Andhra Pradesh: Fog at Vijayawada airport disrupts three flights

Vijayawada: Three flight services at Vijayawada International Airport were affected due to heavy fog on Saturday morning. This is the second time fog has interrupted the landing of aircrafts at Vijayawada airport.

A SpiceJet flight service with 67 passengers from Bengaluru faced difficulty in landing. ATC at the airport initially denied permission for the landing. Officials permitted aircrafts to land when visibility improved after 8.30 am.

An Air India flight service from New Delhi was also delayed due to the fog. Despite high beam lighting on the runway, a thick layer of fog affected visibility, airport authorities said.

A Bengaluru to Vijayawada service operated by SpiceJet also faced difficulty in landing and the pilot routed the aircraft to Hyderabad in view of passenger safety.

28/02/21 Times of India

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Illegal butcheries back in business near Chandigarh airport

Mohali: Illegal butcheries are back in the vicinity of the Chandigarh international airport in Jagatpura and Bhabat villages.

The administration had banned the setting up of meat shops near the airport in 2020, but as no checks were made during the Covid-19 lockdown, the illegal shops are back in business.

The airport authority has once again lodged a complaint with the administration to get such shops removed.

Deputy commissioner Girish Dayalan said, “We will once again get the area checked and SDM will be directed to take action.”

The matter was also discussed during the Civil Military Liaison Conference held in January 2020 between armed forces officers and civil administration. Illegal butcheries and garbage dumps in Jagatpura attract eagles and other birds, which while foraging for food interrupt the path followed by an aircraft at the runway, increasing chances of hitting one. Sources said two aircraft had experienced bird-hits while landing in 2016. However, the banning orders have hardly been a deterrent. Earlier, the orders to ban butcheries within 1,000 metre of the airport boundary had been issued in 2018 and 2019.

28/02/21 Times of India

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Security Stepped Up at Kochi Airport Following Threat Call

Kochi: Security has been tightened at the Cochin International Airport Limited (CIAL) here in wake of a threat call, police said on Sunday.

Tamil Nadu police said on Saturday that a call was received at the central railway station claiming that bombs will be placed at Chennai and Kochi airports on March 1, besides the Dr MGR Central Railway station in Chennai.

The police and the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) have stepped up security at the CIAL following the information regarding the bomb threat, a police officer said. Security was also beefed up at the Chennai airport.

28/02/21 PTI/Latestly

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Ayodhya: Centre nod for international airport, Rs 250 cr grant

Lucknow: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Friday said the Union Ministry of Civil Aviation had approved the state proposal to develop an international airport in Ayodhya and sanctioned Rs 250 crore for operation of ATR-72 aircraft in the first phase.

He said the state had already allocated Rs 1,000 crore to the district administration for land acquisition for the airport. Last week during the Budget session in the Assembly, the state government had decided to name the airport as ‘Maryada Purushotam Sriram Airport, Ayodhya’.

“All of you know that people of Indian origin or NRIs live in different countries in large numbers, and all of them desire to visit Ayodhya. Thus, the Uttar Pradesh government sent a proposal to the Government of India to develop the Ayodhya airstrip as an international airport,” said Adityanath.

Thanking Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri for the approval, he said, “The Government of India has given its approval to the proposal of Uttar Pradesh so that ATR-72 or likewise aircraft can be operated from there and has sanctioned Rs 250 crore for the same…”

27/02/21 Indian Express

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Mumbai airport gets nasal swab sample processing facility

Mumbai: With the fear of the pandemic still looming large and Mumbai still seeing a rise in Covid-19 cases, the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (CSMIA) has created a new facility for the processing of nasal swab samples at the airport itself.

“With the number of states and countries being added for testing, Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (CSMIA) has taken a step further towards passenger safety by not only setting up the RT-PCR testing counter but also by facilitating the processing of the sample for a quick turnaround,” said the Mumbai International Airport Ltd (MIAL).

“The counter is set up at Level 1 of the Terminal [East Side] for the international passengers, while for the domestic passengers, the counter is set up at the arrival corridor. The additional facility is introduced for the convenience and offering a speedy report to the arriving passengers,” it said.

MIAL said that the swab processing facility is being provided by Mylab Discovery Solutions.

“Passengers will be provided with test results within eight hours at a cost of Rs 850. The diagnostic lab undertakes the test, processes the sample, and generates the report within stipulated time frame. The facility is in compliance with the standard of ICMR [Indian Council of Medical Research] and NABL [National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories] certified agency for testing Covid-19 samples,” added MIAL.

Currently, the Mumbai airport hosts three testing facilities at the terminal - Suburban Diagnostics, Metropolis Healthcare Ltd., and Lifenity Wellness International limited.

Further, the airport has 30 counters of testing facilities wherein 12 counters are set up for international travellers and 18 counters for domestic passengers. These counters are equipped with molecular testing facilities that offer passengers the option to process their test results in 13 minutes post sample collection.

The express test is available at Rs 4,500 and aims to provide the arriving passengers with a quick and accurate diagnosis.

27/02/21 Pankaj Upadhyay/India Today

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New quarantine rules set to affect Chennai-Mumbai air passenger traffic

Chennai: The new quarantine restrictions for travellers from Maharashtra – which need them to be in isolation for seven days – have begun to impact business and leisure traffic between Mumbai and Chennai, the third busiest route from the city.

TN has said that those arriving from Mumbai will have to be in home quarantine for seven days while Delhi, Karnataka and West Bengal have asked for Covid-19 negative certificate.

An airlines official said that the number of passengers may dip as those travelling for social functions and leisure may not fly to Chennai because of the quarantine rules while a concern about rising number of cases in Maharashtra will make people hesitant to travel to Mumbai.

However, there is no largescale cancellation of tickets yet. Mumbai-Chennai-Mumbai sector is one of the highrevenue earning sectors for airlines. There are around 12 flights to Mumbai daily.

The air fare, which was hovering at more than Rs 4,000 for 30 days advance booking, has started to dip for the coming days because of low demand. The fare has reduced to Rs 3,000 for travel next weekend.

Sriharan Balan, of Madura Travels, said: “The quarantine restrictions for people from Maharashtra will impact leisure travel. Many states have announced that people from Mumbai should bring Covid-19 negative certificates. This will make people postpone travel. Those who want to travel to Mumbai will hesitate. Many people, especially pilgrims, used to fly to Mumbai and travel by road to other cities. Such trips will get hit.”

The Chennai-Mumbai route was among the top routes also because several international travellers used to fly via Mumbai.

This is getting affected because of a needless fear among transit passengers, said Basheer Ahmed of Travel Agents Federation of India (TAFI). “Though there is no restriction for transit passengers, many people who fly via Mumbai to foreign countries are asking to shift the ticket to Delhi. Those who are returning to India too have started to prefer Delhi. This has led to a reduction in fare to international destinations from Mumbai due to dip in demand.”

27/02/21 Times of India

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Fog in Goa disrupts flights, keeps passengers waiting

Panaji: Poor visibility caused by foggy conditions affected flight operations at Goa International Airport, Dabolim, on Friday, with at least four flights being diverted and several others delayed.

Airports Authority of India (AAI) officials said that visibility at the naval air base, which also operates as a civilian airport, fell well below the norm for airline pilots to land using the instrument landing system.

The poor weather conditions in the state also led to cascading delays as several flights had to be rescheduled, thus creating a travel headache for many fliers.

“The flights were diverted because visibility dropped to 1,000m in mist, and even lower to 800m in fog. Normal operations commenced at 8:15am. Rescheduling of diverted flights by Indigo is awaited,” said Goa Airport Director Gagan Malik.

While foggy conditions and flight diversions are common during the monsoon and winter, it is less common in the month of February, said sources. “Due to bad weather in Goa, all departures and arrivals and their consequential flights may get affected,” said Spicejet as it alerted passengers to keep track of their flight status.

IndiGo flight 6E178 from Bengaluru to Goa, which was scheduled to arrive at 7:45am, was diverted to Mangaluru airport. IndiGo flight 6E6331, which was expected to land at 7:30am, was also diverted to Mangaluru.

27/02/21 Newton Sequeira/Times of India

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Air cargo service from Dimapur approved

Dimapur: The Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) has approved cargo operations from the Dimapur airport. The cargo service will target the farming sector to facilitate export of agricultural produce from Nagaland to a wider consumer base. 

The proposal to start the service was submitted to the Bureau of Civil Aviation by the Dimapur airport authority under a scheme of the Union Civil Aviation Ministry for facilitating quick market linkage for agricultural products, especially fruits. The nod of approval was given by the BCAS on February 22.

Subsequent to the approval, a “stakeholders meeting” was convened by the state Department of Horticulture in Dimapur on February 26 to chalk out the “way forward.”

Officials from Air India, Indigo, Airports Authority of India (AAI), Agriculture department and members from the Business Association of Nagas, agri marketing agency and entrepreneurs attended the meeting. 

M Zhimo, Director of the Dimapur airport, AAI, informed at the meeting that a terminal for cargo operations was constructed last year but could not be operationalised due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

26/02/21 Morung Express

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IndiGo to Operate Select Domestic Flights From T1 of Mumbai Airport From March 10

Mumbai: Budget carrier IndiGo on Saturday said that all its domestic flights having subset series 6E 5500 – 6E 5900 will be operated from Terminal-1 of the Mumbai airport from March 10. All other flights, including 5000 series will continue to operate from Terminal 2, the airline said in a release. The private airport operator, running and managing the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (CSMIA) had on Friday announced that it will resume domestic flight operations from Terminal-1 from the March 10. 

From midnight, March 10, GoAir, Star Air, Air Asia and Trujet will resume all its domestic operations from Terminal 1 and in the case of IndiGo, while most of its flight operations will be managed from Terminal 2, the base flights will operate through Terminal 1, CSMIA had said. 

Mumbai Airport has two terminals — T1 and T2. T1 caters to domestic passengers and Terminal-2 has international services besides domestic operations of some of the Indian airlines. 

However, after the resumption of domestic commercial passenger services in late May last year, following a nearly two-month shutdown in the wake of the pandemic, the flight services were consolidated at T2.

27/02/21 India.com

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Prayagraj to get direct flight to Bilaspur from Monday

Prayagraj: With the successful trial run of Alliance Air flight from Prayagraj to Bilaspur on Thursday, the two cities are set to get direct air connectivity from March 1. Besides, more cities, including Bhopal and Bhubaneshwar, would be connected with Prayagraj in the coming months.

The flight will operate every Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday. It will take off from Prayagraj at 3pm and land in Bilaspur at 4pm. The flight from Bilaspur would take off at 3.45pm and land in Prayagraj at 5.05pm.

The trial run of Alliance Air flight from Prayagraj to Bilaspur covered the aerial distance of 374km in mere one hour. The flight then departed for New Delhi in the evening. With the successful trial run, the deck is clear for regular flights between the two cities four times a week from coming Monday, said officials.

The Alliance Air ATR aircraft, as part of its test flight, took off from Bamrauli civil air terminal at 12.39pm and landed in Bilaspur exactly after an hour, they added.

The new flight would mark direct air connectivity of Prayagraj with eight cities of the country. From March 28, Indigo Airlines is also expected to begin its flight for Bhubaneswar and Bhopal from Prayagraj.

27/02/21 Times of India

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Mumbai Airport to reopen Terminal 1 to ensure social distancing amid rising cases

Mumbai: With a view to safeguarding health and safety of passengers in Covid-19 times, the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (CSMIA) will resume domestic operations from Terminal 1 (T1) from March 10. The operations at T1 had been suspended after the nationwide lockdown in March 2020.

From midnight of March 10, four airlines - Go Air, Star Air, Air Asia, and Trujet will resume their domestic operation from Terminal 1. In the case of Indigo, while most of its flight operations will be managed from Terminal 2, the base flights will operate through Terminal 1.

All passengers travelling through Terminal 1, will be able to access lounge and F&B outlets like before.

Mumbai International Airport Limited (MIAL) said that the call for resumption of operations has been taken to safeguard the health and safety of all passengers travelling via the Airport.

“Upholding the safety of the passengers, the resumption of services via T1 is a step further in ensuring that social distancing is strictly followed,” said a MIAL spokesperson.

The terminal will also promote social distancing through measures such as the re-arrangement of seating, installation of plexiglass to minimise face-to-face interactions amongst others at the terminal.

27/02/21 Pankaj Upadhyay/India Today

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Foggy conditions delay landing of two flights at Gannavaram airport

Vijayawada: Foggy conditions delayed arrival of two domestic flights at the Vijayawada International Airport near Gannavaram on Saturday.

For the second time in this week, the landing of flights at the international airport got delayed due to poor visibility.

The Spicejet Flight (SG3417), with 67 passengers on board from Bengaluru to Vijayawada, was scheduled to land at 7:20 am. However due to poor visibility, the flight hovered in the air for almost an hour and finally landed at the airport at 8:30 am.

Similarly, the Air India flight from New Delhi, scheduled to arrive at 8:10 am, had got delayed by 30 minutes.

27/02/21 New Indian Express

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Security tightened at Chennai airport after bomb threat call

Chennai: Security was tightened at the airport in Chennai following a threat call, police said on Saturday. The call was received at a city police station claiming that bombs will be placed at the airports in Chennai and in Kochi on March 1, besides the Dr MGR Central Railway station, police said. Subsequently, security was stepped up at the airport in Chennai, they added. 

27/02/21 PTI/India TV

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Air India ground handling, maintenance arms to be put on block

In the backdrop of an ambitious push to its privatisation dreams, Centre is reportedly planning to hive off certain subsidiaries of Air India. The subsidiaries in question include the profitable ground handling as well as maintenance and repair arms of the national carrier, a report said. The government is finally making headway in its endeavour to sell its stake in Air India.

Central government is planning to separately sell Air India Airport Services, the ground handling operations of Air India. The Finance Ministry might float preliminary documents to invite interest bidders as Air India stake sale proceeds, the Mint quoted a ministry official as saying. Other subsidiaries including Air India Engineering Services will also be put on sale, but the timeline for this has not been decided yet, the report further said.

Formerly known as Air India Air Transport Services Limited, AI Airport Services Limited (AI APS) was operationalised with effect from February 1, 2013, as a dedicated ground handling company after Cabinet's approval.

AI APS provides unified ground handling services including ramp, passenger, baggage, cargo handling and cabin cleaning. The company operates at 81 airports across the country. Apart from handling the flights of Air India Limited and its subsidiaries, AI APS also provides its services to 37 foreign scheduled airlines, 3 domestic scheduled airlines, 4 regional airlines, 12 Seasonal charter airlines, 23 foreign airlines availing perishable cargo handling.

Air India Engineering Services Limited (AIESL) was formed as a wholly owned subsidiary of Air India on March 11, 2004. The company claims to be the biggest aircraft maintenance and repair operation (MRO) in India.

AIESL comprises of huge infrastructure to cater to line maintenance, base maintenance, engine overhaul, accessories overhaul and component overhaul activities as per capability at main bases and line stations. It provides base maintenance facilities at Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Thiruvananthapuram and Nagpur airports. AIESL also runs specialised overhaul shops at these locations, which are equipped with the necessary hangars, workshops, storage rooms and office buildings, in accordance with national and international regulations and requirements.

AIESL also provides line maintenance facilities at various Indian as well as international stations, as well as exclusive maintenance services to third-party customers.

24/02/21 Business Today 

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With 14 operational airports soon, UP is set to become India’s highest flying state

When the budget was presented in the Uttar Pradesh assembly a few days ago, the focus was on the outlay allocated to the airport at Ayodhya.

That the city gets more than a fair share of coverage for anything that is linked to it is understandable.

What, perhaps, is a little lesser known is the commitment of the civil aviation sector for this bounty offered to Ayodhya and several other airports in the country’s most populous state, which until recently was restricted to just Lucknow and Varanasi!

Uttar Pradesh is home to the Taj Mahal - the single biggest crowd puller for international tourists in India - and Agra does not have a dedicated civil airport. Instead, it is part of the Indian Air Force (IAF) Station, which has only witnessed sporadic scheduled services in the past.

The same holds true for Kanpur, Prayagraj (erstwhile Allahabad) and Gorakhpur, which have only seen limited flights. The speed of adding services has been so fast that airports like Gorakhpur have had to do with a temporary apron due to lack of space to accommodate the ever growing traffic.

While airports are coming up at breakneck speed to cater to the Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS) - UDAN (Ude Desh ka Aam Nagrik), the state is also focusing on non-RCS airports, leading to doubling of operational airports in the state in a span of three years. UP would soon have eight operational airports, when Bareilly too becomes operational in the next few days.

The budget also provisioned an additional Rs 2,000 crore to expand Jewar. The ambitious project, which will become the second airport for New Delhi, will now have six as part of its master plan, an increase of four from the existing plan. The airport has been progressing at a fast pace and would come up much sooner than other similar ventures like Navi Mumbai, which has been in the pipeline for far longer.

The added budgetary allotment and the speed at which things have moved is an indication of how government support and will can change the face of projects. It is something that other states would do well to emulate.

The state’s budget mentions that airports at Aligarh, Azamgarh, Moradabad and Shravasti are mostly complete with some work pending at Chitrakoot, all of which would be completed by March 2021, barely a few weeks from now!

Once these airports are operational, the top 20 urban areas by population in the state would have an airfield within two hours driving distance, a no mean feat.

Chitrakoot is likely to take time as the airport is a Greenfield one while those at other places have existed in one form or the other. A new terminal building and extension of the runway is underway at Aligarh, while Azamgarh only needs a new apron. Moradabad will see completion of work in the next few days and it has already undergone extension of runway, apron and enhancement of terminal.

An unused air strip is being revamped and extended in Shravasti, an important pilgrimage centre for Buddhists, along with construction of terminal and allied infrastructure.

26/02/21 Ameya Joshi/Moneycontrol.com

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Airports in tier-2, 3 cities continue to outpace bigger peers in passenger traffic

Airports in India's smaller cities and towns continue to defy the larger industry trend of a slow recovery, with more joining the list of those who now have surpassed pre-COVID-19 numbers.

From 13 airports in December, the list has now become longer with the addition of Tirupati in January. The 14 airports reported higher footfalls in the first month of the year, as compared to the corresponding period a year ago.

On the other hand, none of the airports in India's metros are close to achieving the feat.

Tezpur in Assam saw the highest increase in passenger traffic, with a jump of 210 percent in January 2021. Kalaburagi in Karnataka reported the second-highest increase at 72.5 percent.

The small city, which is also known as Gulbarga, has been one of the successful case studies for regional connectivity. Its airport was launched in November 2019, and now has two airlines operating from it - Star Air and Alliance Air.

Some of the other airports that have seen high growth include Hindon, Nasik and Jharsguda.

The trend in these smaller cities is in stark contrast to the overall numbers. In January, overall passenger traffic recovery slowed down to 5.5 percent, from December. This is the slowest growth in monthly traffic since domestic flights resumed in May, after the lockdown in March.

Airlines continue to operate under a capacity cap of 80 percent. At the same time many of them, including IndiGo, Spicejet and regional ones like Star Air, are slowly ramping up capacity to the maximum limit.

26/02/21 Prince Mathews Thomas/Moneycontrol

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Mumbai Airport to re-open Terminal-1 for domestic flight service soon

Mumbai's Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport is reopening its Terminal-1 for domestic flights from March 10 onwards. In the wake of the COVID-19 outbreak, the flight operations were suspended at Terminal 1 in Mumbai Airport on March 10, 2020. 

According to a statement issued by several airlines, Mumbai International Airport will start domestic flights from Terminal 1 from midnight of  March 10,  

Airlines like GoAir, Star Air, Air Asia, and Trujet will resume all their domestic operation from Terminal 1. GoAir has said in an announcement that it will shift all its domestic flights to Terminal-1 in Mumbai on March 10,  While all international flights in Mumbai will be served from Terminal-2 itself. All modes of transport for passengers will be resumed. "All modes of transport to and fro will be made available for the convenience of the passengers, as before," said CSMIA.

The flight services were resumed in May 2020 after the unlock phases came into being, but these flights were operating under strict government guidelines and supervision. Also, the number of flights was also restricted. So, all the flights which were operating from Mumbai airport Terminal 1 were shifted to Terminal-2.

26/02/21 DNA

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Boarding flights from Mumbai Airport? Big terminal change alert at CSMIA airport

Mumbai Airport (BOM) Terminal change Update: From midnight, March 10, Go Air, Star Air, Air Asia, and Trujet will resume all its domestic operations from Terminal 1. In case of Indigo, while most of its flight operations will be managed from Terminal 2, the base flights will operate through Terminal 1.

Mumbai Airport (BOM) Terminal change Update: Flyers boarding domestic flights from Mumbai airport must take notice that Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (CSMIA) is re-opening its Terminal 1 (T1) for domestic flight operations from March 10. The decision has been taken to safeguard the health and safety of all passengers. Since the advent of the nationwide lockdown in March 2020, operations at T1 were suspended temporarily and was consolidated through Terminal 2 for the convenience of the passengers and stakeholders.

From midnight, March 10, Go Air, Star Air, Air Asia, and Trujet will resume all its domestic operations from Terminal 1. In case of Indigo, while most of its flight operations will be managed from Terminal 2, the base flights will operate through Terminal 1. All passengers travelling through Terminal 1, will be able to enjoy the luxuries of the lounges and the world class retail and F&B experiences, adhering to a high level of safety and hygiene standards. Further, all modes of transport to and fro will be made available for the convenience of the passengers, as before.

26/02/21 Debjit Sinha/Financial Express

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Kumaon calls: Bareilly to get direct flights to Mumbai, Bengaluru & Delhi this summer

 New Delhi: The hills of Kumaon will soon get closer than ever before for travellers from Mumbai and Bengaluru. Bareilly — which shot to fame in 1966 with Sadhana’s jhumka — will start getting commercial flights from March 8 with Alliance Air connecting it to Delhi. But this town will not get only regional flights to nearby places. IndiGo will connect it to Bengaluru and Mumbai in the summer schedule that comes into force next month-end, Surendra Singh, senior IAS officer and secretary to UP CM incharge of civil aviation, told TOI.

Bareilly will be among the first Tier III cities in UP to be connected directly to metros, other than nearby Delhi.

“Bareilly is the closest to the Kumaon part of Uttarakhand. Nainital is about a couple of hours away from there. The industry belt of Rudrapur is also very close. The region is inhabited by a significant number of very well to do communities with lot of potential for airlines to do well on this route. Landing in Bareilly saves the 3-4 hours spent in driving from Delhi to that area enroute Kumaon, Haridwar or Rudrapur,” said Singh.

The UP government has spent about Rs 94 crore on land acquisition and other facilities. The Airports Authority of India (AAI) built a new passenger terminal, a civil enclave, at this defence airfield. The airport has a runway big enough to handle Airbus A320 / Boeing 737 type of aircraft.

Sensing the potential, IndiGo is planning to start Mumbai and Bengaluru flights by March-end in the summer schedule. “Once other airlines see how well IndiGo is doing on Bareilly flights, they too will start operations here. We plan to link Bareilly to Varanasi and Prayagraj also,” say government officials.

24/02/21 Saurabh Sinha/Times of India

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Kushinagar Airport gets DGCA licence for international flights

Gorakhpur: The Kushinagar Airport has been granted the licence to operate international flights and has now become the third such airport in Uttar Pradesh after Chaudhary Charan Singh International Airport in Lucknow, and Lal Bahadur Shastri International Airport in Varanasi.The airport got all necessary clearances from Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) and its director general Arun Kumar handed over the licence to Kushinagar Airport director A K Dwivedi in New Delhi on Tuesday.

“Kushinagar Airport has become the third international airport of Uttar Pradesh and the 87th in India,” airport director AK Dwivedi told TOI.

“Kushinagar Airport has been issued a 4C license from DGCA and now both domestic and international flights would operate from the airport. We are in contact with a number of airlines and discussions are on. We are ready for the flights and it is up to the Union Government now to decide the date of the airport’s inauguration,” Dwivedi added.

Three months ago, a DGCA team had visited Kushinagar Airport and pointed out 21 points on which the airport was lacking, DGCA had informed Airport Authority of India (AAI) and asked it to take necessary corrective action.

All the objections raised by DGCA were addressed after which the application for licence was filed again. The DGCA team inspected the airport and gave clearance for issuing the licence.

Union minister for civil aviation Hardeep Singh Puri said in a tweet, “Kushinagar Airport gets necessary clearances from DGCA to become the third licensed international airport of UP. Will boost tourism in the region and facilitate travel on the Buddhist Circuit by providing direct aviation connectivity to the city where Lord Buddha attained Mahaparinirvana.”

25/02/21 Times of India

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AAI issues tenders for construction of 1st phase of Dholera airport in Guj

Mumbai: The Airports Authority of India (AAI) on Thursday issued tenders for the construction of the first phase of an international airport at Dholera in Gujarat, entailing an investment of Rs 987 crore, according to an official statement.

The new facility is being set up in greenfield city under the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC) project at Dholera.

Located in the north of the Dholera Special Investment Region (DSIR), the upcoming airport is expected to cater to not only DSIR and its hinterland but also to traffic overflow from the Ahmadabad international airport, it said.

"The AAI has release Rs 987 crore tender for Phase 1 of the Dholera International Airport, which will be aligned with a fire-station of Category-9, and will incorporate a 3,200-mts (metres) runway, which will be suitable for type 4E Aircraft," said the release.

The lack of international airport in Saurashtra and its vicinity will make Dholera international airport strategic and advantageous in many ways, it said.

The upcoming airport will be an advantage for the aerospace, defence and manufacturing industries who look forward to invest in the greenfield industrial smart city of Dholera, the statement added.

25/02/21 PTI/Business Standard

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Dibrugarh to now have direct flight to Bengaluru

Dibrugarh: Dibrugarh is to be connected with Bengaluru by a direct flight to and four days a week by Indigo Airlines from March 1. Disclosing this, Hemanta Kumar Roy, the manager of the airline stationed at Dibrugarh, informed that Indigo Airlines flight 6E 6126 will take off from Bengaluru at 8:15am on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays to land at Dibrugarh at 11:15am. The return flight 6E 6128 will take off from Dibrugarh on the same respective days at 11:45am and arrive at Bengaluru at 15:25pm.

The Airports Authority of India has taken up massive expansion and up gradation projects for Dibrugarh airport to be executed in the next couple of years. SK Garg, the airport director of the Dibrugarh airport, disclosed this. He expressed his sincere thanks to the Deputy Commissioner of Dibrugarh in particular and the State Government in general for providing all necessary help in clearing the hurdles for the runway expansion project. Moreover, the airport is also to be connected to the newly-opened Dibrugarh – Tinsukia bypass road via a 1.3 km straight road. This road will increase accessibility of the airport and reduce time of travel to the airport by the passengers.

An integrated terminal building in addition to the existing 250 arrival plus 250 departures PAX capacity 10,000 metre square terminal building is planned and the Airports Authority of India has placed a request before the Government of Assam for acquisition of 70 acres of land for constructing the same.

25/02/21 Sentinel

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Pratap Sarangi Seeks Flight Services From Amarda Road Airport In Mayurbhanj

Bhubaneswar: Union Minister Pratap Sarangi on Wednesday requested Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri to make Amarda Road Airport (Rasgovindpur) in Mayurbhnaj district functional for civilian use.

In a letter, Sarangi said the Airport, which is currently under the control of Indian Air Force, has enormous potential in the future Air traffic growth.

“The proposed Airport has immense potential to catalyse development by way of creating faster connectivity to boost tourism and business besides mainstreaming the unserved region,” Sarangi wrote.

“The existing infrastructure and facilities at the Indian Air Force operated Airport are still in very good conditions which can be gainfully utilised to make the said Airport functional for civilian use to meet the long standing public demand,” he added.

Sarangi said earlier also he had written to Prime Minister and the civil aviation minister regarding making the Airport operational. In reply, the civil aviation minister had informed that the Airport has already been included under UDAN Scheme as unserved Airport. However, no operator has come forward in several rounds of bids to operate flights from the Airport under UDAN Scheme.

24/02/21 Ramakanta Biswas/Odishatv.in

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Hubli airport to commission Air Cargo Terminal

Hubballi: The Hubballi Airport will soon be Commissioning a dedicated Domestic Air Cargo Terminal, first such Terminal in the North Karnataka Region, in coordination with the Airports Authority of India (AAI) – Cargo Logistics and AMP Allied Services Company Limited, which is 100 per cent owned subsidiary of AAI, according to a statement issued here on Thursday. 

 The statement said that as Dedicated Terminal is under consideration for Final Clearance by Regulatory Authority (BCAS), so for the time-being, clearance/ approval from BCAS obtained by Airport Authority of India/ AAICLAS for Cargo Movement from existing Passenger Terminal Building with certain restrictions to avoid passenger inconvenience. 

 Dedicated X-ray Baggage Inspection system has been installed to facilitate Cargo Movement from Passenger Terminal Building. AAI believes that the terminal shall play a vital role in improving the supply chain scenario surrounding the region and proposal for cold storage is also actively under consideration. 

 Depending on local demand, the airlines may even operate Cargo charters apart from the bulk cargo that is being uplifted through their A320, ATR, Embraer Aircrafts, the statement said. Currently, the operating airlines Air India, Indigo and Star Air has expressed their interest in operating through cargo terminal as well as cargo facility provided in Terminal building, who are having connection to major gateway ports like Chennai, Bangalore and Mumbai through existing infrastructure. \

It further added that the Dedicated Cargo terminal has been built at a cost of Rs 60.6 lakh, by modifying the old passenger terminal, which was left unutilised after commencement of new passenger terminal building. 

 The upcoming cargo terminal shall have secured storage space for both inbound and outbound cargo, dedicated room for valuables & amp, dangerous goods, along with provision for commercial space that can be utilized by Airlines, major freight forwarders / logistics players like, Postal Authorities and e-commerce players. 

Cargo Terminal of 700 Sqm area shall have annual cargo holding capacity 15,000 MT. According to Pramod Kumar Thakre, Director of the Hubballi Airport, the Regulatory Authorities have completed their preliminary inspection and Design &, Execution level Approval obtained. Process for final inspection has been initiated and Final Approval is likely to be obtained by the end of March 2021.

25/02/21 UNI

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Congestion is back, flights queue up above Chennai

Chennai: It was 10 minutes past 8pm on Wednesday. There were six flights queuing up to land at Chennai airport. As two Bengaluru flights approached one behind the other from the west, a flight from Delhi from the north joined the queue ahead of them followed by a flight from Lucknow.

A Kolkata-Coimbatore flight overflew the airport at 37,000ft. The descending flights landed one after the other from the Pallavaram side on the main runway, while a couple of planes took off towards the Guindy side of the main runway.

The city's airspace is not free like it used to be a few months ago. Pilots flying into the city during peak hours have started to find the skies crowded and a few of them are made to wait 5 minutes-10 minutes for their turn to land. At a time, 6 to 10 flights are descending to land, climbing to reach cruising altitude or overflying. Of course, it used to be 15 to 20 flights in pre-Covid times.

However, the days have started to become hectic for air traffic controllers who have to keep an eye on planes bound for Bengaluru too. More than 14 flights have started to queue up for landing during peak hours in Bengaluru and they are routed to the airport by Chennai.

"There is high departing traffic in the morning and arriving traffic at night. The 7.30pm to 8.30pm period is the busiest over the city when more than six to eight flights will be queuing up to land. If there is a delay on the ground, the planes in the air are kept on hold. We are reaching the pre-Covid level of congestion but Chennai is not as bad as Bengaluru. In those days, planes used to be on hold for 40minutes or so. We may reach that level very soon," said a pilot.

25/02/21 Times of India

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'Covid-19 has changed airports and airlines priorities on IT spend'

Mumbai: Biometric technology has become a focus for airport investment with 64% of airports aiming to roll out self-boarding gates using biometric and ID documentation by 2023, three times as many as in 2020, according to the latest air transport information technology insights study released by SITA on Wednesday. SITA offers IT solutions for airlines, airports, aircraft and governments.

For airlines and airports, the pandemic has brought strong focus on virtual and remote IT services that allowed employees to work from home even as it ramped up communications with passengers, it said.

Data and automation are key. ``Making the check-in process completely touchless is now the main priority for airports and airlines to help protect passengers and staff, improve the passenger experience, and drive efficiency,’’ it said. Airlines have doubled implementations and plan to double investment for self-boarding using biometric and ID documentation by 2023 (82%), it said.

Similarly, airlines are prioritizing a completely touchless check-in process, and most want mobile touchless payment options for all services provided. The majority (79%), is focused on enabling self-bag drop for passengers. All essential customer services will become contactless from booking to arrival, including automated lounge access and mobile delayed baggage reporting.

``Airline mobile applications for passenger services is a priority with nearly all (97%) of airlines having major programs and R&D in place by 2023. By 2023 the majority of airlines plan to send passengers real-time notifications on their mobile devices about their bags and plan to provide real-time bag-tracking information for staff,’’ said the SITA study.

In 2020, flight volumes plunged 44% year-on-year due to the pandemic, according to SITA data. As a result of this impact on demand, International Air Transport Association forecast the airline industry's full-year loss at $118 billion.

24/02/21 Manju V/Times of India

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GoAir relocates domestic flight operations to Terminal-1 of Mumbai airport

Mumbai: Budget carrier GoAir on Thursday announced relocating its domestic flight operations to Terminal-1 (T1) of the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (CSMIA) from March 1.

All the international flight operations in Mumbai will take place from Terminal 2 (T2), GoAir said in a statement.

Currently, GoAir's entire operations are carried out from T2.

The city-based airline said it will continue to carry out the enhanced cleaning procedures to ensure the health and safety of its customers and employees.

"We will continue to use the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) approved, hospital-grade disinfectant for deep cleaning the aircraft," it said.

25/02/21 PTI/Outlook

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Trujet to operate weekly flights to Mumbai from Nanded

Nanded: Considering the rise in number of air passengers, Trujet, a private domestic airline, will now operate four more flights to Mumbai apart from its scheduled flights for three days a week. 

 Along with this, Nanded will be connected to Jalgaon and Ahmedabad by air from March 2, official sources said here on Wednesday. 

 These new flights could be started due to persistent efforts by District Guardian Minister Ashok Chavan, who insisted that there should be daily flights to the country's financial capital. Earlier, the airline had been operating flights from Nanded to Mumbai, Hyderabad, Nagpur and Delhi until the suspension of its services due to Covid pandemic in the state. 

But after relaxation in lockdown, the airline re-started return flights from Hyderabad-Nanded-Mumbai and Mumbai-Nanded-Hyderabad for three days in a week on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. However, with the increasing number of air passengers and continuous follow-up by Mr Chavan, 

 Trujet will operate flights to Mumbai on the remaining four days of the week, namely Monday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. These flights have been extended to Jalgaon and Ahmedabad. 

 The flight will take off from Ahmedabad at 0945 hours in the morning and will reach Jalgaon at 1105 hrs. After 25 minutes, the flight will take off and will land in Mumbai at 1245 hrs and then it will leave for Nanded. Then, the flight will leave Nanded at 1530 hrs in afternoon and will reach Mumbai at 1700 hrs and then to Jalgaon at 1730 hrs. From Jalgaon, it will take off at 1905 hrs and will land in Ahmedabad at 2025 hrs, sources added. 

 24/02/21 UNI

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More domestic flights to resume operations

Coimbatore: Despite SpiceJet stopping all flights to and from the city, Coimbatorians can expect an exciting flight schedule ahead.GoAir is continuing flights from Mumbai and Indigo is planning to operate 19 flights from the city to various destinations in the country.

While Chennai, being the most popular destination, may get six flights, Hyderabad may get four and New Delhi two, giving frequent fliers more flexibility and the possibility of cheaper fares. Three of the 19 flights will be base flights.

The schedule, of which TOI has a copy, includes six flights to Chennai, three to Bengaluru, two to Mumbai, four to Hyderabad and one to Pune. The two flights, in addition to GoAir’s flight, gives frequent fliers to the commercial capital three options. The schedule comes into force from March 28.

“These are proposed flights, but are pending final approval,” said an IndiGo spokesperson.

With the school holiday season beginning on April 1 and the Covid-19 vaccine reaching old and the vulnerable people, families are excited about the schedule. “The increase in number of flights to Chennai definitely improve our options of flying to Jaipur and Jodhpur,” said Kanya Jain, who is planning a Rajasthan trip with her family in May.

“We can also look at convenient and quick options to Kashmir via New Delhi and Goa via Chennai or Bangalore,” said Krishna Alwar, a software professional, who hopes for cheap and convenient flights this summer.

25/02/21 Times of India

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Rajkot all set to get its first direct flight to Goa

Rajkot: If all goes as scheduled, people of Rajkot will be able to fly directly to Goa from March. This will be the first time that Saurashtra’s financial capital will get air connectivity to the state known for its pristine beaches.

Rajkot is also set to get one more flight to Mumbai from March.

Airport officials said that they have got confirmation that SpiceJet was starting one daily flight to Hyderabad from March 1 and another to Mumbai from March 7.

According to sources, the airport authority has also got in principle confirmation on SpiceJet starting a direct flight to Goa from March. The private airliner has sought permission from Rajkot airport. The flight is likely to operate four days a week. Being the business hub of Saurashtra region, traders and industry players in Rajkot have been demanding better air connectivity to other major cities of the Country. Earlier, Rajkot had only flights to Delhi and Mumbai. Industry experts believe the addition of new flights will boost business as well as tourism the Saurashtra region.

25/02/21 Nimesh Khakhariya/Times of India

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After Centre guidelines, new protocol at SVPI airport for Covid-19 testing

Ahmedabad: In the wake of Ministry of Health and Family Welfare announcing compulsory molecular Covid-19 tests of passengers arriving from UK, Europe and Middle East countries from February 22, the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International (SVPI) Airport in Ahmedabad has also made arrangements for tests at the airport even as Gujarat sees a surge in Covid-19 cases.

As per the guidelines issued by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on February 17 which came into effect from February 22, all international passengers arriving in India except from UK, Europe and Middle East countries must undergo an RT-PCR test within 72 hours of their travel in advance and upload their negative test report with a self-declaration form on the portal http://www.newdelhiairport.com. The passengers will also have to sign an undertaking for a 14-day period of home quarantine or self-monitoring of their health.

For the passengers arriving in India from UK, Europe or Middle East countries, the guidelines state mandatory RT-PCR test before boarding their flight and another compulsory self-paid Covid-19 test to be done at the airport premises. The passengers who have come from Europe and Middle East must deliver their sample at the airport and may exit the airport after that. Such passengers will be notified by the authorities of their reports by phone and as per their result, the protocol will follow.

24/02/21 Indian Express

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Ten flights delayed, four cancelled

Ahmedabad: The departure of ten flights was delayed from SVPI airport in Ahmedabad on Saturday.

These include flights to Jaipur, Goa, Varanasi, Bengaluru, Nagpur, Kolhapur, Amritsar, Delhi, Pune and Chennai. Besides these, three other flights to Bagdogra, Lucknow, Delhi and Mumbai were also cancelled.

Operations of these flights were impacted due to operational constraints, said airport authorities

25/02/21 Times of India

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Air India Express Accident At Andhra Airport Due To Pilot Error: Report

Amaravati: A team of officials from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation visited the Vijayawada Airport at Gannavaram on Tuesday and conducted a preliminary investigation into the accident involving an Air India Express Boeing aircraft on February 20.

Official sources said pilot error caused the accident in which the Boeing aircraft suffered a minor damage on its right wing after it hit an electric pole while taxiing on the runway.

According to sources, a Canadian woman pilot commanded the flight when the accident occurred.

The aircraft landed from Doha, en route Tiruchirappalli, but all 64 passengers aboard were safe.

"The DGCA team launched a preliminary investigation into the accident and is probing various aspects. It has also inspected the damaged aircraft and spoke at length with the Canadian pilot," the sources said but refused to divulge more details as "these things are confidential".

The DGCA team is expected to continue its task on Wednesday as well.

24/02/21 PTI/NDTV

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Uttar Pradesh gets its 3rd international airport at Kushinagar

New Delhi: Uttar Pradesh on Tuesday got its third international airport with the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) issuing the aerodrome licence for public use to Kushinagar airport.

A key city of the Buddhist tourism circuit, this new facility is expected to boost connectivity for visitors. Lucknow and Varanasi are so far the two international airports in the state.

“Kushinagar Airport gets necessary clearances from DGCA to become third licensed international airport of UP. Will boost tourism in the region and facilitate travel on Buddhist circuit by providing direct aviation connectivity to the city where Lord Buddha attained Mahaparinirvana,” Union aviation minister H S Puri tweeted on Tuesday.

According to the Union aviation ministry, Kushinagar airport site was handed over for operations to Airports Authority of India (AAI) in October 2019 and a regional connectivity scheme terminal was completed a year later. AAI then applied for aerodrome license which it got on Tuesday.

“Renowned the world over as the holy city where Lord Buddha attained Mahaparinirvana, Kushinagar is a popular pilgrimage destination. The airport will now open new avenues for tourism & economic activities in the region,” the ministry tweeted.

23/02/21 Saurabh Sinha/Times of India

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India gets its first inflatable hangar at Hyderabad airport

New Delhi: Hyderabad Airport has got India’s first inflatable hangar that can house up to an Airbus A320/Boeing 737 size aircraft. GMR Aero Technic (GAT), the group’s maintenance, repair and overhaul division arm, says it is “the only MRO in the Asia region to have installed such a hangar … may be used for multiple purposes including scheduled and unscheduled maintenance, engine or landing gear replacement.”

The one bay narrow body inflatable hangar will add one additional bay to GAT’s existing 7 bays. With this, GAT says it be able to handle additionally 15 to 20 smaller base maintenance checks or 4 to 5 end of lease checks per year.

“It takes considerable amount of time to source an available hangar to undertake the unscheduled repairs. On the contrary, an inflatable hangar is cost-effective, reduces downtime to a minimum and saves time and money… The life of an inflatable hangar is 10-15 years … Whereas the construction of a conventional hangar takes more than 18 months, the inflatable hangar can be constructed in 3-4 months. (It) is also portable and takes just 1-2 months to disassembly and assembly at other location,” GMR Group said in a statement.

The inflatable hangar is formed by low pressure tubes aligned parallel to each other forming a “rib-cage” structure. This woven polyester base cloth with PVC coating hangar is fire-retardant and water-proof. It is built to withstand wind speeds up to 158.4 km/hr and can handle temperatures from -30 degree Celsius to +70 degree Celsius.

23/02/21 Saurabh Sinha/Times of India

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With no takers for debt-ridden airline, Modi govt mulling sale of Air India’s profit-making subsidiaries

The government is preparing to put on sale Air India’s profit-making subsidiary, Air India Airport Services Limited (AI APS), National Herald has learnt.

Sources privy to the development told National Herald that the Finance Ministry is set to issue preliminary documents for the interested bidders soon.

The company, which was earlier called Air India Air Transport Services Limited, has been a profit-making firm since 2014.

Besides, as per the sources, other Air India subsidiaries like Air India Express – another profit-making venture mainly operating to and from the Middle East – and Air India Engineering Services Ltd may also be put on sale.

The sources claimed that the Modi government is planning to sell these profit-making subsidiaries first because despite multiple efforts, no one has come forward to buy the debt-ridden Air India.

As per the latest data, the AI APS which has 9,474 employees as of March 2019, earned a profit of Rs 63.8 crore during 2018-19.

“AI APS was incorporated in 2003 as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Air India Limited for providing manpower for the various departments of Air India, including Ground Handling. Consequent to the Cabinet approval, AI APS has been operationalised with effect from 1 February 2013 as a Ground Handling Company,” reads the website of AI APS.

The AI APS provides ground-handling services such as handling of ramps, passengers, baggage, cargo and cabin for Air India and its associate firms at 81 airports across India, along with ground-handling services to 37 foreign scheduled airlines, three domestic scheduled airlines and four regional airlines.

24/02/21 National Herald

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BIAL Kempegowda becomes first Indian airport to get a disabled aircraft recovery kit

New Delhi: Bengaluru’s Kempegowda International Airport has become the first airport in India to get a disabled aircraft recovery equipment (DARE). So far in India, only Air India has had this kit which needed to be sent to whichever airport where aircraft gets stuck on the runway to remove the same from there so that flight movements can resume.

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation has made it mandatory for big airports to have this kit in 2019 when an aircraft remained stuck on Mumbai runway for almost 3 days.

Bengaluru International Airport Ltd (BIAL) claims to be the “first (airport) in India and South Asia to own the state-of-the-art kit that will enable faster resumption of operations during aircraft incidents on the runways.” The Kunz GmbH-manufactured recovery kit was commissioned Tuesday by BIAL MD & CEO Hari Marar and is capable of recovering upto the world’s largest passenger aircraft, Airbus A380 — ensuring that runway closure is minimised.

“The acquisition of this aircraft recovery equipment is an important milestone for us at BLR Airport. Being prepared is the key to running a high-performance airport. This is not only important for the Airport, but also for the entire aviation ecosystem as a whole,” said Hari Marar.

Disabled aircraft on the runway can cripple airport operations. Effective recovery of all types of disabled aircraft in the movement area is vital.

BIAL had in 2020 signed an agreement with Kunz GmbH to manufacture, supply, commission and maintain the specialised equipment. As part of this agreement, KUNZ GmbH will work with BIAL to establish a centre for disabled aircraft recovery training.

23/02/21 Saurabh Sinha/Times of India

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Airports Authority of India to appoint ground handling agencies for 83 airports for 10-year period

The Airports Authority of India (AAI) has kick-started the process of appointing ground handling agencies for 83 state-run airports for a period of 10 years.

The move is aimed at limiting the number of ground handling personnel on the airside and have as much free space as possible to reduce the possibility of any "untoward incident", officials said.

Currently, Air India's fully-owned subsidiary AI Airport Services Ltd and Air India’s joint venture AISATS are two popular ground handling agencies in India.

In addition, airlines such as IndiGo and SpiceJet are doing self-handling at various airports with their regular employees while some others enter into memorandum of understanding with third parties for such services at the airport. International airlines, on the other hand, do depend on domestic ground handling agencies during their operations in India.

Under the current process, minimum annual guarantee for the first year is the financial bid parameter for selection of bidder and the period of concession is 10 years from the commercial operations date.

"For airports where annual traffic is more than 10 million, two bidders (H1 and H2) will be appointed, and for those airports where the traffic is less than 10 million, we will appoint one bidder (H1)," an official in the know told CNBC-TV18. Hence, in addition to a AISATS or an AI Airport Services Ltd, there will be two or one more agency depending on the category of the airport.

The concessionaire shall pay to the authority, on a monthly-basis, a fee in accordance with the concession agreement.

This is a fresh attempt at appointing ground handling agencies for state-run airports by AAI as a similar tender for 76 airports had to be cancelled in 2019.

23/02/21 CNBC TV18

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Medical teams to test passengers and flyers

Patna: Health department will depute its teams at railway stations and airport for Covid testing of passengers reaching the state for Holi festival. The decision has been taken in the light of new Covid variants.

Patna civil surgeon Dr Vibha Kumari Singh told this newspaper that a list of doctors in this regard was being prepared. “Initially, fewer doctors will be stationed, but we’ll gradually increase their number with the rise in the incoming crowd at the stations or airport around the festival,” she said.

“If needed, we will also ask the district magistrate to provide additional police force for proper monitoring. With the vaccination drive underway and proper monitoring at places, we can control the virus transmission,” she added.

Passengers arriving at and departing from railway stations and airport will have to undergo compulsory thermal screening and Covid testing by the team of doctors present there.

Patna airport director Bhupesh C H Negi said they were waiting for the health department team. “We are strictly adhering to all the Covid prevention protocols and surveillance on our own. We will cooperate with the medical team once it arrives,” he said.

Chief public relations officer of East Central Railway, Rajesh Kumar, said they were conducting compulsory thermal screening of all the passengers waiting for the health department teams to reach the railway stations.

24/02/21 Times of India

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Anil Vij meets Rajnath over airport project

Ambala: Home and Health Minister Anil Vij on Tuesday met Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and sought his intervention over land requirement for a domestic airport in Ambala.

In December 2018, the civil airport project in Ambala was approved by the Central Government under Udan 3.0, but the project had been hanging fire ever since as land had not been finalised yet. “I met the Defence Minister today to request him to constitute a team comprising officials from the Air Force, Army, civil aviation and Haryana to visit the site and identify land for the project. He gave me a positive response and issued directions to constitute a team for the visit,” he said.

The proposed airport in Ambala would have flights to Srinagar and Lucknow. The flights were earlier expected to start from the Ambala Air Force station from July 15, 2019.

24/02/21 Tribune

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Scanning of passengers begins at airport

In the wake of spurt in Covid-19 cases, the health teams were deputed at Sri Guru Ram Dass Jee International Airport to scan passengers.

Civil Surgeon Dr Charanjit Singh said, “Separate teams have been deployed at the airport for scanning passengers. We will take samples for RT-PCR for international passengers. All other precautionary measures are being adopted as per the guidelines”. The standard measures and SoP has been resumed at the airport.

23/02/21 Tribune

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Several flights diverted due to heavy fog at Gannavaram airport

Gannavaram airport was shrouded in heavy fog on Wednesday morning due to which a SpiceJet flight from Bangalore to Gannavaram Airport was unable to land. The SpiceJet flight heading from Bangalore to Gannavaram Airport with about 50 passengers has moved eight times for about half an hour due to low visibility.

Later, the flight went back to Hyderabad as it could not land. An Indigo flight from Hyderabad to Gannavaram and another Indigo flight from Delhi had moved in the air due to fog. The situation remained the same for almost till 10 clock. On the other hand, the officials said that an Indigo flight from Delhi to Gannavaram airport was diverted to Patna as it could not land. Meanwhile, the airport officials said several flights were diverted due to the fog and opined that they were reviewing the situation from time to time. The officials said the planes would be allowed to return to landing once the fog conditions cleared.

24/02/21 Pavan Kumar Bandari/Hans India

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Vigil intensified at airport following rise in trafficking by air

Ranchi: Law enforcement agencies have intensified vigil at the Birsa Munda Airport in Ranchi after a rise in cases of human traffickers taking minor girls and boys to metro cities by air, police said on Saturday – a day after 21 Jharkhand girls were rescued at the Chennai airport on the basis of a complaint lodged via email.

“We have deployed our team at the airport to keep an eye on minors traveling in groups. Passengers will also be checked if their activities are found to be suspicious,” said Ranchi Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Surendra Kumar Jha.

Friday’s rescue operation at the Chennai airport was not the first incident of Jharkhand labourers being rescued from an airport on the suspicion of being trafficked.

 On January 28, at least seven Jharkhand minors, all from Khunti district, were rescued from the Birsa Munda Airport in Ranchi while they were being trafficked to New Delhi to work as domestic helps. Ranchi police had also arrested one woman trafficker during the rescue operation.

So far, traffickers relied on trains and buses for taking children from far-flung villages of the state to different cities. The modus operandi of trafficking agents, who usually prowl villages in search of gullible and needy children, has changed lately, say police. They were now also trafficking children by air despite stricter security at the airports.

Additional Director General of Crime Investigation Department (CID), Anil Palta said that traffickers might have started relying on flights to run their business during the lockdown as many trains and buses remained suspended during that period.

“It is quite possible that they (traffickers) started using flights to traffic children from Jharkhand during the lockdown period,” said Palta, admitting that checking every minor passenger at the airport was not practically possible.

24/02/21 Pioneer

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The anatomy of a small airport: Kalaburagi airport is among India’s fastest growing

The number of passengers it handled in December jumped 336 percent to 7,170 compared with a year ago, matched by aircraft movement that soared 323 percent to 136. In February 2020, a month before the pandemic forced a national lockdown, Kalaburagi handled 4,435 passengers with 94 flights, data from Airports Authority of India shows. That's among the highest growth rates for any airport in the country. 

What explains the rise of the airport that opened in November 2019? >>

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CSMIA facilitates distribution of 43 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines since Jan

 Mumbai: The city''s Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (CSMIA) has facilitated the distribution of around 43 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines including to overseas destinations since January.

Mumbai Airport had started airlifting the vaccines since January 13.

CSMIA has facilitated the distribution of approximately 43 million COVID-19 vaccines, weighing around 113 tonnes, to over 57 destinations, including 29 international ones, the private airport operator said in a release.

Of the total doses, 34.5 million were airlifted to various countries and the rest 8.5 million to the cities across India, it said.

The highest export of the vaccine was made to Dhaka in Bangladesh with nine million doses, followed by Morocco with six million doses and Brazil with four million doses, CSMIA said.

The airport operator said it supported over 18 airlines in the distribution across the globe with national carrier Air India and Emirates and Royal Air Morocco transporting the maximum number of doses of the total 34.5 million vaccines to international cities, it said adding that while Air India carried 15 million doses, Emirates and Royal Air Morocco airlifted 6.1 million and 6 million doses, respectively.

Budget carriers SpiceJet, IndiGo and Go Air were the three Indian carriers, airlifting the highest number of doses across domestic cities, it added.

23/02/21 PTI/Outlook

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Dhaka, Morocco & Brazil top three on Mumbai airport's vaccine export list

Mumbai: About 43 million doses of vaccines have been transported from Mumbai airport from the time the distribution began in mid-January, said Mumbai International Airport Ltd (MIAL).

Out of this, 8.5 million doses were distributed within India, while 34.5 million doses were exported to countries across the globe. The highest export of the vaccine was to Dhaka with 9 million doses followed by Morocco with 6 million doses and Brazil with 4 million doses.

In all, so far, about 113 tons of the vaccine has been sent to over 57 destinations, including over 29 international and 28 domestic destinations.

"On the domestic front, a total of 2.1 million doses of vaccines were distributed to Raipur, Cochin and Guwahati," said MIAL adding that the airport has supported over 18 airlines for vaccine distribution across the globe.

"Air India, Emirates and Royal Air Morocco emerged as the top 3 airlines operating the highest number of vaccines to international destination with 15 million, 6.1 million and 6 million doses respectively whereas SpiceJet, Indigo and GoAir were the top airlines catering to the domestic destinations with 3.1 million, 2.7 million and 1.5 million doses respectively," it said.

"The SOPs implemented by the airport in anticipation of the vaccine distribution saw the terminal register an average cargo processing time of just 10 minutes for domestic delivery and 25 minutes for international, right from goods acceptance to dispatch at the ramp," said MIAL.

23/02/21 Manju V/Times of India

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Covid test for fliers at Calcutta airport

 Calcutta: Passengers from the UK, Europe, South Africa, Brazil and the West Asian countries will have to undergo an RT-PCR test for Covid-19 after arriving at the Calcutta airport from Tuesday even if they carry a negative report of a test done before boarding the flight.

The decision was taken after the ministry of health issued a guideline in the wake of reports that mutant variants of SARS-CoV2 that are more contagious than earlier strains are in circulation in many countries. 

According to airport officials, nearly 500 passengers who will arrive on four flights from west Asian countries on Tuesday will undergo the RT-PCR test.  

New counters for collecting swab samples of passengers were set up at the international arrival area on Monday. The ministry of health has issued a new advisory for international travellers, particularly those more at risk of contracting Covid-19.

“There is increasing evidence that the mutant variant of SARS-CoV2 are in circulation in many countries and these mutant variants are driving the pandemic in their country of origin. So far the three SARS-CoV2 variants in circulation vis-a-vis UK variant, South Africa variant and Brazil variant have been detected in 88, 44 and 15 countries respectively,” the guideline issued by the health ministry stated.

According to the guideline, all international travellers coming or transiting from flights that originate from the UK and other European countries and West Asia will have to undergo a self-paid RT-PCR test after arriving in Calcutta. Those arriving from South Africa and Brazil will also have to undergo the test.

23/02/21 Sanjay Mandal/Telegraph

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Nagpur-Belagavi Udan flight from Mar 16

 Nagpur: Star Air will be operating a flight from Nagpur to Belgaum in Karanataka from March 16. The sector has been opened under the ude ga desh ka aam nagrik (Udan) scheme for regional air connectivity.

Star Air won the bid during Phase 3 of UDAN opened by the ministry of civil aviation, said a press release. The airlines will be operating an Embraer 145 which is a 50-seater aircraft. The plane will operate thrice a week on Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday. It will arrive in Nagpur at 04.45pm and depart at 5.10pm.

23/02/21 Times of India

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Madurai airport bags second place in Customer Satisfaction Survey

Madurai: The Madurai airport has been adjudged second in the Customer Satisfaction Survey conducted for 50 airports in the country between July and December 2020. The airport secured 4.80 points out of 5.Recently, Airports Authority of India released the second round of the report.

The survey was conducted only for 17 airports in the first round and Madurai was not covered in it.

The only airports to take part in the second round of survey in Tamil Nadu were Tuticorin and Madurai airports. Turicorin airport secured twenty-ninth place with a score of 4.42 points.

An official from Madurai airport said that the survey is conducted once in six months taking various parameters into account, including parking facility, availability of trolleys, efficiency of check in staff, waiting time, helpfulness of staff, ease of finding way through the airport, facility for eating and availability of feeling safe and security.

The airport scored fairly well in flight information details, feeling safe and secure, availability of trolleys and helpfulness of staff.

23/02/21 Devanathan Veerappan/Times of India

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From today, some flyers to be tested at airport and after 1 week

Gurgaon: Screenings and surveillance are back, as are home quarantine rules for flyers.

Beginning Tuesday, passengers returning to Gurgaon and other Haryana districts from countries such as the UK, Brazil, South Africa – where the mutated strains of the novel coronavirus have emerged – as well as European countries and West Asia will have to undergo a compulsory RT(PCR) test at the airport upon arrival. Those who test positive will be admitted to Covid care centres while others will have to strictly home quarantine for seven days, after which the health department will conduct another RT-PCR test.

Earlier, fliers from these countries had to produce a Covid-negative report, not older than 72 hours, before departure. The SOPs for all states were issued by the Union health ministry on February 17 in the wake of a rise in new Covid cases in other countries and some parts of India, including Haryana.

“We already have a team that monitors and carries out tests of passengers after seven days. We will monitor them for another seven days after the test results. We will get a list from the state government. Passengers whose results are negative at the airport will have to stay in home quarantine for seven days. We expect them to be socially responsible and take another test after seven days, for their own benefit and for the safety of others,” Gurgaon chief medical officer Virender Yadav said, adding travellers who test positive will be isolated in line with existing guidelines.

So far, Gurgaon has sent 36 samples for genome sequencing to the CSIR Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology in Delhi. “We have been selecting random samples, about 5%, of those who have tested positive after flying in. Of the 36 samples sent to Delhi, we have received only one report so far,” said Dr Yadav.

Dr Piyush Goel, senior consultant, pulmonary and critical care, Columbia Asia Hospital, said mutation in a virus is a natural development that helps it survive and reproduce.

23/02/21 Times of India

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Regional Connectivity Scheme: Delhi-Bareilly flight to start from March 8

New Delhi: Flight operations from Delhi to the newly constructed airport in Bareilly will start from March 8 under the Centre's flagship regional connectivity scheme (RCS). According to a report in the Times of India, Alliance Air will operate flights on the Delhi-Bareilly route from March 8. 

The airline will also begin two flights from Prayagraj connecting Delhi and Bilaspur, from March 1 under RCS. The flights would operate on Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday. In both cases, the airline would be using ATR 72 aircraft.

It may be noted that Bareilly will be the eighth airport in the state to be operational after Lucknow, Varanasi, Gorakhpur, Kanpur, Hindon, Agra and Prayagraj.

Civil aviation secretary Surendra Singh told the daily that the state government has spent around Rs 83 crore on construction of a civil enclave in Bareilly. This is apart from the around 35 acres of land which has been made available to Airports Authority of India (AAI) free of cost and Rs 9.8 crore for ensuring dedicated power supply, he said.

Sources in the civil aviation department told the publication that IndiGo Airlines has also sent a team to Bareilly to conduct an assessment to operate flights on the route.

“The area is largely unserved despite having many tourist places nearby,” the publication quoted a senior official in the department as saying. The area also has several industrialists who seek flights to reach business centres like Delhi and Mumbai.

22/02/21 ETNowNews.com

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Why are Tier II and III cities seeing such a surge in air traffic?

The domestic aviation market in India closed January with 77.34 lakh passengers. While the numbers are a far cry from what they were in the same month last year, they certainly are decent given the current circumstances. What has characterised this growth is traffic originating or terminating at Tier II and Tier III cities. These are also the cities that have seen growth return to normal levels or in some cases surpass pre-Covid numbers.

See what explains this >>

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Hyderabad: E-boarding now live for Intl passengers on Emirates airlines

Hyderabad: As part of its aim to go completely paperless, the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport in Hyderabad on Monday went live with e-boarding for international passengers of Emirates Airlines.

Indigo and GoAir Airlines scheduled International carriers had already gone live with paperless e-boarding from the Hyderabad International Airport, and Emirates is now the latest addition to this list.

Emirates Airlines on Monday began its e-boarding facility when it’s Dubai bound passengers e-boarded themselves on the EK 527 flight. The RGIA is credited as the first and only airport in India to offer an end-to-end paperless e-boarding to all its domestic passengers across all flights.

Pradeep Panicker, chief executive officer, RJIA, said, “We are glad that Emirates has also started using our indigenously developed e-boarding process. It is the first in the fleet of international airlines to do so. We are confident that in the days to come all international airlines will start using e-boarding towards our goal of paperless airport”.  

22/02/21 Siasat Daily

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DIAL in HC over Rs 80cr dues from Centaur Hotel

New Delhi: Delhi International Airport Ltd (DIAL) has moved the Delhi high court to recover long outstanding lease dues of about Rs 80 crore from Centaur Hotel.

The dilapidated 1982-era hotel, run by Air India subsidiary Hotel Corporation of India (HCI), was recently allowed to operate till March 2032. Neither AI nor DIAL commented on the issue till the time of going to press.

A source said that Centaur Hotel’s dues have been outstanding for several years. “Airports, airlines and the entire aviation ecosystem are struggling to survive due to the Covid pandemic,” said the source. “DIAL shares 46% revenue with Airports Authority of India (AAI). Centaur’s dues, when recovered, will be shared with AAI. While we understand the financial position of AI, airports also need funds to survive.”

DIAL had been seeking the demolition of Centaur Hotel to expand the airport. In 2019, the aviation ministry had first asked HCI to hand over the land to AAI. Later that year, the government decided to not to terminate the lease of the hotel till March 31, 2032.

That decision read: “AAI and DIAL requires this land for aeronautical purpose in Phase-IV development. According to the master plan submitted by DIAL in 2016, development work is proposed for 2026-2034. Therefore, HCI may use the land/structure up to the expiry of the existing period, March 31, 2032, only and to vacate the land positively upon expiry of existing lease period.”

The ministry had, at that time, directed that arbitration process start between AAI and HCI over the default of lease rentals. “Since HCI has defaulted in paying AAI the dues from 2002 onwards, according to the agreement, AAI chairman is empowered to appoint the arbitrator,” the 2019 ministry communique to the hotel corporation had said.

22/02/21 Sauabh Sinha/Times of India

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Air India to Commence Delhi-Moscow International Flight Services from February 27

Air India has announced that it will be operating direct flights between Delhi and Moscow from February 27 to March 28, 2021. The flights will be to Moscow’s Sheremetyevo A.S. Pushkin Airport and the bookings for the same can be done through the Air India website, booking offices, call centres and authorised travel agents.

Recently, Russian carrier Aeroflot announced that it will be commencing twice-a-week flight services between Delhi and Moscow from February 14, under the air bubble agreement between the two countries. Aeroflot has deployed its 293-seater Airbus 333 aircraft in a three-class configuration — business, premium economy and economy — to operate these services, a release said on Thursday.

The flights will depart every Monday and Saturday from Delhi to Moscow, it added. Prior to the suspension of scheduled commercial international passenger flights from and to India on March 23 last year, the Russian airline was operating two daily services between the capital cities of the two countries.

Visa for all categories (including student visa) for the Indian citizens and persons who have a residence permit of Russia has resumed and all passengers will be allowed to enter Russia via air checkpoints, it said. However, travellers must present a certificate of a negative COVID PCR before boarding the international flight. The test must be not more than 72 hours before their time of arrival to Russia, it added.

21/02/21 News18.com

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DGCA teams reach Vij, assess scene of mishap

Vijayawada: The Airports Authority of India (AAI) and Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) have commenced an inquiry into the Air India Express flight that accidentally hit a high mast lamp post adjacent to the runway at Vijayawada International Airport on Saturday. Officials said there were no issues with visibility and are probing other causes that led to the mishap.

Special DGCA teams reached Vijayawada airport and examined the spot of the accident. They also tried reconstructing the scene and analysed possible reasons for the incident.

Airport authorities are examining the reasons for the pilot entering the arrival area which is meant for small aircrafts. “The investigation is going on. We are assessing reasons that may have led to the accident. There is no problem with visibility as the incident happened at 4.40 pm. The investigation will take some more days and we cannot disclose details as of now,” said airport director Madhusudan Rao.

22/02/21 Venu Lanka/Times of India

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Kannur Airport to become cargo gateway for North Malabar, South Karnataka

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cargo ap

Kannur International Airport (KIAL) in Kerala recently opened its 1,200 sq mt cargo complex with an annual capacity of 12,000 metric tonnes and will soon have the 6,000 sq mt international cargo terminal ready. It is now aiming to become the air cargo hub for the region by exporting goods to the Gulf region and even to the United States by beating other airports with its advantages.

Being the fourth international airport of Kerala, it has Calicut International Airport just 120 kms south of it and Mangalore International Airport 170 kms north of it. However, the ability of KIAL to handle much bigger aircraft due to its runway length and connectivity to industries, businesses and plantations in the North Malabar and South Karnataka makes it an ideal candidate to become the cargo gateway of the region to the world.

The runway of KIAL is 3,050 metre and is significantly longer than the other two airports. This means the airport can handle much bigger Code-E aircraft like B777, B747 andA330. The airport also plans to increase the runway length to 4000 metres, thus becoming one of the biggest in India. Even though all three are tabletop airports, the runway length gives an edge to Kannur Airport.

Cargo Service Center has been appointed as the agency to operate and manage the terminal. Tushar Jani, chairman of CSC Group noted it as the ‘most promising new airport’. “From the enquires, we could see that both our customers and international airlines are just waiting for the cargo operations to start and permissions to come in,” he added

With 32.8 percent share in the airport, the government of Kerala along with its NRI community is spearheading the development.

“The density of the NRI population around Kannur airport is highest among all airports in Kerala which is a great opportunity. Also, it is one of the technically advanced Airport with better connectivity in the region and has many advantages above all other airports in the region,” said Jani.

Once fully functional, Kannur International Airport is expected to become the cargo hub of the region. It will also serve the export opportunities arising from the proximity to South Karnataka. Kodagu, located just 82 km away from the airport, has a large number of coffee and tea plantations, frequently exported produces.

22/02/21 Libin Chacko Kurian/ITLN

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Ayodhya airport to be named after Lord Ram: UP govt

Lucknow: The under-construction airport in Ayodhya will be named Maryada Purushottam Sriram Airport, Ayodhya after Lord Ram and a provision of Rs 101 crore has been made for it in the budget presented in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly on Monday.

Besides the provision for the Ayodhya airport which will subsequently be made an international airport, the budget also provides for Rs 2,000 crore for increasing the number of airstrips at Jewar Airport from 2 to 6.

Cities like Aligarh, Moradabad, Meerut will also be linked through air service soon, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath told reporters after the presentation of the budget by Finance Minister Suresh Khanna.

22/02/21 PTI/Indian Express

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Tender Issued to Set Up 2 MW of Solar Projects at Agartala Airport in Tripura

NTPC Vidyut Vyapar Nigam Limited (NVVN), a wholly-owned subsidiary of NTPC Limited, has invited bids for setting up 2 MW of grid-connected ground-mounted solar photovoltaic projects at the Agartala airport in Tripura.

NVVNL did not specify an earnest money deposit for the tender. The deadline for the submission of bids is February 22, 2021.

Mercom had earlier reported that the Tripura Electricity Regulatory Commission approved the 2 MW solar project at the newly constructed terminal at Agartala’s Maharaj Bir Bikram Airport in December last year. Once operational, this would be the first solar-powered airport in India’s North East. The Commission is considering it as a special case and allowing a net metering facility for the 2 MW solar project.

The scope of work includes the design, engineering, supply, construction, testing, and commissioning of the projects, along with net metering. Selected bidders are expected to provide operations and maintenance services for three years.

22/02/21 Nithin Thomas Prasad/Mercom

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Theft cases on the rise at Bengaluru airport security checkpoints

Bengaluru: Kempegowda International Airport (KIA) has been witnessing a number of theft cases involving passengers stealing valuables and cash of fellow flyers during security clearance inside the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) cordon before boarding.

The valuables include watches, wallets, headphones and fitness bands and in the last four days alone, two flyers were arrested.

Sources said thefts during security checks have become a daily affair and CISF sleuths on duty have nabbed many suspects with the help of CCTV footage. On Saturday morning, Ramesh Babu, scheduled to travel to Visakhapatnam on an Air Asia flight, approached the CISF team stating that his wrist watch placed on the tray went missing post scanning. The officers examined the CCTV footage and spotted a fellow passenger pocketing the watch from the tray.

The suspect was tracked to the IndiGo Airlines flight 6E 345, which was scheduled to take off to Patna at 9.05am. He was quizzed on board the aircraft by officers who deplaned him after the watch was found in his possession. The suspect, Lalan Kumar, 36, a carpenter from Bihar, was handed over to city police for further probe, sources said.

On Thursday afternoon, a woman suspected of stealing an expensive wrist watch belonging to a fellow passenger, created a ruckus near the gate when a CISF team attempted to frisk her. Goa-bound passenger Megha Diwakar, who was scheduled to board an IndiGo Airlines flight at 2.10pm, had complained to the team about her missing watch.

The team examined the CCTV footage and found a woman taking the watch from the tray and leaving towards the gate. When stopped, she claimed the search was humiliating. However, she was taken away for frisking but the body and bag searches did not yield anything. An officer noticed her tightly closed fist and forced open the palm to find the stolen watch. The suspect, Ruchi Ahuja, who was to board Vistara flight UK 804 to Delhi at 3pm was handed over to KIA police, sources said.

22/02/21 Petlee Peter/Times of India

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Airports: PPP model benefits under lens

New Delhi: No comparative study has been conducted by the Airport Authority of India (AAI) to show that the PPP model would be more beneficial for the growth of the aviation industry in India. The fact gains significance as AAI Board had, in its meeting on September 5, 2019, approved leasing of six more airport s — Bhubaneswar, Varanasi, Amritsar, Raipur, Indore and Trichy — for undertaking operations, management and development through PPP model.

A parliamentary panel also analysed the share of AAI in the gross revenue earned by DIAL and MIAL, which run two busiest airports — Delhi and Mumbai. It noted a declining trend in the case of DIAL and demanded to know the reasons. The panel also noted the huge amount to be spent by the government on the airports approved for privatisation.

It sought to know from the government the arrangement between the private operators and AAI under PPP model where the AAI has to spend Rs 7,291 crore on these airports though the responsibility to Design, Build, Finance, Operate and Transfer is that of the private operators/promoters. In response to the panel’s query on whether any comparative study was carried out by any independent agency on the functioning and performance of AAI managed vis-à-vis private airports, the AAI said no comparative study was conducted to show that PPP model would be more beneficial for the growth of aviation industry.

It, however, added that DIAL and MIAL had brought improvements at airport infrastructure which “transformed the passenger experience, improved efficiency and capacity for airline operators and delivered revenues” to the AAI. The revenue share of AAI in the gross revenue earned by DIAL initially saw an upward curve between 2014 and 2017, but thereafter it reflected a declining trend. The panel, however, noticed that AAI’s share of the gross revenue earned by MIAL has shown consistently an increasing trend. The panel’s report suggested that audit be conducted to ensure there are no leakages in revenues.

21/02/21 Kumar Vikram/New Indian Express

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Bangla man collapses at Kol airport, dies

Kolkata: A 51-year-old Bangladeshi man who landed at the Kolkata airport on Friday evening collapsed during immigration clearance and was declared dead on being taken to a private hospital. He had come to Kolkata for treatment.

The man, Biplab Saha, a resident of Dhaka flew down to Kolkata around 4.40pm by an Air India flight and was at the immigration counter along with his relatives when he suddenly collapsed around 5pm. He was attended to by airport’s medical team who performed CPR and provided initial treatment. He was then taken to Charnock Hospital where doctors declared him dead on arrival.

“He had been suffering from a cardiac ailment for a long time. It seems he suffered a cardiac arrest while coming out of the airport. By the time, he reached our hospital, he had passed away,” said a hospital official.

21/02/21 Times of India

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Passenger numbers rise at Bengaluru airport

Bengaluru: About 30,000 passengers now fly through the Kempegowda International Airport (KIA) on average every day, in encouraging signs for the travel industry that’s recovering from the pandemic. Good connectivity to smaller destinations is driving the numbers. Last month, there were an average 270 flights to nonmetro cities daily.

According to the KIA operator, Bangalore International Airport Limited (BIAL), it now connects 61 destinations across the country and five new locations — Agra, Kurnool, Rajkot, Durgapur and Dibrugarh — are in the pipeline. The increased connectivity from the tech capital, it said, indicates a positive trend in air travel to non-metro cities. Before the pandemic, Bengaluru catered to 58 domestic destinations.

Improved regional connectivity has led to a threefold increase in transfer passengers. As one of the main centres in south India, Bengaluru holds a geographical advantage, providing fast and easy access to catchment areas in the south and other non-metro airports. The share of nonmetro passengers increased from 55 per cent in 2019-20 to 64 per cent in the financial year 2020-21.

The new destinations connected from Bengaluru are Jorhat, Gorakhpur and Jharsuguda. Operations started last month. Silchar, Darbhanga, Amritsar, Nashik and Jabalpur are the other new routes that were launched earlier in 2020-21. Flights to Rajkot, Durgapur and Dibrugarh are expected to start by February-end and to Agra and Kurnool by mid-March.

21/02/21 Times of India

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Night flights at Srinagar Airport likely from next month

Srinagar: The much-awaited night flight operations at the Srinagar International Airport are likely to begin next month provided the Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) gives its final approval.

Although, GoAir is already offering bookings on a Srinagar-Delhi night flight for March-end on its official website, the airport officials said the nod from the central aviation regulator DGCA is required before the Valley can witness its maiden night flight operations.

When contacted, Director, Airports Authority of India, Srinagar, Santosh Dhoke confirmed that the plan for night flights was in the pipeline but added that “it was not finalised as the approval from DGCA is yet to be received”.

“We are hopeful to get the DGCA clearance in the next two weeks so that we can have the night flight operations,” Dhoke said.

Dhoke said that the night flight operations were expected to start in the summer schedule which comes into effect from March 27. “At present we have watch hours (flying time) till 5:30 pm but we are hopeful that this will be extended to almost 8- 8:30 pm so that we can have the night flights,” Dhoke said.

A cursory look at its portal shows that GoAir is offering bookings for Srinagar-Delhi flights for March 29 with Srinagar departure at 8:30 pm and Delhi arrival at 10 pm.

A spokesperson of the airline said: “If the portal is showing the booking, then absolutely it (flight) has to be there”.

21/02/21 Saqib Malik/Greater Kashmir

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Soon, improved, customer-friendly website for AAI

Chennai: The Airports Authority of India (AAI) is planning to revamp the website of Chennai airport by roping in website developers after passengers complained that the website does not offer enough information, including live flight status.

“The plan is to rope in a professional firm who can design and run the site for us. The paperwork has been finalised and a tender will be floated soon,” said an official. The AAI will provide the content and will monitor it but the firm which will be awarded the work will be in charge of preparing a customer-friendly website.

Sources said the website of AAI airports are maintained by a team in the headquarters in Delhi. Though information about the facilities at the airport are updated periodically, it takes time for the changes to be brought online. This posed inconvenience to the passengers as Covid-19 restrictions led to frequent changes in travel regulations, documents and guidelines for domestic and international passengers.

Though private airports at Bengaluru, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Delhi have good websites with passenger information including live flight updates and RT-PCR test details, Chennai airport’s account on Twitter is a more popular source of information. This is posing a problem as people are not able to access information on travel restrictions and Covid checks at the airport from the website.

The existing website does not have information on flight schedules, details of health screening of passengers, quarantine rules. Instead it has only basic information about the airport and lists out food and beverages outlets and retail stores and other facilities. AAI started work to revamp the site around six months ago.

21/02/21 Times of India

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IndiGo to operate spl Trichy-Kuwait weekly service

Trichy:IndiGo Air will operate a weekly special flight to Trichy from Kuwait during March. This is seen as an effort to tap a potential market in the wake of Trichy airport handling 45 Vande Bharat flights bringing back 5,950 Tamils stranded in that country during the pandemic.

Sources said the airline will operate the service under the Air Bubble agreement between the two countries and booking has begun. Flight (6E 8784) will depart at 12 pm from Kuwait on Tuesdays and reach Trichy at 7.25 pm. Air India Express is operating a weekly service to Kuwait on Thursdays under Vande Bharat Mission. IndiGo has been operating weekly two services to Dubai under the Air Bubble agreement and had brought back 499 passengers from there on three charter flights, officials added.

This apart, Kuwait Airways operated eight services carrying 909 passengers to Trichy while Jazeera Airways brought back 1,311passengers on eight flights. Air India provided six services to bring 688 passengers and Air India Express, 20 services to fly back 2,543 passengers.

21/02/21 D Vincent Arockiaraj/Times of India

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Pvt airlines to add Rajkot in summer plans

Rajkot: City is set to get comparatively better air connectivity in the coming months starting March end. A few private airline operators want to add some destinations from Rajkot in their summer schedule which will start from March 28.

SpiceJet is in talks with the airport authority to start a flight for Hyderabad from May, while they are already starting a daily flight for Bengaluru from February 24. This is the first time in Rajkot’s airport history that the commercial capital of Saurashtra will get air connectivity for south Indian cities. The IndiGo airlines too is in talks to start flight for four destinations.

Talking to TOI Digant Borah said, “They are in talks to start operation for Hyderabad, but we are awaiting their confirmation mail. There are other operators who want to add some more destinations from Rajkot. The airport is small, but I told my headquarters and flight operators that we are ready to tackle air traffic for the entire day. We have only asked for 20 to 30 minutes’ time in between arrival and departure of an aircraft. It will be cleared in a few days as to how many flights will operate from Rajkot in the summer schedule.”

21/02/21 Times of India

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More flights from Shillong likely

Shillong: Meghalaya’s aviation sector is expected to add wings with plans to provide flights between Shillong and six locations in the North East under UDAN 4.0.

Shillong airport is currently connected to Kolkata by a daily flight and to New Delhi by a weekly flight.

An Airports Authority of India official said they were optimistic about the new flights despite the UDAN scheme of the Ministry of Civil Aviation not having taken off as hoped for.

“These flights could prove to be a world of good for Meghalaya,” the official said, adding that Alliance Air and Flybig have been selected to operate on these proposed routes.

Flybig executives said they plan to start direct Shillong-Aizawl, Shillong-Imphal and Shillong-Guwahati flights from March but there’s no clarity on how things will work out.

While Flybig is operating the Shillong-Delhi direct flight, Indigo is operating the Shillong-Kolkata flight.

The number of passengers is increasing in both the flights.

More airlines are likely to operate to and from Shillong, as additional parking bays and aprons are being constructed at the airport.

21/02/21 Shillong Times

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KIA to be first airport in south to have operational parallel runways

Bengaluru: Kempegowda International Airport will soon make history by becoming the first airport in south India to have operational parallel runways, enabling planes to take off and land simultaneously when its northern runway re-opens on March 25. The refurbished runway, which includes an LED centre line and edge lights, is expected to reduce aircraft taxiing time by at least 15 minutes.

Also known as the old runway, it was closed for maintenance in mid-June 2020 and aircraft operations were completely shifted to the southern/second runway which runs parallelly.

Sources with Bangalore International Airport Limited (BIAL) said the old runway has received new life with a fresh asphalt top layer along with strengthening of the surface. It has now been equipped with two more entry taxiways and additional transmissometers for runway visibility. When operational from March-end, the runways are likely to be used simultaneously for landings and takeoffs. This will make KIA the first airport in south India to have parallel runways that are independent and operational. Delhi airport already boasts of parallel runways that are functional, sources said.

20/02/21 Petlee Peter/Times of India

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IAF withdraws Jammu airport closure order; restricted flight operations during runway resurfacing work

Jammu: The flight operations to and from Jammu airport would be restricted to seven hours for 41 days from March 10 as the Indian Air Force withdrew its earlier order proposing complete closure of the airport for 15 days next month for resurfacing work of the runway, officials said on Saturday.

The decision was reviewed and modified by the IAF in consultation with the Airport Authority of India (AAI) at a meeting on Friday following instructions from the Union Defence Ministry, the officials said.

A day earlier, Defence Secretary Ajay Kumar chaired a joint meeting of IAF and AAI in Delhi and advised them to find a way out to avoid closure of the airport for civilian traffic after the Civil Aviation Ministry raised the issue with him at the request of Jammu and Kashmir administration.

The officials said the proposed complete closure of the Jammu airport from March 6 to March 20 has been withdrawn.

However, the flight operations at the airport would be restricted to seven hours daily from March 10 to April 19 to facilitate smooth work.

The Jammu airport would be available for the operations from 6 am to 1 pm with the last flight departure at 12.50 pm during March 10 to April 19, the officials said.

They said the Jammu airport would be available for operations as per earlier normal watch hours with effect from April 20.

20/02/21 PTI/Times of India

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Indore: Flights to Delhi & Goa zoom at 100%

Indore: Delhi, Mumbai and Goa are among the most preferable destinations of people flying from Indore. While there has been an increase in the number of flights operating to and from Indore, flights on many of the routes are witnessing less than 60% occupancy.

Flights operating on Indore-Delhi and Indore-Goa routes are having almost full occupancy. Those operating on Indore-Mumbai routes are also having 80 -90% occupancy, claimed airport sources. Currently, Air India, Indigo, Air Asia, Go Air, Vistara, Star Air, and Fly-Big are operating flights on different routes to and from Indore.

Officials said that demand on Delhi, Mumbai and Goa routes is high Travel agents pointed out the current passengers traffic is of essential travel like those travelling on urgency, while tourism and corporate travel is limited to a maximum of 50 per cent. 

20/02/21 Times of India

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Fog in north Indian cities causes major flight delays at Pune airport

Pune: Several flights to/from Pune faced delays because of fog and rough weather conditions in north India on Friday.

Between 8am and 3pm, roughly 20 flights — arrivals and departures — were delayed by 45 minutes to nearly six hours.

Haresh Rakhyani, a flyer, tagged GoAir on Twitter and wrote, “The situation at the Pune airport is very grim. All GoAir flights are delayed.”

The airline replied, “We work hard to run an on-time airline; however, unforeseen events challenge us.”

A SpiceJet flight from Pune to Delhi, scheduled for an 8.05am take-off, was delayed by two hours and 45 minutes. An Air India flight which was to arrive from Delhi at 8.40am — and leave for Allahabad an hour later — was hit by a four-hour delay. A GoAir flight from Pune to Nagpur (9.55am departure), was delayed by over three hours; an IndiGo flight to Delhi (10.10am take-off), was delayed by five hours and 40 minutes; and a SpiceJet flight to Patna (11.20am departure) was hit by a two-hour delay.

Pune airport officials said the delays ran well into the 12pm-3pm window — an IndiGo flight to Allahabad was delayed by 30 minutes; a GoAir flight to Delhi was late by three hours; a Vistara flight to Delhi was delayed by 44 minutes and an IndiGo flight to Nagpur was an hour-and-a-half late.

20/02/21 Joy Sengupta/Times of India

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