoiding transit routes via Europe. I have received enquiries for routes to US via Dubai and Singapore. These routes would take them to Los Angeles or San Francisco,” said Jay Bhatia of Tulsidas Khimji Limited. “The mad rush for seats begins after December 31,” he said.
Continental Airlines cancelled its flights to and from Mumbai on Tuesday. Most flights, including those of Air India and Jet Airways, from the US were delayed. Nearly all flights from Brussels including those of American Airlines, Jet Airways and Brussels Airlines were delayed by around eight hours.
29/12/10 Express India

Sri Lanka gets Indian help for port, airport development

India is helping Sri Lanka to revive commercial operations at a port and airport in the island's north to re-establish regional trade and communications links, a statement said.
The High Commission of India said Defence Secretary of India, Pradeep Kumar, had discussed the projects during a three-day visit to Sri Lanka from 27-29 December 2010.
"The two sides also reviewed major ongoing projects, including reactivation of Palaly airport as a regional civil aviation hub and of Kankesanthurai harbour for regional and domestic trade and commerce."
Both are in the northern Jaffna peninsula which was badly affected by the island's 30-year ethnic war which ended in May 2009.
29/12/10 Lanka Business Online

Delhi Duty Free Services pitch call for advertising and creative duties

After offering customers a shopping extravaganza for six months at Terminal 3 (T3) of Delhi’s IGI Airport, Delhi Duty Free Services Pvt Ltd, India’s largest duty free retail operator at T3, has called for a pitch for its advertising and creative duties. The sixth largest airport in the world, T3 has the handling capacity of 34 million passengers.
The multi-agency advertising pitch seeks to identify a partner who will assist in building brand image, educating and increasing brand awareness, promoting offers and wide range of product availability at India’s largest duty free retail. Delhi Duty Free Services intends to have an agency on board by the last week of January 2011. The retail operator is aggressively looking at reaching out to frequent international travelers from North India and other in bound travelers as well. It is looking at a two-agency set-up – one for its creative duties and the other for visual merchandising.
29/12/10 exchange4media

Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Most pilots not trained to land in foggy weather

Hyderabad: Of the 4,000 pilots registered in India, only 2,100 are trained to land aircraft in such foggy conditions. Indian Airlines has the highest number of pilots specially trained to land under dense fog.
A pilot needs special Category-III training to be able to land aircraft when visibility is limited. Airports which regularly face foggy conditions are classified as Category-III airports. Those with less fog fall under Category-II and Category-I. Delhi is Category-III while Hyderabad is classified as Category-I, as fog is not a problem here. Of the 410 aircraft registered with the DGCA, 300 are equipped with Category-III facilities and can land at an airport covered in fog.
Delhi is the only airport that has a CAT-III Instrument Landing System, which makes landing in foggy conditions possible. Aviation experts say many more CAT-III trained pilots are required.
29/12/10 Deccan Chronicle

Midair medical crisis on GoAir

Ahmedabad: A Pune-Delhi budget airline flight was forced to make an emergency landing in Ahmedabad airport late on Monday evening when one of its passengers, 73-year-old Mohanlal Sahni, collapsed on-board with a heart problem. He was shifted to a corporate hospital where it was found that he had suffered a massive cardiac arrest after his pace-maker mysteriously stopped functioning.
Meanwhile, another passenger of Finnish origin Ranki Eskolimari was shifted from the Ahmedabad airport after he complained of severe breathlessness. He is a heart patient and was shifted to the hospital by 108 emergency services.
It was high-drama on air when Sahni complained of severe chest pain on board and collapsed. Since the plane was over Ahmedabad, the pilot sought permission for an emergency landing.
Airport officials said that air traffic control at Sardar Patel International Airport received an SOS asking for emergency landing. The pilot even asked officials to keep a medical team ready. Airspace was cleared for the Pune-Delhi flight which was given top priority. As the flight landed AAI doctors attended to the patients who were later shifted to Apollo Hospital.
Officials said that the flight landed at the airport at 6.43 in the evening and left at 7.36 pm.
29/12/10 Times of India

After 3 days, Delhi airport gets back to some sense of normalcy

New Delhi: After three days of disruptions owing to dense fog, flight operations at the Indira Gandhi international airport here remained largely normal today.
Most flights were operated as per schedule though visibility was low. But owing to the cascading effect of the past three days, about 60 flights were delayed while eight were cancelled.
Two international flights, an Air France flight to Paris and a Continental Airlines flight to Newark, and six domestic flights to Chandigarh, Amritsar, Kolkata, Jaipur and Bangalore were cancelled for operational reasons, an airport official said.
Though there was fog at the airport and on the runways and visibility was low since late last night, flight operations remained unaffected, the official said, adding that there was no diversion of flights unlike in the past three days. Delhi airport has been witnessing dense fog since Christmas. Last night, dense fog enveloped the new runway of the airport, while there was shallow haze on the main and second runways.
28/12/10 PTI/Daily News & Analysis

Flight delays due to bad weather continue in North, East India

New Delhi: Rain improved visibility in Delhi but consequential delays impacted operations of around 200 flights operating out of the city airport, including six that were cancelled.
The delays at the airport, which caters to 650 flights a day, had been about 90 minutes each, on average, said a source.
A source at the airport said ttwo international flights, an Air France one to Paris and a Continental Airlines flight to Newark, and six domestic flights, to Chandigarh, Amritsar, Kolkata, Jaipur and Bangalore, were cancelled.
Delhi airport has been witnessing dense fog since Christmas and various flights have been cancelled and diverted in the past three days.
“We are operating efficiently on the CAT III system but consequential delays cannot be controlled, as various airports in different parts of the country are also fog-blinded,” said an executive of a full-service carrier, who did not want to be identified.
Airports impacted by low visibility are Jaipur, Chandigarh, Amritsar and Lucknow in the northern region, Patna and Varanasi in the eastern part and Agartala and Shillong in the northeastern part.
The executive said lack of a proper instrument landing system at these smaller airports was the reason behind the delays. Delhi is the only airport with a CAT-III landing system. All other airports across the country have the basic CAT-I facility, except Kolkata, which has CAT-II.
29/12/10 Business Standard

Flights to B'lore diverted to Chennai

Bangalore: Fog at the Bengaluru International Airport (BIA) continues to disrupt flight schedules. Around 15 departures and 10 arrivals were thrown out of gear between 5am and 8.10am, according to a BIAL spokesperson.
The runway visual range ( RVR) dropped to 100 metres. Four flights -- Air Mauritius, British Airways, Jet Airways from Mumbai and Kingfisher from Dubai -- were diverted to Chennai since they could not land in the city.
Fog at Delhi airport also had a cascading effect on arrivals at BIA. According to flightstats.com, an online portal that tracks flight movement, 10 arrival delays were recorded between 6am and 12 noon. However, the delays in some cases were small, between 10 and 50 minutes.
Sources at the Indira Gandhi Internataional Airport (IGIA) said low visibility procedures (LVP) were enforced from 10.06pm on Monday and terminated at 7.56am on Tuesday. It was implemented again at 9.16am and terminated at 4.55pm. However, no flights were cancelled, diverted or rescheduled till 4.55pm, said an IGIA release.
29/12/10 Shilpa Phadnis/Times of India

IGI resorts to mixed use of runways

New Delhi: With large scale disruptions being witnessed at the IGI Airport thanks to a massive spell of fog, Airports Authority of India ( AAI) and the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) were forced to change the runway usage, putting them in semi-mixed mode during a major part of the day so that passengers would not be inconvenienced.
Due to a high court order on noise pollution mitigation, the two runways — 29/11 and 28/10 — were being used for segregated operations, each handling only arrivals or departures by turn. However , with blinding fog reducing visibility and operations completely suspended for several hours, the backlog was huge and consequential delays had completely thrown schedules out of gear.
"..The main runway , 28/10, is being used for both departures and arrivals while the new runway , 29/11, is being used either for departures or for arrivals, depending on which traffic is more at a particular point of time. We are careful of not breaching the night curfew. The new measures have been put in place for only the day time," said an official.
Earlier, a high court order had said that arrivals on the new runway should be stopped completely at night so that residents of nearby areas would not get disturbed .
28/12/10 Neha Lalchandani/Times of India

Bagful of problems at IGIA

New Delhi: The arrival lounge at the Delhi airport has turned into a dumping ground for mishandled baggage with dense fog disrupting a number of flights. While the godown meant to keep mishandled baggage is overstuffed with hundreds of bags and suitcases, the floor of the arrival terminal near the Customs office and the conveyor belts is covered with unclaimed luggage.
According to airline officials, the godown of the central warehousing is used to keep luggage that gets misplaced during flight movement. Officials claim that flight movements between India and the West is disrupted due to heavy snowfall in the US and Europe. Flight delays, cancellations and diversions due to heavy fog in Delhi and other north Indian cities have added to the trouble.
Officials said there are lot of instances when passengers reach Delhi and their luggage left behind at the place from where they boarded a flight, but it was brought back in another aircraft. Such luggage are kept at the Central Warehousing Corporation godown till the owner is found.
“But this godown is small and already overstuffed. Unclaimed luggage are lying all over and we are having difficulty in tracing them to match with the descriptions given by the passengers,” said a representative of air operators committee, requesting anonymity.
“The warehouse godown at T2 was much larger. While the T3 has been built to cater to 60 lakh passengers annually, the airport operator seems to have cut corners in constructing the godown and rather used the space for constructing shops,” said an airline official who did not wish to be named.
29/12/10 Atul Mathur/Hindustan Times

Fog causes minor delays at Mumbai

Mumbai: Airport officials suspended repairs on Mumbai’s main runway for the second consecutive day on Tuesday owing to poor visibility. Tuesday was less chaotic for fliers compared to the past three days when air traffic was affected due to fog in Delhi. Mumbai airport’s secondary runway is not equipped with an Instrument Landing System, a ground aid used during poor visibility. With the city experiencing fog on Tuesday, the secondary runway could not be used for operations.
The average delays were not more than 30 minutes. A handful flights such as the Jet Airways flight from Mumbai to Bangalore was diverted to Chennai because of fog in the IT capital. An Air India spokesperson said that incoming flights from Delhi were marginally delayed.
Flight movement improved mainly because Delhi skies were clearer on Tuesday. According to a statement from civil aviation ministry low visibility was enforced at the Indira Gandhi International airport for nearly 10 hours, however, not a single flight was diverted or cancelled. The weather bureau, however, predicted a dip in visibility at Delhi during the late evening on Tuesday.
29/12/10 Hindustan Times

Look-out notice issued against bank executive

Gurgaon: Fearing that Shivraj Puri, a relationship manager in Gurgaon branch of Citibank who is allegedly involved in over R100-crore fraud, could leave the country, Gurgaon police has issued a Look Out Circular (LOC) against him. Soon after registering an FIR against him, Gurgaon Police, alerted the ministry of home affairs and the ministry of civil aviation.
"The details, along with the photograph of Puri, have been sent to all airports across the country with help of the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security. In case he tries to flee the country, he will be apprehended at the airport," said a senior police officer who is involved in the investigation.
According to police, Puri, who was working with Citibank for over 10 years, was a permanent employee and used to deal with the account holders. He had opened bank accounts in the name of his three relatives and made other customers deposit money in those accounts. He used a forged SEBI (Security and Exchange Board of India) circular that promised good returns on deposits to lure customers and when they did so, he siphoned off the funds. Meanwhile, the police are also looking for his relatives on whose name the accounts were opened. "The details are lying with the bank and we have initiated the process to look for them. Also, the statement of those who have invested the money is important and a team has been sent to search for them," the officer added.
28/12/10 Faizan Haider/Hindustan Times

Tuesday, December 28, 2010

4 Jet crew detained in UK on smuggling charge

New Delhi: India's largest private airline Jet Airways is under scanner again in the UK. Four Jet Airways crew members have been detained by UK customs for smuggling cigarettes. The incident happened last week.
Sources have told CNN-IBN that crew members were carrying cigarettes that are banned in UK for making quick money.
CNN-IBN learns that senior officials of Jet Airways were warned earlier also by UK customs as this is not the first time smuggling happened. There have been earlier incidents of smuggling by Jet Airways employees.
Jet Airways issued a statement saying that the airline was investigating the alleged smuggling incident.
27/12/10 CNN-IBN

Met expectations? IMD blames DIAL for travellers’ woes

New Delhi: Under fire from all quarters for not being able to forecast the dense fog conditions that wreaked havoc at the airport and on city roads, the Met department on Monday blamed the airport operators for not displaying its weather data for the public. Ajit Tyagi, director general of India Meteorological Department (IMD), said the Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL) and airline operators need to “introspect” for not giving out sufficient information about visibility and subsequent flight delays to people. “The IMD has been providing every minute runway visual range information on its website. Why can’t DIAL display the information on the screens at the airport?” he asked.
“We have been providing the forecast. However, if 40 domestic flights still had to be diverted, the operators need to introspect,” he said, adding that the Met department has been asking DIAL to display weather and visibility information for quite some time now, but the project has run into rough weather. “If this information is made available, 50% of the problems will be solved,” Tyagi said.
Better fog forecast still two years away: While the Met department has been generating weather forecast on real-time basis based on actual data, it still lags way behind its global counterparts as far as upgrading its fog-forecasting technology is concerned.
By its own admission, it is still two years away from installing modern technologies like the automatic aviation weather decision support system, which are in use at international airports in Paris, Singapore and Tokyo.
27/12/10 Mallica Joshi/Hindustan Times

Passengers stuck at NY, Newark airports due to snowstorm

While domestic flight schedules have gone awry because of the dense fog in Delhi, hundreds of passengers headed to Mumbai are stuck at New York and Newark airports in US, which are shut since Sunday because of a snow storm.
While an Air India flight for New York had to be diverted to Washington, another could not take off from Newark for Mumbai because the runway was covered with snow. Meanwhile, Jet Airways cancelled four of its flights between Brussels and New York and Newark on Sunday.
Passengers alleged they were left to fend for themselves. Dr Tilu Mangeshikar, a senior doctor from Bombay Hospital who was booked on a Jet flight from New York to Mumbai on Sunday, said, “I rang every hour till 3 pm for the Jet Airways flight to Mumbai via Brussels.
The airline staff said their flight is on schedule. We boarded the plane. The ground staff tried to de-ice the plane till past 7 pm and then the flight was cancelled. Why did they announce the flight and check-in passengers when all other flights from New York were being cancelled?’’
“We waited till 10 pm to collect our bags. Initially, the airline refused to provide us with hotel accommodation disclaiming liability as it was a cancellation owing to bad weather. Passengers were cold, hungry and had to sleep on trolleys and conveyer belts at the airport. We were shifted to a hotel only at 9 am,’’ she alleged. “We have been informed that our flight will take off from New York on 6 pm on Monday,’’ she added.
28/12/10 Aneesh Phadnis/Mumbai Mirror

Fog turns Delhi airport into a no-fly zone

New Delhi: Scenes of stranded passengers, chaos and anger at airline counters and aircraft parked on the tarmac as pilots waited for the sun to clear the fog were back at the Indira Gandhi International Airport on Sunday as thick fog nearly grounded flight operations.
At the newly inaugurated Terminal 3 or T3, more than 80 flights were hit: 38, including 24 domestic and 14 international flights, were cancelled. Another 42 flights were diverted to Hyderabad, Jaipur, Ahmedabad, Chennai, Kolkata and Lucknow as runway visibility dropped to less than 100m for several hours.
Fog affected 10 per cent of Delhi's air traffic. On an average day, 850 flights operate from the airport, which is equipped with CAT IIIB, or Category IIIB, Instrument Landing System (ILS). The equipment allows aircraft to descend down to 50ft in fog. As the fog touched down, passengers were stranded and airlines were helplessly rearranging schedules. Passengers of all major domestic airlines bore the brunt of the cancellations. China Air, Singapore Airlines, Thai Airways, Air France and British Airways flights too were affected. Delays were between two and five hours.
At T3, SNA Zaidi, civil aviation secretary, inspected arrangements made by DIAL to tackle the fog.
In an effort to mitigate fog-related flight disruptions, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has decided that aircraft that are not compliant with CAT IIIB ILS will not be allowed to land in Delhi before 10 am during low-visibility conditions, Zaidi said.
27/12/10 India Today

Flight info boards go blank at Kolkata airport

Kolkata: The twin terminals at Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport plunged into sheer chaos on Monday afternoon when a severe manpower crunch led to a blackout in the vital flight information display system for over a couple of hours.
From shortly after 3pm till nearly 6pm, the flight information display boards and LCD monitors installed to inform the status of arriving and departing flights remained blank as there was no one in the studio department to feed the relevant information into the master computer of the display system. Though the problem had been brewing since late Saturday evening, lack of contingency measures on time precipitated the crisis on Monday afternoon.
While the all-women department has 13 employees against a sanctioned strength of 15, there were enough hints of trouble in the weekend when the staff strength was reduced to a bare six. While three were on annual leave, four others went on sick leave. Of them, one had an accident and two were suffering from hepatitis.
Of the remaining six, two reported ill on Monday morning, triggering the crisis. The other four having worked on the Sunday night and Monday day shift left for home, leaving the studio unattended and plunging the airport into chaos.
28/12/10 Times of India

Lohegaon international airport is on growth path

Pune: The global recession in 2009 had affected the growth of passenger traffic at Pune’s Lohegaon airport, but it charted a stupendous growth path in 2010.
There has been a growth of around 20% in passenger traffic this year at Lohegaon airport, as against 12% in 2009.
The airport has so far handled over 2.3 million passengers and the authorities are expecting to cross the three million mark by the end of this financial year.
This year, Pune has been linked by air to newer destinations such as Patna, Leh and Lucknow by GoAir. GoAir returned to Pune to resume operations after a gap of three years.
However, despite demands from different quarters in 2010, the Airports Authority of India (AAI) has failed to introduce new international flights from Pune, especially to Singapore.
At present, eight aviation players are operating from Pune with 76 (to and fro) flights daily from the airport. Two international flights originate from Pune, one to Dubai and the other to Frankfurt.
27/12/10 Ranjan Das Gupta/Daily News & Analysis

Expat groups seek renaming Kochi airport after Karunakaran

Kerala expatriate forums made a joint call on Sunday evening to rename the Cochin International Airport in the southern Indian state after the former chief minister K Karunakaran, who died recently.
The call for renaming the airport, situated in Nedumbassery, 22 kilometres north of Kochi city came at a remembrance meeting held in honour of the senior Indian National Congress (INC) leader at the Indian Cultural Centre. The meeting was convened by Indian Cultural and Arts Society (Incas). Members of some 22 organisations also attended the meeting.
The nonagenarian leader Karunakaran, who was the Kerala chief minister four times, died on December 23.
At the meeting, the speakers recalled the efforts initiated by Karunakaran to make the airport a reality, during his tenure as Kerala chief minister between 1991 and 1995.
“Renaming the airport after Karunakaran is a befitting tribute to the late leader,” the speakers opined.
Recently, former Indian minister of state for external affairs Shashi Tharoor had also demanded that the airport be renamed after Karunakaran.
Incas representatives said a copy of the resolution would also be sent to the directors of the Cochin International Airport Limited (CIAL), which operates the airport and which is also one of the largest in India.
28/12/10 Gulf Times

Monday, December 27, 2010

Takeoff rule tweak for fog

Delhi: Fog over Delhi airport ravaged airline schedules across India today and prompted the government to relax the rules about takeoff in reduced visibility.
The Centre today lowered the permissible visibility for takeoffs by large aircraft from 175m to 150m, and from 150m to 125m for smaller planes. This will reduce delays without endangering safety, which remains “paramount”, civil aviation secretary S.N.A. Zaidi said after a meeting with airlines, weather officials, airport authorities and the directorate-general of civil aviation.
Under the new rules, airlines will not allow passengers to board till visibility has reached 125m.
The Centre’s move comes amid news that the UK government is planning legislation to be able to fine airports that fail to prepare adequately for adverse weather — a subject that could be relevant to India at a time private airports are coming up in the country.
This morning, no flights took off or landed at Delhi for an hour because visibility was below 50m, the minimum required for landing even if an aircraft is equipped with the category 3B instrument landing system and pilots trained in it.
Airlines cancelled flights to Lucknow, Jaipur, Mumbai, Leh, Amritsar, Patna, Chandigarh, Goa and Srinagar.
27/12/10 The Telegraph

Fog blanket stalls flights, trains

New Delhi: Dense fog continued to blind Delhi on Sunday, paralysing air and rail traffic. Indira Gandhi International Airport was shut down for more than two hours on Saturday night due to zero visibility. Poor visibility hampered flight operations for 18 hours at a stretch from Saturday evening to Sunday afternoon.
And it was the same old story at the airport, with authorities unable to deal with the chaos resulting from the delays, diversions and cancellations.
Stranded passengers created unruly scenes at Terminal 3 and domestic departure terminal 1D, even snatching public announcement microphones and shouting slogans against airlines and aviation authorities. Security personnel had a tough time controlling them.
More than 250 flights were delayed by one to 10 hours, 38 were cancelled and an unprecedented 42 scheduled to land in Delhi were diverted to other airports.
The CAT IIIB Instrument Landing System, which helps pilots land in poor visibility, didn’t make much of a difference. The device stops working after visibility goes below 50 metres. And from 10.30pm Saturday to 8.30am Sunday, visibility hovered around the minimum level.
It was the same situation at the railway stations. More than 100 trains were delayed by one to 27 hours on Sunday and thousands of passengers were stranded. Ten trains were cancelled, 70 were running late and the departure of 23 was rescheduled, Northern Railway officials said.
27/12/10 Hindustan Times

Fog in Delhi forces eight flights to land in Ahmedabad

Ahmedabad: Security staff at Sardar Patel International Airport here had a tough time handling the passengers of Thai Airways on Sunday. The flight was diverted to the city from Delhi because of dense fog at Indira Gandhi International Airport.
The passengers demanded that the flight should be taken back to Delhi. However, the pilot had a tough time convincing the passengers.
Later, securitymen were called in to manage the situation. Officials at the Ahmedabad airport said that the Thai Airways pilot first offered to take the flight back to its original destination Bangkok. However, the passengers objected as they wanted to go to Delhi. This led to noisy scenes, forcing the officials to press in the security persons.
The plane was the first to leave for Delhi at about 8 am. The other international flight which was diverted to the city was Air China flight from Beijing. It left for Delhi at 12.30 pm. In all, eight flights, including six domestic carriers, were diverted to Ahmedabad. Officials said that the Ahmedabad airport remained overcrowded since wee hours on Sunday.
27/12/10 Times of India

100 flights disrupted at Delhi Airport

New Delhi: Dense fog in Delhi today led airlines to cancel, divert or delay around 100 domestic and international flights putting thousands of passengers to hardship prompting the government to step in with new steps like relaxing visibily criteria to mitigate the problem.
Around 38 flights including three in the international sector were cancelled while around 42 flights, including 14 international had to be diverted to Hyderabad, Jaipur, Ahmedabad, Chennai, Kolkata and Lucknow as the runway visibility in the IGIA dropped to less than 100 metres for several hours, according to government and airlines officials.
As Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) terminals descended into chaos as passengers remained stranded for hours at the airport amid reports of angry exchanges. Security personnel were forced to intervene to bring calm.
Some 30 flights were delayed while Air India has rescheduled its flight to Chicago, New York and Toronto.
With airline schedules going haywire after dense fog enveloped the capital since last night, civil aviation secretary SNA Zaidi reviewed the situation with stakeholders including officials of airlines, DIAL, directorate general of civil aviation (DGCA) and metereology department.
26/12/10 Daily News & Analysis

Soon, smooth landing at Amausi even during fog

Lucknow: Passengers at Lucknow's Amausi Airport can look forward to on-time and smooth landings, thanks to the brand new precision approach system -- CAT II -- that is soon to be installed at the airport.
Airport director, Atul Dikshit said: "Even on foggy days, when visibility is down to 300 m, flights would be able to land. Airport Authority of India has procured the hardware for installing the CAT-II precision instrument approach system. The system would become operational once all obstacles have been removed.''
The setting up of CAT II system was delayed because of residential settlements in village Gwarda, near the airport. Though AAI acquired the land, it was unable to take possession following protests by families. "Things have been settled now. We have sought the help of the district administration to take possession of the land. Once that is done, we would be able to carry on with the project,'' Dikshit said.
At present, all aircrafts approaching Lucknow airport abort landing if the visibility dips to 800 m, especially when there is thick fog. With the implementation of CAT II system, flights will be able to land in dense fog as well. The Instrument Landing system (ILS), as it is technically known, works on radio waves transmitted towards a landing aircraft.
27/12/10 Pankaj Shah/Times of India

Traffic clog in Chennai airport troubles passengers

Chennai: Have an evening or night flight to catch? Better reach the airport well in advance as you could get stuck in a traffic jam on the campus.
Even those arriving in time for their flight often get caught in the pile-up that extends from the gate to the passenger alighting point in front of the terminals.
This not only inconveniences passengers but has also led to a couple of them missing their flights.
The traffic jam is caused by construction work being carried out in front of the terminals. Most of the space there has been cordoned off to build a flyover that is part of the modernisation and expansion of the airport.
So, entry and exit from the terminals have been restricted to two pathways. Passengers coming in cars get down in front of these pathways and walk into the terminals.
However, vehicle traffic is not managed well. "It takes almost 40 minutes to reach the terminal from the airport's gate on the GST road. It is complete chaos in front of the terminal," said M Krishnan, who came to see off a relative on Sunday.
The Airports Authority of India ( AAI) has kept signboards and has designated a route for cars to drive in and drive out after dropping passengers. But the arrangement does not seem to have served its purpose because passengers say there are no authorised personnel to regulate the traffic.
27/12/10 Times of India

Fog delays flights at Bangalore Airport

Bangalore: Dense winter fog continued on the third day on Saturday at the Bengaluru International Airport (BIA) delaying more than 10 flight departures and an equal number of arrivals at Devanahalli here.
Sources said while three Air India flights, one each to Kolkata, Mumbai and New Delhi were delayed by more than an hour, an equal number of flights from Kingfisher and Jet were also delayed due to bad weather.
We had three departures being delayed, unable to takeoff," said Chandrashekhar, the Air India spokesperson. "Flights scheduled to take off at 6.05 am, 6.15 am and 7 am could take off only at 8.00 am."
According to BIA officials, fog is anticipated from November 15 to February 15 annually, between 3 am and 8:30 am. It is known as Radiation fog. "It is formed on clear, still nights when the ground loses heat by radiation and cools," said an official at the BIA. "The ground in turn cools the nearby air to saturation point, thus forming fog."
26/12/10 ExpressBuzz

Dense fog hits flights in Patna

Patna: Dense fog on Sunday morning disrupted flight schedules at the Jayaprakash Narayan International Airport here, leaving hundreds of passengers stranded for hours. Their woes were further aggravated by chilly weather conditions.
"The dense fog, which descended on Patna late Saturday evening, had caused a drop in visibility which continued to hit flights' operations well beyond 11.30 am on Sunday morning," a source at the airport told TOI.
Go Air's Delhi-Patna-Delhi morning flight (G8-341) was cancelled as poor visibility led to the enforcement of Low Visibility Procedures (LVP) at the Indira Gandhi International Airport, Delhi.
"More than 100 passengers were booked on the GA's return flight to Delhi. Some of them have been adjusted in our next Delhi-Patna-Delhi flight today, some on other days while refunds have been made to a few passengers," a source said.
As visibility improved later in the morning, LVP enforcement was withdrawn at the IGI Delhi airport, allowing delayed flights to resume service. As a result, GA's Delhi-Patna-Delhi flight (G8-343), which is scheduled to take off from IGI Delhi at 1.10 pm took off hours behind schedule.
26/12/10 Alok K N Mishra/Times of India

DGCA puts in place fresh measures

New Delhi: The met department bitterly complained that its warning of dense fog given well in advance on Saturday evening failed to bring any relief to passengers. Airlines kept them seated inside aircraft waiting to take off for hours and planes headed to Delhi diverted to other places in record numbers.
"Fog descended without any warning on Christmas and led to troubles that could not be avoided. Now we gave advance warning and still passengers ended up suffering," a senior Met official complained at the review meeting held by aviation secretary Nasim Zaidi at the airport on Sunday evening.
The first new rule put in place is that non-CAT III-compliant planes will not be allowed to land or take off from IGI before 10am during fog. Airlines will have to draw up a separate schedule for such flights. "As many as 300 of 415 aircraft with Indian carriers are CAT III-compliant and 2,100 of 4,000 pilots are CAT III-trained. That's a sizeable number and there's no point letting non CAT III-compliant planes be here in fog hours and block other planes too," Zaidi said.
In fact, complaints from passengers started coming from early morning itself and Zaidi decided that the earlier order of not allowing airlines to make passengers board aircraft when visibility is below 125 metres (the minimum in which planes like Boeing 737 and Airbus A-320 can get airborne) needed to be tweaked. To be fair to airlines, they may ask passengers to board planes in visibility but then it may fall and lead to long wait - something beyond their control.
27/12/10 Saurabh Sinha/Times of India

Man sues IA for 50 lakh, gets Rs 1,500

Thane resident Ganesh Joshi, 40, who was severely injured after a fire extinguisher fell on his head during the landing of his Indian Airlines (IA) flight has been awarded only a token compensation. To Joshi’s misfortune – who sought Rs 50 lakh as damages – the rules state that he could get only Rs 1500 as compensation for his two days of ‘temporary disability’.
On June 24, 2009, just as IA’s Goa-Mumbai flight was landing on the tarmac of the Mumbai airport, a fire extinguisher that hung above Joshi came crashing first on his head and then his shoulder.
Joshi suffered a head injury, began bleeding profusely from his shoulder and fell unconscious. The IA administered first aid to Joshi, but that couldn’t stop his bleeding. He was then rushed to Bandra’s Guru Nanak hospital, where he recovered after two days of hospitalisation.
Joshi contended that till date, he cannot drive a vehicle or take up long distance travelling for his business due to his left shoulder and hand injuries.
In its defence, IA argued that under the Carriage by Air Act, for an injury suffered by a passenger that results in temporary disability, his compensation can only be calculated at Rs 750 per day of income or Rs 1.5 lakh if the disability remains; whichever works out to be less.
IA also contended that they had provided immediate treatment to Joshi and had borne his medical expenses after rushing him to the hospital.
Ruling that Joshi was only entitled to get Rs 1500 (Rs 750 for each day of temporary disability and loss of income) other than Rs 2100 which he had spent on his treatment and Rs 1000 as legal costs, the commission said, “The IA has failed in its duty of properly securing the cylinder in the luggage cabinet...but this was the only deficiency in service on their part.”
27/12/10 Anand Holla/Mumbai Mirror

Sunday, December 26, 2010

Staff crisis cloud on Kolkata airport

Kolkata: Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport in Kolkata is staring at a possible collapse in flight services from January 1 unless officials of Airports Authority of India (AAI) and Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) work overtime to complete an extremely challenging task.
While AAI has a relatively simpler job of forwarding around 2,500 applications for security passes for ground handling staff outsourced by various airlines, BCAS will have to scrutinise each application and issue the security pass for access to various sections of the airport. Other than bona fide passengers, security pass is mandatory for anyone entering the airport.
Applications for security passes are usually submitted by various carriers within the first fortnight of each month for the processing by AAI and BCAS that takes around two weeks. But AAI has refused applications for fresh monthly passes in December as it planned to terminate the services of multiple ground handling agencies according to the new policy. Instead, Bhadra International the agency selected for ground handling ops at Kolkata, Chennai and other airports in south India was to take over from January 1.
However, the Delhi high court order on Thursday that stayed the handover of operations to a single agency from January 1 has forced AAI and BCAS into a corner. Till Friday, airport officials had declined to accept the forms as it had not received the court order.
26/12/10 Times of India

Fog hits Delhi flights, trains; harrowing time for passengers

Delhi, Mumbai: Fog is back to haunt travellers in various parts of the country. Thick fog in Delhi has led to poor runway visibility which has disrupted flights to and from several cities including Mumbai, Kolkata, Jaipur and Amritsar.
There were no flights at Delhi airport for nearly an hour early on Sunday morning. Situation right now is better, visibility has improved and flights have started taking off, but some 38 flights were cancelled and 42 delayed or diverted. Some international flights have also been disrupted.
Civil Aviation Secretary Nasim Ahmad Zaidi spoke to the media after a fog review meeting, and said while some delays were inevitable, there had to be a way to keep passengers in the loop.
"The IGI has a helpline, airlines also have helplines. If undue inconvenience is there, complaints will be looked into, but during fog, perhaps some inconvenience is unavoidable," he said.
Most of the morning flights were delayed by up to five hours or had to be rescheduled for the latter part of the day. The general visibility at the main and the new runways were less than 50 metres early morning.
26/12/10 NDTV.com

Brara to head Air India subsidiary AITSL

Mumbai: Air India has appointed its Executive Director (Ground Handling) Deepak Brara as head of the Air Transport Services Limited (AITSL) replacing Capt Ashwini Kumar Sharma.
Air India CMD Arvind Jadhav has taken off the additional charge from Sharma and posted Brara as the Chief Operating Officer (COO) of AITSL, airline sources said.
AITSL is a 100 per cent subsidiary of Air India set up to provide ground handling services.
25/12/10 PTI/Economic Times

Stakeholders pitch for night landing facility at Sgr airport

Srinagar: With the Instrumentation Landing System readying for take off at the Srinagar International Airport, the stakeholders are pitching for night landing facility on the aerodrome in a bid to give fillip to the tourism sector and ensure more job avenues for the youth in Jammu and Kashmir.
This time around, flights at the Srinagar airport are able to land or take off only during the daytime, between 9 AM to 4.30 PM.
This, according to observers, was impeding the commercial airlines to operate night flights for the aspiring flyers to and from Srinagar. “The timing bar is a big factor that hampers the commercial airlines to operate more flights to and from Srinagar. The airlines do feel the need of operating more commercial flights from Jammu and Delhi to Srinagar and vice versa,” said station manager of a commercial airline, insisting not to be named. “In summers particularly, the airlines experience a heavy rush of flyers to the Valley wherein they sometimes operate two flights a day. But due to bar on flights operating at the Srinagar airport, it is not possible for them to explore the option of pressing more flights into service.”
25/12/10 Faheem Aslam/Greater Kashmir

'Fog hit' IGI limps back to normalcy

After being hit by dense fog early Sunday (December 26) morning, air traffic resumed with the visibility going up to a 1,000 metres and flights finally taking from the Indira Gandhi International airport in New Delhi.
Hundreds of passengers were earlier stranded at Delhi'S IGI airport, with nearly 100 flights being delayed and around 75 domestic and international flights being cancelled. Passengers were harassed a lot as many airlines delayed their departure due to dense fog.
The Civil Aviation Secretary will hold a fog review meet at 4PM today to take stock of the situation & IGI's unpreparedness to handle heavy fog conditions.
26/12/10 Times Now.tv

Mangalore Airport steps into 60th year

Mangalore: Mangalore Airport completed 59 years on Saturday 25th December 2010 and stepped into 60th year. In these six decades the airport had grown into a modern airport today. The airport was inaugurated on 25th December 1951 by Pandith Javaharlal Nehru, who was the Prime Minister of India at that time.
The airport was then progressed into development stage by stage. Planes from Mumbai and then from Bangalore started flying into Mangalore Airport. In 2006 for the airport catered to the demands and first time the International flights started landing. Air India Express started its flights from Dubai to Mangalore, followed by flights from Doha, Bahrain, Kuwait, Abu Dhabi, Muscat and so on. Mangalore airport has a second runway. The airport caters over 5 lakhs passengers. The new terminal is closer to Mangalore city by 5 kilometers.
26/12/10 Bellevision

Saturday, December 25, 2010

BIAL becomes India’s fastest growing airport

Bangalore: In 2010, the Bengaluru International Airport Limited (BIAL) has witnessed a 23 per cent passenger growth. The figure came up when the airport reported its annual air traffic statistics for 2010.
The statistics released here say the BIAL also handled the highest number of passengers on a single day since opening for commercial operations in May 2008. These figures, according to the Airports Authority of India (AAI), has made the airport the fastest growing airport in the country.
The BIAL also said, with revived business travel and increase in the leisure segment, the upward growth trend that continued from July last year, touched a record 11.24 million passengers this year.
"Passenger traffic in the last quarter was 3.06 million and on December 17, 2010, the airport handled 38,134 passengers," said Hungerbeuhler. "Both figures are the highestever reported since the airport opened in May 2008." He said cargo too showed an upswing this year in comparison to last year, with an annual growth rate of 31 per cent.
24/12/10 ExpressBuzz

Delhi Metro's airport line likely to begin in 15 days

New Delhi: The much-awaited Airport Express Line of Delhi Metro is likely to be operational in the next 15 days, its managing director E Sreedharan said on Friday. He said the work on the 22-km Airport Express line was complete and operations could begin in 24 hours. But the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation
(DMRC) was waiting for the safety clearance certificate from the commissioner of Metro Railway Safety (CMRS).
The Metro corridor connects the city's shopping hub Connaught Place with the international airport.
"There is no problem on the Airport Express line, we are waiting for the CMRS to inspect the line. He (CMRS RK Kardam) was on long leave and now he has come back. If he gives the green signal, the line will be operational," Sreedharan told reporters in an informal interaction on the eighth anniversary of DMRC's operations.
He said that the trial runs on the Airport Express Line have been successful and he is satisfied with the work.
24/12/10 Hindustan Times

Delhi Metro's airport line likely to begin in 15 days

New Delhi: The much-awaited Airport Express Line of Delhi Metro is likely to be operational in the next 15 days, its managing director E Sreedharan said on Friday. He said the work on the 22-km Airport Express line was complete and operations could begin in 24 hours. But the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation
(DMRC) was waiting for the safety clearance certificate from the commissioner of Metro Railway Safety (CMRS).
The Metro corridor connects the city's shopping hub Connaught Place with the international airport.
"There is no problem on the Airport Express line, we are waiting for the CMRS to inspect the line. He (CMRS RK Kardam) was on long leave and now he has come back. If he gives the green signal, the line will be operational," Sreedharan told reporters in an informal interaction on the eighth anniversary of DMRC's operations.
He said that the trial runs on the Airport Express Line have been successful and he is satisfied with the work.
24/12/10 Hindustan Times

Fog engulfs BIA, delays 49 flights

Bangalore: Lack of visibility on the runway due to fog saw 25 departures and 24 arrivals get delayed at the airport. As many as 60 flights were affected even on Thursday morning around the same time. However, there were no flight diversions reported.
While all the arrivals were restricted to domestics flights, bad weather delayed the departures of the Lufthansa and Air France flights to France and the Dragon Air flight to Hong Kong. Of the domestic flights, four Air India flights to Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai and Kolkata were also stalled.
BIA employee Mahesh told Deccan Herald that the delay in departures in the morning created backlog, affecting the schedules of flights due for departure in the evening and night. The situation, however, eased later in the night and flights began departing on time.
Going by the meteorological department’s forecast of weather in the City, with the winter at its peak, air travelers cannot expect flights to adhere to schedules for a few more days to come. According to BIA sources, fog generally hits the airport from the last week of November and extends into a couple of months into the next year.
And the situation will prevail despite the fog contingency plan that has been put in place.
24/12/10 Deccan Herald

Friday, December 24, 2010

Stay on ground-handling order till HC verdict

The Delhi high court on Thursday said ground-handling at six major airports will continue to be handled by the various airlines and that a government circular implementing a new regime has been stayed until it delivers a verdict.
The government had said in its circular that the duties would be handed over to companies that had won contracts for ground handling at the six facilities—Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Hyderabad and Bangalore—starting 1 January.
The court concluded hearings into the dispute between the ministry of civil aviation and private airlines on Thursday.
The court also ordered that the government will now perform 13 security-related functions at these airports, while the private carriers will continue to perform the remaining operations.
Private airlines have thus far handled the behind-the-scenes logistics for their own passengers at most airports in the country. This includes everything that goes on at airports once passengers get past the check-in counter, such as parking aircraft, transporting luggage and passengers, refuelling and catering.
Jet Airways (India) Ltd, Kingfisher Airlines Ltd, SpiceJet, Indigo and GoAir, which have 80% of India’s air passenger market, filed the petition on 26 November, led by their lobby group, the Federation of Indian Airlines.
The petition claims the new policy violates the airlines’ right of self-handling and would lead to 3,000 job losses.
24/12/10 Nikhil Kanekal & Tarun Shukla/Live Mint

'Cat-scanned' pilots to combat fog

Delhi: Every year on most winter mornings the Delhi airport turns into a No Fly Zone. A civil aviation ministry official expressed hopes on Tuesday that things would be decidedly better in the near future. That's because airlines will have the services of as many as 500 more trained CAT II/III B compliant pilots this year.
Last year the number of trained pilots with the airlines was 1500. In January 2010, which was unusually foggy even by north Indian standards, more than 1,000 flights had to be cancelled and more than 200 were diverted.
Delhi airport is the one of the worst fog-affected airports in the country and in the world. "This year the number of trained CAT II/III B pilots is 2048. The flight schedules of aircraft which are not Low Visibility Procedure (LVP) compliant will be reviewed," said the official.
"AAI has been asked to prepare a comprehensive document on all Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) on fog management at IGI Airport. DIAL will also finalise the Low Visibility Procedure in coordination with AAI and publish it. There will be a detailed SOP for transfer of international passengers in coordination with stakeholders," the official said. Sources told MiD DAY that AAI will prepare priority setting procedure in departure sequence during and immediately after LVP. AAI shall also keep diversionary airports ready for accepting the diverted aircraft from IGI Airport.
23/12/10 Surender Sharma/MiD DAY

Ambani Copter Row: Court Slams Mumbai Police

Mumbai police’s elite crime branch has come under fire from a special court for its "biased" probe into the alleged sabotage of business tycoon Anil Ambani’s helicopter.
In a 40-page judgment, special Judge M V Kulkarni, was critical of the police investigation and said "the entire investigation was biased and one sided to suit the management of Airworks Indian Engineering Ltd."
"The management has created a false case by tampering with the helicopter belonging to Anil Ambani and thereby created media sensation without actually damage being caused to the aircraft, which is evident from the report of the Director General of Civil Aviation," the judgment, which was made available to lawyers today, said.
The court had on November 30 acquitted two persons, who were employed as helpers with Airworks, due to lack of evidence, giving them the benefit of doubt.
Uday Wanekar (32) and Palraj Thevar (38) were accused of planting pebbles and gravels in the combined gear box of the Ambani-owned helicopter on April 23 last year while it was parked in the hanger of Airworks for maintenance.
The prosecution argued the duo had tried to sabotage the helicopter to cause wrongful loss and damage to Airworks following a dispute with the management.
However, the court remarked "enmity is a double-edged weapon. While the helpers had a motive to commit the mischief, it was also possible for the management to stage manage such an incident and use it as tool to terminate the services of the helpers."
23/12/10 Outlook India

Srinagar airportto be decongested

Srinagar: What could be big respite for the passengers and airlines, the Airports Authority of India (AAI) is all set to decongest the Srinagar ‘International’ Airport in a bid to provide quality service to the stakeholders.
To begin with, the AAI has decided to use the international terminal of the airport for domestic arrivals to facilitate smooth flow of passengers.
The development, according to sources, comes in the wake of recurring complaints from the airlines and passengers that the domestic terminal building was ‘not up to the mark’ and capable of handling the departures and arrivals.
This newspaper had reported in September the problems the passengers and airlines face in the existing terminal building, primarily due to less number of conveyor belts, persistent trouble of bird droppings, lack of waiting hall and drinking water facilities.
With the Hajj-2010 arrivals over, the AAI has shot a letter to all the stakeholders at the airport, asking them to gear up to use the international terminal for domestic flight arrivals.
“The international terminal shall be used for domestic arrivals from January 7. I have asked all the stakeholders, including the airlines, to fall in line with regard to the decision. I am hopeful that the step would prove beneficial in easing the congestion at the airport and facilitate smooth flow of passengers,” said the Srinagar-based AAI director, Capt Raj K Malik.
At the international terminal, sources said, the passengers can take rest in a waiting hall and have access to facilities like drinking water and more conveyor belts, which tranship luggage after the passengers receive their boarding cards.
23/12/10 Faheem Aslam/Greater Kashmir

Thursday, December 23, 2010

More Cat III trained pilots to tackle fog at airport

New Delhi: When dense fog descends at the Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport in Delhi this winter, expect better flight operations. According to the civil aviation ministry, the total number of pilots with different airlines trained to use CAT II and CAT III Instrument Landing System (ILS) has gone up to 2,048 from around 1,500 last year.
The CAT III ILS guides pilots to land an aircraft in near zero visibility if they are trained to use the system and their aircraft are compliant.
At a meeting on fog management held on Wednesday under the chairmanship of secretary civil aviation, the fog preparedness of all agencies was assessed.
The Airports Authority of India (AAI), which handles air traffic at the Delhi airport, has been asked to prepare a priority setting procedure in departure of aircraft during fog and after improvement of visibility. AAI will also keep nearby airports ready to accept flights diverted from the Indira Gandhi International Airport. The two main runways at the airport will be used in mixed mode operation for distributing traffic from fog as well as noise point of view.
23/12/10 Hindustan Times

Secretary Civil Aviation holds meeting on fog Management

A meeting on fog management at IGI Airport was held on today under the Chairmanship of Secretary Civil Aviation to review preparedness of various agencies at IGI Airport in the light of ensuing fog season. Preparedness of all agencies like the Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL), Airport Authority of India (AAI) and Indian Metrological Department (IMD) were reviewed.
It was decide that DIAL will prepare a comprehensive document on all SOPs on Fog Management at IGI Airport. DIAL will also finalize the Low Visibility Procedure in coordination with AAI and publish it. There will be a detailed SOP for transfer of international passengers in co-ordination with the stakeholders.
AAI will prepare priority setting procedure in departure sequence during and immediately after LVP. AAI shall also keep diversionary airports ready for accepting the diverted aircraft from IGI Airport.
There will be a SOP for Fire Management during fog period. Adequate training will be imparted to personnel as part of preparedness for the fog period.

Besides these the following issues were also taken up:
• Preparation of priority setting procedure in departure sequence during and immediately after LVP has been prepared by AAI by allocating number of flights on the basis of airlines schedule. The procedure has been evolved by AAI in consultation with Airlines. Same will be reviewed by DGCA.
• Revised flight schedule for non-LVP compliant aircraft such as CRJ and ATR etc., for fog period submitted by Airlines will be reviewed by DGCA.
• Plan for mixed mode operation for distributing traffic from fog as well as noise point of view will be prepared to distribute traffic for all the runways.
• This year a total of 2048 CAT II/III compliant pilots are available with the Airlines. This number was around 1500 last year.
• DIAL was advised to explore possibility of making weather information/fog forecast available on Flight Information Display Systems within the passenger terminal/city side.
• Airlines website and helplines will be monitored for timely dissemination of flight information to passenger during the fog period.
22/12/10 PRESS RELEASE/Press Information Bureau

ILS calibration successful at Srinagar Airport

Srinagar: The Airports Authority of India (AAI) has ‘successfully completed’ the calibration of the much-needed Instrumentation Landing System (ILS) at the Srinagar International Airport, bringing respite to the airlines which are all set to use the latest landing facility.
The calibration of the equipment, which had started on Tuesday, was completed this afternoon. “We are done with the calibration of the ILS. It was successful,” said the Srinagar-based AAI director, Capt Raj K Malik, asserting that the calibration report has gone to various quarters for ratification.
Informed sources, privy to the calibration process, said the report has been sent to the Director General Civil Aviation (DGCA), Airports Authority of India New Delhi and the Indian Air Force for approval.
“The DGCA will go through all the technical data given in the report. After that it will issue NOTAM (notice to airmen) with regard to the functioning of the equipment. This shall be followed by allotment of a frequency to the airlines on which they can land at the airport, with the ILS in operation,” they said.
22/12/10 Grater Kashmir

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Aviation min’s new ground-handling policy faces security bureau hurdle

The Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS), the agency responsible for aviation security in the country, has thrown a spanner in the civil aviation ministry's plan to implement the new ground-handling policy from January 1, 2011. Any delay in rolling out the new policy which bars private carriers such as Jet Airways, Kingfisher Airlines and IndiGo from undertaking ground-handling would help the airlines save on cost.
The new policy allows only three agencies in one metro airport — the national carrier Air India, the airport operator (such as Airports Authority of India, GMR and GVK), and one private firm selected through bidding to provide ground handling services. The service involves job of baggage movement, cargo scanning, taxing, refueling and cleaning of the aircraft among others.
The move would simultaneously hurt the commercial interest of private airport operators such as GMR-led Delhi International Airports Ltd (DIAL) and GVK-led Mumbai international airport Ltd (MIAL).
The proposed rules under the new policy had been cleared by the Cabinet committee on security (CCS) after being deferred thrice in the past. The BCAS now, however claims that they were not consulted before taking up the approval of the executive at the highest level.
The aviation security agency has also written to the civil aviation ministry desiring the continuance of the existing policy. It has argued that BCAS allows only the airline companies to undertake certain activities related to security.
22/12/10 Nirbhay Kumar/Financial Express

Heathrow nightmare just gets worse and worse

Another 100,000 passengers contemplated Christmases ruined and holidays wrecked by the partial closure of Heathrow, as snow and ice kept its second, southerly runway closed until 5.30pm yesterday. It brings the number of travellers to and from the airport with journeys disrupted by the airport's inability to deal with extreme weather to 600,000. Many of those camped out at the hub of world aviation will be obliged to spend Christmas in the unholy transience of an airport terminal.
By 7am yesterday, as Heathrow struggled to cope with the sheer number of people stranded, around 1,000 hopeful passengers were queuing simply for admission to Terminal 3, the key long-haul terminal at Heathrow. Two women with toddlers in pushchairs were turned away for reasons, according to one official, of "health and safety", with security staff checking tickets against lists of confirmed departures, and enforcing a strict ban on anyone departing later.
The women were directed to one of the hastily erected marquees outside the terminal where the temperature was slightly above freezing. The only brightness conferred upon those denied access took the form of a Salvation Army van, dispensing tea, coffee and sympathy to travellers whose journeys had changed character from aspiration to desperation.
Syed Muhammad Islam, a student at the University of Leeds hoping to fly on Oman Air to India, is camped outside the airport chapel. He said he could not afford to continue to eat at airport prices. "They haven't given us any indication. They say 'maybe today; maybe tomorrow'. They are not sure about anything, they're just giving us 'maybe' answers, like 10 per cent, 20 per cent. They have given no confirmation."
As water dripped through a hole in the roof beside his makeshift camp, he said Indian airports would have made a much better job of the closure. "They would be shifting us to some accommodation at least so we don't have to sleep on the floor. They would definitely have made us go to a hotel or somewhere. It might be cheap, but at least they would have done that for us."
As the world's leading aviation hub degenerated to something akin to a prison, airlines' anger at their mounting losses intensified, at least in private. One senior executive railed against the "astonishing failures in communication" by BAA, the airport's Spanish owner.
22/12/10 The Independent, UK

Despite healthy patronage, lone Salem flight cancelled

Salem: The cancellation of the lone ATR flight from Kingfisher Airlines in the Chennai-Salem-Chennai sector has put regular air passengers from Salem and the adjoining districts of Namakkal and Dharmapuri in a quandary.
After a near two-decade struggle to make the airport active, the fliers from Salem and its neighbourhood, had the opportunity of getting connected to Chennai by a flight despite very `uncomfortable timings.' The flight would arrive at Salem airport at about 3.30 pm and leave for Chennai by 4.30 pm. But still, passengers had opted to fly and in fact, the aircraft occupancy was a healthy 55 to 60 per cent, especially in the Salem-Chennai sector.
But for the past 10 days, the flight was cancelled without reason. “We have not received any official communication so far about the cancellation. We have to face public ire,” said a travel agent.
Airport sources, however, pointed out that despite a recent hike in airfare, the flight had been doing well with the occupancy being `very encouraging.'
A leading industrialist and frequent flier told The Hindu that Kingfisher had been erratic in its operations ever since its launch. This had forced him and others to have an alternative arrangement for travel, either by train or by road.
22/12/10 R. Ilangovan/The Hindu

Delhi-based agency takes over cargo handling at Kolkata airport

Kolkata: Bhadra International, a Delhi-based ground handing agency, has taken charge of cargo operations at Kolkata airport from Monday, marking the beginning of a transition to world-class service.
Ground handling of passenger operations at the airport, currently carried out by over two dozen agencies, will also be handed to the same agency from January 1, 2011. The move follows a new policy set up to regulate activities at the airport on security grounds. The Union home ministry and Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) had assessed that safety was being compromised at airports due to presence of multiple agencies that engaged contractual staff without adequate background checks.
All private carriers moved Delhi high court against airport operators like Airports Authority of India (AAI), Delhi International Airport Ltd (DIAL), Mumbai International Airports Ltd (MIAL) and others, to stop them from implementing the policy that has been deferred twice. But with the court not ordering a stay on the new policy that comes into effect from January 1, 2011, Bhadra International has begun preparations to take charge of ground operations in Kolkata, Chennai and other southern airports allocated to it.
Similarly, two other ground handling agencies, NASS and Indo-Thai, have begun preparations at airports in west and north India. National carrier Air India and airport operators are also authorized to provide the service. AI right now provides the service to foreign carriers.
22/12/10 Times of India

Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Finally, Srinagar Airport to get ILS

Srinagar: After years of delay, the Airports Authority of India (AAI) is all set to calibrate the Instrumentation Landing System (ILS) at the Srinagar International Airport on Tuesday to facilitate easy landing of aircraft in low visibility conditions.
Highly placed sources disclosed to Greater Kashmir that a team of experts Sunday arrived at the airport to calibrate the landing instrument worth Rs 2 crore.
“An experienced pilot named Capt Johar from the AAI will be leading the calibration process Tuesday,” they said. The development comes a month after the Airports Authority of India and the Indian Air Force agreed to calibrate the equipment, which had been installed at the airport two years back.
Sources said after the calibration is over, a report shall be presented to the Director General Civil Aviation (DGCA) and the Union Civil Aviation Ministry. “Once they give clearance, the equipment would be put to use,” they said.
Sources said the commissioning of the ILS would ensure easy landing of aircraft in low visibility conditions during the day or night landing as well. “This time the visibility requirement for landing at the Srinagar Airport is over 2 kms.
But once the ILS is put to use, the aircraft can land in visibility conditions of 1000 to 1200 meters,” they said.
20/12/10 Faheem Aslam

Take on blue bulls to take-off night flights

Kanpur: The Chakeri airport authorities will soon have an answer to night landing of aircraft, but they are still clueless on how to tackle the blue bull and peacock menace that has led to mishaps in the past.
The Instrument Landing System (ILS) will become operational at the Chakeri airport in a fortnight. It is sure to increase air-traffic. However, the airport authorities still have no foolproof plan to keep these birds and beasts from straying onto the runway.
The forest cover surrounding the airport provides a safe harbour to the birds and the blue bulls but is a safety hazard for the human beings. In an incident that had highlighted the chaotic and dangerous conditions prevailing on the runways of the country, a 48-seater Air India regional flight had hit a blue bull while landing at the Chakeri airport on February 28, 2008. The 47 passengers on board and four crew members, however, had escaped unhurt.
The Delhi-Kanpur-Allahabad flight, CD 7801, had just landed in Kanpur when the incident had occurred. The pilot had pulled the emergency brake after he noticed a `nilgai' (blue bull) on the runway, but the animal had been hit and died on the spot.
"Soon after the incident, the then district magistrate had convened a meeting with the airport authorities to check the menace of blue bulls, but all in vain," said officiating airport controller AK Saxena.
Recently on December 2, 2010, a herd of blue bulls damaged a cable of ILS from various junctions. According to airport officials, repeated requests to the district administration and the forest department to keep the area free from blue bulls and peacocks have fallen on deaf ears.
Dozens of peacocks flying around the airport is a common sight. Though airport authorities have roped in security personnel to chase away birds before a flight lands or takes off, it is not a foolproof measure.
20/12/10 Faiz Rahman Siddiqui/Times of India

Air Force Base or International Airport?

Srinagar: The identity of the Srinagar Airport continues to remain doubtful. A prominent airline ticket booking web portal, www.yatra.com, is taking the flyers by surprise by mentioning the Srinagar International Airport as “Srinagar Air Force Base” while the Jammu Air Force Base is mentioned as “Jammu Airport.”
This, according to official sources, was contrary to the Airports Authority of India parlance, which names the airport as the “Srinagar International Airport.” “For all practical purposes, it has been named as the Srinagar International Airport,” said an AAI official. “The identity board is there for anyone to see. If a portal mentions it wrongly, it is their problem.”
The identity of the airport continues to baffle observers, who find no reasons to call it an “international airport” following the grounding of the Srinagar-Dubai flight last year.
20/12/10 Greater Kashmir

Monday, December 20, 2010

Jackals endangering flight safety at Kolkata airport

Kolkata: Last week a jackal strayed onto the runway of the N S C Bose International Airport here forcing the pilot of an aircraft to abort take off and delayed two incoming flights.
The jackals as well as birds are attracted to garbage dumped from markets in areas surrounding the airport which pose a danger to air safety.
Adding to the problems is the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS)'s recent ban on using guns and firecrackers to scare away birds and animals from the airport premises.
The problem was discussed at a meeting of the Airfield Environment Committee headed by West Bengal home secretary G D Gautama with officials of the local civic bodies around the airport and the Airports Authority of India two weeks ago.
"Garbage attracts birds and animals, including jackals and wildcats causing trouble for airport operations," airport Director R Srinivasan said.
"Steps have been taken to keep the area adjacent to the airport clean and free from garbage," he said.
Cages have been set up by the forest department inside the airport to trap jackals.
19/12/10 PTI/Economic Times

Bird menace hikes airlines costs at Delhi

New Delhi: The bird menace at the Delhi airport is posing a big problem for airlines, as there have been several instances of aircrafts being forced to abort landing at the last minute due to excessive bird activity on the runway. "Apart from the inconvenience and scare that it causes to passengers, the 'go around' for a second landing takes a good 15 to 20 minutes to complete and burns up around 1,000 litres of additional jet fuel," a senior pilot of a commercial airline told Mail Today.
Sometimes there are several aircrafts in the queue for landing and this leads to a cascading delay for other flights, with the accompanying wastage of fuel getting multiplied. With international prices of crude shooting up to $90 a barrel and the oil companies jacking up fuel prices, the extra fuel burn, which costs around Rs 50,000, is something that commercial airlines can ill-afford at a time when they are struggling to break even.
20/12/10 S.P.S. Pannu/India Today

Delhi airport's space not used well, show figures

New Delhi: The new terminal 3 or T3 at the Delhi airport may be one of the largest in the world in terms of size but it is not as efficient as its international and domestic peers in space utilisation.
T3 is the largest airport terminal in the country and the eighth largest in the world but its capacity utlisation is only 62 passengers per square metre. This is significantly lower than counterparts such as at London or Bangkok. Terminal 5 at London’s Heathrow, for instance, has a space utilisation of 85 passengers per sq metre. Bangkok has 80 per sq metre.
Among domestic airports, Mumbai caters to 93 passengers every sq metre. The Bangalore and Hyderabad airport figures are 155 and 119, respectively.
According to the master plan, the terminal was to be built over 4,70,000 square metres. The operator, Delhi International Airport Ltd (DIAL), however, overbuilt the third terminal by 80,000 sq metres, thus bringing down the average capacity utilisation.
DIAL is a joint venture company of the Bangalore-headquartered GMR Group, state-owned Airports Authority of India, Fraport and Malaysian Airport Holdings.
In its defence, DIAL says T3 is a pier-type terminal, similar to Terminal 2 and Terminal 3 of Singapore’s Changi airport, where aircraft are parked on either side of the piers. Hence, it would be unfair to compare average capacity utilisation at T3 with other domestic terminals in the country.
20/12/10 Mihir Mishra/Business Standard

7 flights to snow-hit Heathrow cancelled

New Delhi: With heavy snowfall bringing air travel across Europe to a standstill, airlines flying in and out of Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport have also announced the cancellation of all flights to and from London’s Heathrow Airport, which announced a shutdown on account of heavy snow on Saturday evening.
Seven flights to and from London were cancelled on Sunday at the IGI, including one of Virgin Atlantic, Jet Airways, Kingfisher, and two of Air India and British Airways respectively.
London’s Heathrow Airport accepted no arrivals on Sunday and allowed only a handful of departures after snow and ice forced the closure of runways. It is preparing for a full reopening on Monday, a statement on its website said, urging passengers to check with their airlines before travelling to the airport.
Airports across Europe are also reporting cancellations and delay in flight operations.
20/12/10 Indian Express

Pune: No respite from biting cold; flights affected

Pune: It was another chilly day for Puneites as the city's temperature dropped to 7.3 degree Celsius on Sunday morning, bringing the mercury level three degrees below normal. It was the coldest day of this season so far.
According to India Meteorological Department (IMD) officials, the minimum temperature is likely to go down to 5 degree Celsius in the next 48 hours.
The prevailing weather conditions have also affected departure of some flights from Lohegaon airport by at least half an hour. However, the movement of trains is normal.
The minimum temperature on Saturday morning was 8.5 degrees Celsius while the maximum temperature on Sunday was 27.3 degrees Celsius, two degrees below normal.
IMD's deputy director general (weather forecasting), AB Mazumdar, attributed the dip in temperature to different factors. "The cold northerly winds, combined with clear skies and lack of moisture are the reasons for the drop in minimum temperature," he said, predicting that the trend would continue.
Met officials said that the city is experiencing day-time breeze, which is keeping the maximum temperature down. The maximum temperature is expected to hover around 27 degree Celsius in the next 48 hours.
20/12/10 Ranjan Dasgupta/Daily News & Analysis/NDTV.com

DAA in 'detailed' talks on T2 with Air India

Dublin Airport Authority (DAA) chief executive Declan Collier has said its “detailed negotiations” with Air India on using its newly-opened Terminal 2 (T2) facility as a hub for flights to the US were “progressing well”.
Mr Collier said the DAA was also “talking to some other Asian airlines in China and southeast Asia” about using T2, and there had also been “huge interest” from some Gulf airlines in the US customs and border protection (CBP) facilities that would open next month.
CBP will allow passengers travelling from T2 to arrive into the US as domestic passengers and so avoid lengthy immigration queues.
Ireland is the only country in Europe with such a facility.
Mr Collier said Dublin airport currently handled 500,000 to 600,000 transit passengers a year. Most of these travel with Aer Lingus. “We expect that number to grow substantially in the next couple of years.”
In an interview with online trade publisher Air Transport News, Mr Collier said the DAA was also keen to pursue its Dublin airport city complex concept which was unveiled in April 2008 to much fanfare and a price tag of €4 billion.
20/12/10 Ciaran Hancock/The Irish Times