Foreign tourists can now fly directly to the Andamans

New Delhi: Foreign tourists can now directly fly to the Andaman and Nicobar Islands as the government has designated Port Blair airport as an authorised immigration check post for entry into and exit from India with valid travel documents.

The decision came more than a month after the killing of an American national by members of a highly protected tribe in one of the islands of the Union territory.

"In pursuance of sub-rule (b) of rule 3 of the Passport (Entry into India) Rules, 1950, the central government hereby designates Port Blair airport of Union territory of Andaman and Nicobar Islands as an authorised immigration check post for entry into/exit from India with valid travel documents for all classes of passengers," a home ministry notification said.

In another notification, the home ministry appointed the Superintendent of Police, CID, the Andaman and Nicobar Police, as the "civil authority" for the immigration check post at Port Blair airport with effect from December 31, 2018.

The Andamans, under global spotlight after the killing of an American national, has emerged as one of the most sought-after tourist destinations in the country receiving on an average four lakh tourists, including several thousand foreigners, annually.
31/12/18 PTI/Times of India

Read More

Jaipur airport ranked number 12 in terms of passenger footfall in India

Jaipur: Jaipur international airport has been ranked as the top 12 airports of the country in terms of passenger footfall in November.

According to a recent report, Jaipur received around four lakh passengers in November and was the 12th most crowded airport of India.

As per airport authorities, several new flights from Jaipur to other cities were introduced this year, due to which a hike in passengers at Jaipur airport was reported.

However, Jaipur was ranked at number one position two times in past for its passengers capacity.

Introduction of new flights from Jaipur and the hike in passengers at Jaipur airport is continuously increasing. Jaipur airport usually gets a lot of traffic during the winter season and year-end.
30/12/18 PinkCity Post

Read More

Robot guides for Vibrant Gujarat Summit guests at Ahmedabad airport

Guests attending the Vibrant Gujarat Summit (VGS) next month will get a first-hand glimpse at a spate of latest technologies, which are being showcased by the state government. Right from the time they reach Ahmedabad airport, guests will be welcomed and guided by a robot.

Biology Electronics Aesthetics and Mechanics (BEAM) robots will be present at Ahmedabad airport while VGS is on, and they would exclusively service the invitees at the event. BEAM would not only welcome the guests but also provide them with information about the event and the accommodation available.

Principal secretary, tourism department, SJ Haider, said, "We have decided to offer an escort service to guests at VGS through BEAM. Units of this robot will be at Ahmedabad airport, and would be operated by persons sitting in Ahmedabad or Gandhinagar."

"We have completed all formalities to engage service providers of BEAM, and we will take a final call very soon on the number of units to be used. The expense behind this is a policy matter and cannot be disclosed, but it is not a huge amount for sure," Haider added.
31/12/18 Chintan Acharya/DNA

Read More

CM urges Centre to shift IAF’s helicopter base to Mysuru airport

Mysuru: Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy has appealed to the Centre to shift the Indian Air Force’s (IAF) helicopter training division from Yelahanka in Bengaluru to Mysuru airport.

During his meeting with Union Minister for Commerce, Industry and Civil Aviation Suresh Prabhu in New Delhi recently, Mr. Kumaraswamy appealed to the Centre to develop Mysuru airport on the lines of the airports in Pune, Srinagar and Chandigarh for use as civil and military purpose.

By developing Mysuru airport and providing all facilities, the pressure on Kempegowda International Airport in Bengaluru will come down, Mr. Kumaraswamy said.

According to a statement, the Chief Minister has urged the Airports Authority of India (AAI), which is operating the Mysuru airport, to permit the IAF to shift its helicopter base to Mysuru airport. The State government has issued a no-objection certificate for the purpose, the statement said.
Meanwhile, sources in AAI in Mysuru told The Hindu that they are awaiting acquisition of 248 acres of land for expansion of Mysuru airport.
The additional land will facilitate the extension of runway from the existing 1,740 metres to 2,750 metres, by constructing an underpass for national highway 766 connecting Mysuru with Ooty, which presently obstructs the process of extension.
30/12/18 The Hindu

Read More

Wetland ‘filled’ on airport premises

Kolkata: The Airport Authority of India (AAI) on Friday lodged a complaint with the airport police alleging that a promoter had filled up a wetland on the airport premises and was attempting to illegally build flats. The complaint prompted the Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation to demolish the illegal structures. However, the promoter is absconding.

The FIR (a copy of which is with TOI) stated that on December 28, an inspection of the airport areas by AAI revealed that some miscreants had filled up a waterbody in Khamruipara on Kaikhali-Nayaranpur Road. The AAI attached 12 photographs of the disputed zone. The FIR also stated that the waterbody was being filled up by a builder/promoter, adjacent to the airport, to construct flats.

“The office has received various representations from citizens who are apprehensive of flight safety and illegal construction in the airport’s vicinity,” the FIR read. AAI urged the police to stop the illegal filling of the pond and take punitive action against the miscreants. A copy of the complaint, which was signed by AAI AGM (land management) Chaitali Das, was also marked to Bidhannagar mayor Sabyasachi Dutta.

The mayor said, “We received the complaint and immediately initiated action. I spoke to the local councillor and after obtaining details, we demolished the illegal construction. We also urged police to take appropriate action against the builder/promoter.”

“This is an unfortunate situation and should not have been allowed to reach this stage. Henceforth, we shall keep a strict vigil. I have also apologized to the AAI for this incident and have assured them our cooperation,” he added.
31/12/18 Times of India

Read More

Fake e-ticket cases at airports in 2018 highest in four years; agencies mull unique ID

Incidents of fake e-tickets usage to gain illegal entry into Indian airports were highest in 2018 in past four years, prompting security agencies to moot biometric or barcode-based access system for passengers. While security officials ruled out any terror-like or extreme sabotage threat in these recorded incidents, they expressed concern over the potential of this menace being misused in future to breach the airport security.
As per a CISF data, a total of 140 incidents (about 26 per cent more) of illegal entries of passengers using fake or cancelled e-tickets were intercepted till early December as compared to 111 such incidents registered last year. The comparative figures for 2016 were 74 while for 2015 it was 43.
The Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) is the mandated security unit to guard Indian civil airports and it has 61 such facilities under its umbrella at present.
The force has caught both Indians and foreigners for these offences.
It found that either ignorance of rules or sheer desire to see off a family member or friend has prompted the offenders to gain illegal entry into the airport terminal by showing a paper printout or mobile-based PDF attachment of an air ticket, that has been cancelled, to a CISF security personnel at the gate.
30/12/18 PTI/Economic Times

Read More

CISF concerned over people entering airports using fake E-tickets, bats for biometric entry

The Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), which guards airports across the country, has raised concerns over increase in incidents of people entering airports using fake E-tickets. According to the security force, there has been considerable increase in cases of people entering airports using fake E-tickets.

The CISF has said that 140 such incidents had been recorded in 2018 while 111 cases were registered in 2017.

The issue assumes significance as incidents of people entering airports illegally have increases every year. In 2015 and 2016, number of such cases was less than 100.
Though the CISF does not suspect any terror angle with regard to such cases, but the force considers it as a major threat to security of airports. It suspects that such incidents may lead to some major incident if not curbed.

Considering the threat, the CISF and the Civil Aviation Ministry both want to implement a new entry system for airports using a uniform identity. The CISF is pressing for implementation of biometric system for travellers to enter airports.
31/12/18 Sameer Dixit/ZeeNews

Read More

QR code in taxis at IGI airport criminal cases

New Delhi: For safe travel of passengers at Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA), Quick Response (QR) codes introduced by Delhi Police for the taxis has been proving to be successful, said DCP Sanjay Bhatia. Since its commencement, in 10 months, no serious crime incidents have taken place with the passengers.
On an average, daily two calls are being received after implementation of the QR Codes. Most of these calls are about left-out luggage of the passengers.

From February 6, 2017 to December 31, 2017, 32 quarrel cases were registered, 13 persons were arrested for misbehaving with passengers and 44 taxi drivers were fined for refusing to travel. Total 104 cases were registered at the Delhi IGIA Police Station. After the implementation of QR codes for the taxis, from February 6 till December 27, 2018, 34 cases have been reported: 10 for quarrels, six each of misbehaving and overcharging, and 12 cases of refusal were registered.

The IGIA is the busiest airport of India. From here, over 60 airlines flights are being operated for nearly 130 destinations. So, daily 1,75,000 passengers travel via IGIA, wherein the cases of foreign tourists arriving here is huge. Most of these passengers use the taxi to reach their destination. Including black-yellow taxis, 3,000 private taxis are currently operational.

As per the DCP Airport, earlier police did not have the data of the taxi drivers. Therefore, incidents like that of kidnapping, excess charging of fare, eve-teasing used to take place. This was when the airport police started the QR code in the taxis in February. Under this, the data of the black-yellow taxis and the drivers were collected and all were provided with unique QR code. On scanning the code installed in the taxis, all data related with taxi and the driver is visible on the passengers'' mobile. This has been connected with the ‘Himmat Plus App’ of Delhi Police. On pressing the panic button of the mobile by the passenger suspecting some untoward incident, immediately the taxi location is traced and the police reaches the spot.
30/12/18 Prateek Chauhan/Tribune

Read More

Sarod broken during flight from Kolkata, Aaman Ali Bangash sees mischief

Kolkata: Sarod player Amaan Ali Bangash has alleged that someone at Kolkata airport deliberately broke his sarod on Saturday morning. The musician was travelling to Delhi on Jet Airways flight 9W 964 after a concert in the city on Friday.
Bangash noticed the damage to the instrument on reaching home in Delhi. According to him, the nature of damage pointed to a “deliberate” act and not an accident. Coming in the middle of the peak music season, he hinted at sabotage and blamed the airline’s lax security for the loss.

“The nature of damage points to a deliberate act. When the sarod breaks on impact, the pecks and the skin also get damaged. Someone has done this very viciously. I had a show last night in Kolkata. I’m all the more upset because I have a concert in Bangalore tomorrow,” he told TOI, expressing hurt, fury and frustration.

When TOI contacted Jet Airways, an official said the airline couldn’t comment on the matter as it has not received any such information from the guest. “The airline however, is concerned to note the reported development and shall have it reviewed,” the spokesperson said.
According to Aaman Ali Banghash, who flies business class with Jet Airways and is a platinum card holder, he had given the sarod for ‘special handling’ while checking in at Kolkata airport on Saturday morning.
30/12/18 Priyanka Dasgupta/Times of India

Read More

When a major air tragedy was averted in Tiruchy

Tiruchy: The International Airport at Tiruchy drew global attention recently as a Dubai- bound Air India Express flight miraculously escaped when it brushed past the airport compound wall here at the end of the runway, while taking off in the wee hours of October 12. All the 130 passengers and six crew members had a miraculous escape.

Airport sources told DC  that around 0119 hours, the flight commandant Capt. Ganeshkumar operating the aircraft  on its taking-off process hit and damaged the Instrument landing system (ILS), one runway end light (RWY 27), five ILS functional monitoring antennas and an ILS monitor controlled antenna, before the wheelbase of the aircraft crashed the compound wall very close to the Tiruchy- Pudukkottai National Highway. It resulted in a small portion of the compound wall collapsing at two places and also damaged the fencing. 

The Air traffic Control (ATC) duty staff gave a note to airman and also directed the pilot to come back for an emergency landing, but he told the ATC  that they were safe and continued their journey as if nothing happened. 

Realising the trouble and danger, the ATC alerted the Air Indian Express authorities and the Mumbai airport. Then, at Mumbai airport ATC’s instruction, the aircraft nearing Muscat returned to Mumbai for an emergency landing there. The passengers of the aircraft came to know about the episode only after the aircraft alighted at Mumbai airport. 
According to local residents residing on the Tiruchy-Pudukkottai National highway, fortunately at that time when the flight crashed the compound wall, very close to the National highway, there was no vehicular movement; otherwise a major mishap could have taken place.

This incident has given the jolt to the Airports Authority of India to pursue the expansion of the existing runway, which has been long delayed due to the bottlenecks faced in land acquisition for the proposed runway expansion.

Though the AAI instituted a high level inquiry into the incident, the outcome of the probe is yet to be released. However, after setting right the damaged compound wall and other communication equipment, flights movement in and out of Tiruchy International airport is going on as usual.
30/12/18 R Valayapathy/Deccan Chronicle

Read More

Kolhapur-Mumbai flights likely by March 2019

Kolhapur: With a second tender out for the Kolhapur-Mumbai air route, the city is likely to get connected with the state capital by March next year, said Samir Seth, an advisory committee member of the Kolhapur airport.
He added that the first tender was out on December 13 earlier this month, while the second tender was out on December 28.

The awarding of the route and other related formalities will be done after the third tender is out, which is likely to take place by January 8 or 9, next year.

According to Samir Seth, as many as three airlines are interested in the said route for commercial operations, which falls under UDAN (Udey Desh ka Aam Nagrik) phase 3.

Seth also said that the Kolhapur airport is already getting a better response on the Bengaluru and Hyderabad routes and the flight to Mumbai is likely to double the number of air passengers for the city.

Meanwhile, Regional Executive Director (Western region) of the Airports Authority of India (AAI) Keshav Sharma visited the Kolhapur airport on Friday and conducted a surprise inspection.

29/12/18 Times of India

Read More

Navi Mumbai airport: Grievance cell will resolve locals' issues to speed up work

In order to speed up the proposed Navi Mumbai International Airport, the Maharashtra government has decided to set up a grievances redressal cell to resolve the issues faced by the local residents.

According to a notification issued by the Urban Development Department, the government has agreed to most of the demands made by the residents. "There are still some issues that need to be discussed so that the proposed Navi Mumbai Airport development work can be sped up. The grievances redressal cell will be set up under the principal secretary," the notification read.

"We had aimed to complete the airport work by 2019. But, we are facing a lot of issues to acquire the land from the local villagers and farmers. We have agreed to all their demands. However, they are demanding more things that cannot be easily granted. This protest is delaying the development of the proposed airport resulting in an escalation of the cost of the project," said urban development officials.
Congress leader, Mahendra Gharat and local activist said that the nodal agency of the proposed airport itself is responsible for the delay. "They earlier promised many things and now they are turning their back. They had promised to local villagers Rs 1,500 per sq ft for the construction of their new houses at different locations. Now, CIDCO is offering only Rs 1,000 per sq ft. Besides, even after 450 hearings, no decisions were taken. Unless and until the project affected people's (PAP) demands are fulfilled, there is no point for them to vacate the places," Gharat said.
He said that CIDCO has also promised to develop the schools, playground, and crematorium for the affected people in the new area. "If there is no school, how will the people relocate themselves. The government should first develop the infrastructure and then only ask the people to vacate the premises," Gharat added.
30/12/18 Sudhir Suryawanshi/DNA

Read More

Admin sends fresh proposal to AAI to set up airport

Jamshedpur: The district administration has sent a fresh proposal to Airport Authority of India (AAI) to set up an airport at Dhalbhumgarh in Ghatshila sub-division. The district administration has agreed to provide 240 acres of land at Dhalbhumgarh despite the fact that the AAI had asked for only 150 acres of land for the same.

While sharing achievements made during the four years completion of the Raghubar Das government in Jharkhand, East Singhbhum district deputy commissioner, Amit Kumar said that the administration.

Addressing a press conference, Kumar said that in every sector education, health, infrastructure, energy, women empowerment and social security, the government has made tremendous progress.

“We have made progress in each and every sector. Now each and every house, irrespective whether located in the most interior part of the district is electrified. We have implemented the Central government-sponsored Saubhagya Yojana, also known as Pradhan Mantri Sahaj Bijli Har Ghar Yojana that had been launched in October  2017,” said the DC.

On the infrastructure sector, the DC said that led by the Raghubar Das government district has 337 kms two-way roads, most of them constructed in the rural areas. Before four years ago, there were only 47 kms two-way road in the district.
30/12/18 Parvinder Bhatia/Pioneer

Read More

Work on new landing system at Srinagar Airport gathers pace

In a bid to address the poor infrastructure and frequent cancellations at the Srinagar Airport, the two-phased plan of Indian Air Force (IAF) to upgrade the aerodrome is witnessing steady progress, officials said. Ninety per cent of work on the first phase of the project has been completed and the second phase is likely to take two more years. 
Once completed the project will upgrade Instrumentation Landing System (ILS) and runway facilities at the airport  including the lighting and other capacities.
The project has been undertaken under the IAF’s “Modernization of Airport Facilities and Infrastructure (MAFI)” scheme.
Talking to Greater Kashmir, an IAF official said the upgradation of ILS will also ensure that flight operations are undertaken in lesser visibility.
“The IAF will install ILS Category-II at the Srinagar Airport which will allow operation of flights even at a minimum visibility of 350-metre,” the official said.  “Currently the minimum visibility required for operation of flights at the Airport is 1300-meter”.
The official said the completion of the second phase of MAFI, which might take a “couple of years” will also provide several other facilities at the airfield.
30/12/18 Saqib Malik/Greater Kashmir

Read More

After 35 Years In Coma, Rupsi Airport Coming alive From September 2019

In comatose for long 35 years, Rupsi Airport in Dhubri district is coming alive from September 2019. This is what the Ministry of Civil Aviation has informed the Parliament recently. Constructed by the British during World War II to supply arms, manpower, and ammunition to the Allied forces, Rupsi Airport was functional until the 1980s. Now the Airport Authority of India (AAI) is going to include this airport into the Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS) – UDAN from September 2019. The AAI initiated construction work of the terminal building and strengthening and re-carpeting of the runway from May 2018 after the Bhoomi pujan (land sanctification).

The reopening of this airport has come to light in the Parliament recently when Civil Aviation Minister of State Jayant Sinha informed the House while replying to an unstarred question that ‘the air route Guwahati-Rupsi-Guwahati has been awarded to M/S Turbo Megha Airways Private Limited under RCS-UDAN and a number of Rs 71.63 crore has been allocated under the scheme for development of the airport.”
30/12/18 Sentinel

Read More

Lokpriya Gopinath Bordoloi International (LGBI) Airport’s Improved Facilities

Guwahati: Lokpriya Gopinath Bordoloi International (LGBI) Airport is moving closer towards providing international standards facility at Guwahati by opening two more Food and Beverage outlets at check-in area on Saturday 29 December 2018.

The outlets were inaugurated by DK Kamara Regional Director, LGBI Airports Authority of India North East Region in presence of AAI officials, Airline members, CISF and representative of the concessionaires. On the occasion, Kamra said that we are adding F&B facilities by opening new and branded outlets at the Airport and many more are near completion, which will open by year-end. He congratulated all the stakeholders for the initiative and their cooperation The new F&B outlets inaugurated today at Guwahati LGBI Airport are located in the dept check-in area. The stores have come up under the Brand name Masala Anna, Glide the Bar, Food Miago, Air beans & Baskin Robbins(ice cream parlor).
30/12/18 Sentinel

Read More

Delhi airport: Muffin with dead lizard leaves passenger hospitalized

In an incident that reeks of negligence, a passenger waiting for a flight at the Delhi airport had to be rushed to a hospital after he suffered food poisoning from a muffin that allegedly contained a dead lizard.

The incident took place on December 18 when the passenger consumed the affected muffin at Delhi airport's premium lounge.
According to officials, a medical emergency was reported at the Premium Plaza Lounge near boarding Gate 33 in Terminal 2 at around 7pm on December 18.

When doctors and medical staff reached the spot, they found the passenger, a Bengaluru resident, vomiting.

After administering first aid, the passenger was rushed to the Safdarjung Hospital for further treatment.
Thankfully, the passenger suffered no lasting damage, and was discharged soon.

Following his discharge, he submitted a written complaint to the airport authorities alleging that he had found a dead lizard inside muffins he had ordered at the lounge.

The passenger further alleged that when he complained about the incident to the terminal manager, the manager had tried to destroy the evidence.
Police, for their part, have collected a sample of the muffin and has sent it to the forensics lab for further investigation.
30/12/18 Shiladitya Ray/NewsBytes

Read More

Recruitment for AERA chief’s post draws considerable interest

New Delhi: The invitation to apply for the chairman’s post at airport regulator Airports Economic Regulatory Authority (AERA) has seen higher than usual interest with the country’s top bureaucrats applying for the postretirement job that comes along with a five-year tenure.

Responding to the aviation ministry’s call, senior bureaucrats such as Finance Secretary AN Jha have even applied for the job Other bureaucrats who have applied for the post include DG of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation BS Bhullar, former DGCA DG Prabhat Kumar, currently posted as additional chief secretary in Uttar Pradesh, and Pawan Hans chairman and managing director BP Sharma.

The post of AERA chairman gets vacant in March after current incumbent S Machendranathan’s term ends the same month, next year. While Jha and Sharma retire in January next year, Kumar retires from service in April next year and Bhullar retires in May next year.
AERA chairperson post is open for retired and serving officials with experience in aviation and financial sector and offers a fiveyear term, or job till 65 years of age, whichever is earlier.
AERA chairman gets a fixed pay of Rs 4,50,000 per month but is not entitled to any other facility such as housing and vehicle from the government.
AERA is an airport regulator created in 2009 with its headquarters in Delhi, and decides on airport charges at all major airports across the country. The regulator was created after the government allowed private companies to own airport with the privatisation of airports in Delhi and Mumbai.
29/12/18 Mihir Mishra/Economic Times

Read More

Promise of 240 acres for airport in Ghatshila

Jamshedpur: The steel city’s hopes for air connectivity have soared with the East Singhbhum district administration sending a fresh proposal to the Airports Authority of India (AAI) for developing the Dalbhumgarh airstrip in Ghatshila.

The district has promised to provide 240 acres for the project even though the AAI had sought 150 acres, deputy commissioner Amit Kumar revealed on Friday.

Kumar was addressing a news conference to list the achievements of the Raghubar Das government on its fourth anniversary. He said every department, especially health, education, infrastructure, energy, women empowerment and social security, had made significant progress during this period.

“Today, every house, however remote, boasts power supply. We have made this possible by implementing the Union government-sponsored Saubhagya Yojana, also known as Pradhan Mantri Sahaj Bijli Har Ghar Yojana, which was launched in October 2017,” the deputy commissioner said.

Speaking on infrastructure, Kumar pointed out that when the Das government came to power four years ago, there were only 47km of two-way roads in the district. “Now, the district has 337km of two-way roads, most of them constructed in rural areas.”
29/12/18 Telegraph

Read More

IAF Helicopter Training Centre To Be Shifted To Mysore Airport

New Delhi:  Karnataka Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy yesterday met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and sought Centre’s assistance to resolve several issues pertaining to the State.

Kumaraswamy also met Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and Coal and Railway Minister Piyush Goyal.

During his meeting with Civil Aviation Minister Suresh Prabhu, Kumaraswamy has given green signal to the proposal to shift the Indian Air Force (IAF) Helicopter Training Centre from Yelahanka in Bengaluru to Mysore Airport, Mandakalli. The IAF has conveyed to the CM that it will develop the Mysore Airport on the lines of Airports in Pune, Chandigarh and Srinagar.

In its proposal, the IAF has stated that it will develop the Mysore Airport with its own costs and make available facilities for both civil and military use. This will considerably reduce the pressure on the Kempegowda International Airport in Bengaluru, the IAF said.
29/12/18 Star of Mysore

Read More

Kishangarh airport to be 2nd busiest in Rajasthan

Jaipur: Kishangarh airport is set to become the second busiest airport in Rajasthan within a year of its operations. The airport is set to have flight operations at six new destinations like Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Kolkatta, Mumbai and Surat soon. Rajasthan has a total of five airports the busiest being Jaipur followed by Udaipur and Jodhpur. Jaisalmer has just started with two flight operations at present.
Ashok Kapoor, airport director of Kishangarh Airport says that under the Udaan scheme, the AAI, Kishangarh has invited proposals from the airlines in these sectors. “As the response of our Delhi flight is phenomenal, we are very positive to get the some more links in the coming months. Some airlines are very positive about this sector considering its potential and its outreach,” said Kapoor. Few airlines are expected to come for inspection in the January.

The airport at present is operating single flight to Delhi and is running 100% occupancy. The fare of Delhi Jaipur flight crossed Rs 60,000 on Friday. Udaan is a government of India scheme made air travel accessible for the common man. Under the scheme, government provides several benefits to the airline to establish the market.
29/12/18 Times of India

Read More

Consultant for airport tunnel to be picked

Chennai: The Airports Authority of India (AAI) will soon appoint a consultant to do a technical feasibility study before beginning the construction of a tunnel at the Chennai airport.

This tunnel will link the new integrated terminal, which is under construction, and a satellite terminal that will be constructed soon in the apron area.
The additional terminal will be used to handle passenger traffic. The satellite terminal will be located between the main and secondary runways. They will also be helpful in the AAI making use of remote bays for parking aircraft. A passenger can finish the check-in procedures in the newly integrated terminal and can board the aircraft at the satellite terminal.

Similarly, this terminal will have a few conveyor belts for baggage collection. Officials of the AAI said, the consultant will take nine months to complete the study and during this time, the agency will examine the site, carry out geo-technical investigation, possible environmental impact and prepare a detailed project report.
The tunnels will be about 1.5 km to 2 km long and located 10.5 feet below the ground.
29/12/18 Sunitha Sekar/The Hindu

Read More

Gujarat: AAI orders inquiry into mid-air smoking

Ahmedabad/Panaji: Two days after a passenger was caught smoking aboard an Ahmedabad-Goa flight, the Airports Authority of India (AAI) officials at Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International (SVPI) Airport on Thursday ordered an inquiry into the matter. The alleged incident occurred on December 25 — a 23-year-old student from Ahmedabad, Karan G, was found smoking in the lavatory on Indigo Airlines flight 6E-947 from Ahmedabad to Goa. Smoking violates aircraft safety regulations.

The director of SVPI Airport said: “We have initiated a departmental inquiry into the matter and appropriate action will be taken once the inquiry committee submits its report within a week.” The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) bans flyers from carrying such material as flammable items like lighters and strike-anywhere matches; sharp objects such as scissors; realistic replicas of weapons; sporting goods; tools; and guns and firearms.

Well-placed sources confirmed that the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) official who was deployed at the checkpoint at the domestic terminal of the city airport for scanning cabin luggage has been removed from screening duties in the security hold area. “The person has been issued a chargesheet. After clearance, the person will be put through a refresher course,” a source said.

29/12/18 Times of India

Read More

Excise to crack down on drug movement around Kochi airport

Kochi: The Excise Department has introduced a unique special crack team along the roads leading up to Cochin International Airport Limited (CIAL) to counter drug movements to and from the airport.

The team has been constituted by drawing officials from the excise units at Aluva and Ernakulam.

Their deployment will be in sync with the schedule of select flight movement at the airport.

They will be be on the roads at the appointed hour to search vehicles. The department has chosen to keep under wraps details of specific flight movements when the team springs into action for surprise checks.

“The decision to deploy such a team was based on information that drug movements were taking place to and from the airport, with Kochi fast emerging as a major transit point. We hope that the experiment will pay dividends,” K. Chandrapalan, Deputy Excise Commissioner, Ernakulam, told The Hindu.
29/12/18 MP Praveen/The Hindu

Read More

Three near-misses in seconds, ATC saves the day

New Delhi: In perhaps the first incident of its kind, three wide-body aircraft came alarmingly close to each other within seconds. The first alert of an aircraft being too close to another while flying in Delhi’s flight information region (FIR) sent it into the path of a third. Avoiding this, ironically took it back into the path of the first plane.

Top aviation officials said the three aircraft involved in this rare triple trouble a few days ago were Dutch carrier KLM’s Boeing 777 flight 875 from Amsterdam to Bangkok; Taiwanese carrier EVA’s Boeing 777 from Bangkok to Vienna and an American charter company National’s Boeing 747 jumbo jet flight NCR 840 from Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan to Hong Kong.
Aviation authorities have categorised this as a serious incident and referred the probe to the Aircraft Accident Investigation Board (AAIB).
“In the first instance, there was a breach of separation between NCR 840 and EVA Air and the Traffic Collision Avoidance Systems (TCAS) alarm went off in the flights cockpits,” revealed a source. At this point, NCR 840 was at 31,000 feet, while EVA Air was at 32,000 feet. After the TCAS alarm, NCR 840 asked for higher flight level of 35,000 feet. The air traffic controller asked NCR 840 to ‘standby, expect 350’. This meant that the aircraft was not cleared to climb at that point as the ATC had asked the jumbo jet to standby at the same level.
The controller, however, observed that NCR 840 had started to climb without approval while there was traffic in both its direction (behind it) and in opposite direction. “KLM 875 was flying in the same direction (from Amsterdam-Bangkok) behind NCR 840 at 33,000 feet. During this unauthorised climb, NCR 840 had another TCAS, this time with the KLM flight,” said sources.
28/12/18 Saurabh Sinha/Times of India

Read More

CIAL not to contest bid independently

Thiruvananthapuram: The state government’s attempt to take over the Trivandrum International Airport has seen a major shift with Cochin International Airport (CIAL) deciding to not take part in the bidding separately.But CIAL, Kannur International Airport (KIAL), and other institutions like KSIDC, KIIFB and NIIF will be part of the special purpose vehicle (SPV) to be formed, with state providing equity in it as technical partners/investor/financial institution.

It follows a December 12 communication from the Centre informing the state they have considered the latter’s request seeking rights of first refusal (ROFR) to the SPV to be formed to participate in the bid along with the strategic partner, who has vast experience.

The Centre said in its communication the option of ROFR evinced by the state is the most practical option, which is acceptable to it as well as the state government.

Speaking to Express, CIAL Managing Director V J Kurian said it would not contest in the bidding independently, but would be part of the consortium of institutions formed in connection with the SPV. If CIAL contests separately, it will amount to conflict of interest and as per the terms and conditions of the Centre’s request of proposal (RFP), a company is not eligible to contest for bidding through two different ways.

CIAL Managing Director V J Kurian said the SPV would have more chances to win the technical and financial bids as it can simply achieve the pre-qualification figure of Rs 3,500 crore stipulated by the RFP.
According to Principal Secretary K R Jyothilal’s order, the state has decided to set up an SPV called TIAL, to be registered as a private limited company with an initial authorised share capital of Rs 10 lakh and paid-up capital of Rs 5 lakh, after examining the matter in detail.  Share-holding pattern in the SPV would be modified according to the requirements as part the terms and conditions in the RFP to be released by the Centre in case it goes ahead with the bidding.
KIAL, CIAL, KSIDC, KIIFB, NIIF and other institutions may be offered equity in the SPV as technical partners/investor/financial institutions.  Similarly, MD, KSIDC, will take necessary action to register the SPV as a company at the earliest and follow-up action as and when GoI takes a final decision in this regard.
28/12/18 Dhinesh Kallungal/New Indian Express

Read More

Kolkata Airport achieves Level 1 Carbon Accreditation Mapping

Kolkata: The Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International (NSCBI) Airport has entered Level 1 Mapping of the Airport Carbon Accreditation Programme after it successfully met the necessary requirements. Airports Council International (ACI), an organisation representing the world's airports, announced that NSCBI Airport has successfully completed the first step towards carbon mapping. The airport has achieved a significant milestone through its sustained efforts in using clean and green energy for its day-to-day operations. Its ground mounted grid connected solar plant had been commissioned last year.
The 15 MW plant, capacity wise one of the largest among all the AAI airports across the country, has successfully been able to reduce the carbon emission level at the airport. Airport Carbon Accreditation Programme is the only institutionally endorsed carbon management certification standard for the airports and it recognises the efforts made by the various airports to cut the carbon emission level.
28/12/18 MillenniumPost

Read More

Alliance Air to link Pant Nagar and Dehra Dun four times a week flight

Alliance Air, a subsidiary of Air India, is to launch a four-times-a-week flight between Pant Nagar and Dehradun from January 4. The flight is being launched under the regional connectivity scheme of the government. In a statement, the airline said the flight would operate on Wednesdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. The airline will use an ATR-42 aircraft which will offer 70 seats. The airline has launched a promotional fare starting at Rs 1,590.
28/12/18 Business Line

Read More

Now, flyers to hold walkathon on February 3

Bhopal: Frequent flyers who have been running an online campaign for better air connectivity from Bhopal will organise a walkathon on February 3 to demand air connectivity with cities like Pune, Kolkata and even Dubai.

About the walkathon, founder of Support Bhopal for Better Air Connectivity (SFBAC) Prachi Baluapuri said the objective is to create awareness among people. “We have got two new airlines which will start operating from Bhopal from first week of January. However,

this is not enough. There is still space for connecting Bhopal with more cities by air,” said Prachi.
Asked the reason for organising walkathon instead of running the campaign online, Prachi said, “Our online campaign will be continue. The walkathon is aimed at involving more citizens from Bhopal. We have crossed 60,000 members online. Still there are people who need to be associated with the group. This will help us raise our issue in a more powerful way,” said Prachi.
28/12/18 Ramendra Singh/Times of India

Read More

Fresh proposal sent to AAI to set up airport at Dhalbhumgarh

Jamshedpur: The district administration has sent a fresh proposal to Airport Authority of India (AAI) to set up an airport at Dhalbhumgarh in Ghatshila sub-division. The district administration has agreed to provide 240 acres of land at Dhalbhumgarh despite the fact that the AAI had asked for only 150 acres of land for the same.

While sharing achievements made during the four years completion of the Raghubar Das government in Jharkhand, East Singhbhum district deputy commissioner, Amit Kumar said that the administration.

Addressing a press conference, Kumar said that in every sector education, health, infrastructure, energy, women empowerment and social security, the government has made tremendous progress.

” We have made progress in each and every sector. Now each and every house, irrespective whether located in the most interior part of the district is electrified. We have implemented the Central government-sponsored Saubhagya Yojana, also known as Pradhan Mantri Sahaj Bijli Har Ghar Yojana that had been launched in October 2017,” said the deputy commissioner.

On the infrastructure sector, the DC said that led by the Raghubar Das government district has 337 kms two-way roads, most of them constructed in the rural areas. Before four years ago, there were only 47 kms two-way road in the district.
28/12/18 Avenue Mail

Read More

Bangalore International Airport puts smiles on travellers’ faces

Bangalore International Airport Limited (BIAL), operator of Kempegowda International Airport in Bengaluru, has come up with a compelling and fun ‘Season of Smiles’ initiative.
Below we present a video, courtesy of BIAL Chief Strategy and Development Officer Satyaki Raghunath that sums up the campaign and other holiday season initiatives from the dynamic airport operator.
We join the BIAL team in spreading their ‘Happy Holidays’ message and in sending seasonal smiles throughout the travel retail world.
28/12/18 Martin Moodie/The Moodie Davitt Report 

Read More

Air traffic services personnel can work only up to 12 hours in a day: DGCA draft norms

Mumbai: Aviation watchdog DGCA has proposed duty time limits and rest hours for air traffic services personnel, wherein an individual can be on duty for up to 12 hours in a day.
This is the first time that the regulator has mooted duty time limits for Air Traffic Services (ATS) personnel and it also comes at a time when air traffic has been growing exponentially.
ATS comprises Air Traffic Management and Communication, Navigation and Surveillance (ANS).
Duty period will not exceed 12 hours and "the aggregate of duty period will not exceed 50 hours within a defined period of 144 consecutive hours or six consecutive days, according to the draft norms.
The proposal is part of the draft Civil Aviation Requirement (CAR) on 'Watch duty time limitations and rest requirements of air traffic services personnel engaged in air traffic services'.
The watchdog has suggested that the aggregate of the duty period will not exceed 200 hours within a defined period of 720 consecutive hours or 30 consecutive days.
26/12/18 PTI/Economic Times

Read More

DGCA licence received for Pithoragarh airport: Pant

Dehradun: Finance minister Prakash Pant on Thursday announced that the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has given the licence to Naini Saini airport in Pithoragarh for commencing regular flight operations.

Speaking to TOI, Pant said, “The licence now authorizes the aerodrome to be used as a regular place for flight operations. The new airport would boost tourism and give enhanced air-connectivity to the Kumaon region.”

Regular flights from the airport are expected to start in January although the minister did not specify a date. “It is now upto the airlines and airports authority to finalise the operations and commence the flights,” he said.


The airport once functional is expected to cut travel time to the Kumaon hills significantly especially places frequented by trekkers and tourists like Munsyari and Pithoragarh.
27/12/18 Times of India

Read More

Squatters near Sholavaram airstrip get IAF notice

Chennai: Revival of the Sholavaram airstrip and the possibility of using it for commercial flights have gained ground as the Indian Air Force (IAF) has issued notices to encroachers in the vicinity. About 55 acres of land that was part of the airstrip belonging to the IAF has been encroached by 300 families.
Ministry of civil aviation has identified the airstrip, 25km away from the city, as an unserved facility that can be developed along with 13 other airports or airstrips under the Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS) — Udan. The Airports Authority of India (AAI) may also look at an option of using Sholavaram to decongest Chennai airport as the proposal for a second airport is taking time.

Sources in the revenue department in Tiruvallur district said the IAF had issued notices to the residents 10 days ago. “The notices were directly served to the locals asking them to report with all the documents to meet the IAF officials over the encroachments before December 30,” a revenue official told TOI.

About 300 families have constructed houses on either side of the air strip. This apart, another 150 acres of ‘poromboke’ land notified as grazing field has been gobbled up, sources said.

27/12/18 Yogesh Kabirdoss/V Ayyappan/Times of India

Read More

Government asks airports to make public announcements in local language too

New Delhi: The government Wednesday directed all airports to make public announcements in local language first, followed by Hindi and English, officials said.

The latest move follows a directive from civil aviation minister Suresh Prabhu.

Officials said that the Airports Authority of India (AAI) has issued a directive to all aerodromes under its control to start making public announcements in the local language in addition to Hindi and English.

The civil aviation ministry has also sent out a communication to private airport operators regarding public announcements to be made in the local language.

26/12/18 PTI/Times of India

Read More

New traffic regulation at airport from Wednesday

Chennai:  Commuters to the airport be warned. The pick-up and drop points at both domestic and international terminals of Chennai Airport will not be the same from today.In a bid to reduce the time taken to enter and exit the airport, and ease the congestion in front of the international and domestic terminals at Chennai airport, the Airports Authority of India (AAI) will put in place a revised traffic pattern which will be in effect from 11 am, today.
AAI will provide separate access to departure and arrival levels in both domestic and international terminals. The vehicles in the departure level will have to drop passengers and exit the airport, and will not have access to parking facility both in domestic and international terminals. However, the hitch will be for those picking up passengers from the airport as there is a separate pick-up lane earmarked for private vehicles and cab aggregator Ola. The commercial vehicles will not have access to the pick-up lane; they have been slotted the parking lanes at the airport. Passengers will have to walk down to the parking lane to get access to the commercial vehicles.
Similarly, vehicles in the pick-up lanes cannot use the parking lanes, Chennai airport director G Chandramouli said.The time allowed for vehicles in front of the terminal will be a minimum required time. However, 10 minutes free time from entry to exit of toll booths will continue. A penalty will be imposed on vehicles parking (pick-up /drop) in front of the terminal more than the reasonable time.
26/12/18 New Indian Express

Read More

Ambala to get domestic airport: Vij

Ambala: Health Minister Anil Vij said on Wednesday that the Centre had decided to develop a civil airport in Ambala Cantonment and a team of the Airports Authority of India had identified land for the purpose.

Speaking to mediapersons, the minister said, “Under the UDAN scheme, a civil airport will be developed in Ambala Cantonment by the Centre and a team of the Airport Authority of India has carried out a survey of the land for the purpose. The team has identified land Speaking to mediapersons, the minister said, “Under the UDAN scheme, a civil airport will be developed in Ambala Cantonment by the Centre and a team of the Airport Authority of India has carried out a survey of the land for the purpose. The team has identified land at Barnala village adjoining an Air Force station.”
“Some more information has been sought by the Airports Authority of India and if everything goes right, a domestic airport will be established in Ambala Cantonment soon, which has been a long pending demand. Ambala is a junction and a large number of people reach here daily for business purposes. It will be a successful airport,” he said.
26/12/18 Tribune

Read More

All Indian airports set to install body scanners from 2019

New Delhi: Airports in India will be able to use body scanners from next year and spare “clean” passengers physical frisking. The Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) is soon going to come out with technical specifications of these scanners and then airports can install and machines meeting those norms. For infra-starved Indian airports handling way more passengers than their built capacity, this technology — used widely abroad, especially the US — promises to speed up security checks as well as check spiralling security manpower costs.

“We will be issuing the specifications and regulations for active and passive millimetre wave body scanners by early next year. This is being done after their trial runs were conducted successfully (at some Indian airports),” BCAS chief Kumar Rajesh Chandra told TOI. India’s Atomic Energy Regulatory Board did not clear full transmission scanners due to the harmful effect of amount of radiation they expose passengers to, unlike the safer active and passive millimetre wave body scanners.

The scanners to be used in India will need to be customised for Indian ‘conditions’ so that it can penetrate the layers of clothes unique to the country — like chunnat (front fold) of a sari, lungiand pallus. The Central Industrial Security Force had earlier this year said it wanted scanners at airports “improve the efficiency of screeners”.
27/12/18 Saurabh Sinha/Times of India

Read More

Supply to duty-free shops at airport not free from GST duties: MP HC

New Delhi: After the Authority for Advanced Ruling (AAR) ruling on duty-free shops, the Madhya Pradesh High Court has also ruled out GST exemption on such supplies at airport by Indian manufacturers.

With this, trader supplying goods to duty-free shops at the airport can’t be exempted from paying the GST as the supply isn’t a form of export, the court order said.

It said “The petitioner is selling to a person, who is having duty-free shop (to a duty-free operator), which is located in India as per the definition clause as contained under the GST Act.”

The petitioner who wanted to supply goods to duty-free shops situated in the duty-free area at international airports was aggrieved by the fact that the benefit available to him under the erstwhile central excise regime (when goods supplied to such shops were exempt from the excise duty) was not available to him under the goods and services tax (GST) regime.

Clarifying on this, the court order said “Undisputedly, in light of the definition as contained under the IGST Act, 2017 a duty free shop situated at the airport cannot be treated as territory out of India. The petitioner is not exporting the goods out of India. He is selling to a supplier, who is within India and the point of sale is also at Indore as the petitioner is receiving price of goods at Indore.”
26/12/18 KNN

Read More

Hassled with long customs formality? Now give instant feedback at Delhi airport

Were the customs officials you interacted with polite and courteous? How quickly were your customs formalities cleared? Passengers coming from abroad can now give their feedback on these questions at an electronic kiosk inaugurated Wednesday at the Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport here.

The kiosk at the international arrival hall of the airport has been set up to gather feedback from passengers on ease of customs clearance.

After inaugurating the e-kiosk, chairman of the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) S Ramesh said that the customs have been keeping pace with international best practices in respect of passenger as well as cargo facilitation.

"Technology is being used in all aspects of customs functioning to reduce dwell times and to engage constructively with stakeholders," he said.

Ramesh said similar feedback mechanisms would be implemented at other international airports in metropolitan cities of the country as well.

"This (e-kiosk) is representative of our constant endeavours to further the ease of doing business and to conscientiously seek stakeholders' inputs in order to serve them better," said S K Sawhney, Principal Chief Commissioner of Delhi customs.
26/12/18 PTI/DNA

Read More

Kerala govt can bid for Thiruvananthapuram airport, says Jayant Sinha

New Delhi: The Kerala government can bid for operating and managing the Thiruvananthapuram airport at the time of leasing out the aerodrome, the Civil Aviation Ministry said Thursday.
The Centre's decision to lease out the Thiruvananthapuram airport on public private partnership basis has been opposed by the Kerala government.

In November, the central government approved leasing out six airports for operation, management and development under public private partnership. These are Airports Authority of India (AAI) aerodromes at Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Lucknow, Guwahati, Thiruvananthapuram and Mangaluru.

Minister of State for Civil Aviation Jayant Sinha told the Lok Sabha that the Kerala government can be a bidder for the Thiruvananthapuram airport.

To a query on whether the Kerala government has requested the Centre to re-consider the decision and allow forming a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) to run the airport, Sinha replied in the affirmative.
27/12/18 PTI/Times of India

Read More

‘Only 50 per cent of land acquired for Kovai airport expansion needed’

Chennai: Tamil Nadu government is caught in a dilemma over the expansion of the Coimbatore airport after the Airport Authority of India sought only 365 acres of land from the 627.89 acres acquired by the state under the provisions of the Tamil Nadu Acquisition of Land for Industrial Purposes Act 1997 on April 13, 2017. This would mean that the state will have to denotify 262.89 acres of land acquired for extension of the runway at the Coimbatore airport. The state government feels this will create confusion among the willing and unwilling landowners and they will be discouraged to part with their lands.

SP Velumani, Minister for Municipal Administration, Rural Development and Implementation of Special Programme, has urged Civil Aviation Minister Suresh Prabhu to reconsider the decision and allow acquisition of 627.89 acres in the larger interest of business growth of the area. Interestingly the government has sanctioned a sum of Rs 75.18 crore towards compensation to landowners in Block Number 7 of Uppilipalayam village and action has been taken to pass awards.

“At this juncture, the AAI has requested reduction of total area to be acquired without mentioning any valid reasons putting the district administration under strain,” he said.But the AAI officials clarified that they have reduced the total area of land as the cost of land was too high and it would result in demolishing many homes. “Initially, we gave them two options. One is building two runways and another going in for single runway with lot of amenities.

Later on, this was also revised and two more options were given. They were asked to go in for single runway extension or go in for the expansion of airport without runway extension,” a senior AAI official told Express.
27/12/18 New Indian Express

Read More

10ft walls to keep planes out of harm’s way, sight at Delhi airport

New Delhi: The Indira Gandhi International Airport is set to get an elevated taxiway in 2-3 years to link the runways on either side of the existing Centaur Hotel.
But people driving on the expressway below it — to and from Terminal 3 —will not give a clear view of aircraft taxiing like they do at Singapore’s Changi or Germany’s Leipzig/Halle airports. The reason: security agencies have asked Delhi International Airport Pvt Ltd to build a 10ft high wall, or any other view cutter, on the portion of the elevated taxiway over the expressway.
Being a precondition for security reasons, DIAL will have to abide by it. “There was an advice regarding this from the Intelligence Bureau about the proposed elevated taxiway at IGI. Later, a committee was set up with officials from various agencies like the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security, Delhi Police, IB and the Defence Research and Development Organisation. This panel has decided that DIAL should build a 10ft-high wall, or any other view cutter,” said a source. The idea is to prevent the possibility of aircraft being attacked by shoulder-launched rocket launchers or manpads.
DIAL’s comments were sought on the issue and were awaited till the time of going to press. DIAL is going to start work on building the “elevated eastern cross taxiways” to provide quick access to aircraft on Runway 27 (closest to Dwarka) and 28 (the main runway) on one side and Runway 29 (closest to the Gurgaon side near Shivji statue) and the fourth runway that is now going to be built on the other side.
This elevated expressway will pass close to where the Centaur Hotel is currently located and which will soon have to be demolished to make way for expanding the airport infrastructure.
27/12/18 Saurabh Sinha/Times of India

Read More

Vehicle restriction at airport infuriates city industrialists

Amritsar: The Focal Point Industries Association has written to Shwait Malik, member of Rajya Sabha and president of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s Punjab unit, against the restriction on vehicles at the Sri Guru Ram Das Jee International Airport. No vehicle is allowed at the entrance of the main hall.
Kamal Dalmia, chairman of the Focal Point Industries Association, stated in a letter to the MP that for the last three years, five minutes were allowed for picking or dropping passengers at the airport. No such restriction is applicable at any other international airport in the country. It is not possible to offload luggage of four passengers within five minutes starting from the entrance to exit point, he said.

“For the last one month, the airport authority is not allowing vehicles beyond the parking area. Even trolleys are not available inside or near the parking area. This further leads to inconvenience and wastage of precious time,” he added.
27/12/18 Tribune

Read More

SpiceJet to operate direct flights between Kolkata and Lilabari from Jan 15

Guwahati: SpiceJet, the fourth largest airline of India will introduce daily flights from Kolkata airport to Lilabari airport in Assam’s Lakhimpur district under the regional connectivity scheme from January 15, 2019.
The flight from Kolkata will take off at 10.40 am and reach Lilabari airport at 12.35 pm.The flight from Lilabari will take off at 1.05 pm and reach Kolkata t 3.05 pm.
Spice Jet will operate the Bombardier Q400 aircraft for the flight route, TOI reported.
Spice Jet announced introductory promotional airfare starting at Rs 3700 on the flight between Kolkata and Lilabari.
Spice Jet Chief Sales and Revenue Officer Shilpa Bhatia said that the airline is proud to introduce the picturesque destination of Lilabari on its domestic network.
27/12/18 NorthEastNow

Read More

Flight operations hit at Patna airport

Patna: Hundreds of flyers were stranded at the Jayaprakash Narayan International (JPNI) airport for hours as flight operations continued to be disrupted on the second consecutive day due to dense fog cover in the northern parts of the country and poor visibility in the state capital in the early morning hours.

Flight operations at the Patna airport began after 10am on Wednesday when the minimum visibility criterion of 1,000 metres for landing or take off was met. The airport recently reduced the minimum visibility criterion for flight operations from 1,200 metres to 1,000 metres after commissioning additional approach lights ahead of the runway.

Of the 36 flights, which are operating from the city airport at present, 14 (mainly IndiGo and GoAir airlines) operate on the Delhi route. Officials claimed most Delhi-bound flights were delayed for more than an hour on Wednesday, owing to dense fog cover in the national capital.

According to Patna airport’s assistant general manager (air traffic management) Santosh Kumar, “No flights were cancelled on Wednesday. I, however, urge flyers to check the timing of their flights before arriving at the airport.”

Flyers and those waiting to receive their friends and relatives at the airport were annoyed with the flight delays. One Manoj Kant Singh, who was standing outside the terminal building to receive his daughter, said her flight had been delayed by more than an hour.
27/12/18 Faryal Rumi/Times of India

Read More

Frequent flyer gets back his lost jacket, thanks to CISF app

Pune: A frequent flyer, middle-aged Sudhir Sharma forgot his jacket at the x-ray baggage scanner of the customs in the city airport on his way back from Europe on December 1. About a fortnight on, the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) found and returned it to him.
The credit goes to the tenacious CISF men and their “Lost and Found” cellphone application, introduced in March. The CISF contingent at the city airport has been successful in finding at least 20 lost items of flyers after the latter approached the security force through the cellphone application.
Sharma, a city based professional, said, “I came back to Pune from Germany via Abu Dhabi that day (December 1). I accidentally left my jacket costing 1,500 euros (close to Rs1.22 lakh) during the checks of the Pune customs and walked out of the airport. I realized it only when I reached home,” Sudhir told TOI.
From the next day, Sharma tried to locate his jacket.
A week on, he had to fly to Delhi for a business meeting. “I had crossed the security check when I saw a poster at the airport about the cellphone application — UMANG. It read that if there was a lost and found case, one could report the same through the application,” Sharma said.
He downloaded the app and uploaded the details of his lost jacket on the portal in Delhi airport before boarding the plane back to the city. “Just 10 minutes later, I got a call. The caller identified himself as inspector Sunil Jadhav of the CISF from Pune and requested me to tell him about the incident. After I narrated the episode, the inspector assured that he would try his best to locate the jacket,” Sharma said.
“The next day, the CISF inspector called me again for a photograph of mine so that he could trace me in the footage of the airport’s CCTV cameras and check the belongings I was carrying that day (December 1). I immediately sent him my picture. On December 14, I received a call from Jadhav. He told me that the jacket had been retrieved. I sent a person to the airport to collect it on my behalf,” Sharma said.
28/12/18 Joy Sengupta/Times of India

Read More

Kumbh Mela 2019: SpiceJet to operate special flights between Prayagraj-Delhi

Low-cost carrier SpiceJet has announced special daily flights between Prayagraj (Allahabad) in Uttar Pradesh and Delhi for the Maha Kumbh Mela, the world’s largest Hindu congregation. The proposed flights on the Delhi-Prayagraj route will be operated from January 6, 2019, to March 30, 2019, the airline said in a press release. The flight for the Delhi-Prayagraj and Prayagraj -Delhi route can be booked at a price of Rs 3762.

The flight from Delhi will depart at 10:15 AM and arrive in Prayagraj at 11:20 AM, while the flight from Praygraj will take off at 11:20 AM and land in Delhi at 1:15 PM. Kumbh Mela 2019 is slated to be held at Triveni Sangam in Prayagraj (UP) from January to March 2019. The occasion is expected to witness a footfall of more than 15 crore people.

Meanwhile, the Gurugram-based airline has also announced a host of other new non-stop flights and frequencies connecting Hyderabad to Ahmedabad, Bagdogra and Goa, Hyderabad-Goa. These flights will start from January 10, 2019.
27/12/18 Financial Express

Read More

Flight services likely between Hindon and Kannur

New Delhi: Union minister Jayant Sinha Thursday said that flight services could begin to Kannur in Kerala from Hindon in the national capital region.

A new civil enclave is being developed at Hindon for commercial flights under the regional connectivity scheme.

Sinha told the Lok Sabha that as soon as Hindon is ready, there would be flight services to Kannur.

Under UDAN (Ude Desh ka Aam Nagrik), there have been many bids for Kannur airport to operate services from there to many airports around the country including Hindon, which is near Delhi, the Minister of State for Civil Aviation said.

His response came to a query on whether Air India would start flights from the national capital to Kannur.

UDAN or the regional connectivity scheme seeks to connect unserved and underserved airports as well as provide air tickets at affordable rates.
27/12/18 Outlook

Read More

Mumbai woman used Chennai airport to traffic five boys

Chennai: Haru Manju Datta, an unassuming 55-year-old woman from Khar West in Mumbai, has been in Puzhal prison for a couple of weeks now, charged with human trafficking. The Chennai police say during interrogation she admitted she had made five trips to the UK with teenagers posing as her sons. She charged the parents Rs 10 lakh each time for ensuring their sons got menial jobs in the UK. She got caught on her sixth trip from Chennai to London on April 9.

Though she was sentenced to two years in jail by a London court, she was deported back to India on December 1 and the Mumbai police arrested her on arrival. Later the Chennai police took her into custody to unravel the web of contacts she and some agents used to run their trafficking network.

The police here and in Mumbai first learnt about her activities only when she was arrested in London. During interrogation, Datta told investigators how she was approached by some agents in Mumbai promising good money if she would escort teenagers to UK masquerading as mother and son. She said the agents put her in touch with some immigration officers in Chennai airport, and she used to fly to London from Chennai using a fake passport for the teenager. In fact, she said she would use the same passport for the boy with her, only changing the photograph each time.

27/12/18 Times of India

Read More

No airline interested in night flights from Srinagar airport: Aviation ministry

Union civil aviation ministry has said that no airline was interested in operating night flights from Srinagar Airport.
The ministry told Parliament—in reply to a query by Srinagar MP Farooq Abdullah— that though the infrastructure needed for night flight operation was available at the airport, no airline was interested in doing so.

Farooq had told Parliament that people were facing a lot of inconvenience because night flights were not available at the airport that has been cleared for ‘international’ flights.
A tiny slice of about 200 kanals of land of the Indian Air Force base, which is built on thousands of kanals of kareva land, is maintained by the Airports Authority of India (AAI) as the Srinagar ‘International’ Airport, housing the terminal and parking space for aircraft. The runway and everything else belongs to the IAF.
After a commercial aircraft carrying members of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation and IAF personnel landed in the night in August, the airport was “technically” cleared for night operations. Former governor NN Vohra later pushed the issue of night operations with the Union ministries of defence and civil aviation. The Centre recently had asked the IAF to clear the decks for night flights.
26/12/18 Mukeet Akmali/Greater Kashmir

Read More

‘United will launch flights from Delhi to San Francisco next year’

Within a year United Airlines plans to start direct flights from Delhi to San Francisco. With strong local contenders in the Indian commercial airspace, how does US-based United Airlines look at strengthening its hold over the market?

In October, United launched the new Polaris business class, after 12,000 hours of research identifying sleep as a priority for passengers. Globally, United has invested $400 million over the past two years to ramp up its services. In the backdrop of this, BusinessLine caught up with the Country Manager of United Airlines India, Harvinder Singh. Excerpts:

United Airlines has ordered Boeing 787-9 and Boeing 787-10, but not meant for India route? Given that Boeing 787-9 and 787-10 have range and more fuel efficient, is the fact that the Boeing 777 offers more seats driving the decision?

The Boeing 777-300ER is one of the newest aircraft in our fleet featuring the new United Polaris business class seat and we believe it is the right aircraft type for this route at this time.

Designed for efficiency, the environmentally progressive Boeing 777-300ER aircraft creates less noise leading to a cleaner eco-footprint.

India and the US have an Open Sky agreement yet you fly only in two Indian cities? Why is this? Is it lack of aircraft which have capacity to fly non-stop or you feel it is not a big enough market?

We are proud to have served the India market for over a decade and during that time have carried over three million customers on more than 14,000 flights between India and the US.

Our commitment to this important market is further underpinned by both the introduction of the Boeing 777-300ER on our Mumbai–New York/Newark route in October this year and the launch in December 2019 of a new non-stop seasonal service from New Delhi to San Francisco.
25/12/18 Maitri Porecha/Business Line

Read More

CISF set to take over Srinagar Airport security

Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) is all set to take over security of hyper-sensitive Srinagar International Airport with the force conducting maiden man-power drill there.
To begin with, the CISF will take over the Anti-hijacking operations that are presently being handled by the Jammu and Kashmir police.
The move comes after the proposal to handover security of all three airports of the State—Srinagar, Jammu and Leh to CISF was cleared by the ministry of home affairs (MHA) in a high-level meeting convened in New Delhi last month. The meeting was participated by top officials from the Airport Authority of India (AAI) and Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS), who, according to sources, had recommended CISF deployment at all the three airports of J&K.
“The proposal was mooted four-years ago, but got stuck in the technical hitches. Last month, the MHA directed the officials to implement the proposal on fast-track basis,” a source in the MHA said.

Out of around 100 airports in India, CISF is managing the security affairs of 61 major airports. A source said that all the three airports in J&K fall under hyper-sensitive category given the “prevailing security scenario in the State.”
25/12/18 Abid Bashir/Greater Kashmir

Read More

Darbhanga Airport: Foundation of civil enclave laid under ‘UDAN’

Union Civil Aviation Minister Suresh Prabhu and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Monday inaugurated the civil enclave at Indian Air Force (IAF) station in Darbhanga Airbase. The Airport Authority of India(AAI) will develop a new terminal which is likely to boost the connectivity to the region with the commercial flights for Delhi, Mumbai, and Bengaluru. The terminal building with an estimated expenditure of Rs 76 crore is expected to accommodate 200 people and will be developed by May next year.

The move came under the umbrella of the Modi government’s ambitious Ude Desh ka Aam Nagrik (UDAN) scheme aimed at improving the regional connectivity by expanding civil aviation network across the country.

The Darbhanga airport with an approximated cost of Rs 92 crore will be developed for commercial flights expected to be launched in June next year. This will be the first airport in Bihar under UDAN scheme. AAI will take charge of operation and management of flight operations.
SpiceJet, a domestic airline has won the bid to operate the flights from Darbhanga airport.
Prabhu addressed the foundation ceremony and claimed that the commencement of civil aviation facility will open new avenues for the development of Mithila, which is a great cultural center. He promised that the Centre will work together with the Bihar government to expand the aviation sector in other parts of Bihar as well.
25/12/18  Asthasavyasachi/Indian Wire

Read More

Poor visibility in Delhi hits Lohegaon flight operations

Pune: The poor visibility in the national capital had a cascading effect on flight operations from the city airport on Tuesday, triggering hassles for passengers.
As many as 19 Delhi flights, including arrival and departure, of different airlines — mainly IndiGo — were delayed by half-an-hour to close to five hours between 3am and 6pm. A spokesperson of IndiGo said the main reason for the delays was the fog in Delhi.

“The foggy condition led to poor visibility in Delhi, adversely affecting our network in Pune as well as other centres. There was also air traffic congestion at Delhi airport because of the fog. The situation is now returning to normal,” the spokesperson told TOI.
The visibility near the Delhi airport dropped to 50 metres on Tuesday morning, delaying flight operations. A source said as many as 45 flights were delayed in the morning hours, while five others were diverted. He said the poor visibility in Delhi had resulted in all departures being stalled from around 7am to 9:15am.

Anurag, travelling on a Delhi-Pune IndiGo flight, scheduled to take off from the national capital at 8.20am, was flummoxed because his flight was delayed by almost five hours. “I had a plan of meeting my cousin in Pune for a few hours before he travelled to Nagpur. My flight was supposed to land in Pune around 10.20am. But it took off from Delhi only at 1.15pm and landed in Pune around 3pm. By then, my cousin had left for Nagpur,” Anurag said.
26/12/18 Joy Sengupta/Times of India

Read More

Fog in Delhi, Bengaluru delays flights in Chennai

Chennai: Taking a morning flight to Delhi and other northern cities may not be advisable in the coming weeks as passengers are getting held up at airports due to flight delays and disruptions caused by fog.

On Tuesday, eight arrivals from Delhi and nine departures from Chennai to Delhi were delayed at the city airport after the season's first severe fog at the national capital disrupted flights in the Delhi airport. Departures were suspended for almost two hours from 7.15am at the Delhi airport on Tuesday causing delays and diversions. A fog in Bengaluru too affected flights between the Karnataka capital and Chennai.

Its impact was felt throughout the day in Chennai because planes held up in Delhi caused delays in subsequent schedules for the day at other airports. More than 30 flights to different domestic destinations such as Bengaluru, Indore, Vijayawada, Coimbatore, Patna, Pune and others suffered a delay of more than an hour as schedules went awry at other airports creating congestion.
26/12/18 Times of India

Read More

Delhi fog ripple: Flights go haywire at Amausi

Lucknow: Thick fog in Delhi had a cascading effect on flights from Amausi airport, leaving passengers stranded for hours on Tuesday.
More than 15 flights arrived late from various destinations; some delayed by over three hours. Airports Authority of India officials said flights arrived late due to fog and operational issues at Delhi airport.
Flights that arrived late included Jaipur-Lucknow Alliance Air CD 691 (3 hours), Jaipur-Lucknow Air India AI9691 (3 hours), Sharjah-Lucknow IndiGo 6E1412 (2 hours), Delhi-Lucknow UK Vistara 998 (2 hours), Kolkata-Lucknow IndiGo 6E 844 (2 hours), Mumbai-Lucknow GoAir G8497 (2 hours), Mumbai-Lucknow Indi-Go 6E 342 (1 hour 15 minutes) and Bengaluru-Lucknow Indi-Go 6E6903 (1hour 10 minutes).
Meanwhile, the weather office gave a fog alert in the city in the weekend.
The minimum temperatures continued to be below five degrees Celsius for the fifth consecutive day on Tuesday. Weatherman has predicted further drop in temperatures and fog by Sunday-Monday. Light to moderate northwesterly winds from snowfed mountains would add to the chill.
26/12/18 Times of India

Read More

Kanpur airport to get Vidyarthi’s name

Lucknow: After renaming the iconic Mughalsarai railway station after RSS thinker Deendayal Upadhyay, the ruling BJP government has approached the Centre for its approval to rename three airports—those in , Kanpur and Agra.

While all three are defence airports, the state government and the Airports Authority of India are in the process of constructing civil enclaves here to facilitate flyers under the regional connectivity scheme.

According to a proposal from the UP civil aviation department, the is proposed to be named ‘Nath Nagri’ airport. Nath Nagri is believed to be an ancient name of the city for its history of having ardent worshippers of Lord Shiva—a feature closely associated with the Nath sect, to which CM also belongs.

UP’s civil aviation minister Nand Gopal Nandi said that renaming of the three airports was awaited for long.

“We have reached out to the Centre to get the airports renamed. A meeting with the Union ministry of civil aviation is expected soon,” he said. He also added The proposal speaks about Bareilly in great detail. It says that the city is surrounded on all sides by as many as seven Lord Shiva temples—Alakhnath, Trivatinath, Marhinath, Dhopeshwarnath, Vankhandinath, Tapeshwarnath and Pashupatinath.

25/12/18 Glenwood Guardian

Read More

Raipur Airport tops in customer satisfaction survey

Swami Vivekananda Airport, Raipur has once again been placed in number one position for the third consecutive  time in Customer Satisfaction Survey (CSI) while recording 39% growth in passenger traffic.

Similarly, Airport’s witnessed 53 per cent hike in number of flights including increase in cargo transportation by 16 Metric Tonnes (MT).

As per Airport Authorities, once again Raipur secured 4.88 points during period of January to June 2018, which was first secured in period of July to December 2017. The survey is conducted by Airports Authority of India (AAI) on a five point scale.

Pointing out other significant achievements, Authorities informed that between April-October 2018, the Airport registered 1160615 passenger movement against the 831013 passengers in consecutive period of April-October 2018.
26/12/18 Pioneer

Read More

Christmas celebrations at Kolkata Airport

Kolkata: Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport wore the festive and cheerful look once again for Christmas celebrations.
And to cheer up the passengers and stakeholders on this occasion, Kolkata Airport decorated the terminal building with colourful dancing lights, shimmering Christmas trees and Santa Claus.
On the Christmas eve, passengers at Airport enjoyed while taking selfies at various points and made memories to cherish for long. Live band performed carols and also played songs on passengers’ request thus entertaining the passengers while they were awaiting the flight.
26/12/18 UNI

Read More

Two kg gold seized at newly-inaugurated Kannur International Airport

Kannur: Customs officials on Tuesday night caught hold of a person who tried to smuggle gold at the newly inaugurated Kannur International Airport. The incident comes within a month since the airport was officially opened for flight operations on December 9.

According to Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI), the person identified as Muhammad Shan landed at Kannur from Abu Dhabi in an Air India Express flight on Tuesday.

He had hidden the gold inside a microwave oven, said the officials. Shan who has been taken into custody is being quizzed by DRI officials

Those waiting to receive the accused at the airport are also taken into custody.
26/12/18 New Indian Express

Read More

Slap heavy penalties on unruly airline staff: Parl panel

New Delhi: Taking note of instances of unruly behaviour by airline staff, a Parliamentary panel has suggested that heavy penalties should be imposed on such people as well as strictest possible action be initiated against them.
Besides, the Department-related Parliamentary Standing Committee on Transport, Tourism and Culture has called for putting in place a proper monitoring system to check the behaviour of employees of airlines.

In a report tabled in Parliament last week, the panel noted that despite mechanisms put in place, the Civil Aviation Ministry's role in containing the discourteous, rude, arrogant and aggressive behaviour of airlines staff with passengers is far from satisfactory.

"Almost all airlines have introduced a 'No-Fly' list for the unruly passengers, but when it comes to the turn of airlines to contain their unruly staff, they escape from their responsibility by saying that necessary training is being imparted upon. It is very essential that the airlines have to adopt consumer-friendly approach," it said.

The committee emphasised that it desires that the ministry shall ensure that strictest possible action is taken against unruly staff and heavy penalties imposed on them.
24/12/18 PTI/Times of India

Read More

‘Tvm airport losing out to Cial over fares’

Thiruvananthapuram: A survey conducted by Trivandrum Airport Users Forum – a collective of airport users – found that over 50% of passengers preferred Cochin airport (Cial) over the one in Trivandrum due to the fare difference.
The survey was conducted in the capital after the Centre proposed a PPP model to develop the airport.

The collective surveyed 700 frequent flyers at the airport to compile views on the facilities available (connectivity to international and domestic routes), operation of budget airlines, frequency of connectivity and overall quality of services. The collective includes members of Trivandrum Development Front, a Thiruvananthapuram citizen collective and Technopark employees.

Based on survey findings, the collective concluded that the proposed PPP-model development will give a much-needed impetus to Trivandrum airport. “The survey aims to identify the trend by collating info only from frequent travellers. We will give recommendations to government and other stakeholders on development of the airport and improving connectivity,” said spokesperson of the collective Anil Kumar Pandala, a former vice-president of Thiruvananthapuram Road Development Company.

Interestingly, 80% of the respondents were familiar with Cial as they had that airport too. “We noticed that demands of airport authority employees, airline operators and political leaders are reported everywhere. Nobody asked travellers or airport users on the PPP proposal for Trivandrum airport. Thus, the idea for a survey took shape,” said Robin K Rajan, a software engineer at Technopark.
24/12/18 Anasooya S/Times of India

Read More

Flying post New Year to cost 4 times more

Panaji: As the year-end draws closer, airlines are all set to rake in the money from holidayers flying out after celebrating New Year’s Eve in the country’s favourite party and holiday destination — Goa.

Those flying to destinations like Mumbai, for instance, will have to pay more than four times the regular airfare post New Year’s Day.

A Goa to Mumbai ticket on January 2 is already priced at nearly Rs 11,000, as against the usual fare of around Rs 2,500.

The airfares to fly into Goa in the run up to the New Year’s Eve is not too high as compared to the regular cost. But airfares have soared unusually to fly out from the tourist destination to any major Indian city. A Goa to Bengaluru flight ticket can be purchased for a regular fare of around Rs 2,300 or lower.

However, on January 2, the same ticket is priced at over Rs 8,000.
24/12/18 Digital Globalist

Read More

New Technology To Tackle Flight Diversion Due To Fog At Delhi Airport

New Delhi: Passengers flying into Delhi from various parts of the country this winter will no longer have to worry about diversion of their flights due to fog, thanks to a new technology being introduced by the Airports Authority of India (AAI).
The Air Traffic Flow Management (ATFM) system, in use in nine countries and being introduced in India for the first time, will provide information to airlines at the place of origin of a flight about the status of fog and congestion in Delhi so that they can plan their flights to the national capital accordingly, a top Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL) official told ANI on Monday.

As of now, in case of fog at Delhi airport, incoming flights are diverted to nearby airports, which causes a lot of inconvenience to the passengers.

Explaining the operation of the ATFM, DIAL CEO Videh Kumar Jaipuriar said that in case of fog at Delhi airport, the status would be conveyed well in advance to the aircraft at the place of their origin itself, asking them to delay departure.
Talking about other measures taken for passenger convenience, he said the DIAL has set up 24/7 helpline desk and call centres besides increasing the number of inquiry counters at the airport to deal deal with situations created due to flight delays.
24/12/18 ANI/NDTV

Read More

How drones shut an airport? Lessons for us

Last week the Gatwick Airport at London was shut for nearly three days. The reason – unidentified drones! It seems to be unbelievable but it is true that one of the busiest airports in Europe was shut for business due to drones.

It appears to be a scene from a sci-fi movie where certain powers from a different planet or Galaxy might have attacked the earth and suddenly there are certain unidentified flying objects, UFOs – in this case, these objects could be identified as drones, but their owners or persons who were controlling them were unknown – threatening the world's existence. Lack of explanation of the presence of these drones is worrying and that is why there has been tremendous confusion and chaos resulting in the closure of the airport for 3 days with an adverse impact on more than 1,000 flights and having about 1,40,000 people stranded, waiting for their flights in the festive season of Christmas and New Year, and spending time at the airport or in the nearby hotels with great deal of uncertainty.

It is really the limitation of the administrative institutions that something as innocuous as a drone – which appears to be a simple device, very benign in operation, and is usually used by people as a hobby and passion or by certain professionals for taking photographs and for collecting data – can be a source of creating so much confusion that business worth billions of dollars is impacted and schedule of so many people can get affected.
25/12/18 Anuraj K Agarwal/DNA

Read More

Fog impacts flights operations at Delhi airport

Dense fog at Delhi airport led to flight departures at Delhi airport being stopped for over two hours starting 7 AM in the morning.
Departures resumed at 9:16 after the visibility improved to over 125 metres, minimum visibility required for departures to happen.
Early morning for also saw diversions for 3 international and one domestic flight, which could not land due to low visibility at Delhi airport.
A minimum visibility of 125 metres is needed for safe flight operations.
Arrivals, however, require minimum visibility needed for them is 50 metres at Delhi airport, which has India’s most efficient instrument landing system.
25/12/18 Mihir Mishra/Economic Times

Read More

Inordinate delays leave fliers in lurch

Hyderabad: Scores of passengers travelling to or via Hyderabad were left in the lurch on Christmas eve with over a dozen flights either reporting inordinate delays, diversions or cancellations all through Monday. While airline authorities attributed the disruptions to bad weather, many passengers demanded that the service providers cough up a compensation, as prescribed by the DGCA.

As per rules, an airline has to pay Rs 10,000 (plus ticket fare) to passengers in case a flight is delayed by more than two hours. Among many destinations that took a hit were Delhi, Kochi, Mumbai, Guwahati, Bengaluru, Visakhapatnam, etc – most of them serviced by IndiGo Airline.

Sharing her ordeal, Nandini Gulati, booked on a Delhi-Kochi flight via Hyderabad said how she landed at RGIA about four hours behind schedule, thus missing her connecting flight. Worse, the airline made no arrangement for transit passengers. “The flight (scheduled arrival: 8.55am) was diverted to Chennai. It returned to Hyderabad only around 1pm. We were made to stand outside the gate after being stopped by the security as the boarding pass was no longer valid,” said Gulati, lashing out at IndiGo staff for “running away”, to avoid fliers’ queries. “There was no place to sit, no food, no water,” she added. Also, the airline failed to deliver her baggage, once she eventually managed to reach Kochi later in the evening.
25/12/18 Sudipta Sengupta/Times of India

Read More

Delhi Airport: Flight Operations Resume After 2-Hour Delay Due to Dense Fog, Congestion

New Delhi: Air passengers flying out of Delhi faced inconvenience on Tuesday morning as all departures at the airport were put on hold for two hours due to dense fog and congestion.
Three international and one domestic flights have been diverted so far while arrivals have not been stopped, an official said. The minimum visibility required for take off is 125 metres.
According to the official, since the Low Visibility Take Off (LVTO) requirement is not being fulfilled, departure of flights were on hold for two hours from around 0715 hours. Departure of flights resumed at 0916 hours.
Private weather service Skymet had forecast a foggy morning on Christmas. "While the day will remain sunny, haziness will prevail in the sky. Minimum temperature may see a slight increase but will continue to be below normal levels," it said.
The national capital recorded its coldest December temperature in the past 12 years on Monday with mercury dipping to 3.7 degrees Celsius. The day's maximum temperature was recorded at 21.4 degrees Celsius, which is normal for this time of the season.
25/12/18 News18.com

Read More

AirAsia set to fly to Mumbai from January 15

Mumbai: AirAsia India has announced its plans to fly to Mumbai starting January 15. The airline commenced flight operations in India in June 2014. Higher cost and lack of availability of slots had prevented the carrier from flying to Mumbai so far. The airline will operate a daily flight between Mumbai and Bengaluru and bookings have already opened. The airline also inducted its 20th Airbus A320 aircraft into its fleet.
Sunil Bhaskaran, MD & CEO, AirAsia India, said: “We are pleased to make the much awaited announcement of adding Mumbai to our network. This is a great way to end 2018.”
24/12/18 The Hindu

Read More

Holiday travel to Trichy, Madurai pricey

Chennai: Airlines may be starting more flights from Chennai in the winter schedule, but the options passengers have to fly to Trichy and Madurai are few. The drop in the number of flights is having an impact on airfares this Christmas and New year season.
Sources said Jet Airways, IndiGo and SpiceJet discontinued services between Trichy and Chennai while Air India discontinued flights between Madurai and Chennai. Airlines have reduced frequency on the route though the two cities are major towns in the state after Chennai. It is usual for airlines to discontinue services on unprofitable routes and use the aircraft on routes with higher demand as part of route rationalisation. But fewer flights to Trichy, Madurai have led to higher airfares. There are six daily flights on Chennai-Trichy route while there are 10 to 11 connecting Chennai and Madurai.
For the New Year weekend, travel on December 28 (Friday) one-way fare from Chennai to Madurai is in the range of Rs 4,900 to Rs 10,700 and one-way fare on Chennai-Trichy route costs between Rs 3,964 and Rs 4,856. December 28 fares to Madurai are as expensive as tickets on Chennai-Delhi flights, which are sold for Rs 7,500 to Rs 12,000.
Demand for seats on both the routes are high as online travel portals show notification that fares are bound to increase further as tickets are selling fast.
On Madurai route the maximum fare has crossed Rs 10,000 band for December 28 and the maximum fare for travel in a day’s advance booking has touched Rs 14,000. This is against the warning of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation.
25/12/18 Times of India

Read More

Landing aid to be available at Chandigarh from today

Mohali: A day after TOI reported that the Chandigarh airport has faltered in commissioning the runway lighting and Instrument Landing System (ILS-I), the Chandigarh International Airport Limited (CHIAL) on Monday announced ILS would be made available with immediate effect from Tuesday and aircraft could land in minimum visibility of 1,200 metres.

During foggy conditions the visibility drops to 200 metres at the Chandigarh airport, which is in dire need of upgraded version of CAT ILS-I.
Fearing delays and cancellations owing to bad weather, many airline operators have withdrawn their flight operations from the international sector. Chandigarh saw two airline operators ending their Bangkok and Dubai flights. Chandigarh is left with just single international flight to Sharjah. Air India has already sought for temporary suspension or change in time slot for the Sharjah flight, said sources.
25/12/18 Times of India

Read More

No change in airport privatization plan, says min

Thiruvananthapuram: With state government expressing its willingness to participate in the airport privatisation bid and airport authority employees protesting against the move, the Union ministry of civil aviation said that it would go ahead with its proposed plan.
Replying to a question raised by MPs KC Venugopal, NK Premachandran, CN Jayadevan, Ponnusamy Venugopal (TN), Vasanthi M (TN), Renuka Butta (Andhra Pradesh) and Tej Pratap Singh Yadav (UP) in Lok Sabha, minister of state for civil aviation Jayant Sinha said the privatisation of six airports – Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Lucknow, Guwahati, Thiruvananthapuram and Mangaluru – on a PPP basis would move ahead.

“Government of India has accorded an in-principle approval to give six airports of Airports Authority of India (AAI) on lease Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Lucknow, Guwahati, Thiruvananthapuram and Mangaluru airports under PPP mode through public private partnership appraisal committee (PPPAC). An empowered group of secretaries (EGoS) has been constituted under the chairmanship of Niti Aayog CEO to decide on any issue falling beyond the scope of PPPAC.” said Jayant Sinha.

Questions were also raised on the hike in airport charges after outsourcing the airports to private companies.
Mentioning the Airports Economic Regulatory Authority of India (AERA), Sinha said the authority reviewed the performance of all major airports from time to time and issued orders keeping in view the economic viability of airports and interest of passengers.
24/12/18 Anasooya S/Times of India

Read More

Tender issued for Rs 60 crore works at airport

Kolhapur: A tender worth Rs60 crore has been issued by the Airport Authority of India (AAI) for the Kolhapur airport recently, said Samir Seth, an advisory committee member of the Kolhapur airport. He also said that the tender will be opened on January 8.
According to Seth, the Rs60 crore work involves Rs40 crore work of the terminal building, Rs15 crore of the air traffic control tower and the technical department work and Rs5 crore for landscaping work, among others.
Seth said that the Kolhapur airport will get a fresh look once these works are completed and they are looking forward to a favourable response from the public.
He also said that a meeting for the night landing facility has been requested in the first week of January in Delhi with AAI officials by city MP, Dhananjay Mahadik.
Mahadik has sent a letter to the chairman of AAI on Monday, which read, “Mumbai airport is catering to flight operations at full capacity and there is a scarcity of space for parking planes. If the night landing facility is introduced at Kolhapur airport, a couple of night flights originally scheduled for Mumbai airport to Kolhapur, can be started. The flights will reach Mumbai and then carry Kolhapur-bound passengers to the city at night. The plane will be parked in Kolhapur and it will leave the airport the next morning with Mumbai-bound passengers.”
25/12/18 Times of India

Read More