Sical Logistics begins terminal work at MIHAN

Chennai: Sical Logistics Ltd, an integrated solutions provider for multi-modal logistics for bulk and containerised cargo and offshore logistics, has commenced work on Nagpur Sical Gupta Road Terminal Ltd (NSGRTL) for road terminal at the Multimodal International Hub Airport at Nagpur (MIHAN) on Monday. Nagpur Sical Gupta Terminal is a special purpose vehicle floated by Sical Logistics in association with Maharashtra Airport Development Company (MADC) and Gupta Coal in the ratio of 51%, 26% and 23%.
Nagpur Sical Gupta will build, operate and manage the road terminal. The total project cost is estimated to be Rs 119.30 crore with a debt:equity ratio of about 1:1. The road terminal will stretch across a 60 hectare plot and have parking facilities for 1,150 vehicles including multi-axle vehicles, warehousing space of 500,000 sq ft, 15 hectares of open space and 45,000 sq ft of cold storage area, said Sical in a press release on Monday.
26/02/08 Financial Express

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Churchill gives a call to oppose Mopa airport

Majorda: The PWD Minister, Mr Churchill Alemao today asserted that Mopa being on the border of Goa with Maharashtra, why should Mopa airport be not shifted to the other side of the border, that is in Maharashtra.
He said “if Mopa airport is shifted into Maharashtra, tourism in Goa will not suffer and tourism in Maharashtra will prosper”.
In a faxed message, Mr Alemao, while reacting to the appointment of committees on Mopa airport by the Prime Minister, said tourism promotion should not be advertised in Maharashtra with the airport (Mopa) being in Goa.
“Do not advertise to tourists that the destination is in Goa, with the intention of the tourist industry taken into Maharashtra”, Mr Alemao said in a signed statement.
He said that it was wisdom that superseded when the Goans voted against the merger to save their identity and its fruits are seen today -- from a Union territory to a state and from becoming a district of Maharashtra, administered by a collector.
30/01/08 Navhind Times

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Making IT happen for high fliers

The key areas of management at Heathrow (and at Gatwick, also operated by the same company, BAA) including the complete airport management database, passenger and baggage handling as well as all flight announcements have been entrusted to solutions provided by a niche Indian player in the management of what is known as TTL — Travel, Transportation and Logistics — the Thiruvananthapuram-based IBS Software Services.
“I don’t think any other company offers such a wide range of services and solutions across the spectrum of TTL,” says V.K. Mathews founder-Chairman-CEO of IBS. It is no idle claim, that this MTech in aeronautical engineering from IIT Kanpur makes. Yet so low-key has been the profile of this company that few outside the TTL industry are aware of its name or that this is the international epicentre of an operation that is a decade old and now spans 15 global delivery and support centres.
A lean team totalling less than 2,000, creates and delivers solutions for airports, seaports, airlines, oil and gas companies, tour operators, cruise lines, that have received the highest ISO ratings of the software industry.
Only last week, Air New Zealand, became the third airline to adopt IBS’ cargo management system, iCargo, which supports the complete chain of supply from shipper to consignee harnessing the Web.
31/01/08 Anand Parthasarathy/The Hindu

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Airport to be named after Bengaluru

Bangalore: The Garden City may still be awaiting a green signal from the Union Home Ministry to get its name changed from Bangalore to Bengaluru. But the promoters of the new Devanahalli international airport have gone a step ahead and christened the airport “Bengaluru International Airport”.
The airport has also been given a new logo, reflecting by the City’s floral charm.
The Bangalore International Airport Limited (BIAL), the main promoters of the country’s first greenfield airport confirmed to Deccan Herald that the new airport would henceforth be called the “Bengaluru International Airport”.
The first flight is set to take off from the new airport in about 60 days.
“We have adopted the City’s proposed name of Bengaluru, and the airport will be called Bengaluru International Airport,“ said BIAL Officials.
Ever since the airport construction commenced in July 2005, suggestions and demands had come from several quarters on a suitable name. The debate had even triggered protests from various organisations who wanted it to be named after prominent personalities like founder of Bangalore Kempe Gowda; former Mysore Diwan Sir M Visvesvaraya, matinee idol Rajkumar and Tipu Sultan who was born in Devanahalli.
30/01/08 Hemanth C S/Deccan Herald

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Navi Mumbai airport to be ready by 2012

With the prime consultant for structuring the bidding process for Navi Mumbai International Airport expected to be appointed by the end of this month, the City and Industrial Development Corporation (Cidco) - the infrastructure arm of the Maharashtra government- says it will meet the 2012 deadline for completion of the airport's first phase.
The airport, to be built at a cost of Rs 2,787 crore, will have a capacity of 10 million passengers per year. The deadline is important as Mumbai international airport will reach its saturation point of 40 million passengers per annum by then.
Cidco has zeroed in on three sites in Navi Mumbai to rehabilitate those the project will displace -10 villages with 3,500 families.
The rehabilitation package will cost Rs 250-Rs 300 crore. Of the 2,053 hectares marked for the project, Cidco holds 57 per cent and the state government 21 per cent. The rest, on which major activity will take place, is yet to be acquired.
30/01/08 Manisha Singhal/Business Standard

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Greater Noida airport may get tangled in Mayajaal

New Delhi: The fate of the international airport near Greater Noida proposed by the Uttar Pradesh government will be discussed here on Thursday by a group of ministers (GoM) headed by finance minister P Chidambaram. The proposal for the airport has been facing resistance from the GMR Group, which is modernising the Delhi airport.
Legal issues related to the rights of the GMR Group — which fears loss of business and, therefore, revenue — if the new facility comes up would be considered at the meeting, government sources said. Law minister H R Bhardwaj and civil aviation minister Praful Patel are the other GoM members and legal inputs from experts will be available to the panel.
As of now, no international airport is allowed to come up within 150 km of another. Also, the operation, management and development agreement with the GMR Group for upgrading the Delhi airport may pose roadblocks to the proposed airport.
The recent souring of ties between the Centre and the Mayawati government may introduce new undercurrents, though legal issues will be the focus.
30/01/08 Nirbhay Kumar/Economic Times

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Mihan: AAI cancels NOC to First City

Nagpur: The Airports Authority of India (AAI) has cancelled its no-objection-certificate (NOC) to ‘First City’, an Rs 225-crore infrastructure project being implemented in the special economic zone (Sez) adjoining the international airport here.
The decision follows a clarification by special project authority, the Maharashtra Airport Development Company (MADC), to the AAI that it planned to construct a parallel airstrip southwest of the existing runway at the airport as part of the proposed multi-modal international hub and airport at Nagpur (Mihan).
Sources in AAI told DNA that it had granted NOC to First City, a lavish 31-acre residential township being developed by Mumbai-based Reatox Builders and Developers Pvt Ltd and executed by a multinational firm IJM India International, based on documents submitted by MADC.
The MADC had in those documents “concealed such a vital information” about the provision of a parallel runway, sources said.
30/01/08 Jaideep Hardikar/Daily News & Analysis

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Nagpur-Singapore flight by mid-April

Nagpur: Low cost airline Air-India Express has proposed to connect Nagpur with Singapore via Kolkata-Bangkok by mid-April this year. Singapore follows four other international destinations connected to Nagpur; following Sharjah (Air Arabia), Doha (Qatar Airways), Dubai (Air India Express) and Bangkok (Air India).
The Nagpur-Singapore flight will be operated on Nagpur-Kolkata-Bangkok-Singapore sector, thrice a week initially, from Dr Ambedkar International Airport at Nagpur. A-I Express is already operating international flights from Nagpur on Mumbai-Nagpur-Dubai route thrice a week, with good load factor. Its return flight from Nagpur to Mumbai provides a connecting flight for the New York service.
Presently, A-I Express operates a flight on Kolkata-Bangkok-Singapore sector twice a week, however after the arrival of the new aircraft the same service will be extended to Nagpur also.
30/01/08 Sachin Dravekar/Times of India

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Misuse Green Channel at Airport, Face Prosecution

New Delhi: Supreme Court has put a full stop on people using the green channel to bring in goods without paying duty. Monday's ruling undercuts the assumption of those taking the "green channel" when they should be using the "red" that they can, if caught, get away by paying the customs duty and a fine.
Writing the judgment for the Bench, Justice Kapadia agreed with solicitor-general G E Vahanvati that compounding of offence ? it enables offenders to escape punishment if they cough up penalty ? is based on "Principles of Disclosure" which come into force only if the declaration is honest. "The basic rule of disclosure underlying Section 137(3) of the Act is that if there are demonstrable contradictions or inconsistencies or incompleteness in the case of the applicant, then application for compounding cannot be entertained. Applications for compounding ought to be disallowed if there are such contradictions, inconsistencies or incompleteness," it said.
This ruling came in a case pertaining to one Anil Chanana, who was intercepted by customs officials at IGI airport on August 10, 2004. On personal search, he was found to have smuggled in two pairs of diamond ear-rings worth Rs 1.16 crore.
30/01/08 Times of India/Daijiworld.com

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Jolly Grant airport nears completion

New Delhi/Dehra Dun: When a chartered Boeing 737 carrying foreign tourists landed during the weekend at Jolly Grant airport here, the cheer among the airport officials was palpable.
It was for the first time that a Boeing plane touched down on the airstrip, which was recently widened to facilitate the landing of bigger aircraft including Airbus-320. As soon as the Boeing landed, airport officials declared the airstrip fit for operation.
Welcome to the newly upgraded Jolly Grant airport here, which is now getting the final makeover for the inauguration in a month's time.
The Centre has spent Rs 75 crore for upgrading the airport where only small planes used to land hitherto.
The Jolly Grant airport at Dehradun is being upgraded by AAI for operation of B-737/A-320 class of aircraft considering the traffic potential and requirement projected by airlines.
30/01/08 Shishir Prashant/Business Standard

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Flyover work makes fliers miss flights

Passengers have been facing a major hurdle in their path to the domestic terminal at Santa Cruz. The reason being — work on the Rs17 crore flyover at the Santa Cruz and Vile Parle junctions on the Western Express Highway.
The flyover is being built by the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation on behalf of the MMRDA to minimise traffic congestion at the two junctions.
But until the flyover gets ready — the scheduled date of completion is May 2008 — air passengers are spending a lot of time crawling through traffic jams to reach their departure points.
Last Thursday, Tejpal Jain, 27, and his wife Sudarshana from Mira Road had to miss an early morning GoAir flight to Jaipur. “We left home at 5am so that we could reach on time,” says Jain, a financial analyst. By 5:40am the Jains reached Andheri station and took a taxi for the domestic terminal at Santa Cruz. On reaching the airport we got to know that we had missed our flight.”
30/01/08 Naveeta Singh & Chittaranjan Tembhekar/Daily News & Analysis

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Sharp increase in air passenger traffic to Coimbatore

Coimbatore's enhanced stature as an emerging information technology hub and an exporter of industrial goods has led to a sharp increase in air passenger traffic to the city. About 4,000 passengers pass through Coimbatore Airport every day. Until a few years ago, only Indian and Jet Air operated flights to Coimbatore. Today passengers are spoiled for choice with Paramount, Jetlite, Air Deccan, Kingfisher and Spicejet operating domestic flights and SilkAir, a regional wing of Singapore Airlines, Air India and Gulf Air operating international flights from Coimbatore Airport.
“The passenger movement has gone up by 26 per cent on an average this year compared to last year. We are expecting an increase of 30 per cent in the coming financial year. In some months, it touches 35 per cent,” said K. Hemalatha, Director, Coimbatore Airport, Airports Authority of India.
The city is going to have a modern airport with an extended runway by March in order to accommodate wide-bodied aircraft and cope with increasing traffic, she said. The Tamil Nadu government has been approached for acquiring land for the extension project. Construction of a parallel taxi track has been contemplated in order to minimise the runway occupancy time and turnaround time of aircraft.
30/01/08 T.S. Subramanian/Frontline

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CIAL support for Lanka

Nedumbassery: As part of the diversification projects, the Cochin International Airport Ltd (CIAL) is all set to provide assistance to Sri Lanka in constructing an airport.
A high-level delegation of the officials of the CIAL headed by its Managing Director Shriram Bharath left for Sri Lanka following the invitation of Sri Lankan President Mahindra Rajapakse on Monday to hold preliminary discussions about the feasibility of setting up a new Greenfield Airport in southern Sri Lanka, in line with the CIAL airport here.
Besides the CIAL Managing Director, the team included Airport Director A. C. K Nair, general Managers A. M. Shabeer (Civil) and Suresh Babu (Commercial), Sr. Manager K. P Thankachan, Manager C. V. Ajithkumar and Deputy Manager T. Rajendran.
They will hold discussions with the President of Sri Lanka., the Minister of Ports and Aviation and senior officials of the Sri Lankan Government. The delegation will also visit the proposed site for the construction of the Airport. The delegation will return on February 2.
29/01/08 Newindpress

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IVRCL to bid for non-metro airports

Hyderabad: Hyderabad-based IVRCL Infrastructure and Projects Ltd is looking to bid for airport development projects in small cities and towns, joining a growing list of firms wanting to tap the aviation boom in the country.
The company has already made a beginning with a bid to develop the Amritsar airport.
Confirming the news, E. Sudhir Reddy, chairman and managing director, IVRCL, said the company had “partnered with a Spanish airport development” firm for the purpose, but declined to name it.
IVRCL isn’t keen on being the developer for all such projects, Reddy said, adding, “we are not necessarily interested in owning airport assets. We are keen on bidding for the airport projects as building contracts. We will bid for those projects where the size of the contract is attractive. The contract sizes of passenger terminals at Chennai and Kolkata are above Rs1,000 crore.” The company is evaluating other non-metro projects.
IVRCL has built the passenger terminals at the existing airports at Hyderabad and Bangalore in the past decade (new airports in both cities are due to open shortly).
The company has also bid to build new passenger terminals at the Chennai and Kolkata airports, said Reddy.
29/01/08 C.R. Sukumar/Livemint

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Pune airport closure irks passengers

Mumbai/Pune: More than 50,000 Pune-bound passengers will have to either cancel or re-schedule their journey plans as the Pune international airport will remain shut for 15 days from February 12 following the ongoing runway re-carpetting project.
This has irked not just the general passengers and the business fraternity, but also executives of various airlines.
“The number of cancellations has suddenly increased and we have to face the angry passengers. Availability of flying slots has been a pending issue for quite some time. And now, the entire airport will be shut for 15 days,” an executive of Jet Airways said.
“We start flight bookings three months in advance. Hence, a lot of tickets have already been booked. Cancellation of tickets and issuing refunds have suddenly increased the workload,” said a sales executive of SpiceJet.
Zensar managing director Ganesh Natrajan said the development had come as a shock to the business community.
The closure is also expected to hit cargo transport worth 200-tonne in these 15 days.
29/01/08 Business Standard

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Chinese and Indian travellers boost Changi traffic to new high

Singapore: More travellers from China and India boosted passenger traffic at Singapore's Changi Airport to an all-time record high of 36.7 million last year, 4.8 per cent over 2006, the Civil Aviation Authority said on Monday. Visits by Chinese and Indians increased by 12.6 per cent and 15.6 per cent from the previous year.
"Emerging markets such as Vietnam, Russia and South Africa also saw double-digit growth in traffic at 24.4 per cent, 27.7 per cent and 15.1 per cent respectively," the authority said.
"We got off to a good start in 2008," said Chief Executive Officer Lim Kim Choon, citing the opening a a third terminal.
The airport "is in good stead to tap on the strong demand for air travel," he noted.
The traditional peak travel month of December also set a record for highest monthly traffic. More than 3.5 million passengers went through the airport, a 3 per cent increased over the corresponding month in 2006.
28/01/08 DPA/Earthtimes

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Dense fog at airport holds up flights

Kolkata: Nearly 800 passengers of 25 flights scheduled to take off from NSCBI Airport on Monday morning got stranded for hours as dense fog reduced runway visibility to below 350 metre. Twenty-two incoming flights were delayed, too.
Flights bound for Port Blair, Raipur, Delhi, Mumbai, Guwahati, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Indore were the worst affected. The Kolkata-Dhaka Jet Airways flight was the lone outgoing international flight that got delayed.
The problem started at daybreak with visibility dropping sharply around 6 am. The dense fog compelled authorities to suspend flight operations till 7.40 am, when visibility began to improve. But normal operations could resume only from 8.15 am.
Jet Airways' Port Blair flight was the first to take off at 7.50 am, an hour and 15 minutes behind schedule. It was followed by an Air India flight to Delhi, which took off at 8 am. Low-cost carriers like Deccan, SpiceJet and IndiGo had to wait longer in the queue for take off. The airport was congested with outgoing and incoming flights held up, said an ATC source.
29/01/08 Times of India

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Customer Satisfaction Index of Bajpe Airport Rises

Mangalore: Even as the Airports Authority of India (AAI) has added new infrastructure facilities at Bajpe (Mangalore) airport during the last three years, the customers have ranked this airport high in providing services.
As per a customer satisfaction survey of airports by an agency for the AAI, Mangalore Airport has scored the highest ranking in the customer satisfaction index among domestic airports in South India.
The survey covered different aspects of an airport. It included attitude of AAI employees, the police and other security personnel, cleanliness at the airport and general aesthetics, drinking water facilities, guidance signage, flight information system, audio system and quality of trolley services. It also studied other facilities such as car parking, ATM service, post office, illumination, bookstall and other working conditions at the airport.
The survey by the Delhi-based Spectrum Planning (India) Ltd. has said that the customer satisfaction index of Mangalore airport had gone up from 75 per cent to 81 per cent between early 2007 and late 2007.
29/01/08 The Hindu/Daijiworld.com

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Customer Satisfaction Index of Bajpe Airport Rises

Mangalore: Even as the Airports Authority of India (AAI) has added new infrastructure facilities at Bajpe (Mangalore) airport during the last three years, the customers have ranked this airport high in providing services.
As per a customer satisfaction survey of airports by an agency for the AAI, Mangalore Airport has scored the highest ranking in the customer satisfaction index among domestic airports in South India.
The survey covered different aspects of an airport. It included attitude of AAI employees, the police and other security personnel, cleanliness at the airport and general aesthetics, drinking water facilities, guidance signage, flight information system, audio system and quality of trolley services. It also studied other facilities such as car parking, ATM service, post office, illumination, bookstall and other working conditions at the airport.
The survey by the Delhi-based Spectrum Planning (India) Ltd. has said that the customer satisfaction index of Mangalore airport had gone up from 75 per cent to 81 per cent between early 2007 and late 2007.
29/01/08 The Hindu/Daijiworld.com

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Passenger dies of heart attack at airport

Chennai: A passenger, who came to board a Kolkata-bound flight, died of heart attack at the Kamaraj domestic airport here, early Sunday.
Somnath Datta (34), belonging to Tripura, was moving to the check-in area to board the Air Deccan flight when he suffered heart attack and collapsed, airport sources said.
Airport doctors examined the passenger and declared him dead. The body has been kept at Chrompet Government hospital.
Datta had come to the state to get treatment for cancer, the sources added.
27/01/08 PTI/The Hindu

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Immigration racket: Flight purser gets bail

Mumbai: A sessions court on Friday granted bail to the flight purser working with an international airline in connection with a racket involving illegal migration to the US that was busted in November last year.
All the 12 accused have been granted bail in this case.
Arrested on January 16, the accused — Sarfaraz Sherali Virani (27), a resident of Bandra and a flight purser with Virgin Atlantic airlines — allegedly posed as the husband of a Gujarati woman, Rameelabain Jyotabhai Chaudhary, to secure a visa for her from the US consulate and also helped send her to the US.
While Chaudhary paid the alleged kingpin of the racket, Altaf Shaikh and his associate a total of Rs 22 lakh, Virani was paid Rs 2 lakh for posing as Chaudhary’s husband, the police claimed.
The police claimed that Virani is the boyfriend of former Jet Airways airhostess Aliyah Rizvi, who was arrested on November 26.
The 12 accused in the case were booked for forgery, cheating, using a forged document and criminal conspiracy.
28/01/08 Mumbai Newsline

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NAS Kuwait to expand in Indian subcontinent

Kuwait's leading airline ground handling company National Aviation Services (NAS) is expanding at a rapid pace and will soon be present in the Indian sub-continent, according to senior spokesperson Mr. Adel Al-Askar who addressed members of the local press at a dinner hosted by the company recently.
Having begun in late 2003 handling one airline, today NAS boasts of handling 20 scheduled international airlines, the likes of British Airways, KLM, Lufthansa, Emirates, Qatar Airways and Jazeera Airways to name a few in addition to handling private charter flights, VIPs and flights for the US Military.
NAS has been credited with introducing several new concepts at the Kuwait Airport for instance the Hala Kuwait Meet & Assist, where departing and arriving passengers are assisted with their check-in, baggage and immigration formalities thus easing their travel stress and making their trip more memorable.
28/01/08 AME Info (press release), United Arab Emirates

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Delhi, Mumbai airports upgradation in a mess

It has now been almost 21 months since the two consortia — Mumbai International Airport Ltd (MIAL) and Delhi International Airport Ltd (DIAL) — have been working on the grandiose projects of renovating and upgrading the busiest airports of India. But even after such a considerable time lag, both the airports are a pale figure of what was envisioned. The shanties surrounding the Mumbai airport still make an indelible impression of nothing has changed and the chaos at the Delhi airport is a stark reminder of the bygone era. Clearly, both the companies have failed miserably in addressing the basic problems of adequate parking, lounge facilities and check-in counters.
In fact, with such a crippling state of infrastructure and a boom in the aviation industry, it doesn’t comes as a surprise that flights between Delhi and Mumbai, which used to take 95 minutes before 2003, now take at least two hours. Aviation experts believe that the biggest problem with both the airports is that they are brown field projects.
When the construction activities end in 2010, both the airports may not be a shade of what was earlier promised to be replicas of Shanghai and JFK airports.
In fact, the customer satisfaction index unfolds the real story.This indicator doesn’t come as a surprise, knowing that the Delhi and Mumbai airport are the world’s worst airports when it comes to arrivals. What’s more, according to recent survey in Forbes magazine, these two are world’s worst for timely arrivals.
27/01/08 Dheeraj Tiwari & Raja Awasthi/Economic Times

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Maytas Infra to sign pacts for port, airport projects soon

Hyderabad: Maytas Infra is close to signing concessional agreements for port and airport development projects in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka.
In a consortium with Nagarjuna Construction Company (NCC) and SREI Finance, Maytas Infra has been awarded the Rs 1,500-crore Machilipatnam port development in Andhra Pradesh.
"We hope to sign the concessional agreement in a month or two and thereafter complete the project in 36 months," P.K. Madhav, Chief Executive Officer of the Hyderabad-based Maytas Infra, told Business Line.
The foundation stone for the deep water port is expected to be laid sometime in April.
In aviation, Maytas Infra and its Austrian partner have bagged two projects with estimated total investments of about $20 million in Karnataka at Shimoga and Gulbarga. Decks have been cleared to sign the concessional agreements and the company is ready to take up the projects, Madhav said.
The company has long-term interests in the aviation sector. It will bid for more projects in India with the Vienna Airport company. Internationally also the partners will bid for projects in the future, he said.
27/01/08 M. Somasekhar/Business Line/Sify

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Bangalore, Hyderabad greenfield airports under lens

While there is a raging debate on the pace of upgradation of existing airports, the greenfield projects are too under scrutiny. Bangalore International Airport, which is India’s largest greenfield airport, is gearing up to launch operations on March 30, 2008.
The Hyderabad Airport, which will be operational on March 16, is commissioned to handle 12 million passengers.
Both these projects are, however, plagued with their own set of problems. For instance, the accessibility to the Banglaore airport is a big concern. The international airport is about 35 km from the CBD and at present is linked only with NH 7. The state government is working on a peripheral ring road, a high speed rail link and an express highway to improve the connectivity to the much-awaited airport.
The Hyderabad Airport is not far behind. It is also coming up with a free-shuttle bus, which will pick and drop the passengers from the terminal to the airport centre.
Another major concern for passengers is the user development fee. BIAL has sent a proposal to the Union civil aviation ministry seeking to levy use a development fee of Rs 675 on outgoing domestic travellers and Rs 955 on international travellers.
As opposed to this, the upcoming GMR Hyderabad International airport has not proposed any user fee.
Besides this user fee, a passenger will easily end up shelling out around Rs 800-1,000 to reach the airport.
27/01/08 Urvashi Jha/Economic Times

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50 kg of drug seized at Karipur airport

Kozhikode: The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) recovered 50 kg of ketamine hydrochloride from two passengers at Karipur airport on Saturday.
The drug enclosed in small packets, was concealed in two suitcases of the passengers who boarded the Sri Lankan Airlines flight to Kuala Lumpur.
The search was conducted after bringing the passengers back to the airport after they boarded the flight.
Ketamine is used as a veterinary sedative in India. But in Far Eastern countries it is used as a narcotic drug.
The drug costs around Rs 35,000 in India, but in countries where it is used as narcotic the price would go up to Rs 10 lakh, sources said.
27/01/08 Newindpress

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Civil flights likely at Bathinda AF station soon

Chandigarh: The Bathinda airbase may not be just confined to sorties by the Air Force anymore as plans of a civil terminal for operating domestic flights seem to be maturing fast. A joint team of the Ministry of Defence, Airport Authority of India (AAI) and the Ministry of Civil Aviation will visit the Air Force base at Bathinda shortly to conduct a feasibility survey for domestic flights.
Chief Secretary Ramesh Inder Singh, when contacted, confirmed the developments. The plan to allow domestic fights from Bathinda could be something similar to the ongoing arrangement at Chandigarh airport, where the Air Force airstrip is being put to use for domestic flights.
The opening up of the airbase at Bathinda will be a tremendous bboost to the economy of the area. Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal had recently met the Defence Minister at New Delhi and urged him to expedite the clearance process that would enable domestic flights from Bathinda.
26/01/08 Chandigarh Newsline

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Ambiguity over building height NOC issue

Hyderabad: Who is authorised to issue ‘No Objection Certificate’ regarding the height of buildings coming up in the vicinity of International Airport at Shamshabad ?
While Airport Authority of India (AAI) is the statutory and competent authority to do so, GMR, the Shamshabad Airport Operator, has been issuing NOCs with regard to height clearances in the recent months.
Taking strong objection to the practice, AAI wrote to the State government that AAI alone was authorised to give NOCs in accordance with Ministry of Civil Aviation instructions vide S.O.988 dated January 5, 1988 for safe aircraft operation.
The AAI also made it clear that as per the Civil Aviation Ministry guidelines any structurerequires height clearance from AAI.
However, the GMR spokesperson contended that an airport operator can give the NOC for height clearance as per the DGCA and International Civil Aviation Organisation (to which GOI is signatory) norms.
25/01/08 M.L. Melly Maitreyi/The Hindu

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NRI dies as airport doc comes 'drunk on duty'

Mumbai: The death of 69-year-old Jagjivan Girdharilal at Mumbai’s Sahar International airport raises uncomfortable questions on the response-time at Indian airports during emergencies.
Photographs and video recording done by Girdharilal’s co-passenger shows the sorry state in which the NRI’s body lay in the premises of the Mumbai airport.
Girdharilal had come to Mumbai from Australia by Malaysian Airlines flight MH-194 and suffered a heart-attack at the airport.
The co-passenger – who does not wish to be named – says the lax attitude of paramedical staff and the airport authorities was shocking.
If arriving late was not enough, the paramedic, Dr Upadhyay, allegedly reported drunk on duty.
"He was drunk and he tried to give mouth-to-mouth. He then called his assistant. She tried but nothing happened,” says the co-passenger.
Despite their denial, the airport authorities are silent on allegations that the doctor was drunk on duty.
24/01/08 Arun Gopalakrishnan/CNN-IBN

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Sri Lanka invites Cochin airport builders for new airport

Kochi: International Airport to construct an airport in that country. Talks on the proposal will begin in Colombo Jan 28.
The Cochin airport is India's first airport built under public-private partnership. Kerala government and several NRIs hold stakes in the Cochin International Airport Ltd (CIAL), which built the airport and still operates it.
A seven-member CIAL delegation led by its managing director S. Bharath will hold talks with Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa and other Lankan leaders on the proposal.
The talks will be spread over six days from Jan 28, he said.
Bharath said CIAL is ready to provide a full turnkey solution for the proposed airport in Sri Lanka.
It was almost two years ago that Rajapaksa mooted the idea of CIAL building an airport in his country when he flew to Kochi en route to Shri Krishna Temple at Guruvayoor.
24/01/08 IANS/India PRwire (Press Release)

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Bird-flu: Manila Airport to screen passengers from India

The Customs unit at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport yesterday banned the entry of live birds and poultry products, following the call for vigilance in a conference on avian flu in Thailand.
The Manila International Airport Authority meanwhile, is renewing its fight to keep the Philippines bird-flu free by screening passengers coming from India, Thailand, including Indonesia, Myanmar and Pakistan which have recorded cases of infection by the H5N1 flu strain.
“We received a report from the Department of Agriculture to tighten the monitoring of airport and seaports to guard against the possible entry of infected animals,” said Celso Templo, customs deputy commissioner, who also heads the intelligence branch.
MIAA chief Alfonso Cusi has issued guidelines and recommendations for frontliners traveling and arriving with passengers from places reporting bird-flu cases.
25/01/08 Vito Barelo/Manila Standard Today, Philippines

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Setting up of cargo terminal at Bajpe Airport in limbo

Mangalore: The Mangalore Airport Authority of India (AAI) and the Customs department are in a fix over the setting up of a cargo terminal at the Airport.
The AAI has proposed to establish the cargo terminal at the existing airport once the construction of a new terminal near Kenjar completes.
But unless the Customs department utilises provisions under section 8 of Customs Act 1962, AAI will not be able to handle any cargo from Mangalore Airport for international destination.
The ball is now in court of the Customs department and has to declare the airport as Customs Airport for handling of cargo, sources stress.
But the Customs department insists that the AAI has to undertake custodianship for cargo clearance. Incidentally, AAI has no provision to undertake custodianship.
Under `Customs Law Manual’, Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) is the final authority to approve Cargo Terminal for an airport in India.
24/01/08 Vinobha K T/Newindpress

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Airport land acquisition: JAC hardens stand, stirs lined-up

Imphal: To oppose the move of the State Government to acquire 512 acres of land from Malom and its surrounding areas for the proposed expansion of Tulihal Airport, the JAC Against the Acquisition of Land for Expansion and Extension of Imphal Tulihal Airport has announced its decision of launching various agitations along with the support of other civil organisations.
Addressing a press conference in this connection at Manipur Press Club here this afternoon, JAC general secretary AK Mani clarified that the JAC has no objection as such to expansion of the Tulihal Airport at Imphal as part of the developmental works to be taken up by the State Government under the Look East Policy of the Government of India.
However, acquisition of over 512 acres of land afresh in the name of expansion of the airport and destroying the utility of the land permanently is not acceptable.
24/01/08 The Sangai Express/E-Pao.net

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Cidco finalises Navi Mumbai airport planner

Mumbai: The City and Industrial Development Corporation (Cidco), the township and industrial infrastructure arm of the Maharashtra government, has zeroed in on the master planner which will help them finalise bids to be issued for selecting a strategic partner for its ambitious Navi Mumbai International Airport.
According to sources within the organisation, Cidco had opened financial bids for the shortlisted four parties early this week.
It is almost certain that the name of New Jersey-based private engineering consultant firm Louis Berger will be announced after a board meeting on Friday.
The bids were reportedly in the range of Rs 13 crore (lowest) and Rs 55 crore.
The three other bidders were US-based Mott Macdonald, which is also involved in the Delhi metro project, Australia-based Maunsell that has a strong presence in the Asia Pacific region, and multi-disciplinary design and engineering group Scott Wilson, which also has a strong presence in India.
The master planner is likely to submit its report on bid structuring within the next 10 months.
25/01/08 Manisha Singhal/Business Standard

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Indira Gandhi International Airport Gets Fighting Fit

New Delhi: A fleet of state of the art new Aircraft Crash Fire Tenders (ACFT) has been commissioned at the Indira Gandhi International Airport as part of the existing fleet of Aircraft Rescue and Fire Fighting (ARFF) Vehicles. Delhi International Airport (P) Ltd, a joint venture consortium managing modernizing the IGI Airport has inducted these vehicles manufactured by Rosenbauer International AG of Austria. The Panther 6x6 ACFT vehicle is the most modern fire fighting unit posted at any airport in India. The induction of these vehicles has greatly boosted IGI Airport's capabilities & to respond to any aircraft or fire related exigency.
Featuring an ultra powerful 705hp engine, these vehicles can quickly access any part of the airfield while responding to emergencies. Its most unique feature is the 'Low Visibility Enhanced Vision' system which is guided by a Forward Looking Infrared (FLIR) Camera mounted on the cabin roof. This system provides enhanced vision capability even in smoky, foggy, or dark environments by sensing thermal radiation instead of visible light. It can also be used in fires to detect hot spots, evaluate hot aircraft brakes or human detection in up to 450 m distance.
25/01/08 Equity Bulls

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Expatriates to protest discrimination aganist Indian airport

Doha: The Gulf-Calicut Air Passengers Association Qatar (Gapaq), an Indian expatriate forum headquartered in Doha, plans to resort to legal remedies to draw political attention to what it termed as “discrimination and injustice” meted out to Karippur (Calicut) airport in Kerala by Indian civil aviation officials.
The Gapaq which held a large gathering to protest against the injustice to the airport in November at the Shantiniketan Indian School grounds, said its members and their families would sit in a demonstration in front of Karippur airport on February 16 to bring the issue directly to the attention of the Indian civil aviation authorities.
Asked as to why the body chose February 16 for a sit-in at the airport, Usman said the Indian Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patil would be visiting Kerala that particular day.
Qatar-based Gapaq officials in Kerala are also consulting a senior lawyer on filing a private suit in the Kerala High Court for legal protection of international passengers’ rights to those passing through Calicut airport.
23/01/08 Gulf Times, Qatar

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Air passengers advised not to come in car at Chandigarh airport

Chandigarh: Airports Authority of India (AAI) has advised air travelers not to come in any four wheelers including cars to Chandigarh airport in view of shortage of car parking space at the site.
"In view of the upgradation of the Chandigarh Airport, the access to the existing airport building has become extremely limited and only dropping space is available for the passengers. Therefore we have requested passengers to adopt drop and go system due to paucity of space," Airports Authority of India (AAI), Chandigarh, Airports Controller, Suneel Dutt said today.
At the moment the entire area available in the city side of airport is undergoing construction phase thus restricting the space for vehicular and passenger movement, he further said.
24/01/08 PTI/Economic Times

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British Airways in alleged racism row

Chennai: British Airways flight BA36 from Chennai to London was postponed due to a technical snag. And hile foreign passengers were reportedly provided hotel accommodation and many routed through other airlines, at least fifteen Indian passengers claim they were left to fend for themselves.
They staged a protest after which they say the airline asked them to arrange for their own accommodation and have the expenses reimbursed.
''They were escorted separately by the British Airways' team,'' said Dr Mugilan, Indian passenger.
In an e-mail to NDTV, British Airways has refuted the allegation of racism.
24/01/08 Sam Daniel/NDTV.com

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Malda airport towers to be shortened

Malda: Power department officials will inspect the western side of the Malda airport with Airports Authority of India (AAI) officials on 24 and 25 January to shorten the height of high tension electric towers in the area.
“The officials will identify the towers and prepare a proposal to shorten the height of the towers, which are creating an obstruction to the flying zone on the western side of the Malda airport waiting for resumption,” said the Malda district magistrate Mr CR Das. Land surveyors will also visit the area to estimate the total land acquisition required on the western side to avoid obstruction created by high rise buildings. “The AAI wants to acquire more land on the western side of the facility if we cannot shorten the heights of the identified high rise buildings,” the DM said.
23/01/08 The Statesman

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Drama at Manchester over pilot's upset stomach

An airline captain declared an emergency at Manchester Airport because he had an upset stomach.
He was flying in from India when he began to feel unwell.
Fire engines met the First Choice Airways Boeing 767 after one of the co-pilots made a safe landing shortly before 3pm yesterday.
Buses were also placed on stand-by to take the 255 passengers from the runway to the terminal.
But they were not needed because the captain managed to taxi the jet to its stand at Terminal 2.
An airline spokeswoman said fire crews were called to the aircraft as a precaution.
She said: "First Choice Airways confirms that the emergency services were called to meet flight FCA175 from Goa, which was carrying 255 passengers.
"This was a purely precautionary measure as the captain felt unwell with a stomach upset before landing.
"He was supported at all times by two first officers who are fully qualified to land our aircraft.
"However, in line with our standard operating procedures, only the captain taxis the aircraft onto its stand".
23/01/08 Dean Kirby/Manchester Evening News, UK

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Flight missed for papad

Calcutta: A passenger carrying papad was detained for eight hours at Calcutta airport on Tuesday morning after security personnel suspected that he was carrying narcotics. He was later released, but his flight had taken off by then.
Santosh Dube, 30, a resident of Gorakhpur, in eastern Uttar Pradesh, was scheduled to take an Air India Express flight from Calcutta to Bangkok.
The flight was to take off at 7am and Dube, who exports food items to Thailand, had reached the airport two hours early. He was carrying 10 kg of papad, along with other goods in cartons.
After collecting the boarding pass, he proceeded to the security hold area around 6.30am. The testing equipment beeped during the check-up, indicating there were narcotics in the papad. He was immediately detained and his luggage taken off the aircraft.
But CISF personnel and the experts from Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) could not find any narcotics.
“It seems the carton containing the papad was used for storing narcotics earlier. That is why the equipment was giving positive indications,” said an NCB official.
23/01/08 The Telegraph

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Anil-led group to develop IGI metro

New Delhi: A consortium led by Anil Ambani-promoted Reliance Energy has received the letter of intent (LoI) to develop the Rs 4,000-crore Airport Metro Express Line connecting Ajmeri Gate in central Delhi to the Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport.
Reliance Energy has roped in Spanish rolling stock company CAF for the project. The IGI airport is currently being developed by Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL), a joint venture formed by a consortium led by the GM Rao promoted GMR Group and Airports Authority of India (AAI). GMR has agreed to pay 10% of the cost for building the metro link.
The concession agreement will be signed within 60 days from receipt of letter of acceptance of the LoI, which is for design, maintenance and operation of 22-km airport metro link.
The project envisages development of India's first airport link comparable to the other mega cities across the globe like in London and Hong Kong.
22/01/08 Financial Express

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Delhi airport firm to modify financing plan

New Delhi: The Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL) has agreed to modify its innovative financing plan, wherein it proposed to charge high deposits and low rentals from the winning bidder for commercially developing 43 acres of land around the airport.
The plan had become a bone of contention, with the government asking DIAL not to proceed with its proposed plan despite a clean chit by the attorney general.
Civil aviation secretary Ashok Chawla told Business Standard that DIAL had agreed not to proceed with the existing deposit plan and will instead raise the required money either through preferential shares or partially convertible bonds.
DIAL is also unlikely to set up subsidiaries, as proposed earlier. Hotel and commercial development may be handled directly.
In other words, it may no longer continue with its old business plan of setting up subsidiaries to handle different portions of the business.
23/01/08 Business Standard

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US airports fingerprint foreign fravelers

Boston: As a foreign traveler, Punit Pawar is used to the security when he flies into the U.S., so he barely noticed Tuesday when he was asked to put his 10 fingers on a digital scanner as part of an enhanced security system rolling out at airports across the country.
"It didn't take much of my time, so it didn't bother me," said Pawar, a citizen of India and a student at Boston's Northeastern University.
Since 2004, nonresidents traveling internationally have been required to allow airport personnel to scan their two index fingers at airports as part of a program called US-VISIT. But now, foreign travelers will be asked to scan all 10 fingers, an enhancement the U.S. Department of Homeland Security hopes will help officials more closely monitor watch lists of suspected terrorists, criminals and immigration violators.
Logan Airport became the third airport to use 10-finger scanners last week. Dulles Airport, serving Washington, D.C., began using the devices in November, while Atlanta's airport began using the new system this month.
By the end of the year, the devices are expected to be up and running in all of the nation's international airports, as well as seaports and border points.
23/01/08 Denise Lavoie/The Associated Press

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‘18 months from now, fly to Dubai, London’

Chandigarh: If all goes well, international flights to Dubai, London and other destinations will begin in the city in a matter of 18 months.
An official said, “Initially, the proposal is to start with weekly or bi-weekly international flights to Dubai by April 2009. Later, London, Vancouver, New York, Singapore, Kathmandu and other European destinations will be added to the list.”
Sources said the existing terminal building, with a capacity to cater to two hundred passengers, is being expanded at an estimated cost of Rs 80 crore to facilitate five hundred passengers at a time. It’s going to take 18 months for the project to finish.
The new terminal building will be centrally air-conditioned with a built-up area of 12,150 sqms, equipped with modern passenger-friendly facilities that are a common sight at other international airports. These include boarding bridges with visual docking guidance system, escalators, elevators, in-line baggage conveyor system in the arrival as well as departure hall, CCTV and car parking facilities.
At the present apron, only three aircraft can be parked- two Airbus 320 and one small one ATR-72 type aircraft. Once work on the new building and apron is finished, there will be space for four Airbus 320s, said sources.
23/01/08 Harpreet Bajwa/Chandigarh Newsline

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International passengers walk out skipping checks

Calcutta: Three passengers of an international flight entered the country through Calcutta airport without going through the immigration and customs checks, posing a threat to the country’s security.
The passengers, who had taken Air India’s Yangon-Calcutta flight last Friday, were not at fault, though — the airline’s bus had mistakenly dropped them at the domestic terminal.
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See Also:
Kochi airport bungle
Security lapse at Kochi airport:
CIAL orders probe
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Banwari Jalan, a resident of Salt Lake, and Khin Win Ye and Yin Yin Sani, two women from Myanmar, arrived at Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport on IC 728. The flight landed at 7.20pm and stopped in bay No. 41. The bus in which the trio and around 30 others had boarded was taken to the domestic terminal. The driver soon realised his mistake, but the three got off before he could start for the other terminal.
Jalan, who had gone to Yangon on January 14, was carrying only a handbag. So was one of the two Myanmarese women. “Jalan walked out of the domestic terminal, while the other two took Air India’s evening flight to Delhi,” the official said.
“I was called back to the airport from home around 10pm to complete the formalities,” Jalan said. The two women were flown back to Calcutta on an Air India flight on Saturday morning for the formalities and then sent to Delhi again. The immigration department has sought an explanation from Air India, which has ordered an inquiry and showcaused the bus driver.
22/01/08 The Telegraph

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Private interest soars for new Kerala airport

New Delhi: The grant of government approval for constructing an airport in north Kerala is attracting interest from infrastructure companies keen on participating in a project that will serve significant chunks of workers in West Asia hailing from the southern state and the nearly half a million foreign tourists visiting it every year.
Leading conglomerates, including the Leela Group, Tata Realty and Infrastructure Ltd and GVK Infrastructure Ltd, are among those keen to build the international airport in Kerala’s Kannur district, which was given a final approval by the Union government last week after nearly a decade since the project was proposed.
The Kerala government says it expects to invite proposals within six months and targets completion in two years from then.
The state-run Kerala Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation will own 26% stake in the joint venture, with the rest held by a private consortium.
About four years ago, the Kerala government had signed an agreement with the Leela Group, which runs resorts and hotels, to construct the airport, but the process could not be carried forward without Union government approvals.
22/01/08 Tarun Shukla/Livemint

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Leg lost in airport tarmac accident

Calcutta: An Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) employee lost his left leg in a mishap on the airport tarmac on Monday.
A pushback vehicle (which propels planes out of the parking bay) crushed 55-year-old Ajit Karmakar’s leg after being hit from behind by a Deccan airline tractor in the apron area around 11.45am. The driver of the tractor was arrested.
Karmakar, a helper in IOC’s aircraft refuelling vehicle, was standing with his colleague Badal Kumar Pal near parking bay number 26 to fill up the fuel tank of a SpiceJet plane.
The tractor, carrying registered luggage, hit the pushback vehicle, which rammed into Karmakar.
He was taken to Charnock Hospital, off VIP Road. The doctors referred him to Apollo Gleneagles Hospitals.
Orthopaedic surgeon Buddhadeb Chatterjee amputated the leg in an hour-long surgery.
22/01/08 The Telegraph

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'Flights to southern metros from Nagpur soon'

Nagpur: Union civil aviation minister Praful Patel is now keen on getting Nagpur connected with southern metros of Chennai and Bangalore with direct flights. "I am talking to a couple of airlines to start direct flights to the two southern cities. I am hopeful that something works out in the next two months," said Patel.
He also announced that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will be visiting Gondia on February 9.
Talking to reporters at the airport, he said the airport modernisation work currently underway will be completed by March. The aviation minister dashed to the city to attend a wedding on Monday evening and hurriedly returned after an hour as he had to catch a flight to Davos from Mumbai.
Expressing satisfaction with the Union cabinet decision on airport transfer, Patel said no time should be wasted now in putting the joint venture company of Maharashtra Airport Development Company and the Airports Authority of India in place.
22/01/08 Times of India

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Jolly Grant and Pant Nagar airports to start operations next month

New Delhi: The Uttarakhand Government has completed the upgradation work at the Jolly Grant Airport and Pant Nagar Airport. The airports are scheduled to start operations in February, 2008. Besides, three airstrips at Naini Saini in Pithorgarh, Gochar in Chamoli and Chinyalisaur in Uttarkashi are also ready for operations.
Talking to TravelBiz Monitor, Prakash Pant, Minister of Tourism, Uttarakhand, said, “The Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) has said that it will start operations at these airports by the last week of February.” The state has already written to all the airlines, asking them to start operations to Uttarakhand. Till date, it has got responses from Indian Airlines, Deccan and Kingfisher Airlines.
While Deccan will initially start with a frequency of two flights a week, the other two airlines are yet to decide on their flight frequency. Prior to the commencement of the upgradation work, Indian Airlines, Jagson Airlines and Air Deccan operated from the airports. “ The Jolly Grant Airport at Dehradun essentially caters to the Gharwal region in the state, while the Pant Nagar Airport caters to the Kumano region,” offered Pant.
22/01/08 Arti Saggi/TravelBizMonitor

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India's Essar interested in Prague Airport privatisation

Prague: Industrial group Essar is among three Indian groups that could take part in the privatisation of Prague Airport, daily E15 reported, citing unnamed sources.
Airport operators GVK and GMR Group are the other two Indian firms interested in the privatisation of the facility, along with Singapore's Changi Airport, E15 said.
Czech news server tyden.cz also reported today that Australian Macquarie Airports, part of Macquarie Group, expressed interest in Prague Airport, citing the group's CEO speaking in the Australian daily Sydney Morning Herald.
21/01/08 AFX News/Thomson Financial/Forbes, NY, USA

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Land acquisition poses major hindrance in airport development: Patel

New Delhi: The acquisition of land, which falls within the state jurisdiction, is the main problem faced by the Centre in developing more airports in the country, said Union Civil Aviation Minister, Praful Patel, at the recently concluded National Conference of Civil Aviation. Aviation, being a federal subject, falls under the Centre’s jurisdiction, and most states are reluctant to part with lucrative real estate within their authority.
Currently, India has 82 airports and by 2008-end, the government plans to increase the number to 100. In fact, Patel is convinced that there can be 500 operational airports across the length of the country in the near future if the states co-operate with the Centre. Emphasising on the need to develop regional connectivity, Patel said that in today’s times, no airport can be a standalone airport; it has to be a hub. “Till the time we come up with 10-12 hubs in India, we cannot think of making much progress,” offered Patel, as he went on to add about the Centre’s plan to launch a satellite-based navigation system by the year-end.
21/01/08 Arti Saggi/TravelBizMonitor

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Soon, better ride to Delhi airport

New Delhi: Steel sheets welcome you as you drive towards the domestic airport from the Dwarka roundabout. Ever so slowly, for a part of the road is blocked by the construction workers. But a peep behind the sheets, and city motorists have reasons to cheer up: work is on to widen the road.
The work is part of the revised traffic circulation plan for the new airport terminal building, which is expected to come up by the middle of this year. But the wait won’t be that long for motorists — both roads leading to and from the domestic terminal is being widened, and is expected to get over sooner.
“We would expect it to finish in another four or six weeks,” says Arun Arora, associate vice-president (Corporate Communications), of the Delhi International Airport Limited. DIAL, the joint-venture company, has “speeded up” the road widening in view of the Delhi-Gurgaon expressway, he says.
Once over, the project is expected to spell freedom from serpentine queues that greets drivers to the airport every evening.
22/01/08 Sobhana K/Delhi Newsline

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Agam SPV to invest $300 mn in airports

New Delhi: Cayman Island-based Agam SPV Six, which will be funded by a subsidiary of UK-based investment management company Atlas Group, has applied to the Foreign Investment Promotion Board to set up a wholly owned company and bring in foreign direct investment of $300 million (Rs 1,200 crore) to develop airports in the country.
In its application to the government, Agam SPV has said that it would like to focus on developing low-cost airports to meet service the fast-growing airline traffic in the country.
The proposed company, to be called Indian Infrastructure Investment SPV, will be funded by Agam Fund which is managed by Sigma Asset Management (Guernsey), a wholly owned subsidiary of Atlas Capital Associates. The Atlas group handles over $4 billion of assets across the globe and provides advisory and portfolio management services.
Sigma Asset Management has been managing investments in emerging markets for over a decade.
22/01/08 Surajeet Das Gupta & Anirban Chowdhury/Business Standard

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More ATCs to help better utilise runways capacity, says DGCA

New Delhi: The country’s aviation regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) plans to maximise utilisation of runways at major airports around the country. In fact, it plans to maximise the utilisation of the two runways at the Indira Gandhi International Airport, asserting that their simultaneous use has not affected flight operations from the national capital region.
“With the increase in number of air traffic controllers, we are planning to increase the utilisation of runways and finally maximise it. There was no drop in flight-handling capacity due to the use of one runway for landing and one for take-off,” directorate general of civil aviation Kanu Gohain told ET.
Earlier, when both the runways were simultaneously used, around 42 flights per hour were being handled and even now, the number remains more or less the same, after flagging off Jet Airways’ maiden flight to Kuwait. According to the International Air Transport Association (IATA) traffic results for September 2007, demand in Asia-Pacific continued its brisk growth of recent months, rising 9.7% in September due to strong economic expansion in the region and fast-developing markets in China and India.
21/01/08 Raja Awasthi/Economic Times

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'You will love to miss a flight at Nagpur'

Nagpur: Most of the land required for an international hub airport at Nagpur has been acquired and more than two-thirds of the construction work of the accompanying special economic zone (SEZ) has been completed, a top official has said.
The Indian cabinet gave permission on Jan 17 to upgrade the Ambedkar International Airport at Nagpur into a world-class aviation hub for passengers and cargo at a cost of Rs.26 billion ($650 million) with the status of a special economic zone.
"The airport will see world-class development and so beautiful it will be, you would love to miss a flight here," R.C. Sinha, vice-chairman and managing director of Maharashtra Airport Development Co (MADC), told IANS.
Nearly 3,000 of the required 4,311 hectares of land required for the project has already been acquired and more than two-third of the infrastructure work in its SEZ component completed, Sinha said.
MADC is developing the project jointly with Airports Authority of India.
21/01/08 Shyam Pandharipande/KalingaTimes

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NGO to market Nagpur airport project

Nagpur: A few days after the union cabinet decided to upgrade the Ambedkar International Airport here to an aviation hub, a city-based NGO has unfolded a plan to promote the project.
The Maharashtra Airport Development Co (MADC) and the Airports Authority of India (AAI) will jointly develop the Multi-modal International Hub Airport at Nagpur (MIHAN).
The Vidarbha Economic Development (VED) Council, the NGO that fought a legal battle for the expeditious transfer of the airport to the state-owned company, would hold a MIHAN expo here in partnership with global business consultants Deloitte Touch Tohmatsu in November, VED president Vilas Kale told IANS.
Though VED is not directly involved in implementing the project, it has received several inquiries and proposals from investors and business consultancy firms abroad because it has been working closely with MADC.
'Many overseas industrial business firms have shown interest to set up their units in the MIHAN special economic zone (SEZ). We hope to convert that interest into investment,' Kale said.
20/01/08 India PRwire

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Leelabari gets air connectivity with Dibrugarh, Jorhat

North Lakhimpur: Bringing cheers to the public of Brahmaputra's north bank of Assam and bordering Arunachal Pradesh, Leelabari airport in North Lakhimpur has again been connected to Dibrugarh and Jorhat by air. This was stated by Uday Sankar Hazarika of the DGA Travels here recently.
The private sector airliner Air Deccan began its Guwahati-Leelabari services from 2006 along with the Alliance Air flights with six flights a week. But the popular demand for the resumption of the air connectivity to Dibrugarh and Jorhat from Leelabari remained unfulfilled till recently. Now the announcement by the public sector Indian to operate flights to these two destinations have brought joy as new years gift to North Lakhimpur.
This news comes as a New Year gift for the people of North Lakhimpur which marks an end to a long and agonizing wait to see the resumption of flights from Leelabari to Dibrugarh and Jorhat - two important destinations of Assam after Guwahati - after a gap of almost 16 year.
Leelabari was wiped out from the civil aviation map of the country in 1988 when the then Indian Airlines, that had been operating daily flights to this airport connecting Dibrugarh, Jorhat, Tezpur, Guwahati and Kolkata by a Fokker aircraft, stopped operating the service due to non-profitability and growing aviation fuel hike.
21/01/08 Buljit Buragohain/Assam Times

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AAI staff unwilling to join JVC

Nagpur: Over 380 staffers of Airports Authority of India, working at Dr Ambedkar International Airport, are not willing to join the joint venture company to be formed by Maharashtra Airport Development Company and Airports Authority of India to run the international airport and cargo hub at Nagpur.
It may be mentioned here the Union cabinet recently granted in principle approval to transfer Nagpur airport to the proposed joint venture company (JVC) for development of a multi-modal passenger and cargo hub and assured all staff of the Airports Authority of India working at Nagpur airport except communication, navigation and surveillance (CNS) and air traffic management (ATM) will be transferred to the JVC and their salaries will be borne by the JVC.
These arrangements will continue for five years and at the end of this period, the JVC shall absorb 100 per cent of the staff. Speaking to TOI on condition of anonymity some of the staff members said, "We will not get the pay and perks at present given by AAI management with most important aspect of job assurance."
21/01/08 Sachin Dravekar/Times of India

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Rivals join hands to win infrastructure projects

A new government rule that says only five entities will be allowed to bid for a single project is forcing rival firms to team up to avoid elimination and stay in the race. Typically, only companies that have met some qualification criteria are allowed to submit price bids that determine the successful bidder.
The guidelines, as reported earlier by Mint, were aimed at keeping out frivolous bidders for privately financed and operated projects, key to fixing India’s poor infrastructure, but they could also have prevented newer and younger upstarts from gaining ground in the sector.
The Amritsar airport project has seen rivals Maytas Infra Ltd and Nagarjuna Construction Co. Ltd join hands to secure the deal. Other firms who partnered with their rivals include GVK Power and Infrastructure Ltd with Australia’s largest project development and contracting group Leighton Holdings Ltd, MSK Projects (India) Ltd with Unity Infraprojects Ltd, and Oriental Structural Engineers Ltd with Sadhbav Engineering Ltd. Gammon Infrastructure Projects Ltd teamed up with Emaar-MGF Land Ltd and General Electric Infrastructure for the Amritsar project.
Such partnerships are likely to be seen in the Udaipur airport development project.
21/01/08 P. Manoj/Livemint

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Two passengers deported

Nedumbassery: Two passengers who left for UAE by Air India Express flight on Thursday, were deported to Kochi airport on Saturday.
Radhakrishnan, 51, of Alappuzha who worked in Dubai for a long time, had lost his passport at the workplace.
He managed to return home with the out pass issued by the officials of UAE. He arranged another passport and left for Dubai by an AI flight on Thursday.
But according to UAE rules, the entry of those who are permitted to leave UAE on the strength of out pass, would be banned for a year, sources said.
Radhakrishnan was deported when the Emigration officials in Dubai airport found that the entry of the passenger was banned.
In another case, Jayakumar, 38, who left for Abu Dhabi by Air India Express flight on Thursday, was deported when Abu Dhabi Emigration personnel found that his passport had expired seven months ago.
20/01/08 Newindpress

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Mumbai airport slums face closure

Mumbai: For decades, people flying into the city have gaped out of their windows watching their planes almost skimming over the dense patchwork of slums when coming into land.
Saurabh Khedekar, a frequent air-traveller to Mumbai, says the landing still gives him the jitters.
Now the government is moving to clear the 200 acres of encroached land on which the slums sit and share a boundary with the 2000-acre international airport.
Moves to demolish the slums have met stiff opposition from some residents.
They fear the disruption to their work, the problems with moving far from the markets where they sell their goods and the distances their children will have to travel to school.
The authorities say there is no cause for alarm.
"The slum dwellers will be resettled. These structures are on the airport land and very close to the runway," says Manish Kalghatgi, spokesperson for the Mumbai International Airport Limited which is revamping the airport.
21/01/08 Prachi Pinglay/BBC News, UK

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Yelahanka: A hub in the making

In the coming years, connectivity to Yelahanka, a suburb located to the north of Bangalore, will drastically improve thanks to its proximity to the international airport at Devanahalli.
A few weeks ago, the government of India announced that it would fund and build two highways around the airport — the 21.2-km expressway from the Outer Ring Road (ORR) to the airport and the first part of the Peripheral Ring Road (PRR) connecting major highways. The first one will run in North Bangalore areas connecting Hebbal to the airport while the second will run south of airport connecting Tumkur Road to Hosur Road.
In addition to this, the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation (BMRCL) proposes to extend the North-South corridor to Yelahanka. Further, the proposed high-speed rail link that promises to connect Cubbon Road in the city to the international airport will have a station at Yelahanka — these projects will help reduce travel time between the city and the suburb.
North Bangalore could end up being a self-contained township in the years to come.
Things gained momentum when Bellary Road got its first makeover — the underpass at Mekhri Circle and then the second — the Clover Bridge at the ORR junction near Hebbal Lake.
21/01/08 M Rochan/Economic Times

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Coimbatore airport expansion on the cards

Coimbatore: The Airport Authority of India (AAI) has embarked on a plan to expand the airport infrastructure.
Talking to The Hindu, Airport Director K. Hemalatha said that the Coimbatore Airport had 25 aircraft movements a day on domestic sector and five international flights thrice a week each to Colombo, Sharjah and Singapore. The passenger movement had increased beyond 1.10 lakh passengers a month.The AAI plans to expand the runway by March 2008 from 2,590 m to 2,990 m at a cost of Rs. 9 crore to accommodate wide bodied aircraft.
The number of parking bays would be increased to eight from the present six at Rs. 13 crore in 12 to 15 months. A modern fire station and workshop at Rs. 5 crore was on the cards.
The present terminal building with a capacity for 300 passengers at a time would be expanded to accommodate 700 passengers at a cost of Rs. 78 crore in 24 months.
21/01/08 V.S. Palaniappan/The Hindu

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Jet approaches Bmi over controlling stake

Sir Michael Bishop, the chairman of Bmi British Midland, has been approached about a potential sale of his stake in the company by Jet Airways, the Indian airline that is one of the world's fastest-growing passenger carriers.
The Sunday Telegraph has learned that Jet expressed an interest just before Christmas in conjunction with a leading Middle-Eastern airline, believed to have been Emirates.
It is understood that the approach was made through an unidentified third party to "test the water" and that the two sides have held no formal meetings to discuss any possible offer.
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No talks are live at the moment, according to a person familiar with the situation.
If Jet, which is run by Naresh Goyal, one of India's richest men, pursues its interest in Bmi, it would signal another important step by Indian companies on to the global stage.
As the owner of 11pc of the take-off and landing slots at Heathrow Airport, the future ownership of Bmi has become one of the hottest topics in the aviation industry.
The value of Bmi's 83 slot pairs - the largest portfolio after British Airways - has rocketed following last year's "open skies" deal between the European Union and the US, which opens up Heathrow to new competitors from April this year.
Bishop owns 50pc plus one share of Bmi, with Germany's Lufthansa holding 30pc minus one share and Scandinavia's SAS, 20pc.
That values Bmi at £457m and Bishop's stake at £229m, though any deal would be adjusted for inflation. Bishop has until June 2009 to exercise his put option to sell his stake in Bmi to Lufthansa.
Both Virgin and British Airways have expressed interest in acquiring Bmi.
20/01/08 Mark Kleinman/Telegraph.co.uk, United Kingdom

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Indian airports on high alert after hijack warning

New Delhi: The Indian government has asked airports around the country to adopt "heightened security measures" after an intelligence tip off that the United Liberation Front of Asom (Ulfa) may attempt to hijack an aircraft to free their colleagues from jails.
The Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) has alerted airports in the four metros, the northeast, as well as in Hyderabad, Bangalore and some international airports like in Amritsar as potential targets ahead of Republic Day.
The threat from any other terrorist outfit also cannot be ruled out, said a Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) official.
According to a BCAS official, the Ulfa hijack attempt could likely be in the northeast.
"The Ulfa is prepared for this daring act to draw the attention of the international community," said a senior official in the union home ministry.
"As the Ulfa has not acted so far, they could well do it even now. They haven't given up. They may be looking for a suitable moment to strike," said a senior BCAS official.
Over 600 Ulfa militants are in jails around the country. A few of them were "masterminds" arrested during the raid on their camps by the Bhutan government in 2002.
19/01/08 Sanjay Singh/IANS/KalingaTimes

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Road to airport irks Patel

New Delhi: Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel has again expressed anguish over the road connectivity from the new Bangalore international airport.
While interacting with state governments at the national conference on civil aviation on Friday, Patel said the approach road to Devanahalli airport was bad. “The State government should do something immediately. I went there recently and witnessed it myself,” he said.
The new airport is set to open from March 30.
Karnataka Resident Commissioner Sudhir Kumar referred to the status of the progress of expansion work in various airports of the State.
20/01/08 Deccan Herald

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Andhra to develop 8 airports under PPP plan

New Delhi: The Andhra Pradesh government will invite expressions of interest for eight minor airports to come up in the hinterlands under a public-private sector initiative.
The airports will be set up in Nellore, Kothagudem, Tadepallegudam, Bobbili, Ramagundam, Kurnool, Nizamabad and Ongole. Each airport project is expected to cost Rs 50 crore.
The project will also include city-side development which includes real estate projects around the airport.
"What we are proposing is a hub-and-spoke model in which the new Hyderabad airport will act as a hub while these smaller airports will enhance intra-state connectivity," said Sanjay Jaju, vice-chairman and managing director of the state-owned Infrastructure Corporation of Andhra Pradesh Ltd, which is overseeing the project.
Each airport will come up on 500 to 600 acres of land with a runway length of 6,000 feet (less than half the runway at the new Hyderabad facility), feasible for small aircraft like ATRs and CRJs. To be eligible to bid, private sector companies should have a net worth of Rs 25 crore for the last financial year and must have commissioned at least one infrastructure project worth Rs 50 crore since April 1, 2002.
19/01/08 Anirban Chowdhury/Business Standard

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IGI Airport tops world in growth

New Delhi: Delhi accounted for the highest growth in air passenger movement in the world in 2006. Of the 4.4 billion passengers worldwide who travelled in 2006, the under renovation IGI airport at Delhi alone saw a rise of 28.4% in passenger movement over the previous year. This was revealed by a survey conducted by the Airports Council International (ACI).
According to the survey, the Indian civil aviation industry has doubled in the past four years and by 2010, the year of the Commonwealth Games, the figures will double again. Outlining the trend in global aviation, the survey noted that the top six airports in terms of rise in passenger movement were all in India and China. According to projections by DIAL, traffic is likely to grow by another million by the next fiscal to touch 25 million. This is when the IGI's actual capacity is only 12.5 million at present. The capacity is set to increase to about 20 million only by the 2009 fiscal after the current development projects by DIAL are completed.
19/01/08 Neha Lalchandani/Times of India

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Deccan opens first hangar in Chennai

Low-cost carrier Air Deccan launched its first fully owned hangar for the maintenance and repair of its fleet at Chennai airport. The Rs 111.5 million hangar stretches over 6,503 sq metres, large enough to hold one Airbus aircraft or two ATR propeller aircraft.
"The Deccan-Kingfisher combine is aggressively building up its infrastructure to ensure better maintenance of its fleet. The hangar facility in Chennai will strengthen our engineering competence and is consistent with expansion plans of the airlines," said GR Gopinath, the airline's executive chairman.
The Chennai hangar, which is 46 metres wide, 54 metres deep and 17 metres high, has a 3,251 sq metres office space and training facility, in addition to the engineering space.
The hangar will be used to provide basic and medium-level maintenance checks and protective storage for Deccan and Kingfisher Airlines aircraft, as well as function as a repair shop and assembly area.
18/01/08 Indo-Asian News Service/Hindustan Times

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West Bengal to get its first aerotropolis

Kolkata: West Bengal is all set to get its first aerotropolis— an urban infrastructure with an industrial hub built around an airport — that will also pave the way for the state to have a second airport at Dhupjhuri near Durgapur.
An agreement to develop the Rs 10,000 crore project over an area of 2,300 acres was signed between the West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation (WBIDC) and the Bengal Aerotropolis Pvt Ltd (BAPL) on Friday in presence of State Commerce and Industries Minister Nirupam Sen.
Besides having an airport, the aerotropolis will comprise aviation-related infrastructure like an aviation academy; night-parking facility to ease the traffic from Kolkata’s Dum Dum airport and a maintenance, repair and overhaul facility. There are also plans to build an industrial park with factories, office parks, IT park, institutional area, with a hospital, market, school, theme park, community centre and housing.
A lot, however, will depend on the acquisition of land for this project, as the state government has already burnt its fingers in acquiring land in Singur and Nandigram.
19/01/08 Kolkata Newsline

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Andal airport pact signed

Calcutta: Bengal today signed a pact to build an airport in Burdwan’s Andal and the developer said Singapore’s Changi was keen to operate the new hub.
Under the joint venture development agreement signed by Bengal Aerotropolis Projects with the government, the 2,300 acres needed for the airport will be bought by the West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation directly from the owners and leased to the developer.
Commerce and industry minister Nirupam Sen, who signed on behalf of the government, said the developer would have to use the land for the purpose specified.
Partho Ghosh, director of Bengal Aerotropolis, said the airport would come up within 30 months of the land allotment. “We have received a good response from various companies. Changi has written to us expressing interest in operating the airport. Indian (Indian Airlines earlier) has said it would put the airport on its route.”
The company has identified 5,000 acres, more than twice the requirement, to ensure that the project goes ahead even if some landowners refuse to sell, Ghosh said.
Commerce and industries secretary Sabyasachi Sen said the airport would cater to a large area, setting at rest doubts about its viability in a place like Andal.
18/01/08 The Telegraph

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New weather systems for airports

Pune: The Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) has selected an advanced air weather information system from Australia to bring more safety to Indian skies.
The installation of the system will begin at the New Delhi domestic and international airports in three days’ time.
The Mumbai international and domestic airports will get it in 12 days. It will be functional in Delhi before Republic Day, IMD’s Pune-based acting additional director general, RD Vasistha, told DNA in an interview.
“The system will help pilots make last-minute landing decisions and help reduce weather-related air mishaps,” Vasistha said.
The new system, which will provide all weather-related information upto 50 metres before landing or takeoff, will be specially useful during winter in New Delhi, when fog leads to poor or zero-visibility.
19/01/08 Subroto Roy/Daily News & Analysis

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Tulihal airport upgradation: State Govt looks to Intl standard

Imphal: Following the announcement by Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh to provide night landing facility at Tulihal Airport, Imphal, the State Government has proposed the development of the airport on par with International standard against the backdrop of reaping the benefits of the 'Look East Policy' and the 'Border trade'.
The State Government has also proposed the redevelopment of the airfield of the Second World War time located at Kakching in this regard.
Talking to The Sangai Express, Transport Minister L Jayantakumar, who is currently at New Delhi representing the State in the National Conference on Civil Aviation, said the proposal has been placed before the conference for upgrading the Tulihal Airport to International standard so as to reap the benefits of the Look East Policy of the Centre as well as to increase the volume of the ongoing border trade activities with the neighbouring countries.
The National Conference on Civil Aviation which was held at the Taj Hotel at New Delhi today with Union Aviation Minister Praful Patel in the chair was attended among others by Union Tourism Minister Ambika Soni, respective Transport Ministers of the States and their Chief Secretaries concerned.
18/01/08 The Sangai Express/E-Pao.net

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CIAL warns Air India of terminating contract

Kochi: The Cochin International Airport Ltd has warned Air India, which provides the ground handling services at the Nedumbassery airport near here, that the company will be forced to terminate the contract if services are not improved.
"If things do not improve, we would be forced to take strong measures, including termination of contract," CIAL Managing Director Sreeram Bharat said.
The warning comes in the wake of some passengers of a Jet Airways flight from Kuwait, which landed here on January 15 half-an-an hour before its scheduled arrival time, being taken to the domestic terminal instead of the international terminal for customs and immigration clearance.
Air India has assured CIAL that it would take all steps to improve services and would never compromise on issues like Safety and Security as laid down in the procedures of the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS).
18/01/08 PTI/Economic Times

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AI may set up European hub in Munich

New Delhi: Air India’s long wait for a European hub could end soon. The German city of Munich is emerging as the favourite over other contender cities like Frankfurt and Vienna. A formal announcement is expected in the coming days.
Just like Jet Airways offering scissor connections between India and Europe and North America from its hub in Brussels, AI plans to connect a large number of Indian cities to its European hub.
"If Munich is the final choice for the hub, we will try to launch flights from Mumbai this year itself. Our Star Alliance partner, Lufthansa, has a Delhi-Munich flight and we will first focus on Metros where neither we, nor our partners have a connection to Munich," said a senior official.
AI will continue its direct flights to three European cities even after the hub gets operational — Paris, London and Frankfurt. However, a severe shortage of planes — worsened by delay announced by Boeing for the 787 Dreamliner — will mean that AI will be able to achieve the plan of linking important metros to its hub with a daily flight only in next three to four years.
18/01/08 Saurabh Sinha/Times of India

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Kochi airport to partly close for seven months

New Delhi: Almost 200 out of 400 weekly domestic and international flights in and out of Kochi will be severely affected with the airport authorities deciding to close the runway from 10 am to 8 pm every day for seven months starting November this year.
The private airport developer has said the entire runway needs to be recarpeted. The 3,400-metre runway will be developed in small blocks so that aircraft can take off and land outside the no-fly period. No aircraft uses the entire runway to take off and land.
Officials of Cochin International Airport Ltd have already informed over 14 carriers that operate from the airport — a key centre for migrant workers travelling to West Asia — of the impending closure.
Kochi accounts for nearly half the total aircraft movement in and out of Kerala. The other airports include Thiruvananthapuram and Kozhikode (Calicut).
Carriers have started planning to reschedule flights to skirt the “no-fly” time or divert aircraft to other airports.
18/01/08 Anirban Chowdhury/Business Standard

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Helihop to international airport

Bangalore: Deccan Aviation will begin shuttle helicopter services from Bangalore city to the upcoming international airport at Devanahalli from March 30, the day the airport becomes operational.
The shuttle service will operate from four prime locations that sport helipads or have the space to allow a helicopter to operate from. These are UB City, Palace Grounds, Infosys campus and Electronic City.
This service will, in effect, bring down the arduous commuting time of 2-3 hours from the airport to the city via road to just 10-15 minutes.
Deccan will initially operate two helicopters — a seven-seater Bell helicopter and a five-seater Eurocopter. The frequency of the service is likely to be between half-an-hour and one hour.
18/01/08 Times of India

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Airlines may do terminal-side ground handling

Mumbai: The civil aviation ministry might reconsider its earlier decision of disallowing airlines to undertake their own ground-handling services and directing them to outsource it to Air India or the Airports Authority of India (AAI) or a third party chosen by the airport operator.
Under a compromise formula that is being considered, the airlines might be allowed to manage the terminal side of the ground-handling services.
The back-end work in ground-handling would then be undertaken by Air India or AAI or by a third party. Ground-handling at the back-end involves handling of the aircraft and requires specialised equipment, while the terminal side includes passenger and baggage handling.
The airlines have already petitioned the government to remove the restriction imposed on them as they feel this could impact the quality of their service.
18/01/08 Manisha Singhal/Business Standard

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Centre nod for Kerala's Kannur airport

The Government today has given ‘in principle’ approval to the Government of Kerala (GoK) for setting up of a Greenfield International Airport through the PPP route at Kannur in relaxation of the Policy on Airport Infrastructure relating to Greenfield Airports.
The proposed Kannur airport is located in Kannur district and falls outside the municipal limits of Kannur. The site is at about 80 km aerial distance from Calicut airport, about 229 km from Cochin airport and 125 km from the Mangalore airport.
GoK has strongly recommended the project since this would promote tourism and trade in Northern Kerala. The proposed airport will also act as a cargo hub for perishable cargo like cut flowers, vegetables, fruits, sea food etc. Ministry of Tourism, GoI has also supported the setting up of the airport since it has potential to open up tourism for North Kerala, which has not seen sufficient tourism development.
As per a study conducted by AAI, major impact of the proposed Kannur airport will be felt at Calicut airport. With the commissioning of Kannur airport, 55% traffic of Calicut airport is expected to get diverted. The estimated loss of revenue due to the diversion of traffic on account of the proposed Kannur airport will be to the extent of 27.6% at Calicut airport, 5.1% at Cochin airport, 3.0% at Bangalore airport, 1.5% at Trivandrum airport and 0.75% at Mumbai airport. Since airports at Calicut and Trivandrum are AAI airports, the proposed airports could impact the revenue of AAI. The remaining are private airports.
Certain activities at the airport like Security, Air Traffic Control, Customs, Immigration, MET etc. would be reserved for GOI entities. These would be performed by the relevant central government agencies. Provision of these services would be on cost recovery basis and the airport operator would enter into agreement with the respective agencies.
The salient features of the project are as follows:
The airport will be built over 2000 acres of land and will have a single runway, sanction has been accorded for acquisition of the land.
The project would be implemented through the Pubic Private Partnership (PPP) route with an estimated project cost of Rs. 929.5 crores, excluding costs pertaining to land acquisition, resettlement and rehabilitation which would be borne by the GoK.
A Joint venture Company (JVC) between KINFRA, a GOK entity with 26% equity participation and a private strategic partner with 74% equity participation would be set up to implement the project.
The selection of the strategic partner would be done by GoK.
Airport Operator would invest 30% of the total required capital investment and the balance would be through debt financing. There is no equity participation sought from AAI.
GOI/GOK would not be signing any concession agreement with JVC. However, since the underlying assets belong to the State Government, GOK could give concession to the JVC in respect of land indicating its terms and conditions as well as such other conditions which the State Government would wish to impose on the JVC. GoK may also consider grant of any other concessions to the JVC.
Traffic projections have been made but since Kannur airport is a PPP project, the traffic risk would be borne by the private developer who would undertake his own due diligence in the matter.
Since the project is a State Sector project, the primary responsibility of project implementation rests with the State Government. GOI would guide the State Government regarding the method for selection of the strategic partner. GoK would be advised to follow a transparent bidding process to select the strategic private partner. GOI has also issued a Model RFQ and RFP for PPP projects and GoK would be advised to adopt it.
17/01/08 Press Information Bureau (press release)

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Airport decision brightens North Malabar’s hopes

Kannur: Will it be another “missed touch”? And this is what most of the the people in the region are asking when the news regarding the sanction of the Union Cabinet for the Kannur airport came out on Thursday, in spite of the high hopes on the likely economic, social, industrial transformation the project would bring about in the region.
Evidently, the reasons for the people turning cynical about or being led to the point of getting fed up with the airport are not without basis.
It was in September 1996 when C.M. Ibrahim was the Union Civil Aviation Minister under the then Prime Minister I.K. Gujral that the green signal came first for the establishment of an airport here.
The president of the North Malabar Chamber of Commerce Haji C.H. Aboobacker had made a representation to Ibrahim in this connection.
Acquisition of land for the airport began in 1996 itself under the then Chief Minister E.K. Nayanar at Mattanur.
The airport proposal was virtually grounded when A.K. Antony took over as the Chief Minister.There was no dearth of technical reasons to wind up the project, and the main reason cited was that the location selected for the airport was within a perimeter of 150 km from the nearest Kozhikode airport.
The airport remained quietly in the cold storage for nearly a decade even as politicians, industrialists and organisations of traders continued to make some feeble attempts to get it revived.
In an unexpected bid, possibly made in response to the growing public demand, the Airport Authority of India sent a team of experts more than a year ago to conduct a study on the project.
The main purpose of the expert team’s visit was to find out how the establishment of an airport in Kannur would affect the functioning of airports in Kozhikode and Mangalore.
A favourable report from the AAI followed, and then again a long delay for environmental and technoeconomic clearance.
18/01/08 P Divakaran

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Mihan project costs Rs 2,200 cr

Nagpur: A whopping Rs 2,200 crore will be required for setting up the Mihan project, which includes a cost escalation of 28 per cent over the estimate when the project was initially approved.
The increased requirement of funds has also led the Maharashtra Airport Development Company (MADC) to consider options such as bonds and private equity. MADC is expected to have a majority stake in the joint venture company to be set up for executing Mihan project.
MADC's vice-chairman-cum-managing director R C Sinha said various methods of raising funds are being mulled, which include bonds, private equity, securitisation of realisables and leasing out of surplus lands.
However, Sinha said the exact quantum to be raised through each method is yet to be decided. While bonds would be raised from the open market, securitisation of assets will amount to securing loan against the future revenues.
18/01/08 Shishir Arya/Times of India

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