Navy, AAI to sign MoU for taxiway at Dabolim airport

Vasco: The long-pending parallel taxiway alongside the runway at Dabolim airport will soon become a reality as a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between both stakeholders – the Navy and AAI – for a cost-sharing agreement will be signed within a month, followed by the start of the work, stated K S Rao, Director of Airport Authority of India (AAI), Goa. He also said that a detailed project report for the taxiway has already been submitted.
“AAI is preparing to sign a MoU with the Indian Navy to procure land to build a parallel taxiway alongside the runway at Dabolim airport,” said Rao. “This project has been delayed for long time. Once we get a new taxiway on the northern side, then landing aircraft will be able to vacate the runway within three minutes, and they can land one after the other without delay. At present, it takes 15 to 20 minutes for each aircraft to backtrack along the runway and reach the parking area and no other flight is able to land during that time,” Rao added.
It may be recalled that much before the work of the new terminal building at Dabolim airport could start, the then Union Minister for Civil Aviation Praful Patel, on April 2008, had cleared the proposal for a new parallel taxiway for the airport. However, even after completing the terminal and starting operations from there, the taxiway on the northern side of the runway was yet to become a reality.
06/02/16 Navin Jha/Herald Goa

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Fighter planes at airports to deal with 'balloon menace' in border districts

Jaisalmer: The balloons coming into Jaisalmer and Barmer districts from Pakistan side are becoming a threat to intelligence and security agencies.To deal with this challenge and any expected danger from across the border, special arrangements have been made at Jaisalmer and Barmer air force airports. A fighter plane was deployed at each airport on Saturday.
The radar indicated four balloons coming from across the border, and in this reference, on Saturday at Ramsar area's Gadria village in Barmer, officials recovered around 100-150 balloons from Hyderabad and Rawalpindi areas and these balloons were carrying messages of 'I love you' and a Pak university's name among other things.
Confirming this, Barmer SP Paris Deshmukh said that on Saturday, around 22 kilometres from Pak border at Gadaria village, around 100-150 balloons fell down and in the investigation, it was found that these balloons had come from Pakistan side and there were banners of two feet by four feet size. 'PAKTU', 'ISRA campus annual sports day' and 'I love you' were mentioned on every balloon.
31/01/16 Vimal Bhatia/Times of India

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Telengana government focuses on new airports

Hyderabad: The Telangana government is focusing on new airports in the state. Although Kothagudem in Khammam district tops the list of the state government priorities in this regard other districts such as Adilabad, Warangal and Nizamabad are also under active consideration.
Khammam: The state government commissioned RITES Consultancy of Gurgaon for the pre-feasibility study for an airport at Punukuduchelka village in Kothagudem mandal of the district. The firm on it behalf did a research on the weather conditions of Punukuduchelka in the past five years. After due consideration of several other factors it concluded that the land in the area was not cultivated, it does not fall under restricted airspace of the defence authorities and is in good proximity to major industries.
Following this report submitted by RITES in November last year, the State government ordered a 'Techno Economic Feasibility' study of the region. The study will cover aspects such as potential air traffic, soil conditions, potential impact on environment, engineering challenges and financial considerations. The Telangana is expected to take a final decision on the airport at Kothagudem once the Techno Economic Feasibility report is received by it. Following this it might submit a formal request for the airport to the Central goverment.
31/01/16 Sakshipost

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Council, society demand medium aircraft from Calicut airport

Kozhikode: The Malabar Development Council (MDC) and Calicut International Airport Development Society (CIADS) today demanded introduction of medium aircraft in domestic and internal sector from Calicut airport which was banned to operate E code wide body airport following ongoing re-carpeting work.

In a memorandum submitted to Civil Aviation Minister P Ashok Gajapati Raju, who was here to lay foundation of international arrival block, MDC President C E Chakkunny and CIADS Chairman Dr K Moidu said introduction of medium aircraft 330, 200, Boeing dreamliner 787, among others, would reduce crisis to certain extent.

The said Emirates and Saudi Airlines have expressed their willingness to operate B-777 and JUMBO 747 flights from the airport to provide a hassle free service to passengers in the region.
30/01/16 Web India123

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Safety, not big aircraft, is the priority, says Union Minister

Kozhikode: Union Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju made it clear here on Saturday that safety of passengers took priority over the demand to operate wide-bodied aircraft from Calicut International Airport with its present runway.

“I cannot stop or fly an aircraft. It is decided by the regulator (Directorate-General of Civil Aviation) after taking all aspects of safety into consideration. My ministry does not interfere in this,” he said at an interface organised by Malabar Chamber of Commerce.

Mr. Raju pointed out that the Calicut Airport’s runway did not have the capacity to take the load of the wide-bodied aircraft. On these having been operated earlier, the Minister said some exemptions seemed to have been made and this had taken its toll on the runway.

“Over the last one year, the growth recorded at airports across the country had risen to 20 per cent. It had been around 4.5 per cent earlier. But, I learn that the growth at Calicut Airport had come down,” he said.

When speakers at the meet attributed this to steep fall in passenger and cargo volume because of shifting of flights to Nedumbassery, the Minister firmly said land had to be acquired first for runway expansion. Only then large aircraft could be operated. This put the ball in the State government’s court - that unless it acquired the land, Calicut Airport would not develop.
31/01/16 The Hindu

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GMC: Screen passengers at Attari, Amritsar airport for Zika virus

Amritsar: The microbiology department of Government Medical College (GMC), Amritsar, has suggested screening of passengers with flu-like symptoms at Sri Guru Ram Das Ji International Airport and Attari border as a preventive measure to halt the possible arrival of dreaded Zika virus in the country that is causing havoc in various countries and has already reached the Americas.
Apprehending that Zika virus could penetrate India through international ports, associate professor and principal investigator, viral research and diagnostic laboratory of GMC Dr K D Singh told TOI that they had suggested for regular screening at the entry points in Attari and at the international airport, especially of the passengers having travelled in the affected-countries in the recent past.
He said though there was no reported case of Zika virus in India so far, given the fact that it was transmitted by the same Aedes mosquitoes that spreads dengue and chikangunya, which were common here, there was dire need to take pre-emptive measures.
30/01/16 Times of India

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DGCA inspector visits Kannur airport site

Kannur: An official of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) visited the Kannur International Airport project site near Mattannur on Saturday for inspection of facilities mandatory for giving clearance for trial landing scheduled to be held in February.

DGCA Aerodrome Inspector Y.V. Subramanyan visited the site and inspected the facilities including the runway as part of giving the clearance. Trial landing will be held only if Kannur International Airport Limited (KIAL) has been granted clearance by the DGCA. The Aerodrome Inspector also examined the safety norms set for giving the clearance.

KIAL officials said that all requirements for getting DGCA clearance for trial landing have been met.

They also said that 2,400-metre runway has already been completed for the trial landing. The actual length of the runway will be 3,400 metres. The completed portion of the runway is also marked for trial landing and take-off.
31/01/16 The Hindu

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GMR milks radio Cabs

Hyderabad: GMR airport authorities are minting money by way of parking fees collected from cabs at the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport.

Enquiries by Deccan Chronicle revealed that GMR is earning about Rs 15 crore per year from parking charges and from its agreement of allowing Meru and Sky Cabs to operate from the airport.

Meru and Sky Cabs together make a minimum of 1,500 trips every day from the airport to various parts of the city and to the districts. For each trip, the cabs pay Rs 176 towards bidding value — i.e, to operate the cabs from the airport — and another Rs 50 per trip towards parking charges to GMR.

That’s Rs 3.39 lakh daily – Rs 12.20 crore per year. Meru and Sky Cabs had won the contract to operate its cabs from the airport in January 2016; the contract is valid up to January 2020.

GMR also gets revenue from other cabs, like pre-paid taxies, SHE cabs and other taxis.
31/01/16 M Roushan Ali/Deccan Chronicle

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Smuggled Cigarettes and Gold Seized

Chennai: DRI, Chennai seized 25 lakh sticks of Indonesia origin cigarettes worth Rs.1.9 crore at Madhavaram on Wednesday.  Based on suspicion, officials from the DRI in Chennai examined an imported container labelled as carrying escalator spare parts, nuts and bolts. Detailed inspection resulted in  detection of concealment of 25,63,200 Indonesian cigarette sticks in 178 carton boxes totally valued at Rs.1.94 crores.

These goods were seized at Madhavaram Container Freight Station (CFS) under provisions of the Customs Act, 1962 and further investigations to track the smugglers were in progress.

On the same day (Wednesday), DRI officials at Trichy caught an airlines employee and an international passenger for trying to smuggle 1.9 kg of gold.
30/01/16 New Indian Expfess

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Air India pilot spots 4 flying objects in city airspace; ATC says will investigate

Mumbai: The 'sighting' of paragliders/balloons in Mumbai's airspace continues. Now, an Air India pilot on Friday claimed that he saw four such objects below the plane he was flying near Vasai.
Friday's incident seems significant in view of the fact that a helium balloon flying at a height of about 25,000 feet in Barmer was shot down by an Air Force fighter jet after it was picked up on a radar on Republic Day. It happened amidst the high alert the entire country was put on after the Pathankot attack and Republic Day celebration.
As per the chronology available with airport authorities, the pilot of flight AI671 was given permission to take off around 9.35am. On reaching 24,000 feet, he told the Air Traffic Controller (ATC) that he has sighted four paragliders or balloons about 10 nautical miles behind from his present location. "The flying objects were red, yellow, blue and green in colour and were at about 8,000 feet," said an airport official.
On January 13, the pilot of a Pawan Hans helicopter had reported seeing six paragliders flying over the JW Mariott hotel in Juhu. In another such case, a passenger had tweeted to the Mumbai police that from his window seat in Air India flight AI865 (Delhi-Mumbai), he had seen three white, triangular flying objects about 10 minutes before the plane landed at city airport on January 20.
30/01/16 Shahkar Abidi/Daily News & Analysis

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Fliers from Mumbai will now have to fund Metro III project

Amidst opposition by several stakeholders, the airport regulatory authority on Friday ordered the levying of additional Development Fee (DF) on passengers departing from Mumbai airport in order to fund the Rs518-crore Metro III project connecting the airport with South Mumbai.
The development will make flying expensive from Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport (CSIA) as passengers flying on domestic and international flights will be charged Rs120 and Rs720, respectively, from April as against the earlier Rs100 and Rs600, said an order signed by Joy Kuriakose, deputy chief, Airport Economic Regulatory Authority (AERA).
"After following the due process, AERA, in consultation with the stakeholders, approved the proposal to fund two Metro stations — one at the domestic terminal and the other at the international one. While fliers will bear the DF, MIAL will finance the construction of the Sahar Road station from their non-passenger revenue," said a statement released by the Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation (MMRC) Limited on Friday. "It will give a boost to the larger project for speedier implementation," said Ashwini Bhide, MMRC managing director.
30/01/16 Shahkar Abidi/Ateeq Shaikh/Daily News & Analysis

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Centre & state should work together for airport project: Raju

Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju today suggested that both the Centre and State government should work together for speedy development of the Calicut International airport at Karipur, near here. Addressing an interaction session with the members of the Calicut Chamber of Commerce and Industry and later with mediapersons here, he said, "aviation is government of India subject; land is the state subject. So, both the Centre and State should work together for development of the airport."

To a suggestion that a time frame should be fixed for acquisition of land, Raju said "rehabilitation of people who gave up their land is important. Ours is a federal structure and we cannot force any state government." "Many state governments have put forth the idea of airport developments in their state. Whichever government handed over the land first, they will be given priority."

To a question on skill development and starting a Commercial Pilots Centre in Malabar region as thousands of graduates come out of colleges every year, he said, "there is a mismatch in skill development sector.In some aviation sector the manpower is more while in some sector it is deficient. Skilling our own people is the priority of the government."
On whether commencement of a new airport at Kannur will affect prospects of Calicut airport, Raju said "we will not pull down one for the sake of the other. Kannur is coming. But if you give the land, you will be the forerunner." On problems faced during Haj pilgrimage, he said "last year there was a little bit of problem, this year there is no problem and in the next year we have to learn from the problems faced."
30/01/16 PTI/Business Standard

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'Calicut airport not for wide-bodied aircraft'

Kozhikode:  The Calicut International Airport is not designed technically to operate wide-bodied aircraft, Civil Aviation Minister P Ashok Gajapati Raju today said.

Talking to reporters after an interactive session with leading trade chambers in the city, he said at present the airport is not suitable to operate jumbo size aircraft.

''We are governed by international civil aviation rules and we will have adhere by it,'' he said

Director General of Civil Aviation has to issue a fitness certificate to facilitate the airport operate big aircraft, he said.

The Minister said he cannot interfere in laid down procedures in connection with functioning of any airports in the country, he said ruling out request for it from chamber represenatives.
30/01/16 Web India123

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Aerodrome inspector from DGCA examine KIAL site

Kannur: An Aerodrome Inspector from Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) , New Delhi, visited the Kannur International Airport Limited (KIAL) site in Moorkhanparambhu near Mattanur in Kannur district to examine the site, today.. KIAL Managing Director Chandramouli told UNI, that DGCA Inspector examined the infrastructure like runway and terminals for trial landing expected in the first week of February. He said the DGCA official left in the evening.
30/01/16 UNI/Web India 123

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SC upholds award of Cebu airport deal to GMR-Megawide consortium

The Supreme Court has upheld the decision of the Department of Transportation and Communications (DoTC) to award the Mactan-Cebu International Airport (MCIA) modernization project to the consortium of Megawide Construction Corp. (MCC) and India’s GMR Infrastructure Ltd.

In a recently released 39-page decision dated Jan. 13, the SC Third Division denied for lack of merit the April 2014 petition by Senator Sergio R. Osmeña III, a Cebuano, to stop the awarding of the contract. It also denied for lack of legal and factual bases the Business for Progress Movement’s October 2014 petition to halt the facility’s turnover.

In one of the last decisions penned by recently retired Associate Justice Martin S. Villarama, Jr., the high court held that there was no patent error or arbitrariness on the DoTC’s part for awarding the contract on April 4, 2014.

“There being no violation of any law, regulation or the bidding rules, nor any arbitrariness or unfairness committed by public respondents, the presumption of regularity of the bidding for the MCIA Project must stand,” the decision read.

The P17.52-billion project involves the airport’s operation, the renovation of the existing passenger terminal and the construction of a new one to service international flights.

After the GMR-Megawide consortium won the bidding by offering a P14.4-billion premium, various sectors questioned GMR’s financial capability in the aftermath of the Maldives government’s cancellation of a $500-million deal to upgrade the Malé international airport in 2012.
29/01/16 BusinessWorld Online

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Construction work on at Shillong Airport

Shillong: Construction of the boundary wall and the road diversion at the Shillong Airport at Umroi will be completed by March.
Informing this over phone on Friday, Sreekumar, GM (Engineering), Airports Authority of India regional office, said all the issues have been resolved and the construction work is progressing smoothly.
Reacting to a query, he said the work for the expansion of the runway would start after the North Eastern Council clears the necessary funds.
He further said that AAI may think of installing the instrument landing system (ILS) at the airport before the construction of the runway even as he added that AAI has already allotted a portion of the land for setting up of a refueling centre at the airport.
30/01/16 Shillong Times

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Mentally unstable man tells security his wife wants to blow up Mumbai airport's T2

The rising hoax cases seem to be creating a lot of trouble for the Mumbai airport security agencies. In yet another case, a mentally unstable man informed security officials at the city side of Terminal 2 (International terminal), that a woman had entered the premises with an explosive, and that she was on a mission to blow up the airport.
However, when the woman, who was identified as a ground staffer, was caught, she revealed that the man was her husband, who works with the BMC and is undergoing psychiatric treatment at Cooper Hospital. The police checked documents related to this and then let the couple go.
The incident took place at about 9.40 pm on Wednesday when a man named SS Shetty, approached a security official at the east side of the arrivals (city side) and said that he had seen a woman carrying an explosive with her.
Shetty even told the name of the woman, Hira Shetty. A message was circulated urgently to the control room at the new T2.
“The woman was called for investigations which revealed that she wasn’t carrying anything suspicious. During interrogation, she said the man, with the false information, was her husband, and claimed that he was working with BMC. She said he was undergoing psychiatric treatment at Cooper Hospital,” said a senior airport official.
30/01/16 Neha LM Tripathi/Mid Day

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IndiGo boarding pass bungle leaves bureaucrat stranded at IGI Airport

Senior IAS officer Deepak Kumar, who was to fly to Tamil Nadu to prepare for Prime Minister Narendra Modi's upcoming visit to the state, was left stranded at the IGI Airport because of the boarding pass bungle.
The airline staff expressed their inability to help the officer board the flight. Kumar missed his IndiGo plane while some other IAS officer travelled on his boarding pass on another flight to Kochi.
Kumar, director general of ESI Corporation, had to be in Coimbatore where Prime Minister Modi will inaugurate a medical college next week.
The officer had reached the airport an hour before the departure of his IndiGo flight 6E-397 (PNR - AY 4S3D) that was scheduled to take off at 6.40 am. He was received by his Protocol Officer and GMR personnel at the lounge.
Kumar was shocked to hear from the GMR personnel that his boarding pass had already been issued. "He was still waiting for the boarding pass when boarding was announced. The GMR personnel informed him that some other person had taken his boarding pass and has boarded IndiGo flight 6E-315 to Kochi," said an official close to the IAS officer, while requesting anonymity.
When the IAS officer started enquiring about the lapse, he was told that another person passed through the security check with the boarding pass issued in Kumar's name. However, when it was detected at the boarding gate that the pass was not valid, the IndiGo staff manually corrected the name and flight number on the boarding pass for the Coimbatore flight and allowed that passenger to take the flight to Kochi, alleged the source.
Things were getting more puzzling for Kumar who was waiting to board his flight to Coimbatore. "When he asked for a fresh boarding pass for himself for the Coimbatore flight, the airline staff expressed their helplessness and Kumar had to return," said the source.
However, the IndiGo Airlines responded saying that the boarding passes got interchanged and it was a mistake as both the passengers were GMR guests.
30/01/16 Kumar Vikram/India Today

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Amsterdam Airport carries Hindu Vedas for passengers

Nevada: : Amsterdam Schiphol Airport, Netherlands’ largest and one of the world’s leading airports; carries Bhagavad-Gita, Vedas and other Hindu holy books.
These are available to passengers in the Meditation Centre, located near the F-gates, which is open 24-hours a day for prayer or meditation or relaxing in silence or holding a group service.

Distinguished Hindu statesman Rajan Zed, in a statement in Nevada (USA) today, thanking Schiphol, urged other top world airports—Singapore Changi, Incheon (South Korea) International, Hong Kong International, Beijing Capital International, Munich, Zurich, Vancouver International, Tokyo (Haneda) International, London Heathrow—to provide Hindu scriptures for its passengers as a substantial number of Hindu passengers used these airports regularly.
30/01/16 Punjab News Express

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Duty-free shops at airports in non-metro cities like Amritsar, Jaipur, etc see uptick in biz

Mumbai: International flyers from smaller Indian cities are thronging duty free shops at airports in large numbers, shopping for single malts and premium perfumes.
 "Nowadays, customers from non-metro cities have become very well informed, and there has been a rise in the number of flyers from such cities over the past two years. A growth in their disposable income fuels their buying behaviour. All these have helped us in boosting sales in non-metro cities such as Lucknow, Amritsar, Jaipur, Mangalore, etc," said Anirban Dutta Chowdhury, CEO, India at Flemingo International, which operates duty free shops at 11 cities in India, including Kolkata, Chennai,  Trivandrum, Calicut, Trichy, Goa and Ahmedabad, apart from the ones mentioned earlier.
Flemingo currently gets 55 per cent of its India business from Kolkata and Chennai while the rest comes from non-metro cities.
The latter chunk has "grown substantially" over the past few years and will continue to grow, said Chowdhury without elaborating.
The airports are operated by state-run Airports Authority of India. Its chairman RK Srivastava said there has been an increase in demand for duty free in non-metro airports.
30/01/16 Anirban Chowdhury/Economic Times

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Airport at Kothagudem sought

Khammam: There is an imperative need to set up an airport at Kothagudem or a nearby place in the district to provide air connectivity to the industrial powerhouse of Telangana for ushering in all-round development in the State, said speakers at the annual meeting of the district Airlines, Rail and Bus Users' Association held at Gautaminagar in Aswapuram mandal on Friday.

According to a press release, several senior officials and employees of the Heavy Water Plant, Manuguru, KTPS, Palvancha, Sponge Iron Unit of NMDC Ltd., Palvancha, the ITC Ltd's PSPD unit, Sarapaka, Railways, TSRTC and other organisations were among those present at the meeting.

Highlighting the air passenger traffic potential of the Kothagudem-Palvancha industrial hub of the district, speakers at the inaugural session underlined the need for setting up an airport in the industrial powerhouse to spur economic growth.
30/01/16 The Hindu

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BIAL police solve abandoned suitcase mystery

Bengaluru: The Airport police cracked the case of the abandoned suitcase at the administrative block of the Kempegowda International Airport, which triggered panic among passengers on Friday.

The police who analysed the CCTV footage found that Nagaveni, a housekeeping staff of Malaysian Airlines, had dumped the suitcase.

After the police picked her up for questioning, she revealed that she was carrying trash collected from inside the airport in a suitcase to dump outside.
30/01/16 Imran Gowhar/The Hindu

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Mangaluru-Bengaluru air connectivity to increase

Mangaluru:  Those travelling between Mangaluru and Bengaluru will have flights almost every two hours from March 27.

JT Radhakrishna, Airport Director, Mangaluru International Airport, told Business Line that Mangaluru will be connected to Bengaluru with additional three flights from March 27.

At present, airlines such as Jet Airways, SpiceJet and Air Pegasus connect Mangaluru with Bengaluru. While Jet Airways operates six flights daily from Mangaluru to Bengaluru, SpiceJet operates two flights from the Mangaluru airport. Air Pegasus operates one flight from the city to Bengaluru.

In the current schedule, the first flight to Bengaluru from Mangaluru departs at 7 am. The last flight of the day to Bengaluru is at 8.40 pm.

In the proposed schedule, which will come into effect on March 27, the last flight to Bengaluru is likely to depart at 10.45 pm. The other two likely departure timings are at 2 pm and 4.55 pm.
29/01/16 AJ Vinayak/Business Line

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IGI on alert after threat calls, unidentified balloon

New Delhi: Three “threat calls” and a mysterious balloon threw the security apparatus at Indira Gandhi International airport into a tizzy Monday. Two flights — of Jet Airways and Air India — heading for Kathmandu were delayed and took off only after the aircraft were thoroughly checked.
The flights — AI 215 and 9W 260 — were scheduled to take off at 1.15 pm and 1.25 pm, respectively. “Two calls were received at my office at 1.05 pm and 1.10 pm. One call was received at IGI’s Terminal-3 police station at 1.15 pm. The caller identified himself as a Hafiz Azad and claimed he was calling from Istanbul,” Deputy Commissioner of Police (IGIA) D K Gupta said, adding that “a balloon was seen towards Gurgaon side in the evening”. The caller said bombs were kept inside two laptop bags in Air India and Jet Airways aircraft.
“A case under the civil aviation Act has been registered and investigation has been started to look for the caller,” said Gupta. Following the calls, the authorities decided to ground both flights. The aircraft were taken to the isolation bay for an extensive search of baggage and cargo. The passengers were offloaded and taken to the terminal.
28/01/16 Indian Express

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Bhogapuram International Corpn to develop 2 no frills airports

Hyderabad:  Bhogapuram International Airport Corporation Ltd has invited request for selection of developers for no frills airports at Dagadarthi in Nellore district and Oravakal in Kurnool district of Andhra Pradesh.

The Andhra Pradesh government has decided to take up these two Greenfield airports for development under the public-private partnership mode. Towards this initiative, Bhogapuram International Airport Corporation, created by the State Infrastructure Department, has been appointed as the nodal body for development of these two airports in the State.
28/01/16  V Rishi Kumar/Business Line

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Man who panicked four airports does not remember making threats

The man who made a series of hoax calls to airports across the country has claimed that he does not remember making these calls. Sanjeev Mishra, the Pune-based animator, was questioned by the Bhubaneswar police on Wednesday, even as authorities discovered that he made the first threatening call from inside the police station of the domestic airport.
The 35-year-old got into a heated argument with a traffic constable near the airport on January 21. When Mishra pushed the cop, he was dragged to the airport's police station and made to sit in a corner. Mishra then made the first threatening call to the police control room at 6 pm after seeing its number on a display board. Mishra was released after the police received medical documents that said that he was mentally unstable.
Mishra then threatened the Mumbai airport authorities and the Pune railway station. He was arrested on the Pune-Solapur highway on Saturday and charged with threatening to target the Pune railway station with explosives. Anil Kumar Patra, assistant commissioner of police, Airfield Police Station, said Mishra would be taken to Odisha for further questioning because the hoax call caused a Go Air flight from Bhubaneswar to Mumbai to be diverted to Nagpur. An Indigo flight at Bhubaneswar airport was also delayed, causing a huge monetary loss for the airlines.
28/01/16 Aditya Anand/Mumbai Mirror 

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Showing Hollande's flight, AAI says Chandigarh ready for int'l trips

Chandigarh: The Airport Authority of India (AAI) on Wednesday showed the visit of French President Francois Hollande as a proof of Chandigarh airport's capability to handle international flights.
Responding to a petition filed against the delay in starting international flights, the AAI submitted before the Punjab and Haryana high court that the new airport had all facilities, including two aero bridges, baggage conveyors, 48 check-in counters, prepaid taxi counter, snack bar, visitors' entry ticket counters and car parking, to handle foreign flights.
"Chandigarh international airport has been operational, which can be assessed from the fact that the aeroplane of the President of France arrived there and was handled by the Air Force due to the protocol. Therefore, it cannot be said that the airport is not ready for international flights," said the AAI in response to the allegations that airport is not well equipped.
28/01/16 Times of India

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Coast Guard gets space at Mangaluru airport for air squadron

Mangaluru: Coastal surveillance and security in the State will get a boost as a long-pending demand of the Indian Coast Guard to have space at Mangaluru International Airport for positioning its air squadron was fulfilled on Wednesday.

The Airports Authority of India handed over about 17,000 sq ft of space in its old terminal building at Bajpe to the Coast Guard on Wednesday, according to J.T. Radhakrishna, director of the airport.

The Coast Guard had asked for space for its operations and parking its aircraft. He told The Hindu that the Coast Guard has proposed to park its two Dornier aircraft at the old terminal building which is not being used now for passenger aircraft operations.

The nearest airbase for the Coast Guard here is in Kochi and Panaji (Goa), he said.

Mr. Radhakrishna said the aircraft/ helicopter of the Coast Guard would use the air traffic services being provided by the AAI at airport for operations.
28/01/16 Raviprasad Kamila/The Hindu

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NGT asks Centre to fix norms on noise pollution near airports

New Delhi:The National Green Tribunal on Wednesday expressed its displeasure over government's failure to fix environmental norms on noise pollution in residential areas near airports across the country.
A bench headed by NGT Chairperson Justice Swatanter Kumar directed Ministry of Environment & Forests (MoEF), Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) and Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) to convene a meeting and take a clear decision on the issue.
"The Supreme Court of India has referred these matters to the Tribunal and directed expeditious disposal, preferably within 6 months... We direct MoEF, DGCA and CPCB to hold a meeting within two weeks from today and take a final view on the matter. We make it clear that we would not grant any other opportunity to them," the bench said while posting the matter for final hearing on March 16.
The green panel was hearing a bunch of pleas filed by the residents of Vasant Kunj, Bijwasan and Indian Spinal Injuries Centre (ISIC), a super speciality hospital located near the Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport.
27/01/16 PTI/Statesman

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Tiruchi airport to get 10 MW solar plant

Tiruchi: The airport here has decided to harness green energy for its power requirements as part of its effort to conserve power and protect environment.

The Airports Authority of India (AAI) management has given its approval for a proposal to establish a 10 mega watt capacity solar power plant at the airport. So, the airport authorities have entrusted the Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited the task of preparing a Detailed Project Report (DPR) for the power project.

A team of BHEL officials from Bangalore and New Delhi inspected the airport in the first week of this month and surveyed the spot. The plan is to put in place a ground mounted solar power plant at a cost ranging between Rs. 60 crore and Rs. 70 crore at the airport.

The BHEL would shortly submit the DPR containing a host of aspects to the airport authorities, sources told The Hindu .
28/01/16 R. Rajaram/The Hindu

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HAL gives nod to GoAir for diverting flights to Nashik airport

Nashik: The Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) has given its nod to the proposal of private airline operator GoAir for diversion of flights at Ozar airport, near Nashik, as an alternate to Mumbai airport.
An agreement between the GoAir and HAL is to be signed shortly. The company will be able to use the Ozar airport, 20km from Nashik city, for diversion of flights thereafter.
Speaking to TOI, a senior official from GoAir said, "We have received an approval from the HAL for diversion of flights. We had submitted the proposal in this connection around four-five months back and we have several meetings with the HAL on the issue. Finally, the HAL has given its nod and now we are waiting for signing an agreement with the company for the purpose." He added, "We will use Ozar airport for diversion of flights as an alternate to the Mumbai airport.
He added, "If the aircraft flying towards Mumbai from Delhi and it is unable to land in Mumbai airport terminal due to some technical reasons or due to heavy air traffic, then we will be able to divert flight to Nashik airport terminal."
28/01/16 Tushar Pawar/Times of India

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Hyderabadi held in Chennai airport for smuggling gold

Customs officials at Chennai International Airport terminaltoday arrested a 31-year-old man on charge of smuggling in gold in the form ofbiscuits, valued at Rs 30 laks, from Dubai. According to sources, the passenger, Rahmat (31),a native of Hyderabad, who was acting as a courier for an international group of smugglers, arrived by an Indigo Airlines flight from Dubai at 0530 hrs. On suspicion Customs officials examined his suitcase. They found ten gold biscuits which Rahmat had concealed in a secret chamber. They also wanted to know why Rahmat had taken a flight to Chennai when Dubai was well connected with Hyderabad through many airline services.
28/01/16 WebIndia123

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1.5 kg gold seized at airport

Tiruchi: In a combined operation officers of the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) and Customs seized 1.5 kg of smuggled gold and apprehended an air passenger and a ground handling staff at the airport here on Wednesday.

The air passenger Murugesan and the ground handling staff Sathyaseelan were subsequently taken for inquiry upon seizure of the smuggled gold biscuits. Airport sources said the DRI officers received a tip off regarding smuggling of gold and mounted a vigil along with Customs officials at the international airport. The passenger landed in Tiruchi by an Air India Express flight that came from Singapore in the afternoon and later left for Chennai.

The sources said the offence was reportedly carried out with connivance of the ground handling staff here.
28/01/16 The Hindu

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Police register case in IGI hoax threat call

New Delhi: Delhi Police has registered a case pertaining to hoax calls following which two Kathmandu-bound flights were on Wednesday rounded at IGI Airport here minutes before departure.
"The FIR was registered late last night," DCP (IGIA) DK Gupta said on Thursday.
Police received four calls -- two at the DCP's office and two at IGIA police station -- claiming bombs had been placed in cabin baggage on the said flights.
"All the four calls were made through Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP) and from preliminary investigation it has emerged that the caller was the same in each case," said Gupta.
28/01/16 PTI/Statesman

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Multiple bomb scares disrupt flights across India. What's happening?

New Delhi: A Goa-bound Air Asia flight from Bengaluru was delayed after a bomb scare today. Flight I5 1721's departure was put on hold after a threat letter was found in the washroom of the Kempegowda International Airport.
This was the third incident of bomb scare on a plane today.
An Air India and a Jet Airways flight travelling from Delhi to Kathmandu were delayed earlier following a bomb threat call. Authorities said the caller, who claimed to be from Turkey, was using Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP)due to which the call could not be traced.

A Kathmandu-bound Jet Airways flight with 111 people on board was on Monday halted minutes before take-off from Delhi's IGI Airport after a bomb threat. The caller claimed a "gift on a seat' and signed off saying "Happy Republic Day". The call was a hoax.
Tackling hoax bomb calls are a regular thing for security authorities ahead of important dates like - January 26 and August 15. However, this year the frequency of hoax calls has been unusually high.
With the country facing a heightened security threat in the wake of Pathankot terror attack and ISIS, Al Qaeda associates being arrested in raids across the country in the past week, security agencies are taking no chances. But no arrest has been reported in such cases so far which certainly raises a few questions.
27/01/16 India Today

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Air India and Jet Airways flights grounded following bomb scare

New Delhi: Two flights, one each of Air India and Jet Airways, were grounded today just before their departure for Kathamandu from here following a bomb scare.
Airport sources said that the two flights were halted after the Jet Airways security office at Indira Gandhi International Airport here received an anonymous call saying there was a “bomb threat” to Air India flight AI-215 and Jet Airways flight 9W 260.
The two flights were scheduled to take off for the Nepalese capital at 0115 hour and 0130 hours, respectively.
This is the second such incident of grounding of an aircraft due to a bomb scare as on Saturday the same flight of Jet Airways was delayed by six hours due to the grounding of the plane after a bomb threat call, which turned out to be a hoax.
While 121 passengers were booked on the Air India flight, Jet Airways said it had 122 passengers and seven crew on board its flight 9W 260.
The two aircraft have been taken to the isolation bay, where security personnel from Bomb Disposal Squad (BDS) are carrying out an extensive search of the baggage and check-in luggage of the passengers, the sources said.
27/01/16 PTI/Financial Express

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Passengers panic after bomb hoax scare at Kempegowda Intl. Airport

Bengaluru: Panic gripped passengers at Kempegowda International Airport Ltd. when the ground staff found a letter in a domestic flight stating that a bomb had been planted.

The Air Asia Flight, which landed at KIAL from Jaipur in the morning, was scheduled to fly to Goa at around 12.35 p.m.

The staff cleaning the flight found the letter and alerted the security guards.

Soon an alert was announced and the passengers checking into the flight to fly to Goa were frisked and their baggage checked. A bomb disposal squad and sniffer dog squad were pressed into service. After three hours of detailed search, the letter was found to be a hoax.
27/01/16 Imran Gowhar/The Hindu

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After Rajasthan's Barmer, suspicious balloon spotted near Delhi airport

New Delhi: A suspicious balloon has been spotted near Delhi airport.
The Gurgaon control room has informed Delhi airport security that the balloon was seen moving from Gurgaon towards Delhi's Aaya Nagar airforce station.
Delhi airport's Air Traffic Control (ATC) and the police have also been informed about the suspicious object.
At about 3.15pm today the patrol guards at Air Force Station located on Gurgaon Faridabad Road reported sighting a red and white coloured unidentified balloon, about 1 meter in diameter, flying between 1-1.5km high, and flying towards Aya Nagar in Delhi from Gurgaon Faridabad Road side. Upon this the Delhi and Faridabad Police Control Rooms were alerted by Gurgaon Police Control Room. No balloon has been recovered yet.
On Tuesday, a fighter jet accidently dropped five bombs over Gugdi town in Rajasthan's Barmer district. The sound of the explosion could be heard in a 10 km radius. Barmer is a village which is very near to Pakistan border.
However, the Indian Air Force in its statement said that its radar had spotted an unidentified balloon-shaped object and that a fighter jet was launched to intercept the object.
27/01/16 India Today

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False Alert, Says Delhi Police On 'Suspicious' Balloon At Delhi Airport

Delhi: A "suspicious" balloon reported at the the Indira Gandhi International airport in Delhi today belonged to the met office, Delhi Police said today.

An alert had been sounded after authorities received a call about a "big balloon" hovering over the airport today.

Police said the call centre of the Delhi International Airport Ltd (DIAL) received a call about spotting of the big balloon following which the airport was put on alert.

A senior police officer at the airport D K Gupta said all security agencies have been informed about the information though police has not spotted the object.
Later Delhi Police reached out to NDTV to clarify the object was weather balloon.
27/01/16 Divyanshu Dutta Roy/NDTV

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Don't Throw Out Bhogapuram Airport Farmers: HC to AP

Hyderabad: Amid heated arguments that several ministers in the Chandra Babu Naidu government have played fraud with the process of acquiring land for the proposed construction of Bhogapuram International Greenfield Airport, Justice Vilas V Afzalpurkar of the Hyderabad High Court on Monday directed the AP state not to take away the land from the farmers whose land is under acquisition.
"Do not dispossess them until further orders," the judge said.
The state is in the process of acquiring 5311 acres in Bhogapuram mandal of Vizianagaram district for the airport and it also issued a notification seeking the land from farmers on August 31, 2015.
The judge was hearing scores of petitions filed by several aggrieved farmers who challenged the way the state is going ahead with its land acquisition agenda.
Appearing for the farmers, senior counsel A Satya Prasad told the court that the authorities have made several undue modifications midway to delete from the process of acquisition the land parcels belonging to TDP ministers like Chintakayala Ayyanna Patrudu and Ganta Srinivasa Rao and several real estate firms of Vijayawada which have bought huge land in Bhogapuram area.
27/01/16 Sagar Kumar Mutha/Times of India

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Mopa airport is a massive land scam: GenNext

Margao: Asserting that the terms of the final bid for the shortlisted bidders of Mopa green field airport is against the interest of Goa, Generation Next (GenNext) President Durgadas Kamat has claimed it as “a money spinner for the developer.”
He said that the initially envisaged project is very different from what is now going to be developed.
Explaining how the project has become a money spinner, Kamat said, “Firstly, in terms of the total land this has gone up from 1500 acres initially to 2271 acres today. Secondly, 381 acres of land will be given to the developer with a super FAR of 2.5, that is, 38,58,315 square meters of build-able area. Finally, Goa pays Rs 3.6 lakh per day to the developer in case of any delay in the project including in case of a court notice or stay.”
27/01/16 Herald

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Key airports' capacity to get saturated in 10 years

New Delhi: The Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation has said that key airports in the country will saturate in the next ten years and the government needs to start planning for alternative airports in the cities.
The report by the aviation think tank says that Bangalore and Hyderabad will saturate by FY26, Delhi and Kolkata will saturate by FY23 and Mumbai and Chennai will saturate by FY18.

"The government needs to consider this issue from a national interest perspective: Total airport traffic is forecast to grow from 190 million passengers in FY2015 to 556 million on FY2025. This will place immense pressure on metro and non-metro airports," CAPA said in its report.
27/01/16 Mihir Mishra/Economic Times

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Indigo deplanes 3 passengers in Ahmedabad from Mumbai flight

Ahmedabad: Three passengers, all family members, were de-boarded by Indigo officials from a Mumbai flight on Monday morning allegedly over unruly behaviour.
The Modi family, including Aashil Modi and his parents Kapil Modi and Avani Modi, were scheduled to board Indigo's 6E-214 flight for Mumbai. The Modi family not only lost tickets worth Rs 15,000 as Indigo did not refund them, but they also missed an important family function in Mumbai besides important business meetings.
They had done web check-in and were approaching the security hold area (SHA) when they were stopped by Indigo officials. "We were told that our bags' weight was more than the permissible limits of cabin baggage. Since all three of us had a single PNR ticket, we were allowed to carry 21 kg of cabin baggage (7kg per person). The airline officials were quite rude and insisted that we weigh our bags. Upon weighing it was found that the total weight of our bags was a little over 15kg," said Aashil Modi.
27/01/16 Piyush Mishra/Times of India

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NGO surprised on refusal of stake to Goa govt in Mopa project

Panaji: A Goa-based NGO has expressed surprise over the state government's move to hand over land for the proposed greenfield airport in North district to a private entity when it does not hold any stake in the project as indicated by the Union Civil Aviation ministry.

"Union Civil Aviation ministry has indicated that Goa government will not hold any stake in the proposed greenfield airport at Mopa but will have representation on the Board of Directors with veto powers. This came as a surprise to us," NGO Gen Next President Durgadas Kamat said in a statement issued here.

A Civil Aviation ministry official was also recently quoted as saying that Goa will not have any stake in Mopa airport project.

"Mopa will have the distinction of being the first airport project in India where the state government will not be owner, even partially," Kamat said.
26/01/16 PTI/Business Standard

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Direct Flight for Pakistan to Guwahati, Afghanistan and Sri Lanka on Board Too

Chennai: Finally it’s official. As reported by Express, Pakistan will take chartered flights directly to Guwahati for the South Asian Games next month. This was decided after the Organising Committee got clearances from the Ministry of Home Affairs and Ministry of External Affairs, Express has learnt.

Pakistan who are sending a large contingent of around 450 (including officials) will arrive in two batches – one on February 2 and the other two days later  — before the event begins on February 5. According to top officials in the SAG organising committee, India have agreed to Pakistan’s request to let them fly directly to Guwahati instead of stopovers in Delhi or Mumbai. The organising committee, through a special notification from the Ministry of Home Affairs, got the nod. Even the MEA has ratified it.
A top official in the organising committee said non-validated passes were allotted to athletes along with their accreditation cards which will serve as visas. “Their cards will be validated as soon as they land in Guwahati, so there is no concern of issuing or declining visas here,” he said. The MHA and the MEA have been notified about the athletes and the NVPs were issued after getting necessary clearances from all agencies. “No NVP was issued without thorough scrutiny,” said an official. It has been learnt even the procedures on arrivals at the airport will manned by specially deputed security personnel.
27/01/16 Indraneel Das/New Indian Express

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HC notice on PIL on Jodhpur civil airport

Jodhpur: The Rajasthan High Court today issued notices to the Union of India apart from the state government and Airport Authority of India seeking replies to a PIL by February 10 about the need for a fully-functional civil airport in Jodhpur under the control of an independent body.

A division bench, comprising justice Govind Mathur and justice Nirmal Jeet Kaur, issued the notices while allowing a PIL moved by LIBRA India, a trust engaged in legal research and advocacy, emphasising the need of an independent civil airport in Jodhpur and installation of various safety equipment like Instrumental Landing System (ILS).

Appearing on behalf of the petitioner trust, M S Singhvi argued in the court that despite the city having soared high on educational, institutional, industrial and tourism map in the past couple of years, no serious steps have been taken in the direction of ensuring enhanced air connectivity in Jodhpur.

The airport here is now under the control of Indian Air Force.
27/01/16 PTI

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In transit

Major airports in the country have been late to the party of global airports, unlike Atlanta, Chicago, Dubai or Singapore which are hubs connecting one end of the world to another. However, in a case of better late than never, the Indian airports are now taking steps to becoming global hubs.

The Indian Government’s decision to allow private sector participation in domestic airports and the opening of the integrated domestic and international terminal under the same roof at Terminal 3 (T-3) in Delhi in 2010 was the first step, and possibly a game changer. While in fiscal year 2010 the airport handled 1.6 million transfer passengers — about 6 per cent of all passengers who travelled through the airport — this figure touched 8.4 million transfer passengers or 20.5 per cent of all passengers handled in fiscal year 2015.
A hub airport is one where a passenger, say from Chennai, can fly to Singapore and within a short time connect to another flight to Auckland as the final destination. And for that to happen an integrated passenger terminal is important.

“With the commissioning of T-3, Delhi transitioned into a hub airport for international and domestic traffic,” an airport spokesman said. What also helped Delhi airport was that Air India moved its long haul operations into T-3. The arrival of the airline’s Dreamliner Boeing 787 aircraft, which were largely based out of Delhi, also boosted the terminal’s growth as a hub. Besides, in July 2014, Air India joined the Star Alliance which facilitated seamless connectivity between the national carrier and 26 other Alliance members. Not to be left behind, Mumbai airport too is making progress. “With better infrastructure availability, the transfer passengers have increased to more than 4 million passengers in 2014-15 from 1 million passengers in 2008-09,” a GVK spokesperson told BusinessLine.

The spokesman further added that with the integrated Terminal 2 becoming operational in Mumbai, the transit experience of passengers was greatly enhanced. T2 was inaugurated on January 14, 2014 and became operational on February 12, of the same year.

One of the main reasons why Indian airports make for good hubs is the vast size of the country. And this is something which Bengaluru and Hyderabad airports are keen to tap into.
26/01/16 Aswini Phadnis/Business Line

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Gold seized at airport

Thiruvananthapuram: he customs DRI department Wednesday seized 2.5 kilograms of gold which was found abandoned under the seat of an Air India flight. The gold was found in the flight which reached the capital city early Wednesday morning. The yellow metal was in the form of a biscuit and gold bar.

Three passengers have been taken into custody on suspicion for interrogation. One among the three is suspected to have smuggled the stuff.
Two weeks before the customs had seized 6.5 kilograms of gold transported by a passenger in the capital city. The metal was found stuffed inside an iron box.
27/01/16 Kaumudi Online

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‘For stress-free boarding, air travellers must report early’

Mumbai: After a series of hoax calls and sightings of parachute-like flying objects over the past three weeks, a number of air security measures have been put in place in preparation for Republic Day on Tuesday.
"For now, no airport entry passes are being issued by the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security," said a source.
Other than the regular security arrangements, random checks are being carried out by airline and CISF security agencies, the source said and added that passengers could have a stress-free boarding if they arrive early for their flights. After security was beefed up in airports across the country, following the Pathankot attacks, two airlines—Air India and Indigo—had issued instructions to their passengers asking them to report early due to congestion in the security hold area.
Other than hoax calls about bomb threats made by a mentally unstable man on Thursday and Friday, Mumbai airport received a call from an unidentified caller on Saturday. The caller, who spoke in Hindi, warned about a bomb blast at the airport before February 2. Earlier in the week, Mumbai police and the ATS had launched investigations into paraglider-like flying objects were sighted on two separate occasions by two different people.
25/01/16 Times of India

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Indian-origin Briton deported from US due to 'skin colour'

London: A UK-based Indian-origin man who had travelled to the US from London on a business trip has alleged that he was held for 13 hours by the immigration officials and was deported because of his skin colour.

Amreet Surana, who works for a UK security company, was held in Detroit while trying to catch a connecting flight to the firm’s branch in Arizona.
Mr Surana, from Leicestershire in the Midlands region of England, said that he was stopped when he landed at Detroit Airport from Heathrow on January 17.

He was then allegedly held for 13 hours, during which time his photograph and fingerprints were taken, and his belongings searched.    
“I believe I was profiled because of my appearance,” Mr Surana told the BBC.
27/01/16 PTI/Daily Pioneer

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'Hypersensitive' city airport gets increased CISF security checks

Pune: Following the Pathankot attack, Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) will modify security at Pune airport, which is classified as hypersensitive, in order to be more vigilant.

"Ministry classifies airports under three categories, namely, sensitive, hypersensitive and normal. Pune comes under hypersensitive category. Hence, we have decided to beef up the security measures," said Sanjay Prakash, deputy inspector in general (DIG), CISF.

Compulsive checking will now be undertaken on the airport premises. Vehicles entering the airport will be thoroughly inspected. Also, commuters will have to remove their shoes as a part of security check, before boarding the flight.

Regarding this particular move, the home ministry, in 2013, had stated that along with electronic equipment, shoes too, will have to be removed for security purposes. However, due to time constraint, it was not implemented at many airports.

"It was not possible to check all commuters by asking them to remove their shoes during heavy rush. So, we used to instruct random commuters. Now, every commuter will be asked to remove shoes as part of the check," said Prakash.
26/01/16 Sukirt Gumaste/Pune Mirror

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Mumbai Least Punctual Airport in 2015: 1 in 4 Flights Delayed

Through 2015, the Mumbai airport was the least punctual among four private-run metro airports -- Delhi, Bangalore and Hyderabad being the other three .

The on-time performance (OTP) report showed that on an average, only 74.36% flights every month were on schedule in Mumbai. Hyderabad (84.06%) and Bangalore (82.47%) did better. Even Delhi, which handles about 100 more take-offs and landings a day than Mumbai, recorded an average on-time performance of 81.56%. Mumbai handles an average of 865 flights daily. Barring January (when it was the third best), Mumbai stayed at the bottom of the table for the whole year.

The Mumbai air traffic control (ATC) establishment blamed errant arrivals for the mess.

"Let us assume a Mumbai-bound flight gets delayed in taking off from its airport of origin owing to poor weather; its arrival in the city gets delayed. This leads to bunching in the skies here," said Jayant Dasgupta, general manager, Mumbai ATC. "We are equipped to handle up to 30 arrivals in an hour. But such unplanned delays result in 35 to 40 incoming flights circling above the airport during peak hours."
25/01/16 Mcclatchy/AviationPros

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Airport to shelter surrendered militants

Shillong: After the underground outfit United A’chik Liberation Army (UALA) inked an “agreed text of settlement” with Meghalaya government. In the most surprising turn of events, Baljek Airport near Tura which has not seen the light of the day is under the scanner of the State government.

The project which was conceived in 1983 by the Meghalaya government but sanctioned by the Centre 12 years later, as the State government is devising a clever plan to turn the non functional airport into a hub of activity by planning to house surrendered militants there.

Reliable sources informed that preparations were on in full swing to provide shelter to surrendered UALA militants at the Baljek Airport that was built at a cost of Rs.12.52 crore.
26/01/16 The Northeast Today

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DGCA nod must for scheduled airlines operations from civil enclaves: Govt

To ensure safety, the government has decided that scheduled flights can operate only from aerodromes that are licensed by aviation watchdog DGCA. The licence requirement would also be applicable to defence aerodromes from where flights have scheduled operations.

The move comes against the backdrop of instances where some airstrips were found to be less safe for take off and landing of aircraft. While various norms are in place, the decision would strengthen the regulatory framework in terms of ensuring safety and security of airports
In a recent notification, the government said that licence of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) would be required for all aerodromes in case they have scheduled flight operations.

As per the notification issued by the Civil Aviation Ministry, "no person shall operate scheduled air transport services to/from an aerodrome including Defence aerodromes with effect from December 31, 2015 unless it has been licensed by the DGCA".

There are many civil enclaves in the country from where there are scheduled operations. Civil enclaves are part of airports of armed forces that are used for civilian aircraft. A decision in this regard has been taken after long and extensive discussions with the Defence Ministry, a senior Civil Aviation Ministry official said.
26/01/16 PTI/Daily News & Analysis

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IFR: change in flight timings from today

Visakhapatnam: The timings for operation of scheduled commercial aircrafts at Visakhapatnam International Airport have been changed from Tuesday (January 26) to February 7 to facilitate conduct of rehearsals and exercises by the Indian Navy as part of the forthcoming International Fleet Review (IFR).

“The operation of scheduled flights would be suspended for about three hours a day during different timings on each of the above days. The airline operators have already informed their passengers about the changes in the schedules of their flights on those days and also posted the same on their websites,” Airport Director Vinod Sharma said on Monday.

Passengers can also contact the individual airline operator if they need any further clarification on the arrival/departure of their flights. The contact numbers of the airline operators are: Air India – (0891) 2572020, Air Asia (0891) 6553420, SpiceJet 96422 77747 or (0891) 2545554, Air Costa 8978033666/1800-4250-0666, Silk Air (0891) 2740002/2740003/7702098769, Jet Air (0891) 6553101 and Malindo 9677778772 and Indigo 0891-2507085/ 01246613838.
26/01/16 B. Madhu Gopal/The Hindu

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Poll ring in airport nod

New Delhi: The Akhilesh Yadav government has finally "accepted" the Centre's proposal to build a second airport near Delhi, sources in the aviation ministry said today, hinting at next year's Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh as the likely prod.

The sources said the Samajwadi Party regime's nod for an airport in Jewar, 100km southeast of Delhi in the National Capital Region, came in a recent letter to civil aviation minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju after more than a year of dawdling over the project.

They said the state, in its letter to Raju, had agreed to release for the airport around 2,500 acres acquired from farmers several years ago.

Junior aviation minister Mahesh Sharma, who had been rooting for the airport in Jewar - it is in Gautam Budh Nagar, his Lok Sabha constituency - confirmed the development.

"It's a matter of immense satisfaction for me that the Uttar Pradesh government has agreed to the airport project near Greater Noida," the minister told The Telegraph.
25/01/16 Sumi Sukanya/Telegraph

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Airport Police Arrests 8 for Duping with Forged Documents

Hyderabad: The Rajiv Gandhi International Airport (RGIA) police on Monday arrested eight persons, including a customer service agent at Jet Airways, for their alleged involvment in making fake and forged Visas, Protector of Emigrants (POE) documents.

According to police, the gang members were operating the illegal business by duping innocent people based in West and East Godavari, Kadapa and Nizamabad districts. Each agent has about 30 to 40 sub-agents, who identify women, who are in desperate need of employment.

Taking advantage of their pathetic condition, the accused collect their passport and other ID proofs and send them to their counterparts in Gulf countries, who in turn obtain housemaid employment visas and send back the same to the local agents of the districts.
26/01/16 New Indian Express

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1,390 acres sanctioned for greenfield airport

Nellore: Officials have swung into action for completing the land acquisition process for the greenfield airport at Damavaram village of Dagadarthi mandal by the end of March.

More than 1,390 acres have been sanctioned for developing the airport at Dagadarthi, nearly 30 km from Nellore city and close to the Chennai-Kolkata national highway.

It has been a long-pending project in Nellore district, what with the industry and trade bodies demanding it for better connectivity to bigger cities.

At present, people depend on the international airports in Chennai, Hyderabad and Bangalore.

The rapid industrialisation of the Nellore region, thanks to the presence of the Krishnapatnam port, has strengthened public demand for a full-fledged airport within the district limits.

“We have already convened a meeting of officials of all departments concerned. A meeting will be held with local farmers and land owners next month,” Joint Collector A. Md. Imtiaz said.
25/01/16 G Ravikiran/The Hindu

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No explosives detected, Jet Airways Delhi-Kathmandu flight cleared for take off

New Delhi: Jet Airways Delhi-Kathmandu flight 9W 260 from the Indira Gandhi International Airport was cleared for take off on Monday evening, five hours after it was halted following a bomb threat.

This after no explosives were found on board during search operations. The threat call came about half an hour before the plane, carrying 104 passengers and seven crew members, was to take off for Kathmandu at its scheduled departure time of 1.25pm.
The anonymous caller said there was "a gift box" on seat 18 but didn't specify which one. He ended the call saying "Happy Republic Day".

All the passengers were asked to disembark and taken to the departure waiting area at the Delhi airport, while the plane was searched. The Bomb Threat Assessment Committee (BTAC) was also activated.
25/01/16 Saahil Menghani/CNN-IBN

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Bomb threat to Kathmandu-bound Jet flight, aircraft grounded

New Delhi: A Kathmandu-bound Jet Airways flight with 111 people on board was today halted minutes before take-off from the IGI Airport here after a bomb threat and the plane was grounded and being searched thoroughly.

The bomb scare arose at a time when security is at an all-time high in view of the Republic Day celebrations tomorrow across the country and especially in Delhi.

This is the second incident in the last two days as on Saturday a GoAir flight from Bhubaneshwar for Mumbai was diverted to Nagpur for similar reasons.

The bomb threat call was received at the airport terminal just before the scheduled departure of the Kathmandu-bound Jet Airways flight 9W 260 at 1325 hours, officials said.

Officials said the plane has been taken to the isolation bay at the Indira Gandhi International Airport(IGIA) and all passengers de-boarded for a thorough anti-sabotage check.
25/01/16 PTI/Business Standard

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No stake for Goa government in proposed Greenfield Airport

New Delhi:  The Goa government will not hold any stake in the proposed greenfield airport in Goa but will have board representation, with veto powers, in the company that builds and runs it, civil aviation ministry officials have said.

This is departure from the practice of state government's being part owners of the greenfield airports, such as those in Hyderabad and Bengaluru and one proposed one in Navi Mumbai. "So, the state gets the golden share in the project. Not fetching equity in the project means the state government will not have to put in any fund into the project," a senior ministry official, who did not wish to be named, said, adding that the Goa airport will be the first airport project in the country where the state government will not be part owner.

Golden share in a company gives control of at least 51% voting rights, especially when held by government.
25/01/16 Mihir Mishra/Economic Times

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Air statistics mirror Amartya flight slight

Nobel laureate Amartya Sen's lament about lack of industry reducing Calcutta from 18 flights to London a week to no air link with Europe soars on city-specific statistics: Delhi has 22 flights to Europe every day, Mumbai 12, Bangalore three and Chennai two.

Aviation industry experts said on Sunday that direct flights to Europe vanished from Calcutta along with the flight of capital, starting in the mid-1970s.

"There is no business case for airlines in Bengal to start flights to Europe. This means, there is not enough economic activity in Bengal to excite the airlines," said Kapil Kaul, CEO (South Asia) at the Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation, a global aviation research and consulting practice.

On Saturday, Sen had said at the Tata Steel Kolkata Literary Meet: "The small industries are still there but the big industries have withdrawn. When I went to London first, I went by boat - not an adventurous boat, but by a ship - as I could not afford the airfare. In those days, there were 18 flights from Calcutta to London every week. Now there is not one. There is not a single flight to anywhere in Europe..."

In Chennai, which has direct air connectivity with London and Frankfurt, airlines get a steady supply of business fliers round the year from the robust automobile industry there. Chennai has earned the moniker "Detroit of India" because of brands like BMW, Nissan, Hyundai Motors India, Ford India, Royal Enfield and Renault India setting up shop floors there.

Bangalore, of course, is the country's IT hub and Mumbai its financial nerve centre. And Delhi isn't just the capital; it has Noida and Gurgaon as its industrial catchments along with other economic zones
25/01/16 Sanjay Mandal/Telegraph

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Slums near wall a security risk: Airport officials

Aurangabad: Mushrooming encroachments have aggravated Aurangabad airport's woes after fumes from burning garbage at Naregaon nearly impeded two landings last year.
Airport authorities complain that the residents of the encroaching slums often hop over the boundary wall, posing a serious security threat.
"The slums around the airport pose a grave security threat as they are located close to the area of aircraft operations. Recent instances of breach of security across the country and outside prove that potential threats be mitigated as soon as possible. These issues should be given paramount importance," said Aurangabad Airport director, Alok Varshneya.
"The vigilance team of Airport Authority of India, during their recent visit to Aurangabad airport, had strongly objected to the growing illegal slums across the boundary walls of the airport. The slums have even utilised the airport boundary walls for construction of their houses. They have also dumped huge debris across the wall which enables people jump over it into the airport operational area. The residents had also diverted the drainage water into the airport premises through the walls, causing pollution," he added.
25/01/16 Ranjana Diggikar/Times of India

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New York's JFK airport reopens after 'Snowzilla' with Air India flight

New York: A day after life-threatening monster snowstorm almost paralysed the entire US East Coast, the iconic John F Kennedy International airport here partially
resumed its services with Air India's plane being the first one to land at the airport.

Port Authority of New York and New Jersey said John F Kennedy International had its first arrival at 7:10 am yesterday as Air India flight landed on the tarmac.

The first departing flight left shortly after 10 am. The three airports in and around the city -- LaGuardia, Newwark Liberty and John F Kennedy -- however had very limited
resumption of service.

Hundreds of flights were still cancelled, with LaGuardia accounting for more than 700 cancellations yesterday.
25/01/16 PTI/Zee News

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Mangaluru airport handles record passengers in 2015-16

Mangaluru: Mangaluru lnternational Airport (MIA) has witnessed a record handling of passengers in 2015-16, expecting more than 16 lakh passengers in this year. There is a growth of 40% in international passengers and 15% in domestic passenger movements in his year and overall about 22% growth compared to previous year.
Mangaluru lnternational Airport is 12th largest airport handling the international passengers in India after Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kochi, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Calicut, Thiruvanthapuram, Ahmadabad, andTrichy airports.
It is expected that more flights are being introduced in domestic and international sectors in the coming days due to the tratfic trends overall in the country. In December 2015, MIA recorded highest number of passenger's per month at 162000 passengers.
25/01/16 Jaideep Shenoy/Times of India

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Hindus commend SkyTeam for yoga rooms at Heathrow & Hong Kong airports

Nevada: Hindus have commended SkyTeam, global airline alliance with 20 member airlines, for launching yoga rooms in their lounges at London Heathrow and Hong Kong International airports, calling it a step in the positive direction.

Yoga Room at SkyTeam Exclusive Lounge at Heathrow terminal four provides yoga mats and video exercises in a tranquil space. Yoga Room announcement at Hong Kong Exclusive Lounge tells the users to “reset your body”. SkyTeam has also developed mobile app Yoga on the Go in its selected Exclusive Lounges and in-flight entertainment systems.

Complimenting the SkyTeam vision of making yoga facility available in their lounges, distinguished Hindu statesman Rajan Zed, in a statement in Nevada today, said that although introduced and nourished by Hinduism, yoga was a world heritage and liberation powerhouse to be utilized by all.
 25/01/16 Punjab News Service

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Owls Among 16 Species to Blame for Maximum Bird Hits Near Airports

Barn owls, red-wattled lapwings and little swifts are likely to have struck an aircraft in midair most often than any other bird in India, finds a one-of-a-kind study.

In addition to these three, the study found black kites and three bat species were also involved in most bird strikes. "Due to their flying ability at night, presence of bats at airports could be threatening," the report says.

Until now, it was difficult to identify the species involved in bird hits because these collisions mostly happened at high speed, leaving very little of them for investigators to pinpoint the avian variety. It was necessary to pick out the common species responsible for bird hits since such accidents pose a serious risk to human lives and the aviation industry.

Using DNA barcode, the National Centre for Cell Science (NCCS) in Pune identified 16 species involved in bird strikes. Samples were provided by the navy, while scientists said the Mumbai International Airport Limited (MIAL) has approached the institute to do a similar exercise for the city airport.
25/01/16 Senhal Rebello/AviationPros

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25 kg crackers seized from Kuwait citizen at Karippur airport in Kerala

New Delhi: A fan of desi crackers in all probabilities a Kuwait citizen was found carrying 25 kg of crackers in his baggage during the security check at Karippur International Airport.

The couple had been on a holiday to Kerala. They landed at the Thiruvananthapuram International Airport on January 12, 2016. The 29-year-old Ali Ismail Sayyed Ahmed and his wife didn't know crackers were not allowed in planes it seems.

They were supposed to fly back to Kuwait by an Air India Express flight yesterday, but were stopped at the security check after seeing various explosives packed into different suitcases. They couldn't take the flight yesterday.
25/01/16 India Today

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TDP 'proof' against arrested YSRCP MP falls flat

There seems to be a lot more twists and turns in the  case against YSRCP MP Mithun Reddy that was imagined so far. It now turns out that there is no video footage of Mithun Reddy attacking the Tirupati airport official.
Mithun Reddy was arrested on charge of assaulting the official at Tirupati airport. YSRCP chief YS Jagan has dared the TDP Government to provide the evidence of the assault. Probably in response, the TDP leaders on Sunday released some footage. Strangely, neither Mithun Reddy, nor the manager are seen in the footage.
According to eyewitnesses on the day of the argument with the airport official, the MP had only questioned the official over the non-issuance of boarding passes to the passengers.
25/01/16 SakshiPost

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Self-handling at airports to pose security risks, says GHAI

New Delhi: Allowing local carriers and charter operators to handle activities at airports on their own will pose safety and security issues unless stringent norms are in place, according to the ground handlers' association.

Ground handling, a key aspect of the aviation sector, generally refers to services provided to an aircraft while it is parked at an airport.

Under the draft civil aviation policy, which has been prepared after long-drawn consultations, the government has proposed a new framework to replace the Ground Handling Policy of 2010.

The Civil Aviation Ministry has mooted the idea of self- handling by local carriers and charter operators, besides suggesting that there is need to be at least three ground handling agencies at an airport.

The Ground Handlers Association of India (GHAI) have conveyed their concerns to the Ministry and senior officials with regard to the proposals in the policy.
24/01/16 PTI/Business Standard

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Weather blues continue, fog grounds 2 flights, delays 5

Chandigarh: Two flights were cancelled while at least five flights were delayed due to poor visibility at the civil terminal of the Chandigarh airport here today. However, passengers stranded at the airport blamed the VIP visit of French president Francois Hollande and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the same.

Two flights of Indigo Airlines bound for Delhi at 4.30 pm were cancelled following poor visibility. While the ATC (Air Traffic Control) maintained that the flights were never landed in Chandigarh to further depart from here due to poor visibility, the harassed passengers kept on blaming the VIP visit behind the cancellation. “The operations at the Chandigarh airport went on smooth like other days. Only two flights were cancelled following poor visibility while a few others were delayed by just a few minutes. There was no quandary due to the VIP visit at the Chandigarh airport. During the arrival of the VIPs, two planes landed while during their departure no plane was scheduled to take off or land here. So, there was no trouble in operations today,” said the airport manager on duty.
24/01/16 Deepankar Sharda/Tribune India

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Area around Mohali airport virtually sealed

Mohali: Taking no chances, the Mohali police virtually sealed around two-kilometres radius of the Mohali airport area, deploying a large posse of policemen here today.
No untoward incident was reported, said Mohali SSP Gurpreet Singh Bhullar.
On the Airport Road from the Mohali side and the Zirakpur side, the police had laid nearly 10 nakas for security purposes. Only those persons were allowed to go towards the airport, who had to aboard flights today.
Patiala range Inspector General Naunihal Singh and Mohali SSP GS Bhullar remained at the airport from morning till evening to supervise all the security arrangements.
24/01/16 Tribune

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3-D filmmaker arrested for bomb hoax calls to airport, railway stn

Pune/Nagpur: A 3D animation film maker from Pune, who claimed to have been ill-treated by the police at Sahar airport recently, was arrested for allegedly calling up the Bhubaneshwar airport early on Saturday, claiming that a bomb had been placed there. The hoax call resulted in the emergency landing of a Bhubaneswar-Mumbai flight at Nagpur airport.
The man also made a similar call to the police control room in Pune, saying that an explosive had been kept at the railway station, the police said.
The accused, Sanjeevkumar Nakul Mishra (35), who lives in Pune but hails from Bhubaneshwar, was arrested on the Pune-Solapur highway.
The police said that they suspect he had made a similar hoax call to the Sahar airport last year too.
Officials of Bhubaneshwar airport received a similar call and a search operation was launched. The Mumbai-bound Go Air flight (G8 243) with 149 passengers and six crew members on board, was delayed by two hours. It took off for Mumbai at 12.22pm after the call turned out to be a hoax.
24/01/16 Times of India

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Elephant strays near Air Force airstrip in Purnea

Patna: An elephant entered Purnea’s Chunapatti Air Force airbase by breaking through its boundary wall on Friday, sending the district forest department and the local administration into a tizzy. The elephant strayed into Araria, near Purnea, from Nepal four days ago, police said.
The airbase is used for take-off and landing by the Air Force and special flights. The administration and local residents had not managed to drive out the elephant by Friday evening.
The district forest department said it suspected that the same elephant killed a 15-year-old boy in Araria on Thursday.
23/01/16 Indian Express

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Indigo airline passengers spend night at airport

Shamshabad: About 70 passengers of Indigo airlines spent the night at Rajiv Gandhi International Airport (RGIA) on Friday following heated arguments with the crew of the scheduled plane.
Airport officials said the plane was scheduled to depart for Raipur when the passengers and the crew had heated arguments. In protest against the crew's attitude all the 70 passengers disembarked from the plane. The plane left the airport without the passengers following which all of the passengers spent the night at the airport.
23/01/16 Sakshipost

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Chennai airport to get a travelator as part of expansion plan

Chennai: Years after it was originally planned, a travelator may finally come up at the Chennai airport as part of the phase II expansion.

Airport director Deepak Shastri said, “The travelator will connect the terminals with each other, provide connectivity to the terminals from the Metro Rail station on the Chennai airport premises and also to the multi-level car park on the premises. This will help passengers commute easily within the airport.”

Every day, there are at least 30,000 passengers travelling through the airport; passengers have complained on various occasions that the lack of this facility had put them to major inconvenience.
23/01/16 Sunitha Sekar/The Hindu

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Malaysia-bound flight fails to take off in Chennai

Chennai: A Malaysia-bound flight, carrying 160 passengers on board, failed to take off from here today following a technical problem, airport officials said.
The Malaysian Airlines was moving on the runway when the pilots detected the problem, they said.
The passengers were safely offloaded and provided with accommodation in various hotels in the city, they said.
23/01/16 PTI/Economic Times

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Andal airport set to expand with more commercial flights

Kolkata: Come April 2016 and West Bengal could see expanded operations at the Andal airport, which will also be the country's first greenfield.

While the Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport (Kolkata airport) will continue to cater to the needs of the metropolis, the Andal airport, officially called Kazi Nazrul Islam Airport, in Burdwan district is poised to augment its domestic as well as international flight schedules.

Industry sources said the promoter of Andal airport, Bengal Aetropolis Projects Ltd (BAPL), is in advanced talks with SpiceJet and GoAir to commence operations on routes to western and southern India.

"These operators will start their departure from the summer schedule and may operate the flights to not just New Delhi but to Mumbai, Chennai and Hyderabad as well", a person familiar with the developments told Business Standard.
23/01/16 Avishek Rakshit/Business Standrad

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Dense fog at IGI, mercury hits new depths

New Delhi: The Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) here saw flight disruptions on Friday due to fog and near zero visibility conditions for more than four hours in the morning. Delhi has been going through a continuous fog spell and conditions are not expected to improve in the next three to four days.

Nearly 50 flights were delayed by up to five hours.

“As no major western disturbance has been on the way till January 27, late night and early morning dense fog is most likely to continue for next three to four days,” Dr. R.K. Jenamani, Director-in-Charge, IGIA met unit said.
23/01/16 The Hindu

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Hunt for new airport land takes officials near old site

Pune: The site for the Pune international airport may well be around Rajgurunagar area in Khed taluka itself, with it being found as the most feasible site by the government after a survey conducted recently.
The land, which is being discussed is a little away from the old site at Rajgurunagar, which was cleared in 2008 for the proposed Pune international airport in the area.
With the project pending for a decade, Additional Chief Secretary PS Meena, who is in-charge of the civil aviation in the state on Friday, said that they are sure that the “land westward to the old site near Rajgurunagar is most suitable for the airport as the land is flat, with huge tracts owned by individuals, therefore leading to minimal displacement.’’
With the team of the Airport Authority of India (AAI) and the Maharashtra Airport Development Company (MADC) having done the recce for two other sites in the district, the government has asked the AAI to complete the survey for this site and check for any obstructions. “The area seems flat and suitable. There is enough space for the airport. Moreover, this is close to the previous site that was cleared by the government and if the area is given a go-ahead by the AAI, then the government can act on it soon,’’ said Meena, instilling hope that the project may finally take off.
23/01/16 Nisha Nambiar/Indian Express

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Expansion of Mysuru Airport Runway Sought

Mysuru: Air Asia India CEO and Managing Director Mittu Chandilya stressed on the need for expanding the runway at the Mysuru Airport. He was speaking at the ‘Flying High’ event organised by the Mysore Chapters of Young Indians and the Confederation of Indian Industries, here on Friday.
“It is not possible for an Airbus A320 to land in and take off from the Mysuru airport. A runway above the National Highway can solve the issue. Such a structure is there in many countries including at the Changi Airport in Singapore,” he added.
23/01/16 New Indian Express

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Passenger detained in airport for carrying peacock feathers illegally

Chennai: Security officialsat Anna International airport here today detained a Singapore-bound passengeras he was found carrying 16 kg of peacockfeathers illegally.

Airport sources said the CISF personnel,while scanning his baggage found 16 kg of peacock.

When questioned, the passenger, identifiedas Murugan, said he was taking it in connectionwith 'Thai Poosam' festival in Singapore.
23/01/16 WebIndia123

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Foreign currencies seized at RGIA

Hyderabad: The officials of the Directorate of Revenue have seized foreign currencies worth Rs 1.19 crore from an passenger at Rajiv Gandhi International Airport on Friday.
Based on specific intelligence, the official intercepted an air passenger who attempted to board an Air Arabia flight (G9 459) to go to Sharjah in an early morning flight on Friday.
The passenger by then had cleared the immigration and security check when the officials stopped him.
On examination of the baggage, foreign currencies were found to be deftly concealed among clothes inside the bags.
23/01/16 Hans India

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GoAir first domestic carrier to operate night flight to Port Blair

Mumbai: The Wadia group-promoted GoAir has become the first domestic airline to operate night flights to Port Blair's Veer Savarkar International Airport with the roll out of an commercial charter flight from Bengaluru.
GoAir's maiden commercial charter flight G8 1291 took off from Bengaluru around 11.15pm on January 20 and landed at Port Blair airport at 1.50am the next day, the airline said in a release.
As part of its charter operations, GoAir will operate a total of 14 night flights on the sector till March, it said.
Of these, three night flights will be operated this month, five in February and six in March, it said, adding that all flights will arrive at Port Blair from Bengaluru at 0150 hours (past midnight) and depart for Bengaluru from Port at 2.20am.
22/01/16 PTI/Times of India

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Booker Prize winner flays Delhi airport

Booker Prize 2015 winner Marlon James's first trip to India turned out to be a bitter one. The Jamaica-born writer poured out his woes as he caught a connecting flight to Jaipur from Delhi.
The first Jamaican to win the Booker Prize for his novel "A Brief History of Seven Killings", James described his harrowing experience in a Facebook post.
He said he got into a jeep to reach another terminal at the Indira Gandhi International Airport but "they won't let me in because it seems I don't have a ticket".
The writer became upset that he was asked to show proof that he indeed had a seat on the connecting flight.
His misery went up when he was told that his hand luggage was eight kilograms heavier and asked to show his ID.
And he learnt to his dismay that his bags were not going on to the plane as they had not been security checked.
James had to go back to the baggage drop. And now he was informed that his bag was overweight by 12 kg -- not eight. "Just like that it went up by 4 (kg)?" the disgusted writer asked.
22/01/16 IANS/Times of India

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India orders airports to ban visitor entry due to security concerns

India's Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) has issued an order to all regional and international airports in the country to stop sale of entry tickets to visitors in the wake of growing terror concerns.

BCAS has ordered all the airports to immediately stop the sale of entry tickets to visitors. This move will bar visitors from accompanying passengers till inside the airport terminal.

Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL), the company that operates the Delhi Airport, has urged domestic passengers to report at least two hours before their scheduled departure times and the international passengers to report at least three hours before.
There have been individual announcements by different airlines too - while Air India has urged its passengers to arrive three hours before the flight departure time, IndiGo has announced that it would close its check-in counter one hour prior to the scheduled departure, The Economic Times.

The Central Industrial Security Force that looks into the airport security is also undertaking a thorough profiling of passengers.
22/01/16 airport-technology.com

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2 Iranian nationals held with 'fake' passport in Chennai

Chennai: Two Iranian nationals have been arrested at the airport here for trying to fly to London allegedly on fake passports, officials said today.

The two accused- a man and a woman aged 25 and 35 respectively --were detained late last night when they arrived to board a London-bound flight of a private alirline, police and Immigration officials said.

The duo had come here from Goa and were found in possession of 'fake' Israeli passports, officials said adding they were subsequently detained.
22/01/16 PTI/Business Standard

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Servant who stole money to fly home arrested

Mumbai: The dream of flying in an airplane landed a 20-year-old in jail. Monu Das, a salesman by profession, who stole Rs 2.38 lakhs to fulfil his dream of flying in an airplane was arrested by the Parksite police in Vikhroli on Thursday.
Four days ago, New look wine shop owner in Vikhroli had filed a complaint that one of his servants had fled with cash. The Parksite Police launched a manhunt and also went to Das's native place to nab him.
During interrogations, Das told police that he had come to Mumbai from Dova village around six months ago and had started working in the wine shop. All the four servants used to stay in the back of the shop. One of his colleagues had told him that he once took a flight to go to his village and since than Das had the fantasy of flying.
On Monday night when the cashier slept, Das discreetly removed the keys of safe and fled with the cash. "On reaching Santacruz airport, he booked an instant Indigo flight for Ranchi. And from Ranchi he hired an air conditioned taxi to reach his village,'' said Rajendra Kulkarni, senior inspector at Parksite. Kulkarni said that the police have recovered Rs 1.06 lakhs from Das rest he had Rs 1.06 lakhs from Das rest he had spent on his lavish living.
22/01/16 Ahmed Ali/Times of India

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Now, AI flyer sees three ‘gliders’ near Mumbai airport

Mumbai: From his window seat, an Air India passenger spotted three white, triangular flying objects below the plane about 10 minutes before the aircraft touched down at Mumbai airport on Tuesday. With this report, the mystery of suspected hang- or paragliders deepened as two weeks in a row, these objects have been spotted flying at locations close to the airports at Santacruz and Juhu.
On January 13, a Pawan Hans pilot spotted six paraglider-like objects flying north of Juhu airport in a 3-1-2 formation as he was preparing to take off.
The AI passenger, who wishes to remain unnamed, saw the flying objects as Delhi-Mumbai flight AI865 had begun its descent into Mumbai on Tuesday afternoon. Since the flyer was at a higher altitude than the objects, he could see only the canopies, and could not make out whether they were manned or unmanned, or motorized.
He notified security agencies and appealed to them to take the matter seriously as he was sure they were not balloons.
"I saw them when the plane was near Mumbai, about to land, and the pilot had instructed the cabin crew to go to their stations for landing. The objects were huge and were at quite a height from the ground. They were not balloons or kites that kids fly," he said. "From the top view I had, they looked like hang-gliders/motorized hang-gliders. They were triangular, white in colour and were in a tight (triangular) formation. My guess is that they were about 800-900m below the plane. I saw them at around 2.40-2.45pm and the flight landed around 2.55pm," he added.
21/01/16 V Narayan & Mateen Hafeez/Times of India

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J P Alex takes over as Airports Authority of India executive director

New Delhi: The Airports Authority of India (AAI) today said J P Alex has taken over as executive director of operations.

He has more than three decades of experience in diverse areas of aviation, including air traffic management and airport design & planning.

"Alex has taken over as Executive Director, Operations, AAI at the corporate headquarters, New Delhi," AAI said in a statement.
20/01/16 PTI/Economic Times

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Tigerair to have additional flights from Hyderabad, Tiruchirappalli to Singapore

New Delhi: No-frills carrier Tigerair will start additional flights from Hyderabad and Tiruchirappalli to Singapore between April 25 and June 15.

The carrier, a subsidiary of Singapore Airlines Ltd, has decided to operate one seasonal additional flight each from both places after seeing good response from passengers during peak seasons.

"From April 25 to June 15, 2016, the airline will increase flight frequency on its Hyderabad-Singapore route, taking the total count to seven weekly flights while Tiruchirappalli-Singapore route would have a total of 14 weekly flights," Tigerair said in a press release today.
The move is part of Tigerair's growth strategy in the Indian market and its commitment to meeting increasing demand from travellers in India, it added.
20/01/16 PTI/Economic Times

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Visitors barred from entering airport over security fears

Aurangabad: Friends and relatives accompanying travellers to the Aurangabad airport will now not be able to entry the lobby and lounge.
The decision to stop the sale of entry tickets to the relatives and friends of air travellers was taken on Wednesday after a review of the security arrangements in the run-up to the Republic Day. The city police chief visited the airport and reviewed the security arrangements with special focus on the anti-aircraft hijack apparatus.
Police commissioner Amitesh Kumar conducted a closed-door meeting with the Central Industrial Security Force and the airport authority officials after examining the security arrangements.
Sources said the Union home ministry has issued a high alert with specific inputs about possible terror attacks at key installations in the country. "In view of the R-Day celebrations and the recent Pathankot terror attack, the security was reviewed and necessary steps are being taken with respect to traffic movement and parking at the airport," Kumar told TOI.
21/01/16 Times of India

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Runway-facing Taj rooms in Mumbai yet to open

Mumbai: Guests looking to grab a bird’s-eye view of jetliners taking off or landing at the Mumbai airport from the confines of a luxury room will have to wait for a few more weeks.

Indian Hotels Company-owned (IHCL) Taj Hotels Resorts and Palaces has only partially opened the recently-inaugurated luxury hotel, located a stone's throw away from the domestic airport in Mumbai.

Of the 279 rooms, only 141 rooms of the Taj Santacruz, Mumbai are currently open, none of which face the runway. The Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS), which lays down aviation security standards, had reportedly raised concerns over the hotel's close proximity to the airport.

“As of now, the first three floors of the hotel are operational and there is completion work underway on the 4th, 5th and 6th floors, which are likely to be operational before March 2016”, said a spokesperson of the Mumbai-based IHCL. The property, which is IHCL's fifth property in Mumbai, reportedly received BCAS clearance only a few months ago. “The balance 138 rooms and the Chinese restaurant, China.Inc will launch in the second phase before March 2016”, stated the IHCL spokesperson.
21/01/16 Swaraj Baggonkar & Aneesh Phadnis/Business Standard

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