AI seeks better time slot for morning flight to Delhi

Pune: National carrier Air India has appealed to the Lohegaon Air Force Station (AFS) authorities to allow the airline to operate its morning flight to Delhi at a suitable time between 8 am and 10.30 am during the period when modernization of air field infrastructure works will be underway, starting January 15.
As of now, this two-and-a-half-hour slot is reserved for flying exercise of the AFS.
The Lohegaon AFS shares its runway with the civil enclave managed by the Airports Authority of India (AAI) and handles over 45 civilian flights and 7,000-odd air travellers every day. This includes international flight services which operate at a frequency of three to four days a week to Dubai, Frankfurt, Sharjah and Bangkok.
Air India's plea comes after the AFS issued a notice regarding the airport runway closure from 10 pm to 8 am daily, for three months starting from January 15. With the onward slot of 8 am to 10.30 am reserved for the AFS, no civilian flight will be able to land or take-off before 10.30 am during this period.
31/12/13 Vishwas Kothari/Times of India

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GVK to exercise first right for Navi Mumbai airport

Hyderabad: GVK Power & Infrastructure Ltd is set to commission its new Mumbai International airport terminal early next month.
Developed with an outlay of Rs 12,360 crore, it can handle up to 40-45 million passengers per annum. It is likely to be inaugurated by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on January 10. Initially, the international airport will be commissioned followed by the domestic terminal.
The diversified infrastructure company based in Hyderabad is also keen to exercise its Right of First Refusal (RoFR) when the new Navi Mumbai airport comes up for the bidding process and development.
If the bid is within 10 per cent of the best bid, GVK will be allowed to match that bid. Since the company is already engaged in managing airports at Bangalore, Mumbai and Indonesia, it plans to exercise this right.
30/12/13 V. Rishi Kumar/Business Line

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Legal action likely against Ahmedabad airport privatisation

Ahmedabad: Even as the dates for request for quotation (RFQ) for the Ahmedabad airport privatisation gets postponed to mid January 2014, the Airport Authority of India (AAI) Employees' Union (AAIEU) is planning to take the legal route while continuing to protest.
The Ahmedabad branch union has been in consultation with lawyers and is planning to file a petition with the Gujarat High Court against the Ministry of Civil Aviation for not following the prescribed procedure of involving the union in the decision to privatise the airport.
The Ministry of Civil Aviation has put up six airports including the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel (SVP) International Airport in Ahmedabad for privatisation and has invited RFQs from interested private parties in mid January 2014.  However, the employees' union at the Ahmedabad branch along with those at five other airports including Chennai, Kolkata, Lucknow, Jaipur and Guwahati, have been protesting against the move.
30/12/13 Vinay Umarji/Business Standard

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Police deny terror threat to airport

Varanasi:  The rumour of terror threat to Lal Bahadur Shastri International Airport, Babatpur gripped the city on Monday.
The security in-charge of the airport denied any such threat. The police were also unaware about it.
The security in-charge of airport HK Brahma had recently received a threat letter from some terrorist outfit.
Following it, the security arrangements have been enhanced in and around the airport.
When contacted, Brahma denied any threat perception. But, he admitted that he had received a letter on December 19. Refusing to reveal the content of letter, he said: "There is nothing alarming in the letter. It may be the act of mischievous element."
31/12/13 Times of India

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After Sagar, chopper ride to Durgapur

Andal: The state government's initiative to bring different districts on the aviation map took its second decisive step on Monday with the introduction of chopper service to Durgapur from Kolkata. Just a day before, on Sunday, the government had started chopper services to Ganga Sagar.
Bengal Aerotropolis Projects Ltd (BAPL), a specialized infrastructure company pioneering the aerotropolis model and the promoter of Kazi Nazrul Islam Airport, on Tuesday organized a 10-minute 'Joy Ride' session for schoolkids.
The start of Durgapur services, however, holds significance as it indicates that the airport, where the chopper landed in Durgapur, is ready for commercial passenger operations. The airport - a centerpiece of the country's first Aerotropolis project, is expected to be operation some time next year. It is also in the race to become the first operational private greenfield airport among 21 other projects in the country.
31/12/13 Debajyoti Chakraborty/Times of India

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268 passengers suffer Air India flight delay in Chennai

Chennai: Technical snag delayed an Air India aircraft to Singapore leaving 268 passengers stranded on Monday at the Chennai airport.
According to airport sources, the passengers had boarded and the flight was set for take off at 14.00 hrs, when flight captain identified a technical snag during the pre-flight check.
The air traffic control was informed and the passengers were offloaded. Initially, the passengers were informed that the fault would be rectified and travel would resume.
31/12/13 Deccan Chronicle

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Airfares to party destinations zoom, Goa return at Rs 20k

Mumbai: As the year draws to a close, airfares have begun to climb every few hours. After all, it is that time of the year again when early birds are rewarded and those who choose to take off on a whim are forced to pay dearly for their delayed decisions.
Airfares from Mumbai to Goa, one way, for travel on Tuesday rose by Rs 1,000 on Monday from around Rs 4,000 two days ago. Return ticket rates stayed high for travel on January 2 or 3, taking the cheapest fare to Rs 20,000. Despite the cost, there is a rider -these are the fares on flights scheduled at inconvenient hours. The cheapest Goa-Mumbai fare for travel on January 2 and 3 hovered around Rs 15,000 for flights that departed at 11.30pm.
31/12/13 Times of India

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Airport hotels opened 3 years late, with riders

Delhi: After missing several deadlines amid numerous controversies, Delhi Airport's Aerocity complex finally took off in 2013. On October 7, the first of its 12 hotels—JW Marriott—got a clearance to open its doors to the public. The move made a fully functional Aerocity with 5,400 rooms look like an achievable target.
Delhi Police had expressed reservations about providing NOCs to the Aerocity hotels in early 2011 but the first clear signal of its reluctance to let the hotels open was seen early this year. In March, police asked the four hotels that had completed most of their construction to install bulletproof glass on the rooms facing the runway. Police termed these rooms a security threat, given their proximity to the ARC Hangar and the main airport's runway less than 300 metres away. They said a militant could aim at a VIP or a plane from a hotel.
31/12/13 Suhas Munshi/Times of India

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Passenger alleges moustache ‘harassment’ at Sharjah airport

Sharjah: Officials at the Sharjah Department of Naturalisation and Foreign Affairs are investigating a case in which a passport control official allegedly retained a passenger’s passport because he did not like the latter’s moustache.
Brigadier Dr Abdullah Bin Sahoo, Director-General of the department, said they will study CCTV images to check whether the passenger’s allegations are correct and will then take action.
Sujeev Kumar, a software engineer, who flew from Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, in India arrived in Sharjah on Friday. Kumar said that the passport control officer told him he would return the passport if he shaved off his moustache.
30/12/13 Jumana Khamis/Gulf News

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Kochi Airport is New Gold Route

Kochi: The Cochin International Airport in 2013 often hit the headline for repeated incidents of seizure of smuggled gold.
There was a phenomenal increase in the flow of gold through legal and illegal channel by passengers from Gulf countries at Cochin International Airport.
In August, about nine kg of gold bars worth `2.52 crore was seized. While the gold imported by passengers through the legal channel during September 2013 alone was 3.26 kg, the smuggled gold was around 20 kgs.
In October there has not been seizure of considerable quantity while in   November, 11.21 kg of smuggled gold was seized by the Air intelligence unit of the Customs.
31/12/13 New Indian Express

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Passenger from Dubai arrested at Airport for holding fake passport

Mangalore: The immigration officials at Mangalore International Airport on Sunday December 29 arrested a man for trying to enter the city with a fake passport.
52-year-old Abdul Rahiman, a native of Bekal, Kasargod was arrested by Mangalore imigration officials for holding a forged passport.
Rahiman had boarded the12.30 pm Air India Express flight at Dubai airport terminal 2. The flight landed at around evening 5.30 pm in Mangalore. Rahiman was accused of using fake stamps of Dubai and Mumbai immigration offices in his passport.
31/12/13 daijiworld.com

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Four air passengers held with gold worth Rs 1.5 cr

Chennai: Four kg of gold valued at around Rs 1.5 crore was seized and four persons who arrived from Sri Lanka at the airport here were arrested today for allegedly attempting to smuggle the precious metal.
Acting on information, Air Intelligence Unit of Customs nabbed the four, all Indians, who had arrived from Colombo by different flights, airport sources said.
31/12/13 PTI/Business Standard

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GMR to divest 40% stake in Istanbul international airport for Rs 1,910 cr

Bangalore: Bangalore-based infrastructure major GMR Group today said it has signed a definitive agreement with Malaysian Airports Holding Berhard (MAHB)  to divest its 40% equity stake in Istanbul Sabiha Gökçen (ISG) and LGM Tourism, for € 225 million (about Rs 1,910 crore), subject to certain adjustments.
Definitive agreements have been signed subsequent to the exercise of Right of First Refusal by MAHB under the existing shareholders agreement of ISG, on December 23, 2013, the company said in a statement.
The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions including the approval of the relevant government authorities and the project lenders to ISG. This is the second major divestment of overseas assets by the GMR Group in less than nine months. Earlier in March 2013, the Group had divested its stakes in GMR Energy (Singapore) Pte Ltd.
30/12/13 Mahesh Kulkarni/Business Standard

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Case of mistaken identity lands man in jail

Abu Dhabi: A case of mistaken identity that started at Abu Dhabi airport has led a communications engineer to be questioned and jailed in Al Wathba jail for more than a week, turning his life upside down.
Abu Dhabi police had inadvertently linked his identification records to a man, with a completely different name, who was deported from the country for crimes committed 11 years ago, Gulf News Learnt.
Indian national Mohammad Riyaz, 27, was arrested on October 20 at Abu Dhabi Airport on his way back from a vacation. Police took him into custody where they shaved his head and treated him like criminal.
According to the Abu Dhabi General Directorate for Residency and Foreigners Affairs, Riyaz’s passport was mistakenly linked by Abu Dhabi police to the name of a man who was deported in 2002.
Riyaz said he was released from jail on bail and was asked by Abu Dhabi court to obtain proof of his identity from the Dubai residency department that issued his visa and from Dubai police.
A Dubai police official said that Mohammad Ali Mohammad is the name of the deported man whose records are linked with Riyaz’s.
29/12/13 Gulf News

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Fog thins, rail and flight services improve

Chandigrah: As the fog cover remained thin on Sunday, visibility was fairly improved, and so were the flight and rail services. Most of the short-distance trains arrived at the Chandigarh railway station on time or with a short delay. Flight operations also witnessed major improvement with none of the scheduled flights being canceled. However, some of the flights witness delay of about 45 minutes to around an hour.
Some of the flights that were delayed were Jet Airways (India) flight 467 from Chandigarh to Mumbai, which was delayed by over an hour. JetKonnect flight 2658 from Chandigarh to Delhi was delayed by 45 minutes and JetKonnect flight 3658 from Chandigarh to Delhi was delayed by 45 minutes as well.
Short distance trains like Kalka Shatabadi Express (12011) from Delhi to Chandigarh which was running late by around two hours when the fog cover was thick last week arrived on the Chandigarh railway station just four minutes behind its schedule on Sunday. Kalka Shatabdi (12005) also reached the Chandigarh railway station on time.
30/12/13 Indian Express

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Four gold biscuits seized at Jaipur airport

Jaipur: Four gold biscuits, weighing 466 grams, were seized from a passenger's check-in baggage at the Jaipur airport here, custom sources said on Monday.
The accused had come from Oman to Jaipur by an Oman Airways flight yesterday and the gold was hidden in an electric cooking plate, they added. The passenger was detained for interrogation and later released, they said.
30/12/13 PTI/ZeeNews

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Dubai-bound passenger caught with Rs 10 lac at Mangalore Airport

Mangalore: The officials of the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence on Saturday December 28 late night arrested a passenger at Mangalore International Airport for trying to smuggle Rs 10 lac in cash to Dubai.
The arrested passenger has been identified as Abdul Rashid (40) from Bhatkal.
The passengers to Dubai were ready to board the late night Air India Express flight on Saturday when the officials of DRI received information about the smuggling attempt. The officials swung to action, and on checking, they found the money on Abdul Rashid.
30/12/13 daijiworld.com

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Sky-high airport fees choking domestic aviation: IATA chief

Mumbai: Increasingly expensive airports and poor infrastructure are acting as deterrents to the growth of the civil aviation sector in the country, global airlines body IATA has said.
"India's airports are becoming increasingly expensive. We have seen a 346% increase in charges at Delhi, 164% increase in aeronautical charges in Mumbai, 219% in Kolkata, and a 269% hike in Chennai. These are huge increases," IATA director general and chief executive Tony Tyler told PTI at his Geneva headquarters recently.
"But we have had some victories. They have rolled back some charges in Delhi," the International Air Transport Association (IATA) chief said.
Stating that the poor infrastructure and high taxes work as a deterrent to the development of the aviation sector, he said aviation is a huge economic enabler of growth.
"Look at Mumbai, which is probably the most important commercial centre of the country. Frankly, its airport is inadequate. We have been talking about the Navi Mumbai airport for years, but where is the progress on that?," he asked.
29/12/13 PTI/Business Standard

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Hubli airport expansion stalled by electric poles

Bangalore: Over the past year, the continued presence of as many as 100 electric poles have knocked the wind out of plans by the Airport Authority of India (AAI) to expand Hubli airport.
Officially, the Rs 145 crore airport expansion is scheduled to be completed in 30 months. Unofficially, the project has been stalled due to persistent delays in the shifting of utility assets from the 600 acres of land in question.
According to officials at Hubli Electricity Company (Hescom), a deposit of Rs 6.9 crore has to be made to ensure that they can complete the removals at the earliest. Officials complained that the government has neglected to pay the deposit over the course of the last 12 months.
At the other end, however, Hubli airport director, K?M?Basavaraju blamed Hescom for the delays. “At present we are moving forward on schedule,” he said.
28/12/13 Deccan Herald

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CM must resign for breach of oath: VS

Thiruvananthapuram: Leader of the Opposition V.S. Achuthanandan has demanded that Chief Minister Oommen Chandy resign for ‘having committed breach of his oath of office’ by suppressing facts and submitting to the Union government a report favouring the promoters of the Aranmula airport project. In a statement here on Saturday, Mr. Achuthanandan termed a ‘blatant lie’ the Chief Minister’s claim that all the clearances for the airport project were given by the last Left Democratic Front (LDF) government, and that the transfer of registry had taken place with its blessing.
Contrary to Mr. Chandy’s claim, the LDF government had issued clear instructions to the officials concerned not to permit transfer of registry, and its attempt all along was to ensure that the promoters of the project complied with all the relevant laws.
The Chief Minister had cited a jotting on a memorandum from the local MLA of the time to contend that the LDF government had given clearance for transfer of registry. This was nothing but a trick to fool the people, he said.
29/12/13 The Hindu

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‘Govt Knew of Filling of Land for Airport’

Contrary to claims by the Chief Minister’s office on the Aranmula airport project, records reveal that the Principal Secretary had examined the report of the Expert Appraisal Committee (EAC) and the present government had knowledge of the illegal activities that were taking place in the area during its tenure.
Even though the Chief Minister is repeatedly claiming that not even an inch of land had been filled during the tenure of the present government and no illegal activity had happened under his governance, Assembly records prove otherwise.
On March 20, 2012, Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishan, the then Revenue Minister, in reply to an unstarred question by A K Saseendran and Thomas Chandy, had admitted in the state Assembly that the government is aware of the illegal activities in the area.
This was 34 days before the Ministry of Environment and Forest (MoEF) sought a clarification from the state government regarding the landfilling done for the airport project, as the letter was dated February 16, 2012.
“The District Collector has been asked to take immediate measures to stop the illegal landfilling at the area and take stringent action against it,” Thiruvanchoor had said.
But the clarification note from the Chief Minister’s office on Friday stated that the Principal Secretary had “drafted (his note) without knowing about the EAC clearance”.
29/12/13 New Indian Express

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70 passengers of Air India flight to Kolkata stranded at Bagdogra airport

Kolkata:  70 Air India passengers who were scheduled to fly to Kolkata from Bagdogra in West Bengal today have been stranded.
The Air India flight from Kolkata to Bagdogra could not land yesterday due to bad weather.
The passengers claim the airline did not inform them about the situation earlier, and told them they could not fly only after they had reached the airport.
29/12/13 Monideepa Banerjie/NDTV

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Jaipur: Lack of space, infra shows int'l airport in poor light

Jaipur: Our airport may have got the tag of an ‘international airport’, but there are many facilities that it is lacking in. For example, at Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport, approximate 30 flights can take off in an hour, whereas Jaipur International Airport can facilitate taking off of only 20 flights in an hour.
Besides, while IGI Airport has the parking space to accommodate over 100 aircraft, Jaipur International Airport can’t accommodate more than 21 planes at a time. Even Ahmedabad Airport has a parking space for over 40 aircraft.
If IGI Airport diverts more than two dozen flights to Jaipur Airport due to foggy conditions, the latter can’t handle this rush.  Being an international airport, it requires a huge parking area and an isolated bay to park a large number of planes. It is closest to the IGI International Airport and mostly when weather is inclement in New Delhi, flights are diverted to Jaipur.
29/12/13 Kashiram Choudhary/Daily News & Analysis

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Jet Airways to connect Mangalore to Delhi from January 15

Mangalore: Come January 15, the coastal city will get connected to the national capital Delhi with a stop-over in Bangalore.
Jet Airways has come forward to bridge this major lacuna in Mangalore's connectivity to the rest of the country. Incidentally, Air India regional had operated on the Delhi-Mangalore sector with a direct flight in 2010. But the same was cancelled later due to lack of patronage from travellers.
As per the schedule announced by Jet Airways and displayed in its online booking systems, flight 9W2815 will leave New Delhi at 11.05am and reach Bangalore at 1.55pm. Jet Konnect will then operate the flight from Bangalore to Mangalore leaving Bangalore at 2.40pm and reach here at 3.40pm. Jet Airways flight 9W816 will leave Mangalore at 4.15pm and reach Bangalore at 5.15pm. This flight will leave Bangalore at 5.55pm and reach Delhi at 8.45pm.
29/12/13 Times of India

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Avoid currency exchange at airports

Mumbai: If you are travelling abroad or returning to India, you are advised not to exchange foreign currency at the airport, for you could lose up to 10-15% on the rates offered, as compared with that at other exchange outlets in the city.
According to one forex agency operator, while the loss on exchange of US dollars or British pounds at the airport exchange counters ranges from 2.5 to five per cent, the difference in the case of Gulf state currencies is considerably higher, apparently because of their lower value.
“As travellers have to pay more for foreign currency at the airports, we advise them to carry prepaid multi-currency forex cards or travellers cheques,” said Sunny Sodhi, COO, corporate travel and head supplies relations, at Yatra.com.
He said travellers should plan well in advance about the amount of money they intend to carry and exchange only a small part of it at the airport.
29/12/13 Daily News & Analysis

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Air India Express wrapping up Kuwait –Mangalore flights?

Kuwait: More than 100,000 expatriates from Coastal Karnataka, Mangalore &Northern parts of Kerala are disappointed to hear that Air India Express is wrapping up its flight services to KUWAIT – MANGALORE Sector from 15th February, 2014 throwing the travel plans of the passengers into disarray.  Prominent Coastal Karnataka NRIs here in Kuwait said that by deciding to wrap up their services to Mangalore route, Air India Express has put the passengers in trouble and the travel woes of Indian Expats in Kuwait are surely going to worsen in the coming days during the summer season in 2014 as the summer vacation for thousands of school going children starts during the month of June.
 Sensing the aggravated hurdles and to address the public interest,  The UNITED ASSOCIATIONS OF KARNATAKA, Kuwait (UAKK) an Umbrella Forum of 12 Associations in Kuwait has immediately urged the Union Ministry of CIVIL AVIATION to instruct Air India Express to retain the regular flight services to Kuwait – Mangalore sector, the only direct travelling option to Mangalore for thousands of Expats from Coastal Karnataka and Northern parts of Kerala region. UAKK has also urged Ministry of Civil Aviation to consider granting permission to other Airlines such as JET AIRWAYS to operate in this sector so that the passengers will have more than one travelling option to Mangalore and Kerala.
28/12/13 Bellevision

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Lohegaon airport runway closure from January 15

Pune: The much-discussed modernization of air field infrastructure (MAFI) works at the Indian Air Force's Lohegaon air field, which also operates civilian flights, will finally commence from January 15.
The airport runway will remain closed between 10pm and 8am daily for three months to facilitate the laying of new embedded lights along the centre line of the 8,300 feet runway.
"The IAF authorities have conveyed the runway closure timings to all those concerned with the air field and airport operations including the airlines and the Airports Authority of India (AAI)," Pune airport director Manoj Kumar Gangal told TOI on Saturday. "A notice to airmen (NOTAM) regarding the runway closure has also been issued by the air force authorities," he said.
29/12/13 Vishwas Kothari/Times of India

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Sri Lanka deports arrested Indian journalist

Chennai/Colombo: Tamil Prabakaran (24), a Tamil Nadu-based journalist arrested in Colombo on Thursday reached Chennai on Saturday after he was deported by the Sri Lankan government.
"I was tortured psychologically by the Lankan army personnel," Prabakaran said soon after landing in Chennai. Speaking to reporters at the airport, Prabhakaran denied violating any rules while visiting Killinochchi. "I will fight for the Tamil cause and will approach the UN Human Rights Council against the abuses by Sri Lanka," he said.
Prabhakaran was arrested by the Lankan army personnel for allegedly filming military installations in Killinochchi, a former LTTE stronghold, without media credentials.
Prabakaran was deported and sent back on a Chennai flight at 6.40pm (local time), police spokesman Ajith Rohana said in Colombo.
29/12/13 Times of India

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Spurt in smuggling through Madurai airport

Madurai: With the steady increase in the number of international flights from Madurai, there is a spurt in incidents of smuggling through the airport.
Barely 10 days after a 15-year-old boy from Colombo was caught while attempting to sneak in with 290 gm of gold bars, customs officials seized 1,189 gm of gold from three people, including two women, from Sri Lanka on Friday evening. This is the third incident of smuggling in December and fourth in the last two months.
"We are aware of the situation. There has been quite a few incidents of smuggling this month. But the fact that we have thwarted all these smuggling attempts is an indication that we are equipped to handle such situation,'' said a customs official.
29/12/13 V Mayilvaganan/Times of India

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Smuggling: Three More Cops Under Scanner

Kochi: More policemen at Thiruvananthapuram airport have been brought under the surveillance of the Customs Department for their link with gold smugglers. Recently-arrested policeman A Navas has given the names of three more policemen, including an officer, who had assisted gold smugglers at the airport on several occasions. According to an official of the Customs Department, the names of these police personnel were submitted to the court. “The statement of Navas was submitted in a sealed cover to the Ernakulam District and Principal Sessions Court. These officers have been working at the airport for a long time and it is suspected that they might have assisted other such smuggling rackets also. These cops will be interrogated soon,” a Customs official said. One of the main concerns is that even after the IB took over operations of the Immigration Wing, smugglers are getting strong backing from the persons deputed by the IB.
29/12/13 Toby Antony/New Indian Express

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Customs seize gold worth over Rs 62 lakhs at Mumbai airport

Mumbai: Customs sleuths today detected five cases of smuggling at the international airport here and seized 2.5 kilograms of gold valued at around Rs 62.58 lakhs.
In the first case, officials of the Air Intelligence Unit stopped a passenger Mirza Yasir Hussain who arrived from Bangkok and his search led to the recovery of 812 grams of gold concealed in belt buckles and a chain of ladies purses.
"One of the chains was worn by him..All the chains were coated with paint to avoid detection", said a customs official.
28/12/13 PTI/Business Standard

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Two held at Kozhikode airport with gold worth Rs. 90 lakh

Kozhikode:  Two air passengers were taken into custody at the airport in Kozhikode for allegedly attempting to smuggle gold worth about Rs. 90 lakh from different Gulf nations.
Air Customs Intelligence seized 1.5 kg of gold valued at Rs. 45 lakh from Abdul Rashid of Thamarassery in the district on his arrival from Dubai, officials sources said.

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AAI to invest in Kannur airport

Kochi:  The Airports Authority of India will have a 26 per cent equity participation in the Kannur international airport promoted by the Kerala Government.
G. Chandramouli, Managing Director of the Kannur International Airport Limited, told Business Line that the AAI’s board of directors had approved of the investment.
He said a private bank had agreed to lend around Rs 200 crore to the project at a ‘highly competitive rate.’ The project could now achieve financial closure in three months, he said.
The Rs 1,800-crore Kannur airport, the fourth international airport in Kerala, would be functional in 2016. The work has already started at Mattannur, 25 km from Kannur.
27/12/13 Business Line

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Airports Authority of India granted accreditation by UN agency International Civil Aviation Organization

New Delhi:  Airports Authority of India (AAI) has been granted accreditation by the UN agency International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) for facilities to enhance airport safety.
The state-run airports body received the ICAO's Trainair Plus accreditation certificate and membership plaque from ICAO, following an inspection of its Fire Training Centre (FTC) in October, an AAI release said, adding AAI Chairman VP Agrawal received the certificate and the plaque.
28/12/13 PTI/Economic Today

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India's tit-for-tat forces US ambassador Nancy Powell to call off Nepal vacation?

New Delhi: US ambassador Nancy Powell had a first-hand experience of India's ire as officials here politely declined to accord her special airport privileges for her Christmas vacation to Nepal.
The government had on December 19 - a week after the arrest of diplomat Devyani Khobragade — withdrawn all special airport passes to the US diplomats that allowed them access to several places at the airport not just while travelling but also for receiving and seeing off guests. It said this was a reciprocal measure as Indian diplomats were not given the same passes in the US.
However, Lee McManis, acting spokesperson for the US embassy, said Powell's "personal holiday plans in Nepal were cancelled to deal with pressing issues", implying that her decision had nothing to do with the withdrawal of special privileges.
After receiving a communication from the US Embassy about Powell's plan to travel to Nepal, the government declined to accord her any special privileges as her airport pass stood withdrawn.
The withdrawal of the pass means that Powell will have to travel like an ordinary passenger. She will be forced to stand in a queue and also lend herself to routine frisking by security personnel. Sources said Powell will not get any privilege in India that her Indian counterpart in the US doesn't get. The government justified this saying that Indian ambassador to the US too travels like an ordinary person.
28/12/13 Times of India

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Aranmula airport: Govt concealed facts from Centre

Thiruvananthapuram:  The state government had concealed that the promoters of Aranmula airport had filled a large swathe of wetland in a report submitted to the ministry of environment and forests.
Documents accessed by the TOI show that the government had amended the portion that talks about illegal filling of wetland from the report prepared by environment principal secretary James Varghese before it was sent to the Centre. The edited report was cleared by chief minister Oommen Chandy and industries minister P K Kunhalikutty.
The MoEF had, on February 16, 2012, sought a report from the state government regarding the filling of wetland and paddy field for the airport project in Aranmula. The environment department had prepared the report in reply to this, in which the secretary had written his remarks on the matter.
28/12/13 Times of India

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Advocate commission visits Aranmula

Pathanamthitta: Advocate commission appointed by the Kerala High Court S. Subhash Chand visited Aranmula on Friday to collect details of the proposed private airport project there, which has invited opposition from the public as well as environmentalists.
The High Court had appointed the Advocate Commission on the basis of a report submitted by Devaswom Ombudsman R.Bhaskaran that the height of the temple mast could not be reduced to facilitate construction of the airport as the flag mast was installed as per Tantric rules.
There were reports that KITCO, which prepared the pre-feasibility report for KGS Aranmula Airport Limited, had suggested reducing the height of the temple mast.
KITCO Joint General Manager Dominic Chacko had informed the Ombudsman that it had never made any such suggestion in the project report. Mr. Chacko alleged that page 34 of the report prepared by KITCO was altered without its consent or knowledge.
Mr. Chand visited the Aranmula temple and the Aranmula Puncha (paddy land and wetland) that had been identified as the site for the proposed international airport.
28/12/13 The Hindu

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Height of temple mast in AAI report disputed

Kochi: Airports Authority of India's (AAI) study report on Aranmula private airport, which places the height of Aranmula Parthasarathy temple's flag mast at 30.8 mt, is being disputed by an action council of villagers of Aranmula.
The dispute regarding the height of the temple mast was raised by representatives of Aranmula Heritage Village Action Council when advocate S Subhash Chand, who is the advocate commissioner appointed by the high court to study issues related to the airport, visited the proposed airport site on Friday.
The AAI report stated that the height of the temple mast needed to be altered if the project was to be implemented. Further, the report had suggested shifting the runway's threshold (place where the runway begins) by 285 mt and installing warning lights. Now, the villagers' action council has opposed the AAI report. The sculptor of the temple has informed the advocate commissioner that the actual height of the mast is 40.56 mt, while the AAI report mentioned the height as 30.8 mt.
28/12/13 Times of India

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Air India to resume Vadodara-Delhi flight from Jan 8

Vadodara: After a long gap, state-run carrier Air India has decided to recommence daily morning flights between Vadodara and  New Delhi from January 8.
The flight will depart from Vadodara at 0835 hours and arrive in New Delhi at 1010 hours. The incoming flight will leave the national capital at 0625 hours and arrive in the city at 0800 hours, Usha Jecob, Station Manager of Air India, told PTI here today.
She said "the morning arrivals would give passengers the benefit of a full working day both at Delhi and Vadodara."
"The flight will offer convenient connections to international sectors and also various important Indian cities," Jecob said.
"We are offering attractive fares starting from Rs 3,585 for Vadodara to Delhi and special fares to other domestic destinations via Delhi," she said, adding a 168- seater Airbus plane will be operated on the route.
27/12/13 Press Trust of India/Business Standard

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Indore airport expansion plan may hit roadblock

Indore: Despite two high- power meetings of the district administration, the participants could not reach a solution for the proposed expansion plan of Devi Ahilya Bai Holkar Airport. To find out an answer, a team of the Revenue Department including Tehsildar and Revenue Inspector will undertake on- the- spot assessment of the site and also submit a report.
Sources say the airport administration is demanding land to erect approach light, which is needed for safe landing of aircraft during night.
28/12/13 Free Press Journal

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Visibility relief for fliers

This winter, fliers are a relaxed lot. The credit goes to Airports Authority of India for its decision to relax the minimum visibility norm for flight operations from the city airport, prompting fewer plane cancellations and delays.
The fliers are happy over the timely arrival and departure of flights on most of the days despite fog. Monu Agarwal, a city-based businessman, said: “I faced frequent flight cancellations last winter. This time, planes are getting delayed at times, but cancellation is rare.”
A few seemed apprehensive over relaxation in the visibility norms. “Reducing the visibility criteria from 1,600m to 1,200m — a relaxation by 25 per cent — has increased the risk factor by 25 per cent as well,” said Arindam Guha, director, Expression Buildtech Private Limited, Patna.
Airlines are, however, delighted after the relaxation in the visibility criterion. “Till the last year, we used to cancel almost all morning flights because of poor visibility. But this winter, we are operating some of them by extending their operations by a few hours,” said an executive of a private airline.
27/12/13 The Telegraph

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Improved instrument landing system to finally take off

Bhopal:  The improved version of instrument landing system (ILS) - to facilitate safe landing during very poor visibility -would start functioning from Saturday at the Raja Bhoj Airport. The directorate general of civil aviation (DGCA) has given the nod for its operationalising. However, this had come a bit too late as almost 12 flights were cancelled or diverted from Raja Bhoj Airport here during the past week.
In the absence of approval from directorate general of civil aviation (DGCA), the ILS could not become functional even after 15 days of its installation. The system was scheduled to start functioning from December 12. Airport authorities said they have got the approval from DGCA on Friday. "Problem relating to poor visibility would be resolved from December 28 after the system starts working," said airport Bhoj airport director Vivek Upadhyay.
He said, "As Bhopal is a licensed airport, approval from DGCA was required before operationalzing the new system. We were expecting to get the DGCA nod by December 16. We are bit late in starting the system."
28/12/13 Times of India

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Lemon Tree hotel launches Aerocity property, eyes transit clientele

New Delhi: Business and leisure hotels company Lemon Tree Friday announced the opening of its 500-room Delhi Aerocity property here.
According to the company, the new property comprises of brands - Lemon Tree Premier and Red Fox which will focus on the transit clientele segment in the region.
"We are very positive on the growth prospects in the transit and corporate segment. Air traffic from Delhi is bound to grows and so will this sector," Patu Keswani, chairman and managing director, Lemon Tree Hotel Company told IANS.
When asked about the delays that was faced by the company in starting the new property Keswani said: "We are opening near after an year of obtaining all the required clearances. The peak travel season for us is over, but we are optimistic in the long-term prospects of this property."
Currently, the property will only operate 350 rooms out of the 500 rooms capacity.
27/12/13 IANS/Business Standard

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Garmin launches two new portable navigation devices in India

In a bid to cement their position in the Indian PND (portable navigation device) market, Garmin Corporation, a unit of Garmin Ltd, has launched two new products: nüvi 2460 LM and nüvi 2568 LM at Rs 14,990 and Rs 17,990 respectively.
Garmin Ltd is a global leader in satellite navigation and develops consumer, aviation and maritime technologies for the global positioning systems (GPS).
The nüvi 2460 LM and nüvi 2568 LM come with features such as multi-route options, voice guidance - both in Hindi and English, list of previous searches, parking lots locator near destination, and nearby tourist spots.
In addition, the devices get a new house search algorithm, one-click home/office route map, a text-to-speech feature that speaks street names in Indian English, and free lifetime maps updates. You can even keep score for fuel efficiency and even check carbon footprint. Both the deviecs come with the PhotoReal Junction View.
27/12/13 Overdrive

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Memory cards go missing from IGI godown

New Delhi: A trader, who was arrested after he failed to produce valid documents for 6,800 micro SD cards, has alleged that the memory cards have gone missing from the customs' godown at IGI Airport. Police said Gaganpreet Singh and his friend, Munish Dhir, were intercepted by customs officials in May. When Gaganpreet went to claim the seized goods, he found that the SD cards had been replaced with dummy ones.
28/12/13 Times of India

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Biggest-ever catch at Madurai airport

Madurai: Customs officials at the airport here had their biggest ever catch on Friday when they detained three Sri Lankan nationals, including two women, and seized 1,189 grams of gold rods worth around Rs. 36 lakh.
The three, who arrived from a Mihin Lanka flight, claimed themselves to be friends and followed a novel modus operandi.
They had hidden the gold rods under the handles of three trolley cases carried by them.
“This is the first time that we had come across such a modus operandi. The illegality was detected when their baggage was screened by the x-ray machine. We detained the three and recovered the entire gold,” said A.S. Meenalochani, Joint Commissioner of Customs.
28/12/13 The Hindu

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SAfrican woman held with party drug worth Rs 18 cr at airport

New Delhi: A South African woman was arrested at the Indira Gandhi international airport here for allegedly trying to smuggle party drug worth about Rs 18 crore out of the country.
The accused, who is in her late twenties, had arrived at the IGIA to board a flight to Johannesburg via Addis Ababa on Wednesday.
She was intercepted by customs officials and on examination of her baggage, it was found containing Methaqualone weighing 22.235 kgs, said Rajiv Tandon, Commissioner of Customs (Import and General).
28/12/13 PTI/Business Standard

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In Mumbai 12,000 flats go vacant on Mumbai International Airport Ltd turnaround

In October, 2007, Housing Development Infrastructure Ltd (HDIL) signed an agreement with Mumbai International Airport Ltd (MIAL) on a national project for the rehabilitation of about 65,000 slum-dwellers living around Mumbai airport, who were impeding its expansion and posing a huge security risk.
About 275 acres of the airport land is encroached upon by slum-dwellers. As per the agreement, HDIL was to build self-contained tenements for eligible slum-dwellers along with the necessary infrastructure and hand them over free of cost. HDIL was to be compensated through transfer of development rights (TDR) certificates which can be traded in the open market and also by permission to commercially exploit part of the land vacated by slum-dwellers.
Sources in HDIL said, “For the last several months, 12,000 flats in Premier compound in Kurla (West), each measuring 269sqft of carpet area, are ready to be handed over to slum-dwellers.
Our project in this area envisages the construction of 32 buildings, each with 11-storeyed towers with all amenities including modern lifts. Apart from buying land in Kurla, we have purchased land in Bhandup, Andheri and other areas and have also surveyed the hutments. We have spent over Rs4,000 crore in acquiring 90 acres of land from private parties and in constructing thousands of tenements. We are willing to hand over the tenements, but it is for the government to decide who are eligible and who are not.”
27/12/13 S Balakrishnan/Daily News & Analysis

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2 Aerocity hotels take off today

New Delhi: After clearance to Aerocity's first hotel, the JW Marriott, two more hotels in the complex—Lemon Tree Premier and Red Fox—are announcing their launch on Friday. The two hotels were given partial clearance by Delhi Police on Tuesday. Security clearances to the two hotels come with restrictions on the opening of the runway-facing rooms. Only 145 rooms out of 280 in case of Lemon Tree Premier and 191 rooms out of Red Fox's 207 have been made operational.
JW Marriott, Aerocity's first hotel to be opened to public, was given partial clearance on October 7. Permission to about 200 rooms in a hotel of 523 room capacity was withheld initially. In the case of runway facing rooms in Red Fox and Lemon Tree Premier, the launch will happen only when clearance on the standard of bullet-proof glass panes comes from Defence Research and Development Organization.
27/12/13 Times of India

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Aircraft suffers tyre burst at Pune airport

Pune: Passengers on board Air India’s flight from Delhi to Pune had a close shave when the AI aircraft suffered a tyre burst while landing at Pune airport on Thursday evening. All 151 passengers were reported to be safe.
An airport official confirmed the incident that occurred around 7.30 pm but reported it as an engineering snag and insisted that there wasn’t much cause for concern.
“The flight IC 849 developed an engineering snag. The A320 aircraft was scheduled to leave for Delhi as it’s a round trip. But as the aircraft has been grounded, passengers for Delhi were taken on a separate aircraft,” said Dhairyashil Vandekar, Air India’s Pune station manager.
27/12/13 Daily News & Analysis

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Two persons held at Chennai airport for smuggling gold worth 30 lakhs

Chennai: Two persons were arrested at the airport in Chennai for allegedly attempting to smuggle gold worth Rs. 30 lakh from Sri Lanka Wednesday.
Customs officials arrested the two hailing from Tamil Nadu after a check-up revealed they had concealed the precious metal in their body.
A total of 900 grams of gold was recovered from the two passengers, who arrived from Colombo, official sources said.
27/12/13 Sahil Online

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One held for trying to smuggle in 21 gold bars in Mumbai

Mumbai: The Air Intelligence Unit (AIU) of airport customs has arrested one person for concealing 21 gold bars worth Rs61 lakh inside the space for rechargeable battery in an emergency light.
Commissioner of customs APS Suri said the seizure was made from one Kappattummal Muhammed Ashraf, an Indian passport holder, after he arrived in the city from Bahrain by a Gulf Air flight on Sunday.
AIU sources said the accused was making an attempt to pass through the green channel when he was intercepted. The gold bars were seized under the provision of the Custom Act, 1962. A customs official said Ashraf has admitted to the offence. He was later arrested.
27/12/13 Daily News & Analysis

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New Year rush sends airfares soaring in Jaipur

Jaipur: Travelling by air has now become very expensive. The airlines have hiked the airfares in view of New Year rush. The fares will remain high till New Year celebrations get over. Interestingly, the fares for Mumbai-bound flights have increased the most.
Maximum flights operating from Jaipur are Mumbai-bound. There is no direct flight between Jaipur and Goa. So the fare for connecting flights has gone up almost three times, as the rush for Goa is higher nowadays from Jaipur.
Fare from Jaipur to most of the cities will be much higher ahead of New Year. Anil Warman, station manager, Air India, Jaipur, said, “The fares of our flights to various destinations are decided by authorities in Delhi and Mumbai offices. The price of ticket depends on the availability of seats and passenger rush.”
26/12/13 Daily News & Analysis

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Two Nepali Women Held With Fake Passports

Chennai: Immigration officials stopped two Nepali women who tried to leave Chennai using passports that were flagged as fake.
Sewika Chetri (25) and Nanjita Tamang (20) approached the immigration departure clearance to leave to Saudi Arabia via Colombo by a Sri Lankan Airlines flight at 10 am on Tuesday.
When they were detained and interrogated, they revealed that they had procured the fake passports from a Nepali broker called Abhikeshwar.
Based on the information, immigration officials caught the man from Jhapa district in Nepal and began to quiz him about his operations in Chennai. Later, he was handed over to Airport Police.
26/12/13 New Indian Express

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Christmas brings cheers to Madurai airport

Madurai: The airport here created a record of sorts on Wednesday, the day of Christmas, by handling 23 arrivals and 24 departures – the highest ever flight movement in a single day since its inception way back in 1957.
Sources said that the airport usually handles only 14 arrivals and an equal number of departures every day including domestic flights to Chennai, Mumbai and Hyderabad and international flights to Colombo and Dubai.
Unusually on Wednesday, it handled nine additional arrivals and 10 additional departures of private airplanes in view of VIP movement for a Christmas party organised by a private business conglomerate in Kodaikanal.
26/12/13 Mohamed Imranullah. S/The Hindu

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Night landing at Jagdalpur airport soon

Raipur: In a bid to handle emergency situations, like the one that arose, post massacre of Congress leaders in Jhiram Ghati on May 25, which required evacuation of the injured, the state government has given clearance for night landing facilities at Jagdalpur airport.
According to sources, Jagdalpur airport, which incidentally has no commercial flights operating, except some private charters, will have night landing facilities from next year. The project, costing nearly Rs 1.5 crores, has been cleared and would commence soon.
The move was confirmed by state aviation secretary, Subodh Kumar Singh, who admitted that the primary objective behind it was to handle emergency situations. He said government has already released funds to airport authority for this project.
Airport director, Anil Rai said the work on installation of night landing systems would take about a year to complete. He said tenders for work contract are likely to be issued shortly.
26/12/13 Anuja Jaiswal/Times of India

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Jet Airways to start two more flights to India from Qatar

Doha: Jet Airways, India’s second largest carrier, will resume its Calicut flight and start an additional flight from Doha to Mumbai. But these flights will probably be possible only with the opening of the new airport (Hamad International) as there are no free-time slots in the existing airport, a senior official of the airline said yesterday.
“We have three daily flights from Doha to India’s three strategic cities — Delhi, Mumbai and Cochin, and with the latest announcement, Mumbai will get an additional frequency from Doha and the second one will fly to Calicut, which will be our fourth destination in India from Doha, and second in the southern Indian state of Kerala,” Anil Srinivasan, Country Manager (pictured), told The Peninsula.
Asked about the date of these additional flights, he said: “This can be any day. In fact, we have been waiting for time slots for long. But I think this will be possible only with the opening of the HIA or if we are allotted evening slots in the existing airport.”
26/12/13 Mohammad Shoeb/The Peninsula

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Government directionless on second Mumbai Airport

While discussing an alternate site for Mumbai's second airport, on reclaimed land at Madh Island, the government still clings on to the Panvel site. And that's despite the landowners being adamant on their demands, and the project being clearly unviable.
The cost of the project is said to have gone up to Rs 15,000 crore. However, that is a gross underestimate for a fullyoperational airport. Site-preparation cost at that very difficult site alone could work out to about a third of the total estimated cost. Delhi airport's Terminal 3 and an extra runway cost over Rs 12,000 crore. Moreover, private developers also want the airport to be swanky and some have to-date displayed inadequate cost control.
26/12/13 Hormuz P Mama/Economic Times

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Gardens, water fountains set to welcome you at T2 at Mumbai airport

Mumbai: The much-awaited Terminal 2 at Mumbai airport, which will be inaugurated on January 10, has been designed on the theme of ‘gardens in airport’.
About 5,000 square feet of landscape which covers arrival, departure, parking, shopping areas are green areas. The water fountains dotting the areas give a feel of serenity and space to passengers.
In contrast, the Bangalore airport, developed by the same operator, has been built as ‘airport in garden’, because the city is known as the city of gardens.
The officials involved with the development of the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport (CSIA)  said green cover starts with palm trees lined on both side of the elevated road connected to the airport.
25/12/13 Shahkar Abidi/Daily News & Analysis

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After 6 years and 8 site surveys, airport plan finally took off

Pune: After six years and eight site suveys for the Pune international airport by the Maharashtra Airport Development Company (MADC), Airports Authority of India (AAI) and the district administration , the final site was cleared by the Prime Minister in November this year. The site was finalised at the Khed Special Economic Zone, 45 kms from the city.
With the state government giving it clearance, the MADC is now waiting for formal orders. "It has been cleared and we are awaiting for the formal orders from the state government so that we can start the project,'' said Tanaji Satre, MADC vice-chairman and managing director. The MADC has also committed that if all the clearances are processed in a proper time frame, the airport can be readied in the next five years.
Give the current air traffic, the urgency of a Green Field Airport was the need and the Pune International Airport Project would be managed by the Airports Authority of India. However, there are approvals which need to be cleared from officials, including clearances from the ministries of civil aviation, environment, defence and home affairs, Bureau of Civil Aviation Security and Indian Meteorological Department.
25/12/13 Nisha Nambiar/Indian Express

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Rocketing charges at airports on govt radar

New Delhi: Private airport developers will have to progressively reduce landing and parking charges for domestic and international airlines as they recover their investment from the projects with the civil aviation ministry preparing a proposal to amend rules.
"After initial investment, private developers would have to reduce airport charges as they are expected to get returns and benefits must kick in thereafter," an official told Mail Today on condition of anonymity." If we don't amend the rules, private airport developers would continue hiking airport charges, which would be detrimental to the aviation industry," said an official.
The carry- forward losses for a five- year period between 2011- 12 and 2016- 17 for airports due to expenditure on new infrastructure that have to be recovered are: Kolkata airport ` 600 crore, Chennai ` 100 crore, Jaipur ` 350 crore, Lucknow ` 150 crore, Guwahati ` 95 crore and Ahmedabad ` 47 crore. The ministry feels that all the airports that are to be privatised will over the period reduce their airport charges if its proposal is approved.
26/12/13 India Today

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Fire at AAI remote transmitting station

Nagpur: A fire broke out on the ground of Airports Authority of India's (AAI) remote transmitting station on Wardha Road on Tuesday afternoon. No damage to any property was reported.
Wild, dry grass grows in abundance in AAI land on Wardha Road where the organization is also holding its annual Durga Puja programmes for the last two years. The grass provides for ample fuel for a small spark to convert into a fire.
Flames were seen near the Wardha Road side boundary of the land and small tongues of fire had spread about halfway through the ground to the back side. "But the equipment are safe and so is the building and towers. We had cleaned the grass around there during Durga Puja and thus the fire did not come towards the building," a senior AAI official.
25/12/13 Aparna Nair/Times of India

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On Kandahar anniv, a plane hijack ‘drama’ at Mumbai airport

Early on Tuesday, when most of Mumbai was asleep, commandos from the National Security Guard (NSG) put up a swift display of their counter-terrorism capabilities as they took on gunmen in the dark during a simulated plane hijack.
The isolation bay of the Mumbai airport was the stage for the drill, which, a source said, involved more than 220 members of the special force and a Boeing aircraft belonging to Air India.
The drill began shortly after Monday midnight and ended four hours later when an NSG team, specifically trained to tackle such situations, sneaked into the aircraft and took out the threats - four commandos posing as terrorists.
The drill, carried out on the 14th anniversary of the hijacking of Indian Airlines flight 814, was reportedly ordered following intelligence inputs that terrorists may try to hijack a flight from Mumbai between December 25 and January 1.
25/12/13 Bipin Kumar Singh/Mumbai Mirror

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$150,000 found on Korean at Chennai airport

Chennai: A Korean national was detained for trying to carry $150,000 worth dollar bills without declaring it at Chennai airport on Tuesday.
Yoon Kiyeol had hidden the currency, worth approximately 97 lakh, under clothes in his hand baggage. A passenger is allowed to carry foreign currency worth 7,500 while travelling abroad.
This is the second biggest seizure of foreign currency at the airport. In September 2008, foreign currency worth 40 lakh was seized from a Polish national headed for Singapore.
Kiyeol had checked in to fly on the Chennai-Hong Kong Cathay Pacific flight at 3.15am. Sources said Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) personnel grew suspicious after they found an image that looked like currency inside the bag during security check. The dollars were found packed in three bundles.
25/12/13 Times of India

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Drug-pusher arrested, 10 kg heroin worth Rs 40 crore seized

New Delhi:  In the second major seizure of heroin in the city this month, the crime branch has arrested one person with 10kg of the drug valued at Rs 40 crore.
Although a part of this consignment was to be peddled at rave parties on the city's outskirts, most of it was to be sent to south India, en route to Colombo, police said.
The drug mule was trapped at New Delhi station with the railway police's help after a team led by DCPs Bhisham Singh and Zile Singh traced him using technical surveillance and local intelligence, said Ravindra Yadav, additional commissioner of police (crime branch).
The accused, Mohammad Dharick (35), is a resident of Sivaganga in Tamil Nadu and has been booked under Section 21 of the NDPS Act.
25/12/13 Times of India

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Mangalore International Airport aims to handle 240 tonnes of air cargo

Managlore: The Mangalore air cargo complex at the Mangalore International Airport (MIA) at Kenjar here that handled 35 tonnes of export cargo in November is capable of handling 240 tonnes per month in future. This can be achieved with the cooperation from the airlines operating out of MIA, said MIA director J T Radhakrishna at a meeting of air cargo, industry stakeholders meeting held at MIA.
D Purushottam, commissioner of Customs, told the meeting that his department would shortly establish electronic data interchange connection at the air cargo complex so that the charges can be remitted at the complex itself. At present, the agents have to go to the Customs House at Panambur to remit the duty, he said.
25/12/13 Times of India

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Fog once again hit operations a IGI airport, over 100 flight delayed

New Delhi: Operations at IGI airport here were once again affected today due to dense fog which hit the schedules of over 100 flights causing inconvenience to the passengers.
After a day of respite, fog returned at the airport this morning and reduced the visibility to below 50 metres at one end of the third runway, virtually shutting the operations on this runway.
This brought take-offs from the third runway to a halt but landings were taking place using CAT-III B instrument landing system.
A total of 11 flights landed using CAT-III B, nine with CAT-III A, 10 CAT-II and 30 using CAT-I ILS.
The runway visibility kept fluctuating between 125 to 175 metres during the early hours, due to which take-offs were delayed as airport authorities faced problem in maintaining the schedule of the flights.
25/12/13 PTI/Financial Express

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Little hope for Gulbarga airport as infrastructure firm backs out

Gulbarga: The Gulbarga Greenfield Airport, taken up on public private partnership (PPP) model and already way behind schedule, is unlikely to see the light of the day anytime soon as the Mumbai-based firm that was entrusted with constructing the runway and allied works is backing out.
Roman Tarmat Infra Engineering Empire has begun withdrawing its men and machinery from the site of the project, saying the airport’s main promoter, the Regional Holdings International (RAHI), failed to make payments.
The Rs 186-crore airport project, being executed on 692 acres at Srinivas Saradgi village on Sedam Road, about 12 km from the city, was awarded to RAHI in November 2007, and construction began in April 2011. But it came to a halt the very month it was set to be completed — May 2012.
The Mumbai firm was entrusted with constructing a 1,900 m-long and 45 m-wide runway, including the runway extended surface area, at a cost of Rs 49 crore. It started the work in April 2011. The work included construction of isolation bay, apron and taxi way connecting the apron and isolation bay from the runway.
24/12/13 Deccan Herald

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Chembur family waits for justice

Mumbai: On November 25, Chembur resident Jitendra Singh Khalsa (38) was found dead in the departure lounge at the Doha International Airport. But even a month later, his family is still seeking an explanation on how he was at the airport a day prior to his departure to India without luggage, boarding pass and passport. They have refused to claim the body, which is still lying in Qatar, until a post-mortem is conducted.
While the death certificate, issued by the Qatar government, says that Khalsa had died due to a cardiac arrest at the airport, it does not mention the time, thus arousing suspicion.
"Neither the company nor the Indian and Qatar governments have given us a proper explanation. The post-mortem will bring out the truth which the Qatar-based firm does not want to reveal," Khalsa's inconsolable mother Surjit told TOI.
24/12/13 V Narayan/Times of India

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MAHB buys GMR stake in Istanbul airport

Bangalore: Malaysia Airports Holdings Berhad (MAHB), which holds 20 per cent stake in the consortium for Istanbul Sabiha Gokcen (ISG) International Airport, announced that it plans to buy 40 per cent stake held by Bangalore-based GMR Group for 225 million euros, or Rs 1,910 crore.
The development comes within days of media reports last week wherein GMR Group Chairman G M Rao was quoted as saying that there were no plans to exit from the ISG Airport.
In a regulatory filing to Bursa Malaysia (formerly Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange) on Monday, MAHB said that its proposes to buy 27.55 per cent stake held by GMR Infrastructure and 12.45 per cent held by GMR Infrastructure Overaseas in the airport project.
24/12/13 Deccan Herald

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Chennai airport to become a South East Asian hub

Chennai: Chennai: Chennai airport, whose landing, housing and parking fees are lower compared to that of other metro airports in the country, has the potential to become a hub of South East Asia what with more airlines making a night halt.
Airport sources said that Air Asia and Air Costa have already expressed their willingness to use Chennai airport for their flight operations in India, keeping in mind the parking space available.
Chennai airport AGM (PR) Harbhajan Singh said that 36 aircraft were parked there at night, “Air India having four planes, Jet Airways and Spicejet having 12 each, Indigo six and  Go Air and Air Costa one each,” he added. The city airport has a total of 85 parking bays, including three hangars. According to Mr Singh, the airport earns an average revenue of about Rs 17.75 crore per month from landing and parking charges.
24/12/13 Deccan Chronicle

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Fog disrupts flight operations at IGI airport

New Delhi: Dense fog once again returned to affect the operations at the IGI Airport where over a dozen flights were delayed on Tuesday morning.
Three flights -- one freighter aircraft, a Jet Airways flight from Abu Dhabi and a Turkish Airlines flight from Istanbul -- had to be diverted as the pilots were not trained to land aircraft when the visibility is less than 200 metres, airport sources said.
Fog started to descend at the airport early in the morning and the runway visibility kept fluctuating, causing problems for airport authorities to maintain the schedule of the flights.
24/12/13 IBN Live

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Delhi airport operator seeks status quo on tariffs

New Delhi: Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL) has sought a directive from an appellate tribunal to the airport regulator, asking it to put on hold the determination of user charges for the five-year period starting April 1, 2014, till pending appeals against the regulator's earlier tariff order are adjudicated.
Seeking a status quo on its airport charges, which civil aviation ministry officials had claimed would fall by 50% from next April, DIAL has told the tribunal that it has recently submitted its tariff proposal for April 2014 to March 2019 with the Airports Economic Regulatory Authority (AERA) of India.
The operator has urged the tribunal to ask the regulator to await its final decision on unresolved issues such as the return on equity the operator should earn, before setting new tariffs.
23/12/13 Vikas Dhoot/Economic Times

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Disqualification of Megawide group in Cebu airport bid sought

Manila: The Gotianun family’s Filinvest Development Corp. (FDC) is seeking the disqualification of the consortium of Megawide Construction Corp. and Bangalore-based GMR Infrastructure Ltd., the highest bidder for the P17.5-billion Mactan-Cebu International Airport (MCIA) project.
The conglomerate said the unsatisfactory performance record, financial woes, and questionable long-term commitment of GMR puts to risk the “rare opportunity” of creating a world-class airport, a claim refuted by a Mega-wide executive.
In a letter to the Pre-qualification, Bids and Awards Committee obtained by The STAR, FDC said it “could not remain silent after it had obtained publicly available information concerning the members of the consortium that submitted the highest financial proposal, particularly in relation to their capacity to realize this project.”
23/12/13 Neil Jerome C. Morales/Philippine Star

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GMR Infra to exit Istanbul airport

Bangalore: GMR Infrastructure, the Bangalore-based listed developer, is set to sell its entire 40 per cent stake in Istanbul’s Sabiha Gökçen International Airport for Euro 225 million (Rs 1,900 crore) to Malaysia Airport Holdings Berhad (MAHB).
MAHB holds 20 per cent stake in the Turkey project, while Turkey-based Limak Construction holds another 40 per cent. MAHB, in a regulatory filing, said it  exercised its right of first refusal (ROFR) to acquire the stake in the company.
GMR said they had received a notice from MAHB, seeking to exercise its ROFR. GMR had initiated a discussion with TAV Airports Holdings, which runs another airport in Turkey.  “As part of the discussions, Malaysia Airport Holdings exercised its rights,” a senior GMR official told Business Standard.  MAHB is also a stakeholder in two other airports at New Delhi and Hyderabad, which GMR manages.
23/12/13 Business Standard

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Mangalore International Airport makes concerted efforts to boost air cargo

Mangalore: Mangalore Air Cargo Complex at Mangalore International Airport (MIA) at Kenjar here that handled 35 metric tonnes of export cargo in November is capable of handling 240 metric tonnes per month in future. This can be achieved with cooperation from the airlines operating out of MIA, noted MIA director J T Radhakrishna at a meeting of air cargo, industry stakeholders meeting held at MIA.
D Purushottam, commissioner of customs informed the meeting that M Kannan, economic advisor, Union ministry of civil aviation chaired that his department will shortly establish electronic data interchange connection at the air cargo complex so that the charges can be remitted at the complex itself. At present, the agents have to go to the Customs House at Panambur to remit the duty, he noted.
Purushottam also suggested to the stakeholders that they export vegetables, fruits, flowers and fish to start with and emphasized the need to approach the local industries and convince them.
23/12/13 Jaideep Shenoy/Times of India

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Airports: the next shopping destination

In 2005, I travelled to Singapore for the first time and I was stunned to see Changi airport. In fact, I didn’t feel like coming out since it had so much to offer travellers. The duty free shops were stacked with all manner of delights — from books to clothes to bags, to shoes, to watches to fragrances and food, the list goes on. Though not at par with Changi, today India too has some good airports that are also becoming great retail destinations for brands, both domestic and international. Yes, this concept is already a success at global airports and now it’s gripping India as well.
Brands such as Burberry, Bottega Veneta, Hermes, Tag Heuer, Gucci, Bvlgari, Montblanc, Ferrari and Chanel among others offer products related to fashion, jewellery and accessories. The reasons behind this phenomenon don’t need a detailed research. An average of one lakh travellers arrive or depart every day from the Terminal 3 of Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport. Even if one considers footfalls at a top shopping mall or market of the country on a Sunday or a national holiday, I doubt if the turnout comes to even half that figure.
23/12/13 Gautam Gupta/mydigitalfc.com

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AAI, state at odds over footing security bill of airports

Lucknow: The issue of footing the bill for providing security at the eight new airports to be set up in Uttar Pradesh has put the Airport Authority of India (AAI) and the state government at loggerheads.
The AAI wants the state to bear the expenditure on deployment of Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) at airports for 10 years —- something that the state government is no mood to do.
According to sources, AAI has proposed that to collect the Passenger Services Fee (PSF) on domestic tickets at these airports and provide it to state government for payment of salary of the CISF personnel deployed there.
24/12/13 Lalmani Verma/Indian Express

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Indian expatriate caught while trying to smuggle out gold at Sharjah airport

Sharjah: An Indian expatriate was arrested at Sharjah International Airport while attempting to smuggle out eight 24 carat gold bars weighing 80 grams (each bar weighed 10 grams).
Customs officers at the airport intercepted the suspect while he was on his way out of the country. The accused was travelling to India, according to a Sharjah Police spokesperson.
He was arrested as he had not declared the consignment of gold to the airport authorities.
The police alleged that the suspect, identified as F.Sh.M., had tried to cheat the airport authorities by concealing the gold bars in his body. The suspect planned to smuggle the gold to avoid paying tax in India.
23/12/13 Aghaddir Ali/Gulf News

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Centre’s nod for CIDCO plan to invite bids from pvt players

Mumbai: The Union Government Friday gave its nod to the City and Industrial Development Corporation (CIDCO) to go ahead with the process of inviting bids from private developers to build the Navi Mumbai international airport. The Civil Aviation ministry gave the clearance to CIDCO to float Request for Qualification (RFQ).
Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan said Saturday, "CIDCO was awaiting the Centre's approval to float the RFQ. Residents of one village are still opposed to the rehabilitation package."
CIDCO managing director Sanjay Bhatia said the agency would soon issue the RFQ and convene pre-qualification meetings with interested bidders. Hyderabad-based GVK Group, which built the Mumbai airport, has the first right of refusal. Other infrastructure giants such as Larsen and Toubro and Reliance Infrastructure have shown interest in bidding for the project. The project cost as per the RFQ is Rs 9,990 crore for the first phase to build an airport with a capacity to handle 10 million passengers per annum. "We are hoping to issue the RFQ in 15 days' time. We have started the joint measurement.
22/12/13 Indian Express

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'Dabolim airport will not be shut down'

Margao: Assuring the people of south Goa that there was no question of Dabolim airport shutting down, BJP south Goa Lok Sabha ticket aspirant Narendra Sawaikar accused politicians of trying to misguide the public on the airport issue.
Sawaikar, who was responding to queries on his stance on the dual airport issue, pointed out that after its soft launch recently the airport had been upgraded and is capable of handling any number of passengers.
He stressed that there was no need for South Goa to worry, especially the tourism industry like hotels and taxis, and added that the BJP state government was all for Dabolim and that Dabolim would remain.
22/12/13 Times of India

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Rs 49.5 crore given for Vijayawada airport

Vijayawada: The state government on Saturday sanctioned funds for the development of the airport at Vijayawada, one of the frontrunners for the capital of the residuary state of Andhra Pradesh.
Infrastructure and investment department of the state government on Saturday sanctioned Rs 49.5 crores for the development of an airport at Gannavaram. This is also keeping in mind the huge NRI potential of the region.
The government had earlier decided to hand over 491.92 acre including private land of 433.27 acre in Buddhavaram, Aijampudi and Keesarapalli villages of Gannapravam mandal.
The lands are to be handed over to the Airports Authority of India free of cost for expansion and upgradation of the Vijaywada airport as per the MoU signed.
 22/12/13 Decan Chronicle

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Fog thins; air, train services improve

Chandigarh: As the fog cover remained thin on the second day, improving visibility, most of the short-route trains arrived at the Chandigarh railway station on time or with a short delay. Similarly, the flight operations also improved with 10 flights out of 14 taking off on time. However, three flights were cancelled.
According to an official of Chandigarh Airport, due to operational reasons, three flights were cancelled. These were JetKonnect flight S2 4238/35 from Delhi to Chandigarh and two flights of Jet Airways — flight 9W 2657 from Chandigarh to Delhi and 9W 2515 from Jaipur to Chandigarh.
JetKing flight 9W 489/67 Mumbai-Chandigarh-Mumbai was delayed by two hours. The flight which had a scheduled arrival at 12.10 pm and departure at 12.45 pm arrived at 2.10 pm and left at 2.40 pm.
"Only three flights — two of Jet Airways and one of JetKonnect — were cancelled on Sunday. All the remaining flights took off on time or with some delay," said the official.
22/12/13 Indian Express

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Flight schedules go haywire in Manipur

Imphal: Many Imphal-bound flights were delayed on Sunday due to dense fog. Imphal-Silchar Jet airways flight was also cancelled due to the fog.
For the second time, the flight schedules have gone haywire this month. Officials at Tulihal airport in Imphal claimed flights were delayed and cancelled due to operational reasons or poor weather at the destination airport and also because of the thick cover in Imphal.
While general visibility was as low as 500 metres, runway visibility was below 1,000 metres, forcing airport authorities to operate flights only after visibility was stablised at 1,300 metres around 1 pm today.
The Indigo flight from New Delhi which was scheduled to arrive at Tulihal airport at 9.45 am was rescheduled for the second time – first to 10.20 am and later to 12 noon. However, both the Delhi-bound Indigo flights took off from Imphal around 1.10 pm. Indigo officials said the flights were delayed due to bad weather.
22/12/13 Assam Tribune

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Ahmedabad airport gets two new radars

Ahmedabad: Two new radars for aircraft surveillance have been installed at Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport. It will be functional by the end of the month as the officials are waiting for final approval from Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), New Delhi.
These two radars have replaced more than 15-year-old radars which were outdated and used to frequently blink. The radars known as Airport Surveillance Radar (ASR) and Monopulse Secondary Surveillance Radar (MSSR) are the basic model that help the controllers to check aircraft movements in the sky. They are also known as "eyes" of air traffic controllers (ATC).
22/12/13 Indian Express

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Jet flights diverted from Bhopal to Indore

Indore: Passengers of Jet Airways travelling to Bhopal were stranded after the flights from Ahmedabad and Delhi were diverted from Bhopal to Indore following bad weather and poor visibility at the Raja Bhoj Airport, Bhopal on Saturday morning. The passengers were stranded at Indore for about two years. It is learnt that flight No 9W 2509 from Ahmedabad to Bhopal and Raipur scheduled to land at Bhopal at 7.10 am was diverted to Indore.
22/12/13 Times of India

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Chennai-bound flight makes emergency landing

Kolkata: A Chennai-bound plane with 170 passengers on board made an emergency landing shortly after take-off as a child complained of illness at the N S C B International airport here today. Airport sources said the Spicejet plane made a "medical emergency" landing with all standard procedures at 5:06 PM shortly after taking off.
22/12/13 PTI/Deccan Herald

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Smugglers smile as NRI carriers bring gold into country legally

Chennai: Faced with curbs on gold imports and crash in international prices leaving it cheaper in other countries, gold houses and smugglers are turning to NRIs to bring in the yellow metal legally after paying duty. Any NRI, who has stayed abroad for more than six months, is allowed to bring in 1kg gold.
It was evident last week when almost every passenger on a flight from Dubai to Calicut was found carrying 1kg of gold, totalling up to 80kg (worth about Rs 24 crore). At Chennai airport, 13 passengers brought the legally permitted quantity of gold in the past one week.
"It's not illegal. But the 80kg gold that landed in Calicut surprised us. We soon got information that two smugglers in Dubai and their links in Calicut were behind this operation, offering free tickets to several passengers," said an official. The passengers were mostly Indian labourers in Dubai, used as carriers by people who were otherwise looking at illegal means, he said. "We have started tracing the origin and route of gold after intelligence pointed to the role of smugglers," he said.
22/12/13 Arun Janardhanan/Times of India

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Congo flyer hides Rs 5cr drugs inside bedsheets, nabbed

Mumbai: A Congo national who was to board a flight to Nairobi was arrested by the Mumbai airport Customs officials early on Sunday after contraband worth Rs 5 crore was found in his bag. The drug was concealed inside neatly folded and packed bedsheets.
"White crystalline power purported to be amphetamine was found in the bag of a Kenya Airways passenger. It weighed 5,015 gm and its value in the illicit drug market would be Rs 5.01 crore," said an official from the Customs Air Intelligence Unit. Around 3am, Bokele Wetoko, carrying two suitcases and a cloth handbag, was on his way to the immigration counter when he was accosted by the Customs officials after Anju, an eight-year-old Labrador, raised an alarm. The contraband was concealed in slim pouches of 200 gm each that were sandwiched in cardboards, the kind that is found packed between folds of new bedsheets. The bedsheets with the cardboards containing the contraband were packed into the passenger's cloth bag.
22/12/13 Times of India

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RFQ for Navi Mumbai airport likely in Jan

Mumbai: The City and Industrial Development Corporation (CIDCO) on Thursday indicated the request for qualification (RFQ) for the Navi Mumbai international airport would be issued in January next year and not December-end as projected earlier.
According to CIDCO sources, surveys would be conducted in villages, which will be affected by the project. After the surveys, the consent award for 371 hectares (yet to be acquired) will be given and thereafter, 22.5 per cent developed land of the total acquired land would be allotted to project affected persons (PAPs).
CIDCO has stepped up efforts to take on board PAPs from Pargaon, Dungi, Kohli, Ovla and Upper Ovla villages, who had opposed the state government's compensation package announced last month.
CIDCO Vice-Chairman and Managing Director Sanjay Bhatia told Business Standard: “Currently, joint surveys of the houses in which the PAPs are staying are underway. We hope the RFQ will be issued in January.”
21/12/13 Sanjay Jog/Business Standard

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Cidco gets nod for inviting private bids for Navi Mumbai airport

New Delhi: The civil aviation ministry on Friday paved the way for Maharashtra's town planning agency - City and Industrial Development Corporation (CIDCO) to go ahead with the process for inviting bids from private developers to build the Navi Mumbai airport.
"We have approved the draft request for qualification document for the Navi Mumbai airport sent by CIDCO," a senior official of the civil aviation ministry told ET. "CIDCO can now go ahead and complete the final formalities before issuing the RFQ and hosting pre-qualification meetings with interested bidders."
The RFQ sent by CIDCO earlier this month was cleared at a meeting of a steering committee formed by the civil aviation ministry for the Navi Mumbai airport project.
RFQ is a pre-bid process of the government which narrows down the interested bidders according to various criteria.
21/12/13 Economic Times

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Karunakaran name for Kochi airport: Oommen Chandy

Thiruvananthapuram: Chief minister Oommen Chandy has said that the state government was considering naming the CIAL airport at Nedumbassery after former chief minister K. Karunakaran.
He  was speaking at a function at the Senate Hall here on Friday when President Pranab Kumar Mukherjee unveiled the statue of the late K. Karunakaran.
Chandy said that some procedures had to be completed to name the airport after the late chief minister who was instrumental in building it, the first such project on the Public- Private Participation  mode.
21/12/13 Decan Chronicle

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Land acquired for Baljek Airport project

Tura: The long-delayed Baljek Airport project, in the Garo Hills region, has received a fillip with the project finally completing the land acquisition process.
According to official sources, a total of 58 acres of land has been acquired for the expansion of the airport to make it ready for use. The cost of acquisition of land stood at Rs 2.58 crore.
20/12/13 Assam Tribune

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Green panel stays Aranmula project

Chennai: The proposed Aranmula airport project in Pathanamthitta district suffered yet another setback on Friday with the southern bench of the National Green Tribunal ordering the promoters of the airport to maintain status quo at the site. The bench was hearing a petition filed by K P Sreeranganathan, a 71-year-old environmental activist hailing from Aranmula, who has pleaded for setting aside the environmental clearance accorded to the project.
Sreeranganathan had filed the petition on December 17. In a separate petition, Kummanam Rajasekharan, representing Aranmula Heritage Village Action Council, a forum that is campaigning against the project, had also pleaded that the project be stalled. Both the petitioners have pointed out that the project has been proposed on wetland and hence would cause irreparable ecological damage. Rajasekharan's petition, however, has not yet been taken up by the tribunal.
21/12/12 Times of India

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Chennai airport sees both ups and downs

Chennai: While the good news is th­at passenger patronage of the city airport increased in 2013, the al­arming news is that they faced collapses and confusion throughout the year at the 2,015-crore, modernised Chennai airport. There were numerous false ceiling crashes, water leakages and glass cracks in the otherwise swanky airport.
The Airports Authority of India (AAI) cleared all doubts about commissioning the much-awaited new terminals on January 31 when vice-president Hamid Ansari did the honours at the third busiest airport in the country in the presence of Union civil aviation minister Ajit Singh.
But the inaugural function was devoid of local representation as Tamil Nadu chief minister J. Jayalalithaa skipped the event saying that she was hurt because the new domestic terminal-II was not named after former CM and Bharat Ratna M.G. Rama­chan­dran.
The name terminal-II still continues to confuse passengers who were earlier used to referring to the domestic terminal as Kamaraj terminal and the international terminal as Anna terminal. Even members of the Airline operators committee Chennai (AOCC) boycotted the event as they had a few unresolved issues with the AAI.
21/12/13 S. Sujatha/Deccan Chronicle

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Malindo Air to start daily flights from Tiruchi

Tiruchi:Malindo Air, a Malaysian-based hybrid airline, will launch its commercial flight operations from Tiruchi, Delhi, Mumbai and Ahmedabad to Kuala Lumpur shortly.
The joint Malaysia – Indonesia airline, which is a member of the PT Lion Group, will start daily flights from Tiruchi on January 2. The flying time between Tiruchi and Kuala Lumpur will be three hours and 45 minutes.
The airline will start daily flights from Delhi on December 30.
The airline will operate daily flights from Ahmedabad and Mumbai on January 27 and February 15 respectively.
Addressing the media here on Friday, its Chief Executive Officer Chandran Rama Muthy said the airline would operate its Boeing 737 – 900 ER latest aircraft for its India operations with a 180–seat capacity, including 12 business class in every flight offering extra legroom and comfort.
21/12/13 R. Rajaram/The Hindu

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Two more hotels can start partial ops in Aerocity

New Delhi: Two months after J W Marriott Hotel became the first in Aerocity to start operations, two other hotels, Red Fox and Lemon Tree, have been given partial clearances by Delhi Police to open dining and lodging services.
The hotels will be allowed to function with some pre-conditions. Rooms facing the runway will need to have bullet-proof glass panes and will be cleared by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).
On October 7, J W Marriott became the first hotel at the 43-acre project site to be given partial clearance by the security department of Delhi Police. The green signal for dining and lodging services was subject to the pre-condition that 105 of the 523 rooms in the hotel, which face the runway, would not open till bullet-proofing was in place. On November 21, the hotel announced its formal launch.
Following the clearance to Marriott, the Red Fox and Lemon Tree hotels asked Delhi Police to carry out an inspection.
21/12/13 Shalini Narayan/Indian Express

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MIAL to accommodate woman-driven taxis at Mumbai airport

Mumbai: Mumbai airport authorities today told the Bombay High Court that they would be providing certain facilities for the taxis driven by women.
Mumbai International Airport Ltd and Stri Shakti Kendra, which operates a woman-driver taxi service, have agreed there would be an integrated pre-paid counter at the airport for all types of taxis.
21/12/13 PTI

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3 held, gold bars worth Rs.5.4 crore seized at RGIA

Hyderabad: Gold bars weighing 18 kg worth over Rs.5.4 crore were seized from three passengers by the Air Intelligence Unit of the Customs Department at the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport (RGIA) in Shamshabad on Thursday midnight.
The arrested passengers have been identified as Chokka Lingam Murganandan (43), Zainuddin (50) and Haji Mohammed (50). They landed at the airport from Singapore in the Tiger Airlines flight number 2624 at around 12.40 a.m. when the customs officials intercepted them. Authorities checked the handbags of the three passengers. On suspicion, officials also frisked the trio through metal detector and found gold bars concealed in their trouser pockets and shoes.
B. B. Prasad, Chief Commissioner of Customs, Hyderabad Zone, told the media here on Friday that the accused were carrying six gold bars each weighing one kg.
21/12/13 The Hindu

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Gold worth Rs 3.2crore seized in biggest airport haul this year

Mumbai: In its biggest seizure so far this year, the air intelligence unit (AIU) of airport customs on Friday busted a gang of three people, including two women, who were trying to smuggle gold bars worth Rs 3.2 crore into the country. They had arrived in the city by an Emirate airways flight.
The accused, suspected to be repeat offenders, had devised an ingenious method to sneak in the precious metal. “Each one of them had concealed four gold bars in aluminium pencil boxes, which had been hung from the rear end of the trolley so as to hide them behind their luggage,” said Deputy Commissioner, Kiran Kumar of AIU (airport customs).
However, an alert woman official found the behaviour of the trio suspicious and decided to intercept them, which led to the recovery. Officials said that the accused will be arrested and produced before a magistrate as the value of the gold is over Rs 1 crore.
The AIU has discretionary powers to release offenders on bail in case the value of the smuggled item is less than Rs 1 crore.
This incident comes barely nine days after two natives of Karnataka were held while attempting to smuggle gold worth over Rs1 crore by keeping it inside the pockets of their trousers.
21/12/13 Shahkar Abidi/Daily News & Analysis

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Mumbai airport gets to receive first A380s, world’s largest commercial aircraft, flying into country

New Delhi: The Mumbai airport is set to be the first airport in the country to see the world’s largest commercial aircraft — the Airbus 380, with the civil aviation ministry allowing A380 operations in the country by foreign carriers in a phased manner.
“We have decided to allow foreign carriers to bring in Airbus 380s in a phased manner. It has been decided that Mumbai will be the first airport, where operation by Airbus 380s will be allowed,” said a senior ministry official, who attended a meeting here on the issue.
He added that a decision in favour of Mumbai was taken as the city is getting a new international terminal that would be inaugurated in January.
Allowing carriers to operate Airbus 380s into India would be a change of stance by the government, which has, till now, stopped airlines from flying these planes into India. Lufthansa, Emirates and Singapore Airlines are three international carriers, who have shown interest in operating the jumbo aircraft into India.
20/12/13 Mihir Mishra/Financial Express

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Airport project: Kitco says its report was altered

Kochi: A report prepared by Kitco after studying the proposal for building the airport at Aranmula was altered when it was submitted to the Travancore Devaswom ombudsman, the high court was informed on Friday.
Kerala Industrial and Technical Consultancy Organisation (Kitco) has now told the court that its study report didn't mention anything about shortening the flag mast of Aranmula Parthasarathy temple or displacement of its 'gopuram' (main entrance).
Pointing out these aspects, a senior project engineer of Kitco has given a representation to the ombudsman alleging that its report was manipulated.
A division bench comprising justices T R Ramachandran Nair and B Kemal Pasha on Friday directed to make Kitco a party in the case, taking the view that Kitco has to be heard further.
20/12/13 Times of India

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Green panel halts Aranmula airport project

Chennai: The proposed Aranmula airport project in Kerala's Pathanamthitta district suffered another setback on Friday with the southern bench of the National Green Tribunal ordering the promoters to maintain status quo at the site. The bench was hearing a petition filed by K P Sreeranganathan, a 71-year-old activist hailing from Aranmula, who has pleaded for setting aside the environmental clearance accorded to the project.
Sreeranganathan had filed the petition on December 17. In a separate petition, Kummanam Rajasekharan, representing Aranmula Heritage Village Action Council, a forum that is campaigning against the project, also pleaded that the project be stalled. Both the petitioners said the project has been proposed to come up on a wetland and would cause irreparable ecological damage. Rajasekharan's petition, however, is yet to be taken up by the tribunal.
20/12/13 Times of India

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Devyani case fallout: US diplomats lose airport passes

New Delhi: US diplomats in India were on Thursday deprived of their airport passes as part of reciprocal measures taken by India following the arrest and strip-search of an Indian diplomat in New York, a source said.
Three days ago, police had removed barricades outside the US embassy in Delhi.
The US embassy was informed by the external affairs ministry on Tuesday that they were taking back the special privileges, which included the diplomatic ID cards given by the Indian government, airport passes that allowed US diplomats to sail through the numerous security barriers and import licences for the embassy. The airport passes were taken back on Thursday, a source told IANS.
20/12/13 IBN Live

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Work on Akola, Amravati airports will start soon: CM

Nagpur:  Chief minister Prithviraj Chavan has assured that work on Amravati and Akola airports would begin soon as the process of land acquisition is in final stages. CM told the legislative council on Wednesday that Airport Authority of India (AAI) had agreed to build both airports provided certain conditions were met.
Replying to a call attention motion moved by Vinod Tawde, leader of opposition, CM said that AAI wanted 60.7 hectare land belonging to Panjabrao Deshmukh Krishi Vidyapeeth (PDKV) and 34 hectare private land. "We have identified three possible areas in the PDKV campus adjoining the existing airport. The first is an agricultural trial land, the second has a research centre and environment centre and the third has a water body. We have told the university authorities that it can give us any of the three lands," he said.
The government has asked AAI to build the Belora airport at Amravati on the lines of the one at Jalgaon instead of by Maharashtra Airport Development Company (MADC).
19/12/13 Ashish Roy/Times of India

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GMR to stay invested in Istanbul airport

Hyderabad: Bangalore-based infrastructure and airport developer GMR Group today said it would remain invested in the Sabiha Gokcen International Airport in Istanbul, Turkey.
Group chairman GM Rao said it had not made any plans to exit Istanbul airport. “We’re working on portfolio management strategy but not selling any stake here,” he said.
The GMR Group holds a 40 per cent stake in the airport while Malaysian Airports Holding has 20 per cent and the remaining 40 per cent is with Limak Holdings of Turkey.
Recently, there were reports suggesting the group was looking at offloading some of its assets, and the Istanbul Airport was a part of the process for cutting down its around Rs 40,000-crore debt.
Speaking at The Indus Entrepreneurs Summit here today, he said the final award of $ 325 million Philippines airport modernisation project would be out in the next 2-3 days.
19/12/13 Business Standard

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‘AI staff party delayed flight by three hours’

Mumbai: An Air India flight to Delhi was delayed by three hours on Tuesday as its crew was busy attending a staff party, the airline's engineers have alleged in a complaint to the chairman.
AI flight 116, from London to Delhi, was diverted to Mumbai on Tuesday morning because of poor visibility caused by fog in the national capital. The aircraft, a Boeing 787 Dreamliner, was supposed to leave for Delhi at 9.30 am, but took off at 12.30 pm.
All-India Engineering Services Limited (AIESL), a body representing the airline's engineering staff, claims the delay resulted from unavailability of flight crew, who were busy celebrating a senior executive's promotion at AI's office in Medicon Bhavan.
19/12/13 Aditya Anand/Mumbai Mirror

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Less flights from Bhopal burn holes in pockets of flyers

Bhopal: Madhya Pradesh government's move to make the state a hot investment destination and ensure good air connectivity to the state capital has hit an air pocket. The recent move to slash VAT on aviation turbine fuel from 23% to 5% has also failed to push flights from the state capital.
Bhopal currently is connected only to Delhi, Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Raipur and Hyderabad with limited number of flights. It has practically no flight service to East and South India.
While government's move to invite private airlines to operate in the state had miserably failed in the past, the decision to lower VAT on ATF too made no difference.
None of the airlines have decided to increase its frequency or start new flights connecting Bhopal to new destinations. The reduction of VAT on ATF announced by Raman Singh government benefitted Chhattisgarh but not Madhya Pradesh. Airlines have been claiming that operating on Bhopal sector is unviable due to poor load (traffic), but the figures show otherwise. During the last three years air passenger traffic from Bhopal has registered a steady increase of about 30%. On an average, around 500 travellers fly from Bhopal to different destinations daily.
18/12/13 Ramendra Singh/Times of India

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