Second UK city battle over Indian air link

Manchester is locked in a dogfight with Birmingham to reinstate a direct air route to India.
Manchester Airport, which carries more routes than any other handler in the UK, last week invited senior figures from the Indian aviation industry to a panel to encourage them to revive direct services to the subcontinent.
Currently, Indian-based airlines only fly direct to London after canning services to Manchester in the late 1990s and to Birmingham last year. Although there is interest from airlines such as Kingfisher in serving another UK city, the decision may rest on which city is considered the UK's second city by decision-makers in India.
Dilip Kakar, UK finance manager at Kingfisher, and Shashi Kant Kaundal, a representative for state airline Air India, faced demands from senior British Asian business leaders to reverse their decision to abandon direct flights to Manchester. "I think people in India still believe that Birmingham is the second city," one audience member said. "Let me tell you right now that it is not. Manchester is."
29/06/09 Regeneration & Renewal, UK

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Passengers wait for over eight hours as Virgin Atlantic first delays, then cancels flight

New Delhi: London bound passengers on a Virgin Atlantic flight, VS 301, had to spend over eight hours at the Indira Gandhi International Airport on Monday after the airlines staff said the flight could not take off due to technical problems. Being made to wait for two hours inside the aircraft, passengers alleged harassment and lack of information from the airlines’ staff, who they said had no information on the status of things.
The flight, which was scheduled to take off from the IGI Airport at 1.15 pm, was delayed initially by two hours. “After three hours we were told there will be another 10-minute delay as the aircraft had developed a technical problem,” said a passenger.
The passengers said they were made to board the flight at 5 pm, but it never took off. They were asked to disembark the plane at 7.30 pm and were at the airport till 9.30 pm.
“There are children and elderly in the flight. The elders travelling alone are finding it hard to cope with such a situation. No refreshments have been provided to us, we have now been at the airport for over eight hours,” said Hussain Ozyurtcu, an NRI passenger who was in India for a friend’s wedding.
30/06/09 Indian Express

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‘H1N1 screening at Delhi’s IGI airport not exhaustive’

Chandigarh: Just as the panic-stricken foreign returned Indians are making a beeline to get themselves admitted in the isolation wards of city hospitals to rule out the possibility of an H1N1 infection, it is the screening system, or the lack of it, at international airports in the country that have come under the scanner.
Dr Nitin Jain narrates his flight experience to China and back. “As the airplane landed at Beijing airport, an announcement asked us to remain on our seats. Four doctors, wearing masks and gloves and equipped with remote sensing temperature recorders, scanned all the passengers. It took about 8 to 9 minutes to scan the whole aircraft. At the airport, several staffers were seen wearing masks and gloves while paramedics and quarantine counters had also been set up. The health information forms that were distributed in the flight had to be submitted at these counters where a thermal imaging camera scanned the person’s body temperature again. Passengers with abnormal temperature were separated and their samples collected.”
He added: “It was, however, a different scene altogether at the IGI airport. After clearing immigration counters, health declaration forms were given to us to be filled. Boredom seemed to be the mood as form after form was stamped without even looking at the passengers. No infrared thermal cameras or other temperature measuring equipment was seen anywhere.”
30/06/09 Indian Express

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Amid gloom, airport sees a small rise in passenger traffic

Mumbai: As one of the worst sectors to be hit by the ongoing recession, Indian aviation industry is hoping for revival. And things are looking better. A quick glance at Mumbai airport’s passenger traffic figures for the first two months of the current fiscal shows a small but positive trend, though the numbers lag behind when compared to the past two years’.
Moreover, a combined nationwide average of passenger load factor (PLF) figures for the top three carriers (Air India, Jet Airways and Kingfisher Airlines) indicate an average occupancy of about 68% for April and May, up from about 65% for January, February and March 2009.
Passenger traffic figures at the Mumbai airport obtained by Newsline for the first two months of this financial year —April & May — indicates a nominal rise but only on a month-on-month basis. Also, the figures are lower than even those in 2007. While passenger traffic for April in 2007 stood at 20.6 lakh, the figure for April 2009 stands at 19 lakh - down by about 8%.
However, on a year-on-year comparison, this April’s figures are down 14% compared to passenger traffic of 22.13 lakh in April 2008. Similarly, traffic figures at Mumbai airport for May 2009 is down by 6.67% at 22.11 lakh compared to the May 2008 figure of 23.69 lakh passengers. However, on a month-on-month basis this year, there is a rise of 14% and that, officials say, is good news.
29/06/09 Shashank Shekhar/Indian Express

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Air India flight lands in Delhi under emergency conditions

New Delhi: An Air India flight from Delhi to Hyderabad, with 74 people on board, today landed at the IGI Airport here under emergency conditions as the pilot suspected technical trouble, airport sources said.
Emergency drill, including positioning of fire brigades and ambulances, was followed after the pilot informed the air traffic control (ATC) that he wanted to land as the cockpit panel had signalled problem with the hydraulic system of the Airbus A-320, the sources said.
The Delhi-Hyderabad-Tirupati flight, IC-942, made a "normal and safe" landing at 1141 hours and went "on its own power" to the bay earmarked for it where all the 68 passengers and six crew members disembarked, an airline spokesperson said.
The pilot decided to return to Delhi instead of flying to Hyderabad, after being on air for about 30 minutes when the indication about hydraulic problem appeared on the panel.
29/06/09 PTI/Daliy News & Analysis

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Blame game in risky skies

Calcutta: The cockpit and the control tower are locked in combat, triggering turbulence both in the air and on the ground.
Pilots have blamed “archaic” air traffic control (ATC) procedures followed at Calcutta airport for the recent spate of close shaves, saying that time and information crucial to flight safety are often “lost” in allegedly redundant communication.
Those in the control room counter the allegation by insisting that many pilots are careless and arrogant to the point of ignoring routine questions and instructions.For the passenger, the war of words between the cockpit and the control room can only spell trouble.
A veteran flight commander said the authorities had repeatedly ignored complaints from pilots about the difficulties faced by them while communicating with the city ATC.
The latest in a line of near-misses at Calcutta airport occurred on June 12, when a SpiceJet aircraft scheduled to take off for Delhi around 5.25pm was waiting six feet beyond the “holding point” adjacent to the runway while a Kingfisher plane was just about to land. The pilot of the Kingfisher flight, which was coming from Jamshedpur, was asked to abort landing and circle the airport till the SpiceJet craft backed off six feet.
An official source confirmed that incidents like these were occurring frequently at the city airport.
“In almost all such cases it has been found that pilots are at fault. Several pilots have been put through cockpit familiarisation training in recent times after being found to have made potentially dangerous mistakes,” said a senior DGCA official from Delhi.
“Pilots tend to ignore instructions from the ATC. They are at times careless and at times overconfident,” the official added. A senior pilot contested the allegation, saying most near-misses were the result of “miscommunication”.
29/06/09 The Telegraph

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Plane towed off parking bay

Kolkata/Bagdogra: The grounded Airbus A-320 aircraft of Kingfisher Airlines that threatened to block one of the only two parking bays at Bagdogra airport in north Bengal was towed to a section of the apron area that is currently being extended. The move has freed the two parking bays, thus removing a headache in the rescheduling of flights. Though there are only nine flights on Monday, they are all squeezed between 12 pm and 5 pm the slot for civilian use at the military airport.
On Saturday afternoon, the aircraft was grounded after its right wing had got damaged when it grazed a bunker.
29/06/09 Times of India

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700 AAI staff still out of work

Mumbai: The Airport Authority of India’s (AAI) Regional Executive Director (RED), RC Chitkara, has asked the Mumbai International Airport Limited (MIAL) to re-deploy some of the AAI staff. “The RED has written to the company to consider some AAI employees who are well trained and experts in departments such as fire and engineering,” said an AAI official. “AAI has offered to pay their salaries,” he added.
A spokesperson for MIAL confirmed receiving the letter from AAI. He, however, said that at present the MIAL has filled up all its positions and they cannot offer any positions to AAI employees. Also AAI, in its letter has not specified any particular number of posts that they want the AAI staff to fill at the airport.
As many as 700 AAI employees remain out of work after the interim agreement between the state-owned AAI and MIAL came to an end this May after a provisional period of three years.
As reported earlier by Newsline 2,100 non-officer grade employees of the AAI have been shifted out of the Mumbai airport after the agreement ended.
29/06/09 Shashank Shekhar/Indian Express

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Soon, fliers can 'voice' their complaints at airport

Mumbai: In a few months from now, passengers at the Mumbai airport can literally voice their complaints about that longer than usual queue at
the immigration or check-in counter, rude staff or that too expensive a sandwich. Video-recording some of the passenger responses about their "airport experience'' is one of the initiatives that Mumbai airport will launch soon as part of a quality service management process, which kicked off last week.
To put it simply, it is about giving passengers a better airport experience. In turn, this would get the Mumbai airport a slot among the better airports of the world.
At present, Incheon airport in Seoul hogs the top spot in the survey carried out by Airports Council International (ACI), a non-profit organisation with 597 members who operate 1,649 airports worldwide. ACI's Airport Service Quality Program conducts regular, extensive passenger surveys on airports to rate the best and the worst of the lot on 16 key performance indicators like waiting time at check-in, number of baggage carts, service by staff etc.
Incheon airport has, for some time now, managed to keep high scores (scores from 1 to 5) of 4.7 and 4.8 for most of these indicators. The Mumbai airport, which has been taking a bashing in the ACI passenger surveys, has over the last few years improved its ratings, especially in categories like retail facility, cleanliness, etc. But when it comes to indicators like staff courtesy, the airport falls to a poor 3.7, said the official. At the end of the last quarter, Mumbai scored an average of 3.76.
A steering committee headed by Rajiv Jain, president, MIAL and comprising representatives from all these agencies has been created to spearhead efforts to improve service quality at Mumbai airport. A task force will work under the committee to implement the projects. The committee held its first meeting last week and decided to start work on three areas.
First, it will create awareness among all employees at the Mumbai airport. The target is 20,000 employees and awareness would be spread through posters and intranet. The second and the most important area from the passenger's perspective will be to identify training requirement for any agency at the airport.
"It was decided that we should videotape passenger responses, `' the official said, adding that the exercise would begin in a few months.
29/06/09 Manju V/Times of India

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Security beefed up at Chennai airport

Chennai: Security at the airport here has been beefed up in view of an alert by Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) to all airports in the country following an anonoymous bomb threat to a flight operating from India to Saudi Arabia.
The Jeddha office of the Saudi Airlines has reportedly informed the BCAS about the threat and the latter alerted all the airports in the country on Saturday.
"Whenever such information is available it is immediately shared among security agencies and we immediately step up the security", a top police official said.
28/06/09 PTI/Times of India

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With world on radar, Chandigarh airport buckles up

Chandigarh: City’s aerial entry into global circuit may be scheduled for next month, with Emirates Airlines’ beginning operations of its low-cost carrier Fly Dubai from here on July 23, but passengers would have to wait for a while before going truly international.
For some months to come, Fly Dubai, or any other international carrier that decides to fly from the city would have to share space with domestic planes. Under the temporary arrangements made by Airport Authority of India at the city terminal, Emirates’ aircraft would be parked in the area currently in use, and passengers flying abroad would be accommodated in the lounge that domestic fliers wait in.
Among the short-term arrangements made to ensure a smooth journey, authorities have restricted visitors’ entry inside the airport and created space for check-in facility and immigration clearance. Notably, the AAI deadline for finishing work on the main building is October-end. However, sources said the beginning of international flights might delay the project.
Meanwhile, a team of senior officials from customs department, immigration desk and Intelligence Bureau recently visited the airport to complete work at their ends.
29/06/09 Manveer Saini/Times of India

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As India's Airports Modernize, Will They Lose Their Uniqueness?

Airports first and foremost have to be functional and user-friendly buildings. But that does not have to come at the expense of character and local touch. The originally envisaged design for an expanded Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi was rejected because it was not "modern" enough in appearance. The design had been based on locally sourced sandstone giving the building a distinctly Indian character and feel. It would also have been a good insulator from Delhi's summer heat and hence an energy efficient choice.
A friend recently confessed to me that he misses his "old Indira Gandhi International Airport." To him it held a special appeal: a typically Indian character, a flair and feel that to him was so naturally Indian – and something which is now sorely lacking. I don't share that feeling – too often I have been stuck in never-ending queues, rudely processed by check-in staff, or given looks as only immigration officers can that make you feel guilty of something. But my friend did have a valid point.
The world's most famous airports are designed by big name architects such as Foster & Partners who claim London's Stansted and Hong Kong's Chep Lap Kok among their prizes. Heathrow's landmark T5 and Madrid's T4 were designed by Richard Rogers while Helmut Jahn has Chicago O'Hare, Cologne/Bonn and Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi Airport under his belt. Aeroports de Paris's Chief Architect Paul Andreu has also fathered a fair number of aerodromes. Others that could not afford the big names have tried to emulate them as best they can.
Grand architecture is well and good. Yet traveling, whatever the purpose, should always convey a definite and unique sense of place. It should be palatable from the architecture, the shops and merchandize, the decorations, smells, colors and sounds that the journey has actually taken you somewhere else.
India is undergoing a major airport development program. The airports authority is currently undertaking significant expansions at Chennai and Kolkata. Chandigarh is due to grow significantly and many new airports including a second major airport for Mumbai are in the pipeline. One can only hope that India's netas and babus will not stand in the way of world class infrastructure with an Indian touch. If anything, they should understand and encourage the value of incorporating the country's rich local history, diverse culture and flavors and marry those with good quality of service.
29/06/09 Ansgar Sickert (Managing Director,Fraport India, New Delhi)/The Wall Street Journal, USA

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Chandigarh to become international gateway

Chandigarh: Travelling abroad from Punjab and Haryana will not mean travelling to Delhi anymore with Chandigarh airport being upgraded to an
international airport. The first flight for Dubai will take off July end.
Sunil Dutt, director of Chandigarh airport, said: "We have got confirmation from Fly Dubai. They have got permission from the union civil aviation ministry to fly a daily direct flight to Dubai from Chandigarh."
"The first international flight to Dubai will fly from here somewhere in the last week of July and the ticket rate is kept around Rs 3,500 to 3,600," Dutt said.
Fly Dubai is a low-cost carrier of Emirates Airlines.
Chandigarh international airport will replace the old domestic Chandigarh airport as the region's second international airport after the Raja Sansi International Airport in Amritsar.
The new airport is likely to give a big boost to the region's economy and facilitate travel for a large number of non-resident Indians (NRIs), who currently use New Delhi's Indira Gandhi international airport. It would largely serve the international passengers from the states of Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh.
"The area of the new building will be five times more than the previous one. After 1974, it is for the first time that Chandigarh airport is undergoing such a big scale renovation," Gagan Malik, construction in-charge of the new building of Chandigarh International Airport, said.
Atul Sareen, managing partner of Sky Airways, a registered international travel agency with its offices in Chandigarh and the US, told IANS: "There is a big rush of passengers who want to travel to Dubai from this part of the region so this flight is expected to get a good response."
29/05/09 IANS/Times of India

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Fly out of Changi, in apnu Amdavad

Ahmedabad: Billed as India’s own Changi, the new Ahmedabad international airport has been modelled on the airport in Singapore, a major aviation hub in the Asia-Pacific region.
The new international airport terminal is all set to get a major facelift by early next year. Once ready, the Rs 290-crore project will give a new look to the new international terminal building complete with city side approach road, car parking and apron.
According to the proposed AAI plans for expansion of Ahmedabad airport, there will be shopping malls, multiplexes, a high-end luxury hotel, transit hotels and motels, food courts and recreational and entertainment centres on either side of the approach road leading to the airport.
At the refurbished terminals, passengers will not have to take those packed bus-rides to the aircraft. Four aerobridges at the domestic terminal and six at the new international terminal will enable passengers to walk into the aircraft from the departure lounge.
Also, the existing international terminal will exclusively handle cargo. Once the swanky, new international airport gets ready, the domestic and international terminals will together have enough room to park 33 aircraft. At present, they can handle only 13.
The international passenger traffic at the airport is around 5.5 to 6 lakh passengers annually. According to officials, the peak hour passenger is 450, while passenger-handling capacity of the existing building is only 400.
At present, Ahmedabad is available as a point of call to 16 foreign countries which include Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Cambodia, Brunei, Vietnam, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives, Kuwait, Qatar, Russia, UAE (Dubai, Sharjah).
According to the forecast, the peak hour passenger traffic in 2012-13 will be 500 arrivals and 500 departures.
28/09/06 Times of India

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New intl airport to soar like a kite

Ahmedabad: If the kite symbolises the city’s soaring ambitions, it is set to make yet another of its milestones fly high. It has inspired the design of the city’s new international airport, which is under construction and will capture the spirit of the kite festival here. Sources in the Airport Authority of India (AAI) say that the international terminal building, being built at a cost of Rs 291 crore, will edify the kite festival theme for posterity. The airport is scheduled to be operational by early next year.
The website of Singapore-based CPG Corporation, that has conceptualised the futuristic design of the terminal, says that the building will have a roofline, with various shapes of kites. Calling it an “iconic airport”, the site says kiteshaped cutouts will form the skylight. These would be three-dimensional compositions, “creating a system of trapezoidal-shaped frames that taper to a single node at the middle of the roof.” The terminal will have an abundance of daylight through the skylights, shearglass and louvre facades.
To facilitate energy efficiency in the city’s extreme climatic conditions, air-conditioning is concentrated only on the first three to four metres where it closely affects the comfort of passengers. The design is the result of an international competition organised by AAI to select project designs for the international airport.
28/06/09 Kumar Manish/Times of India

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Plane wingtip scare

Siliguri/Calcutta: A Kingfisher Airlines Airbus A320 had a close shave at Bagdogra airport this afternoon when its right wingtip hit a grass-camouflaged air force bunker near the runway while taxiing for takeoff.
Airline officials said all 178 passengers and six crew members of the Bagdogra-Delhi IT 3334 were safe. “The aircraft suffered structural damage and the bunker wall cracked,” airport director K.K. Bhowmick said.
Airline officials claimed there was no chance of a tragedy. But a senior flight engineer in Calcutta said: “Had the aircraft gained speed by then, there would have been a chance of it catching fire.”
The incident happened around 3.30pm. “While executing a 180-degree turn to line-up for take-off, the right wingtip touched the wall of a grass-camouflaged bunker,” a Kingfisher spokesperson said. Airport officials said the air force uses such bunkers to park its fighter planes underground.
Aircraft movement was stalled at Bagdogra for more than an hour and Calcutta-bound SpiceJet and Kingfisher flights were delayed. A SpiceJet flight from Delhi hovered over the airport for nearly 40 minutes, unable to land.
“The flight safety department of Kingfisher is investigating the matter,” the spokesperson said. An Airports Authority of India official said the fault appeared to be the pilot’s. “The Directorate-General of Civil Aviation will conduct an inquiry.”
27/06/09 The Telegraph

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Kingfisher A320 at Bagdogra on Jun 27th 2009, wing in conflict with wall

A Kingfisher Airbus A320-200, registration VT-ADR performing flight IT-3334 from Bagdogra to New Delhi (India) with 178 passengers and 6 crew, was taxiing for takeoff, when the right wing of the aircraft struck a wall. No leaks occured.
The flight was cancelled, the airport had to be closed for about an hour until the airplane could be taxied back to the apron, where the passengers disembarked normally.
The passengers have been brought to hotels, the flight has been postponed.
The airline reported, that the airplane was doing a 180 degrees turn to line up with the departure runway, when the right hand wing tip struck a grass-camouflaged military bunker in close proximity of the runway at very low speed. A replacement aircraft has been dispatched.
27/06/09 Simon Hradecky/The Aviation Herald

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On a wing and a prayer

Delhi: Outside the Indira Gandhi International Airport, few have heard of them. But at the airport, they command complete respect. The shrine of Hazrat Roshan Khan and Hazrat Kale Khan at the airport has pilgrims flocking to it from all over the city.
The pilgrims, many of whom are employees at the airport, believe that ‘peer baba’ has been the protector of the airport ever since it was built. Mohammad Ibrahim, the caretaker of the shrine, says while no one knows when it was built, “it has averted major tragedies at the airport”.
And faith in the powers of peer baba has also prompted the airport authorities to bow their heads in prayer. Though initially there was a plan to build a runway on the site where the shrine stands, it was later abandoned. Believers maintain it had to be given up in face of the peer baba’s divine powers. “There existed a village here before the British decided to build the airport. Every attempt to remove the shrine brought bad luck,” says Ibrahim.
On Thursdays, devotees queue up at the shrine which stands on the compound of the IGI Airport’s International Cargo terminal. While most come to pay their respects, several others visit the shrine to get a closer look at the planes in the hangers.
28/06/09 Geeta Gupta/Indian Express

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Air India re-schedules flights at Chennai

Chennai: Air India has re-scheduled its international flights to and from Chennai since the Airports Authority of India (AAI) will be closing the main runway for six hours everyday from July 1 to September 15 to facilitate construction of linkways.
The linkways are being constructed to connect the secondary runway with the main one to enhance the airport's aircraft-handling capacity. The main runway will be closed from 11 am to 5 pm everyday as workers will be using machinery close to it. The runway will be used for flight operations the rest of the time.
A senior AAI official said that more airlines had agreed to re-schedule their flights before work began. The closure period was chosen because there wouldn't be many flight movements then, he added. A couple of international flights would be operated on the secondary runway with load restrictions.
An AI official said there would not be much change in the timings of domestic flights which would be operated from the secondary runway with load restrictions. Besides, most of the domestic flights were scheduled before 11 am and after 5 pm, he added.
28/06/09 Times of India

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Airports alerted after bomb threat on flight to Saudi Arabia

Kochi: Security personnel at the International Airport here swung into action after the Jeddah office of Saudi Airlines alerted the Bureau of Civil Aviation Securities (BCAS) about an anonymous bomb threat to a flight operating from India to Saudi Arabia.
Saudi Airlines authorities reportedly informed the BCAS of the threat, the authenticity of which could not be confirmed, airport sources said.
The BCAS subsequently alerted all the airports in the country about the threat, the sources said adding that, it was also not clear whether the threat was to any specific flight, they said.
Security measures have been strengthened in and around Kochi airport from Friday night onwards. Additional CISF and Police Personnel have been deployed.
28/06/09 ExpressBuzz

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Now experience a faster drive to airport

Mangalore: The road, which reduces the distance to the Bajpe airport by eight kilometers and gives connection to the new terminal, is ready.
It will handed be over to the Airports Authority of India (AAI) after energizing it. The road will be open for traffic when the new terminal of the Bajpe airport is ready. The terminal is expected to facilitate passenger traffic in September, according to acting airport director B R Sena.
Syed Elyas Pasha, executive engineer, Karnataka Urban Infrastructure Development and Finance Corporation (KUIDFC), said the work as far as the two-lane road is concerned, is complete. "Power supply has to be given to the lights on the road and once Mescom provides it, the road will be handed over to AAI, said Pasha. He said some pending work, like placing markings on the road to be used for two-way traffic, would be over within a couple of days. Pasha said that the final cost of the project was Rs 7.9 crore, almost a crore less than the estimated cost.
Sources in the AAI said the road will be used as a one-way and for vehicles exiting the airport. The Dakkan Park Road, which has been made ready with the help of the local panchayat, would be used as entry into the airport.
The link road is state government's infrastructure gift to the airport expansion project. The plan involved construction of two km of four-lane road, from state highway 66A on the Mangalore-Bajpe Road from Malavoor Railway Bridge, using the Asian Development Bank loan through KUIDFC.
27/06/09 Stanley G Pinto/Times of India

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Airport regulator to start functioning in three weeks

Kolkata: The country’s new airport regulator, the Airports Economic Regulatory Authority(AERA) is likely to start functioning within two-three weeks. Y S Bhave has been recently appointed as its first chairman, civil aviation secretary Madhavan Nambiar informed here today.
AERA will have powers to determine capital expenditure and investments to improve airport facilities, set tariffs for aeronautical services, as well as prescribe standards for operations across all airports.The regulator will have a chairman and two members.
While Nambiar ducked questions on the possible restructuring of Air-India run by the state-owned National Aviation Company of India Ltd (Nacil), he pointed out that the country needed to market its airports well. “We could talk to international consultants to effectively market our airports as the country is strategically positioned between the West and the East,” he said.
The civil aviation ministry was having discussions with state governments on how to go about improving utilisations of existing infrastructure.
27/06/09 Business Standard

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Hijack, bomb threats send Ahmedabad airport securitymen into a tizzy

Ahmedabad: The authorities and security agencies at the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Domestic Airport went into a tizzy on Friday afternoon, following two phone calls threatened to blow up a flight and the airport. A thorough checking was conducted at the premises immediately, after which the calls were declared hoax, as no suspecious object was found.
According to Airport Director B P Bhagat, two phone calls were received in the afternoon at the airport. “The first call was made to the terminal manager. The caller threatened that a Jaipur-bound flight of a private airline is going to be hijacked.
The second call was received at the desk of Indian Airlines, which threatened that a blast will take place at the airport.”
He added: “All the security agencies, including CISF, Bomb Disposal Squad, Dog Squad and city police, were alerted immediately. They launched search operations on both the airports and the Jaipur-bound aircraft. But nothing objectionable was found.”
He said that except for the Jaipur-bound aircraft, no flight was delayed in the wake of the incident. The flight was scheduled to take off at 4 pm, but itwas delayed by one-and-a half-hours and took off at 5.30 pm.
Bhagat further said that while one call was made from a local PCO booth, the second number could not be traced.
27/06/09 Indian Express

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Ahmedabad grounded by terror hoax

Ahmedabad: Panic gripped Sardar Vallabhbhai International Airport, Ahmedabad, on Friday afternoon after two threatening phone calls were received by the airport staff.
The threatening calls resulted in an Ahmedabad-Jaipur SpiceJet flight getting delayed. CISF personnel, the dog squad and the bomb squad with around 50 personnel from the city police were all over the airport and had secured it for combing, soon after the calls were received.
Later in the evening, airport director BP Bhagat himself gave an account of the day's events. He told mediapersons that at 2:14 pm, the terminal manager received a call from a phone whose number was 26464334. The caller told the manager that he had heard two people talking about hijacking a SpiceJet aircraft from Ahmedabad airport. The caller revealed his name as Bansal, and said he worked for the ICICI Bank. "We received the next call at 3:50 pm," Bhagat said. "This time the caller claimed his name was Majid Khan and he threatened to blow up the airport. He was calling from a phone with the number, 22869233."
According to Bhagat, the police had traced the first call to a PCO near Law Garden. "The second call has not been traced yet," he said.
27/06/09 Daily News & Analysis

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IAF doctor faced problems at home, work

Bangalore: Was it the harassment by senior officials that forced him to commit the blunder of making the hoax bomb call? Conforming to this theory, the police say that Dr Akshay, an officer of the rank of a Squadron Leader in the Indian Air Force who made the call to the pilot of the aircraft and ended in the police net, facing many problems, both at work and home.
Akshay was already facing a dowry harassment case filed by his wife in Mumbai and he was in a hurry to go to Mumbai to attend a hearing in Mumbai’s local court on Friday. But, he was allegedly not sanctioned leave on Thursday by his higher- ups. So, after finishing his duty in city, he had to rush to the International Airport, to ensure his presence in Mumbai.
But, to his bad luck, he was late to board the aircraft. After failing every attempt, he tried the last attempt by making a hoax call, said Basavaraja Malagatti, Deputy Commissioner of Police (North East). If his senior officers had sanctioned the leave on Thursday itself, he could have boarded the flight leisurely. But, he was said to have been purposefully assigned to conduct a surgery in the Commando Hospital on Thursday, sources said.
Akshay had booked a ticket to fly to Mumbai in the Jet Airways flight on Thursday. He reached the airport a little late and almost all 216 passengers had already boarded the flight.
27/06/09 ExpressBuzz

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Downturn toll on airports

Calcutta: Airports across the country are incurring losses because of downturn-induced underutilisation of their infrastructure, the civil aviation secretary said on Friday.
A study would be conducted by the civil aviation ministry on how to ensure optimum utilisation of the facilities, M. Madhavan Nambiar said at an interactive session at Merchants Chamber of Commerce on Friday.
“There is not as much traffic in the airports as was projected…. The revenue is going down with the traffic,” he added.
According to the civil aviation secretary, only a small part of the perishable cargo terminal and cold storage was being used at the city airport.
The aviation industry in India has run up a cumulative loss of Rs 15,000 crore till March 31 because of the downturn, said Nambiar.
27/06/09 The Telegraph

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Daredevil robbery cases vanish in cold storage

The case of audacious daylight robbery at the Air India’s cargo hold area has gradually vanished into oblivion with no sign of progress in the case. A month has passed and the Mumbai crime branch is still to arrest the four dacoits behind the daredevil robbery at Air India’s cargo area.
The robbery took place on May 25 this year where four armed robbers fled with a large chunk of the Rs. 55 lakh consignment of gold and silver coins. On May 26, Rakesh Maria, Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime), had then said, “We have identified the four accused and will arrest them soon.”
However, a month has gone by and there is no break-through in the investigation .In fact, Maria’s team of officers in the crime branch are not even armed with sketches of the robbers.
Joint Commissioner of Police (Law & Order) K L Prasad had also indicated that “detection is the best prevention”, and added that the suspects will be arrested soon. “. At the moment, there is no sign of the case getting a new direction nor is there any sign of progress.
Four surprising facts which come to the fore:
First, there were inexplicable security lapses at the airport due to which the dacoits successfully got away with their loot.
Second, so far no appropriate measures have been taken by the state government to secure the sensitive and important areas in the city which can act as a deterrent to criminals.
Third, and the most important fact, seems to be an internal rivalry among the IPS officers which is hampering investigations.
Fourth, there are also speculations of a strong nexus between the robbers and the men in uniform.
25/06/09 Neel Shah/Gunaah

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Integrated Terminal at Mangalore Airport to be ready by Sept

Mangalore : The new Integrated Terminal Building at Mangalore Airport, constructed at a cost of Rupees 165 Crore will be ready for operation in the first week of September.
Airport Authority of India Chairman had visited the airport recently and inspected the works. Based on the assessment, the technical people incharge of the work are positive about the completion of the work by the stipulated period, said Joint General Manager B R Sena, who took over the reigns of the airport recently.
Mr Sena told UNI here that after inauguration the flights would be shifted to new terminal. The commissioning of the much awaited Integrated Terminal Building will succeed in providing international airport statues to Mangalore airport.
He said that all the civil engineering works are expected to be completed by the end of July.
26/05/09 UNI/SahilOnline

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Three of family isolated with swine flu fears

Kolkata: A family of three from Duliajan in Assam, including a five-year-old girl, was sent to the Beliaghata Infectious Diseases Hospital late on Thursday after it was suspected they were suffering from swine flu.
The girl and her parents landed at Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose International Airport in a Thai Airways flight after spending a vacation in Bangkok. After landing at 12.50 am, they underwent the mandatory medical check-up.
The check-up revealed that they had fever. The child had a runny nose, pain in the joints and slight breathing trouble. As a seven-year-old girl suffering from swine flu had reached Kolkata from Australia via Bangkok on Tuesday, the doctors at the airport took no risk. "Their symptoms prompted us to quarantine them," said A C De, the medical officer at the airport.
At the ID Hospital, the family was kept at an isolation ward. Their throat swabs were sent to the National Institute of Virology (NIV), Pune, for tests. The results are expected in two days.
27/06/09 Times of India

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Air India revises Kozhikode - Jeddah flight schedule

Kozhikode: Air India (AI) will originate its flight to Jeddah in Saudi Arabia from Kochi, instead of Kozhikode from July 1, 2009, due to operational reasons. As per a revised schedule issued by the airline, flight AI 963 on all days, except Tuesday and Fridays, will depart Kochi at 1655 hrs and reach Kozhikode at 1740 hrs. It will leave Kozhikode at 1850 hrs and arrive Jeddah at 2145 hrs local time, informed an airline release.
The return flight will operate from Jeddah on all weekdays, except Mondays and Thursdays. Flight AI 962 will depart Jeddah at 2315 hrs and land at Kozhikode at 0715 hrs the next morning, the release further added that the flight would leave Kozhikode at 0815 hrs and reach Kochi at 0900 hrs. As the present the Friday flight has been shifted to Sundays, passengers holding bookings on that day were advised to advance or postpone their journey, the release added.
26/06/09 TravelBizMonitor

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IAF Doctor makes hoax bomb call, lands in jail

Bangalore: Dr Akshay, a doctor with the IAF, Bangalore, and a native of Mumbai, had booked a ticket to Mumbai in a Jet Airways flight on Thursday. When he reached Bangalore International Airport (BIA), it was a little too late as all the passengers had already boarded the aircraft. As Akshay desperately wanted to board the flight, he decided to delay the flight by creating panic. He collected the phone number of the head pilot of the flight from BIAL officials by using his IAF trump card.
Then he called the pilot from a coin booth and told him that a bomb had been planted in the aircraft and it was likely to explode at any moment.
The pilot immediately alerted the CISF officers and Airports Authority about the call and the plane was grounded. Passengers were asked to alight from the plane and a bomb disposal and dog squad started searching for the bomb.
In the meantime, the city police traced the call to BIA itself and succeeded in nabbing the accused. The flight finally took-off to Mumbai three hours late. The IAF doctor, who wanted to board the flight, was in the police custody.
26/06/09 ExpressBuzz

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Birmingham wants Air India to resume flights

London: Business and civic leaders in the west Midlands have urged Air India to resume direct flights from Birmingham to Amritsar in view of increasing trade links of the region with India and demand from the people of Indian-origin in the region.
Air India stopped its direct flights on the Birmingham-Amritsar sector in October 2008 to focus on its routes to and from Heathrow. Mr Joe Kelly, chief executive of the Birmingham airport that recently gained permission for expansion plans, said: “It is economically important when you consider that Tata, who bought Jaguar Land Rover, cannot fly direct to Birmingham from India. This is the single most important transport priority for the entire region”.
While flights between India and Europe are governed by the agreement, those to the UK are governed by the bilateral civil aviation agreement between the two countries.
26/06/09 The Sikh Times, UK

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Co-pilot operating flight without valid license

Nedumbassery: A co-pilot of a JetLite flight was found operating the plane from Hyderabad to Kochi without valid license, airport sources said here today.
An Inspector in Director General of Civil Aviation office, who was in the same flight that reached the airport here this afternoon, verified the license of the co-pilot and found that it has expired on Wednesday, the sources said.
The flight was detained and a co-pilot with valid license was replaced. It left Kochi for Hyderabad after a delay of more than two hours, the sources said.
25/06/09 Agencies/JetLite

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Delta Moving Nonstop India Flight Back to New York

Atlanta: A year after its launch, Delta Air Lines Inc. is moving its nonstop flight from Atlanta to Mumbai, India, back to New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport.
The flight will be moved effective Oct. 24, Delta spokesman Kent Landers told GlobalAtlanta.
Last August, the the newly announced route was heralded by economic development groups and business leaders as an important step in building ties between India and the Southeast. The flight took off from Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport on Nov. 1, 2008, carrying a Georgia trade delegation.
Three days before the maiden voyage, India's U.S. Ambassador Ronan Sen announced in Atlanta that India would open a consulate here by the end of 2009. Three weeks after the flight began, Delta temporarily suspended service because of the terrorist attacks in Mumbai.
Top Delta leaders noted in a June 11 memo to employees that the economic downturn had caused a restructuring of the global route map for the world's largest airline. CEO Richard Anderson said Delta would cut international capacity by another 5 percent on top of the 10 percent reductions it announced last year. Nonstop flights to Shanghai, China, and Seoul will be suspended beginning Sept. 1.
For Mumbai, that meant moving the flight back to New York, where the biggest pool of customers are.
Metro Atlanta Chamber President Sam Williams told GlobalAtlanta in an e-mail that even without the Delta flights, the chamber's efforts to lure business from China, South Korea and India, will continue.
Atlanta travelers still have one-stop access to Mumbai through JFK and to Shanghai through Detroit, Delta's Mr. Landers said. Travelers really only lose a few hours by taking those transfers, he said.
25/06/09 Trevor Williams/Global Atlanta

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165 ornamental fish worth Rs 2L sent back to Singapore

Chennai: Customs officials at the Chennai airport on Thursday sent back at least 165 ornamental fish, found in a suitcase, to Singapore. The officials found the suitcase on Wednesday night and alerted the bomb detective and disposal squad (BDDS). According to sources, the fish are worth Rs 2 lakh in the international market.
Indian Airlines flight (IC 558) from Singapore with more than 200 passengers landed at 11.40 pm on Wednesday. After all the passengers left, officials noticed a suitcase lying on the conveyor belt. A closer check revealed that the flight tag had been tampered with. The officials then called up the BDDS officials who declared that there was no explosive material inside. Later, customs officials opened the suitcase and found at least 165 ornamental fish in three plastic bags. The officials initially decided to send the fish to an aquarium but later, given the rising fears over the H1N1 spread, decided to send them back to Singapore from where they had been brought.
26/06/09 Times of India

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Houston Mayor White informed months ago of foreign airport projects

Houston Mayor Bill White was informed nearly a year and a half ago that a nonprofit arm of the Houston Airport System was heavily involved in building and running airport facilities in several other countries, public records show.
The mayor, who last month helped spur the sudden retirement of longtime airport system chief Richard M. Vacar, was told in mid-January 2008 that the airport system and its top officials were involved in airport projects in Dublin, Ireland, and Mumbai and New Delhi, India, along with a proposal to build a new airport in Denton County, Texas, and to take over Chicago’s Midway Airport if it were privatized.
Also on that list were the Houston Airport System’s possible involvement in privatizing six airports in Colombia, and developing a new facility at V.C. Bird International Airport in Antigua, an airport named for the father of the man who “knighted” Houston financier Allen Stanford.
White signed off on that project list but added a handwritten amendment to it, requiring that Houston airport officials charge a “substantial premium” for the services they were offering to the outside airports, and that they provide the city with quarterly profit-and-loss statements for the nonprofit. Click here to see part of the list signed off on by White.
The mayor has said that he had increasing concerns in the weeks leading up to Vacar’s departure about the extent to which Houston Airport System employees worked for the nonprofit.
The work by Vacar and other Houston airport officials in support of their overseas operations continued to grow after the mayor signed that letter. While documents show that Houston officials later backed away from the Midway airport deal, and didn’t win out on the Colombia projects, other records show that Vacar and other Houston airport officials worked in 2008 and early 2009 to do business in Nicaragua, Libya, China, El Salvador and Macedonia.
25/06/09 Jennifer Peebles/Texas Watchdog, USA

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IAF, control tower pulled up for chopper incident

New Delhi: A high-level investigation has blamed procedural errors and a lack of coordination for the near-collision between an IAF chopper from the President's convoy and an Air India flight at the Mumbai airport in February.
The report, submitted to the civil aviation ministry this afternoon, made 20 recommendations to improve security for VVIPs when they are flying. These include creating separate procedures for copters used by VVIPs. Within days of the near-collision in February, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), the Indian Air Force and the Airports Authority of India decided to investigate the matter and find what caused the incident and whether Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) were flouted."
The report blamed the incident on the lack of coordination between the IAF and the control tower at the airport. Not only did the choppers not keep the requisite distance between themselves for the Pratap formation, they landed on the runway without getting permission from the control tower. Air traffic controllers manning the tower too were unaware of the VVIP procedures so that the confusion about the sequence of the chopper formation and their possible landing and take off time could have been avoided.
The DGCA has asked the AAI and IAF to work out details of these procedures.
25/06/09 Yogesh Kumar/Daily News & Analysis

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Tamil nadu to focus on developing airports

Chennai: The Tamil Nadu government today said it is is focussing on developing airports in the state, including non-metros like Tuticorin and Salem.
The state Transport Ministry K N Nehru, presenting the policy note in the Assembly, said while expansion and modernisation of Chennai airport was at Rs 1808 crore, "efforts were on to establish a greenfield airport at Sriperumbudur near here, which has some big industrial houses, including handset maker Nokia".
Chennai airport has recorded "significant" growth in passenger traffic and cargo movement in the last few years, it said, adding modernisation of the airport, undertaken by Airports Authority of India, would be completed by 2010.
The government had acquired 126 acres of land for this purpose at a little over Rs 127 crore.
24/06/09 Chennai Online

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Kingfisher to start new Ranchi-Delhi flight

Ranchi:Kingfisher Airlines has decided to start a new flight to Delhi from the capital’s Birsa Munda Airport from July 1.
Kingfisher officials here have already been informed of the decision and have been asked to prepare themselves for the new venture. “We have been informed about the new Ranchi-Delhi flight service, which will start from July 1. However, we are yet to receive details of the schedule,” said Krishna, an airline official at the airport here.
Kingfisher already operates a Ranchi-Delhi flight service, which flies out 5.40pm and reaches Delhi via Patna. The new flight, in all likelihood, will fly in the morning.
At present, there are three daily flights on the Ranchi-Delhi route — Indian (departure at 3pm), MDLR (departure at 3.30pm) and Kingfisher’s evening flight. The new flight will be the fourth to connect Ranchi to the national capital.
24/06/09 The Telegraph

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Tamil Nadu to focus on developing airports

Chennai: The Tamil Nadu government today said it is is focussing on developing airports in the state, including non-metros like Tuticorin and Salem.
The state Transport Ministry K N Nehru, presenting the policy note in the Assembly, said while expansion and modernisation of Chennai airport was at Rs 1808 crore, "efforts were on to establish a greenfield airport at Sriperumbudur near here, which has some big industrial houses, including handset maker Nokia".
Chennai airport has recorded "significant" growth in passenger traffic and cargo movement in the last few years, it said, adding modernisation of the airport, undertaken by Airports Authority of India, would be completed by 2010.
The government had acquired 126 acres of land for this purpose at a little over Rs 127 crore.
24/06/09 Chennai Online

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Kingfisher to start new Ranchi-Delhi flight

Ranchi: Kingfisher Airlines has decided to start a new flight to Delhi from the capital’s Birsa Munda Airport from July 1.
Kingfisher officials here have already been informed of the decision and have been asked to prepare themselves for the new venture. “We have been informed about the new Ranchi-Delhi flight service, which will start from July 1. However, we are yet to receive details of the schedule,” said Krishna, an airline official at the airport here.
Kingfisher already operates a Ranchi-Delhi flight service, which flies out 5.40pm and reaches Delhi via Patna. The new flight, in all likelihood, will fly in the morning.
At present, there are three daily flights on the Ranchi-Delhi route — Indian (departure at 3pm), MDLR (departure at 3.30pm) and Kingfisher’s evening flight. The new flight will be the fourth to connect Ranchi to the national capital.
24/06/09 The Telegraph

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Yashwant Bhave appointed AERA chairman

New Delhi: Yashwant S. Bhave, secretary, department of consumer affairs in the ministry of consumer affairs, food and public distribution, has been appointed chairman of the country’s new airport regulator, Airports Economic Regulatory Authority, or AERA, according to two senior government officials. Bhave is an Indian Administrative Service officer of the 1972 batch from the Maharashtra cadre.
Prior to department of consumer affairs, Bhave served as special secretary in the department of telecommunications or DoT.
“The orders have been issued,” said one government official, adding the new body is trying to set up its offices in Air India’s New Delhi headquarters though such an agreement is still to be firmed up. It currently operates from the Airports Authority of India offices in New Delhi. The regulator will become operational this year, civil aviation minister Praful Patel said late last month.
Aera will replace the regulatory role of state-owned Airports Authority of India, or AAI, for setting airport tariffs at high traffic airports such as New Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore. The new regulator will have a chairman and two members.
23/06/09 Tarun Shukla/Livemint

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GMR says it may put Kingfisher on cash & carry

Bangalore: After state-run Airports Authority of India (AAI), its private partner at Delhi and Hyderabad airports, the GMR group, plans to initiate action against Vijay Mallya-owned Kingfisher Airlines for defaulting on payments at the two airports.
A senior GMR official, who did not wish to be named, told DNA his company plans to put the defaulting airline on a cash-&-carry mode in the next two days.
AAI has already put the defaulting airline on cash-cash-carry mode as its dues reportedly exceeded its bank guarantee of Rs 100 crore by Rs 53 crore.
Once an airline is shifted to cash-and-carry mode, it stops enjoying credit facility and has to pay as and when bills are presented.
"There is a small bank guarantee of Rs 4-5 crore, but that is not enough. We are not able to pay our service providers because airlines like Kingfisher are not paying fees on time. So, we have decided to follow our partner (AAI) and will put it (Kingfisher) on cash-and-carry mode to recover our dues," the GMR official said.
The official said Kingfisher's total outstanding to the private airport operator amounted to Rs 40 crore, including Rs 30 crore to Delhi International Airports and Rs 10 crore to Hyderabad International Airport.
Bangalore-based GMR operates the two airports along with AAI.
24/06/09 Praveena Sharma/Daily News & Analysis

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Frequent flights 'shake' Qutab

New Delhi: Every two minutes a plane flies over the 13th century Qutab Minar, a fact that is giving Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) officials sleepless nights. They are worried that the vibrations from the aircraft could affect the foundation of the monument, one of the tallest in the world and which is located in a seismic zone.
The ASI has now taken up the matter with the civil aviation ministry. According to sources, ASI has expressed concern over the frequent flights over the monument and has written to the civil aviation ministry asking it to ensure that low-flying planes do not come close to the 72.5-m high monument.
Said ASI joint director-general Dr B R Mani: "Ever since the new runway was inaugurated last September, Qutab Minar has fallen in the approach path and the frequency of planes flying over the monument has increased tremendously. We believe that a plane flies over the tower every two minutes and the vibrations from the plane can affect the minar's foundation.'' The new runway is one of the longest in Asia and ASI is believed to have told the civil aviation ministry to change the flight path of planes. Sources in the civil aviation ministry said they were looking into the matter and if necessary, a study would be conducted.
ASI is no mood to take any chances with Qutab Minar. The minar built by Qutubuddin Aibak in 1173 was the first monument in the capital to be awarded the world heritage status by Unesco in 1993. IT is also the most visited monument in Delhi, followed closely by Red Fort. Sources say that upto 10,000 people visit Qutab Minar on a daily basis.
24/06/09 Richi Verma/Times of India

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Report submitted on near-collision of President’s chopper

New Delhi: India’s aviation regulator, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation Tuesday submitted the report of its probe into near-collision between President Pratibha Patil’s choppers and an Air India aircraft at Mumbai airport Feb 9.
DGCA Director General S.N.A. Zaidi, who investigated the incident, submitted the report to the Civil Aviation Secretary M. Madhavan Nambiar.
Although the findings of the probe are yet to be known, sources in the department said the report has a set of 20 recommendations.
However, the report does not include the demand by the Indian Air Force (IAF) to close the airspace for 10 minutes before flying the VVIPs, especially the President and the Prime Minister.
The recommendations generally relate to air traffic procedures and coordination between various agencies, especially between the IAF and the Airports Authority of India, the regulator of airports in India, said an official.
The president was inside one of three choppers that were part of her entourage, and it was in a matter of seconds that the mishap was averted at Mumbai airport Feb 9.
23/06/09 IANS/Thaindian News, Thailand

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Pune tightens screening at airport

Pune: A day after the first confirmed case of H1N1 flu was detected in the city, the state health services, regional health office of the central government and health department of the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) have geared up to counter the threat.
While the regional health office of the central government has equipped the Lohegaon Airport with three hi-tech ear digital thermometers for faster and more accurate screening of passengers from all international flights, the state health services is busy allocating more quarantine wards at hospitals across the city.
"We have equipped the surveillance system at the airport with three ear digital thermometers. Digital ear thermometer takes only two seconds to monitor body temperature as soon as it is put in the ear. With this, the screening of passengers will become faster and more accurate now," S B Nadoni, senior regional director of the regional office for health and family welfare, Government of India, told TOI. With this device, the doctors' dependence on the passenger's account of his/her health will be reduced.
"There are three medical officers, two nurses and two helpers stationed at the airport along with an ambulance. "Since there are only two international flights, the flow of passengers is less and hence the screening is not that stressful," said Nadoni.
"We have screened 3,340 passengers from the time we initiated surveillance at the airport from May 3. We have not detected a single suspected case of H1N1 flu so far," he added.
24/06/09 Umesh Isalkar/Times of India

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Court frees Algerian man

Tambaram: Saleem Abbasi, the 42-year-old Algeria-born man with a Qatar passport, who spent four days in the Puzhal prison, was set free by a court here on Tuesday evening after the police submitted that they were not pressing charges against him or asking for an extension of his remand. Mr. Abbasi had reached Chennai from Kuala Lumpur on the night of June 18. He was detained by the airport authorities as his name figured in a “red corner notice” issued by Interpol.
Police sources said a case under Section 41 (1) (g) of the Code of Criminal Procedure (arrest on the grounds of reasonable suspicion) was registered and Mr. Abbasi was lodged in prison.
On Monday, the Assistant Director of Interpol, New Delhi, sent an urgent communication through the National Central Bureau of the Central Bureau of Investigation to C. Mugilan, Inspector of Police, Chennai Airport, with a copy to S.N. Seshasai, Deputy Inspector-General of Police, Crime Branch CID, asking for the release of Mr. Abbasi.
The letter, a copy of which was distributed to reporters at the Tambaram court by V. Kannadasan, Special Public Prosecutor (Human Rights Cases), said a communication from Interpol in Algiers had informed their counterparts in New Delhi that the “arrest has been cancelled by the competent Algerian judicial authorities and we ask you to inform the competent Indian judicial authorities that their Algerian counterparts do not intend to extradite the subject from India. In view of the above, it is requested to take appropriate steps immediately for the release of the subject from judicial custody.”
Police said following the communication, they did not press for the extension of Mr. Abbasi’s remand.
Judicial Magistrate P. Saravanan let Mr. Abbasi free.
24/06/09 K. Manikandan/The Hindu

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4 months, 2 flight scares, no sign of a probe report

Mumbai: President Pratibha Patil is scheduled to land again at the Mumbai airport on Saturday, after a scare on her earlier visit when an Air India Airbus 321 commercial aircraft with 150 passengers on board narrowly missed colliding with one of the three helicopters of her convoy.
Four months on, not even a preliminary inquiry report on the near-collision has been submitted by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA).
“A meeting was called today by the general administration department of the state informing us of the President’s visit,” said a senior official.
On February 10, Air India flight IC 866 aborted takeoff at the last moment after an air traffic controller spotted one of the choppers of the presidential entourage on the airport’s flight path and alerted the pilot.
The questions that raised on aviation safety had not been answered before the airport had another collision scare. Two departing aircraft, carrying 239 passengers between them, were about to take off simultaneously from crisscrossing runways before an air traffic controller spotted it and asked one of the pilots to abort takeoff.
“Annexure 13 of the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) Aircraft Accident and Incident Investigation states that they are supposed to publish a preliminary report of the incident within two weeks of the incident,” said Captain A Ranganathan, an air safety expert.
Air traffic controllers too are unhappy. “It was only due to human intervention that these incidents were averted at the last minute,” said a senior traffic controller. “Nobody raises these issues though it affects all of us, especially passengers.”
23/06/09 Shashank Shekhar/ExpressIndia

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8 months on, CISF plan for security at airport awaits nod

Chennai: The Central Industrial Security Force's (CISF) proposal for a counter-terrorism squad at Chennai airport is awaiting a response nearly eight months after it was submitted to the the Union Ministry of Home Affairs. This delay in approval reveals the attitude of the centre in safeguarding security interests in the south, sources here told The Times Of India. The MHA has also paid scant attention to the CISF's severe manpower shortage at Chennai airport and the force has been working with just 60% of sanctioned strength for three years, sources said.
"At present vehicle entry and exit points, the parking areas and the airport surroundings are under the control of the local police. These have to be under CISF's security cover. We call this squad a counter-terrorism' team. A proposal for setting up this squad at the Chennai airport was submitted to the MHA around 8 months ago. But we are yet to hear anything on it," a senior CISF official said.
According to sources, control over the vehicle entry, exit and parking areas is crucial for the airport's overall security. "The local police are not professionally trained to combat terror. Our personnel have better training and also sophisticated weapons. Moreover, we need to have our men in these places for providing multi-tier security. These points have to be under constant surveillance. The local police step up security at these points only on the basis of general terror alerts," another official said. CISF, Chennai, in its proposal, had sought 300 personnel for the squad. "So far, not a single person has been given to us for this," the official added.
23/06/09 K Praveen Kumar/Times of India

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Indian immigrants allege harassment

London: Indian immigrants have complained of harassment at British airports on returning to the U.K. from trips abroad, according to Highly Skilled Migrant Programme (HSMP) Forum, a non-profit organisation campaigning for the rights of skilled migrants.
The Forum, which has taken up the issue with immigration authorities, cited the case of Sujit Nair, who was allegedly harassed at the Glasgow airport after returning from a holiday in India.
“The immigration officer at the Glasgow airport bombarded me with questions. Subsequently, I was questioned by a police officer despite having permanent residency in the U.K. I felt very intimidated and unwelcome,” said Dr. Nair, who works at the National Health Service (NHS).
Non-EU immigrants.
The Forum said that similar complaints had come from non-EU (European Union) immigrants, but a majority were from the Asians.
“How did their employer allow them to go on a long holiday?”, “Why had they chosen to work in a particular field?” and “Why didn’t they find a job in some other area?” were some of the “irrelevant” questions the “interrogation” usually consisted of.Amit Kapadia, Executive Director of the Forum, said they were treated like “criminals.” “We are very concerned and have raised the matter with the U.K. Border Agency. However, the explanation given was not satisfactory.
23/06/09 Hasan Suroor/The Hindu

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'I'll talk to Centre on 2nd airport'

Navi Mumbai: Baffled by his deputy Chhagan Bhujbal's remark that the Navi Mumbai airport would have been ready by now had one of the Ambani brothers been its developer and not the government, chief minister Ashok Chavan on Monday assured that the Centre's objection to the project would be resolved soon through negotiations.
"This airport is the need of the hour and our priority is to resolve the conflict immediately so that the airport is in place before its need is felt,'' he added. He, however, admitted that Navi Mumbai and surrounding areas lacked proper transport and parking infrastructure.
Both the CM and his deputy were speaking at a Cidco function at Vishnudas Bhave Auditorium, Vashi, on Monday. It was held to mark the inauguration of an Urban Haat in Belapur and a vocational training centre for SEZ- and airport-affected people at Dronagiri as well as the bhoomipujan of Aagari-Koli Cultural Centre and an exhibition centre.
Interacting with the media, Chavan said he would meet Union environment minister Jairam Ramesh to convince his ministry about the need for speedy development of the airport.
"We will follow up the matter regularly,'' Chavan said after Bhujbal's jibe at the Congress leadership. "Do we have to go 200 km out of the city to have a second airport?'' Bhujbal, an NCP leader, asked. Chavan said he did not want to create a controversy over the issue and that he would ensure that the Centre and the state resolved it as soon as possible.
23/06/09 Chittaranjan Tembhekar/Times of India

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How AN124 pilot could've avoided all the trouble

A minute error in judgment caused the 23-hour-59-minute ordeal involving the AN124 aircraft, which is operated by the US defence forces.
The problem began when the aircraft flying from the Diago Garcia island in the Indian Ocean to Kandahar in Afghan-istan entered Indian airspace by flying within 200 nautical miles of the Indian coastline at 7.35 pm on Friday.
"Had the pilot flown to the left of the path that he took (and got picked up for), the ordeal could have been avoided though he would have had to guzzle more fuel," said air marshal (retd) S Ramdas.
Sources investigating the matter said defence radars picked up the aircraft mome-nts after it entered India's Air Defence Identification Zone (ADIZ).
"The radars picked up the aircraft, which gave out its identity as VDA 4466 (given only to civilian aircraft), but the flight plan suggested that it should be RCH 813 (given only to defence aircraft)," said an IAF official.
Officials elaborated that as per the AN124's flight plan RCH 813 was to operate through Indian airspace on a military mission to Kandhahar on the civilian number VDA 4466.
Aircraft that are assigned a military call sign need to obtain an Air Operations Routing (AOR) number from the Ministry of Defence, something AN124 did not have.
What complicated the matter was that the pilot could not explain why the aircraft was mentioned as RCH 813 in the electronic flight plan.
Timeline
June 19, 7.30 pm: AN124 enters Indian airspace at point ELKEL, an identification point used by Indian defence forces, located to the north of Male, Maldives.
June 19, minutes following 7.30 pm: Aircraft told to divert to Mumbai after pilot fails to provide right code.
June 19, 10.15 pm: AN124 lands in Mumbai, taken to remote bay at the end of runway 14, security forces start checking
June 20, 10 am: AN124 moved from remote bay to bay near Air India hanger, crew still onboard.
June 20, 6 pm: AN124 moves to takeoff, but pilot defers it after talking to his employers.
June 20, 10.14 pm: AN124 finally takes off after spending 23 hours and 59 minutes at Mumbai airport.
22/06/09 Aditya Anand/MiD Day

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ABB wins Rs 55 cr order for Kolkata airport modernsation

Bangalore: ABB India, the power and automation major, today bagged orders worth Rs 55 crore to provide electrical infrastructure for modernisation of Kolkata airport. As per the order, ABB will provide complete power supply package for the airport from Italian Thai Development Public Company Ltd (ITD) amd ITD Cementation, the contractors for the modernisation project.
ABB will provide critical electrical infrastructure and control systems to ensure reliable power supply to the airport. The comprehensive solution will consist several technologies including power and distribution transformers, low voltage switchgear, power backup, busducts, automatic source transfer switches and capacitor panels, the company said in a release.
The scope of work also includes complete system engineering, supply, installation, testing, commissioning and overall project management.
After modernisation, both the runways will be suitable for Aurbus A380. This modernisation is scheduled for completion by 2011, a company press release said.
22/06/09 business Standard

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AAI refuses to give credit to Kingfisher

New Delhi: In a first move of its kind, state-run Airports Authority of India (AAI) has decided to disallow credit to Vijay Mallya's Kingfisher and put the airline on cash-and-carry mode (no credit, needs to pay in cash immediately for using airport facilities). The airline's current dues with AAI are learnt to have exceeded its bank guarantee of Rs 100 crore by Rs 53 crore.
"Till the airline clears these dues, we have decided to put it on cash-and-carry mode from June 30. This decision was conveyed to Vijay Mallya when he came to the ministry some days back," said a top official. Kingfisher did not comment on this issue.
This is the first time AAI has decided to put an airline on cash-and-carry. Last month, IndianOil had encashed Kingfisher's bank guarantee of Rs 50 crore after the latter's cheque had bounced.
In the past also there have been many occasions when Kingfisher's airport dues have crossed its bank guarantee and at least one time the cheque given by the airline to AAI bounced due to insufficient funds. The airline later made the payment by wire to the authority. "Jet's dues are also on the borderline of its bank guarantee and we are keeping a close watch on its payment status," said the official.
AAI is also facing problem with state-run Air India-Indian Airlines combine whose dues are nearly Rs 750 crore.
22/06/09 Saurabh Sinha/Times of India

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When Neil Nitin Mukesh was detained at New York airport

The actor’s fair complexion made it difficult for the immigration officials to believe that he was an Indian. This happened when Neil Nitin Mukesh flew to the US to shoot the Yashraj film New York .
The film, directed by Kabir Khan and co-starring Katrina Kaif , John Abraham and Irrfan Khan , is about the discrimination people of certain community and religion face in the US after the 9/11 attacks.
Ironically, Neil, who plays a Muslim in the film, saw life imitating art when he was detained at the airport because he looked too fair to be an Indian and that made the officials suspicious.
“I can pass off as a Britisher, American, Kashmiri easily because my skin tone and complexion can blend anywhere. But this incident changed my attitude of how I will approach my role in New York which also dwells upon discrimination,” Neil told a news agency.
“I told him to google search my name. When he realised his folly, he was still not willing to let me go and started asking questions about my profession like what kind of films I do and why am I in New York,” the actor is quoted as saying.
In a way, Neil’s detention gave him an insight about his role in the film.
22/06/09 apunkachoice

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Chennai airport website still has 2002 data, info

Chennai: While the websites of privately-run airports in Mumbai, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Delhi are live and user-friendly, online information about Chennai airport can only be accessed through the website of the Airports Authority of India (which runs the city airport) and even here, most of the information is outdated. Same is the case with information provided about other AAI-run airports in the country.
Though AAI has an information technology division that is entrusted with maintaining airport websites, little is being done to update these portals to make them user-friendly. The website is not only poorly designed but also has outdated information. Traffic data for Chennai, for example, has not been updated since 2002.
The webpage still lists Sahara Airlines among domestic operators though the airline has turned into Jetlite long ago. It still names Dinesh Kumar as the airport director even though a new director took charge several months ago.
When his attention was drawn to the outdated information on the website, airport director K Natarajan said the site was not maintained locally. "Chennai airport's website is maintained by information technology division of AAI in Delhi. The IT wing is taking steps to display live flight schedules and other details on the website very soon."
It's an entirely different story with the websites of privately-run airports in Mumbai, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Delhi. The website of GVK-run Chatrapati Shivaji international airport in Mumbai displays live flight schedules. In addition, it also provides a facility for a flight search using the flight name or number to find out the exact time of departure or arrival of domestic and international flights. Apart from that, it displays a PDF-format copy of the airport's lounge magazine, Mumbaitouchdown'.
Websites of Bangalore, Hyderabad and Cochin airports have similar features.
22/06/09 V Ayyappan/Times of India

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Indian airspace violation: Missed the flight15 times

New Delhi: The violation of Indian airspace by a US military aircraft on Friday evening was not the first such instance, DNA has learnt: it's been happening for the past 15 days. Russian transport aircraft carrying US military cargo have been repeatedly hoodwinking Indian airspace managers by claiming to be civilian aircraft, exposing serious lacunae in the Indian air space surveillance apparatus.
The Antonov AN-124, operated by a Russian firm, Volga-Dnepr Airlines, had been hired by the US military to transport cargo to Kandahar. The aircraft, however, had declared itself to all the Indian authorities, including the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), the Indian Air Force (IAF) and the Military Liaison Unit (MLU), as a nonscheduled, civilian flight. In reality, however, it was ferrying military cargo and, according to unconfirmed reports, ammunition for the US military operations in Afghanistan.
The failure of the Indian authorities to register this blatant airspace intrusion into Indian airspace has raised several questions about the alertness of the agencies entrusted with the task of giving air clearances to all flights using Indian airspace.
Though the Indian authorities suddenly woke up on Friday night and instructed the pilot to land in Mumbai, sources admitted that the aircraft had been flying daily for the past 15 days with the same 'civil' call sign. But it would change its call sign to that of a military aircraft after entering Afghanistan.
It was this surreptitious duality of flight status that raised the suspicion of the MLU in Mumbai on Friday night. Senior defense officials said it was shocking that noone (neither at the DGCA nor at the MLU) had detected the dual identity of the aircraft earlier and had kept giving air defense clearances so many times.
21/06/09 Yogesh Kumar /Daily News & Analysis

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US blames Russian firm for goof-up

New Delhi: According to sources, the US embassy in New Delhi has been profusely apologetic ever since the Indian air traffic controllers forced an AN-124 transport aircraft chartered by the US military to land in Mumbai. From the moment the aircraft landed in Mumbai, the US mission has been using various contact points to get the aircraft released.
The American interlocutors have placed the blame, for disguising the aircraft carrying military cargo as a civilian aircraft, on the Russian firm. The US military had hired a Russian firm, Volga-Dnepr Airlines, to transport military cargo from Diego Garcia to Kandahar.
A senior MOD source said that if the aircraft pilot had disclosed they were carrying military cargo, then "they would have had to disclose details of the cargo they are carrying, based on which we would have had to decide whether to allow the flight into our airspace." The fear of India refusing flight rights over its airspace could have been the reason for not disclosing the flight details, sources believe. They are also surprised that the aircraft was flying over India and not over Pakistan, on its way to Afghanistan.
Meanwhile, even as the Indian authorities were forcing the AN-124 aircraft to land in Mumbai, another aircraft of the same make was getting ready to take off from Diego Garcia for Kandahar. That aircraft, too, had reported itself as a civilian aircraft. "We warned them not take off, and told them that if they came over Indian airspace we would force-land them too," a senior MOD source said.
21/06/09 Josy Joseph / Daily News & Analysis

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The curious case of AN 124

Mumbai: The detained Ukrainian-make AN 124 cargo carrier chartered by the United States military, which was forced to land at Mumbai airport late Friday night for illegally intruding into Indian air-space finally took off tonight after representatives of Central Intelligence agencies questioned its crew members thoroughly about its mission and the cargo it was transporting from Diego Garcia to Kandahar in Afghanistan.
The aircraft was detected breaching Indian airspace around 8 in the evening and was forced to land at 10;35 p.m. Indian Air Force aircraft were not scrambled in response to the air-space violation, but the IAF did ask the Mumbai ATC to make it land. The flight, whose Nato code is Condor, was found to be carrying heavy military vehicles, anti-aircraft guns and other military equipment for US-led Nato forces fighting the Taliban in beleaguered Afghanistan.
The captain of the aircraft had apparently fumbled in giving the proper call sign, which led to the force-landing. The plane had been flying over the Arabian Sea regularly and had often violated Indian air-space. This was the first occasion when it was asked to land for verification of cargo and the nature of its mission.
The drama started late last night when Mumbai ATC detected the intruder, and apparently under instructions from the Air Force, directed it to land at Mumbai. The aircraft was taken to the isolation bay where Intelligence agents started questioning the 18-member crew on the plane. The crew was quizzed on how many such sorties they had flown from Diego Garcia to Afghanistan and why they did not obtain the proper authorization for crossing Indian air-space. The USA has been hiring these cargo carriers to transport military equipment from its Indian Ocean base at Diego Garcia to Afghanistan. The detained aircraft was finally given Air Operations Routing permission today.
20/06/09 The Statesman

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'Grounded' US aircraft cleared for takeoff

New Delhi: After a thorough check and clearance given by the foreign ministry, the IAF on Saturday cleared US-hired Ukrainian-made AN-124 cargo aircraft to resume its flight to Kandahar.
The cargo plane was on Friday force to land at Mumbai airport after confusion was created by the call sign made by the aircraft. The aircraft owned by a private Russian airline and hired by the Americans for their operations in Afghanistan, claimed that it had clearance from the Directorate-General of Civil Aviation to overfly Indian air space with a call sign attributed to civilian aircraft.
However, the IAF air traffic controller claimed it heard a different call sign generally attributed to a defence aircraft before it entered the Indian air space.
IAF spokesperson T K Singha said on checking the aircraft two vehicles meant for American officials fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan and boxes of medicines were found. There were a total of 18 persons on board the aircraft, including a five-member crew.
Singha said the aircraft was allowed to get airborne after the foreign ministry gave the "Air Operations Routing (AOR) authority to fly over Indian air space changing the call sign of the plane to that of a defence aircraft".
This was, however, not the first time that such an aircraft had intruded into Indian air space. Agency reports quoted unidentified IAF officials as saying the AN-124 had been operating on the same flight plan in the last fortnight and had come under adverse notice because of its call sign.
"The aircraft used a civilian aircraft call sign VDA 4466, whereas its original call sign was REACH 813, which implied it was a military cargo aircraft," they said.
For giving clearance to a foreign military aircraft for using Indian air space, the request has to be routed through MEA, intelligence agencies and then the IAF. In this case, the Russian operator obtained a civilian call sign that led to the confusion.
The aircraft was chartered by the US military for long-range military cargo delivery and air-dropping of troops. It had taken off on Friday for Kandahar from Diego Garcia, the island near Mauritius in the Indian Ocean which has a huge US military base.
21/06/09 Times of India

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Snag delays Jet flight to Mumbai by 5 hrs

Chandigarh: A reported technical snag grounded a Mumbai-bound Jet Airways flight for over five hours at the city airport on Saturday afternoon. The delay occurred after a technical snag developed in the avionics of the aircraft, forcing 145 passengers to alter or cancel travel plans.
Scheduled to take off at 12.55pm, the flight finally left the airport around 6.30pm. Though the exact cause of the holdup could not be known, sources said the problem was detected within minutes after the pilot turned on engines at bay. After noticing a problem while communicating with the air traffic controller, the pilot informed airport authorities. At the same time, the staff on board told the passengers about the technical glitch. Sources added the passengers were asked to alight from the plane around 3.00pm. As many as 21 fliers are learned to have opted for alternative arrangements after seeking a ticket refund, the sources said.
“It was a snag in the communication and transmission system. Avoiding any risk, the pilot chose to not to take off. We informed the head office and a team of engineers was rushed to Chandigarh from Mumbai,” an official of Jet Airways at Chandigarh airport told TOI.
21/06/09 Times of India

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Flight lands as passenger falls ill

Patna: Kingfisher Airlines' flight IT 600, on way to New Delhi from Kolkata on Saturday morning, was diverted to Patna after a passenger complained of illness.
Prakash Mirpuri, a spokesman of the airlines, said immediately after the flight landed at Patna, a doctor examined the young girl and, as advised, was taken to a local hospital. She was later shifted to a local relative's place. "Her local relative informed us that she was recovering," Mirpuri said, adding the aircraft took off from Patna for its destination 90 minutes later.
21/06/09 Times of India

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Jaipur set to woo passengers in style

The moment you take a left turn from Jawahar Circle and head towards the new terminal building, the fragrance of seasonal flowers planted on either side of the road refreshes you till you arrive at the majestic state-of-the-art building.
The entrance gate, made of sandstone and Dholpuri stones along with Rajasthani paintings on the walls, give tourists a glimpse of the Rajasthani culture. Two fountains on both sides of the terminal, dotted with palm trees, ensure that normal temperature is maintained within the airport premises. The transparent side walls of the building have adjustable shades that control the passage of sunlight into the airport premises, thereby cutting down heavily on electricity bills.
This new terminal building is designed to handle three million passengers annually. Initially, operations will begin with private airlines handling 23 flights a day to 16 destinations. Every airline has been given three check-in counters to expedite the clearance of passengers during peak hours. "Eighty percent of the air traffic, both inbound and outbound, comprise domestic passengers," said Anuj Aggarwal, airport director, Jaipur airport.
The VIPs can sit and relax without causing any inconvenience to other passengers in one of the most comfortable and spacious VIP lounges. "The new terminal has three VIP lounges for these special guests. Two lounges at departure and one at arrival on the second floor," said an airport official.
The passengers have to scale the distance from the terminal to the entrance of their plane in a bus for two months as the aerobridges would start function only by then. "Some equipment is due to come from China. It is one reason for the delay in the functioning of aerobridge," said Aggarwal.
21/06/09 Shoeb Khan/Times of India

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IGI check-in centres at Gurgaon soon

Chandigarh: In a move that will cut down on waiting time at the IGI Airport, Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA) has decided to provide a site for installing check-in systems at Gurgaon for both domestic and international travellers flying out of New Delhi. Once in place, it will give passengers the luxury of getting their baggage checked in at the centre to come up on the Airport Express route hours or even days before flying and get the boarding pass in advance.
With luggage taken care of and boarding pass in hand, all one would need to do is just walk in and catch the flight at the airport.
HUDA has shortlisted three Gurgaon locations in Sector 23, at Sohna Chowk and City Centre out of which one would be selected for the centre. The innovative check-in office would come up on the lines of those still under construction at Dhaula Kuan and Connaught Place.
Haryana CM Bhupinder Singh Hooda, who also heads HUDA, approved the project on Friday, hiring Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) to prepare a detailed project report (DPR) for it.
Besides making air travel hassle-free, the government also expects the project to pull in MNCs and corporates at Gurgaon. A consideration amount of Rs 50 lakh has been released to DMRC for the DPR, which is expected within two months. The government has, in principle, agreed to provide infrastructure to Airport Authority of India for the centre. "We hope to complete this phase on time, making the opening coincide with the two outlets at Delhi,'' HUDA chief administrator TC Gupta said.
21/06/09 Manveer Saini/Times of India

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Airspace violation: US military aircraft to take off

Government on Saturday (June 20) cleared take off of US-hired AN-124 aircraft detained at Mumbai airport. The US hired military aircraft that had violated Indian airspace last night and was detained at the Mumbai airport has got a clearance for take off at 4.30 PM.
The crew told Indian authorities that they weren't aware about seeking special permission to transport military equipment. They have been let off with a warning.
The AN-124, the largest heavy transport aircraft manufactured by Ukrainian Antonov company with NATO code name Condor, was carrying military cargo, which included land vehicles, equipment and weapons for the US' fight against terrorism in Afghanistan, they said.
".. The aircraft, chartered by the US military, took off from Diego Garcia, a US military base on an island near Mauritius in the Indian Ocean," the IAF officials said.
The IAF's South Western Air Command (SWAC) air defence 'Movement Liaison Unit', which noticed the aircraft, activated the standard operating procedures under which the Air Traffic Control ordered the cargo chartered plane to land at Mumbai.
IAF officials said there were a total of 18 persons on board the aircraft, including a five-member crew. Securitymen from the CISF had cordoned off the aircraft and sleuths from the Intelligence Bureau and officials from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation carried out checks in the plane's cargo hold. They also questioned the crew and passengers on board the aircraft, they added.
20/06/09 Times Now.tv

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Crew of Russian intruder aircraft being questioned, military cargo found

Mumbai: Security agencies were engaged on Saturday in questioning the crew of a Russian-make cargo aircraft which was ordered to land in Mumbai
late on Friday night after it violated Indian air space, according to an official.
There is no indication so far whether it was a genuine error on the part of the pilot or otherwise, the official said.
The civil cargo carrier, AN-124-100, was directed by the Mumbai Air Traffic Control (ATC) to change path and land at the airport here, which it complied with.
"Since the aircraft obeyed the ATC instructions and changed its path, there was no need for the IAF (Indian Air Force) to be directly involved in the matter. Contrary to speculation, the IAF did not provide any escort to the aircraft," an official spokesman for the ministry of defence said on Saturday morning.
The probe is being handled by a team of Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) and the Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA). However, no defence personnel are involved in the inquiry.
The aircraft is stationed in the parking bay of the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport (CSIA) amid high security.
Though no official was willing to confirm, the aircraft is reported to be carrying a cargo of military trucks.
The cargo carrier, chartered to the US, was proceeding from a military base in Diego Garcia to Kandahar, and entered Indian air space illegally.
The Indian Air Force detected the violation when the alien aircraft was seen flying over north-west Gujarat skies.
20/06/09 IANS/Times of India

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Smaller towns may be ticket to growth for foreign carriers

New Delhi: Airports in smaller Indian cities and towns such as Chandigarh and Bagdogra are set to start handling international flights, as several new and existing low-fare foreign airlines seek to expand operations in the country.
The civil aviation ministry has so far this year allowed three such airports to put up immigration counters and other facilities needed for handling foreign routes. Several more are to follow.
Bhutan’s Druk Air Corp. Ltd on Friday launched its inaugural flight between Paro in Bhutan and Bagdogra, a town in West Bengal’s Darjeeling district.
Currently, only around two dozen of India’s 127 airports are equipped to handle international flights. Many of these are run by the Airports Authority of India, or AAI.
“We are creating customs and immigration facilities and asking other agencies to co-operate in the process,” said a senior government official involved in the process.
The official, who didn’t want to be named, said the government has already granted permission to several airlines, many of them low-fare carriers, from countries that are part of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or Asean, to fly to 18 tourist destinations in India.
These include Port Blair in the Andaman and Nicobar islands, Bhubaneswar in Orissa, and Aurangabad in Maharashtra. None of the airports in these places currently handle international flights.
The Chandigarh and Madurai airports will be ready to handle international flights by October, a senior AAI board member said. He declined to comment on the investments required to upgrade the facilities and potential additional revenues for these airports from the international traffic.
Upgrading airports in the cities and towns to handle foreign flights involves setting up of immigration counters in coordination with the ministry of home affairs, customs duty counters in coordination with the ministry of finance, and ensuring security services as guided by the respective state governments.
The Boeing 737-800 or Airbus A320 type of aircraft require no major aeronautical infrastructure changes at airports as many of these already host domestic flights that operate these category of aircraft.
20/06/09 Tarun Shukla/Livemint

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AAI fears fare hike will further reduce traffic, erode revenue

Chennai: The hike in domestic air fares announced this week has come as a blow to airports which are already reeling under the impact of dwindling domestic and international passenger traffic.
Sources said Jet Airways and Kingfisher Airlines' decision to hike fuel surcharge would only discourage passengers from flying. "The situation is getting worse by the day. If other airlines also follow suit, domestic passenger traffic will further dip in June," said a senior official of Airports Authority of India (AAI).
Privatisation of high-revenue yielding airports at Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore and Hyderabad have eroded the finances of the AAI, which depends on fees levied on airlines for revenue.
Now only two major airports remain under AAI Chennai and Kolkata and even here, passenger and cargo movement is on a decline. In addition to this, airlines always defer payment of air traffic fees.
Hence, the hike in fares that might further reduce passenger traffic is seen as detrimental for AAI which is struggling to find money to complete airport expansion projects at Chennai (Rs 2,000 crore) and Kolkata (Rs 1,800 crore).
Compared to the corresponding period last year, domestic passenger traffic in Chennai decreased by 15% while the number of departing passengers dipped by 18% in April 2009. Consequently, several commercial establishments have notified that they would be closing down their shops in the international and domestic terminals.
The scene was no better last year. While Chennai airport saw a 7% increase in international passenger traffic from 34.1 lakh passengers in 2007-08 to 36.63 lakh in 2008-09, the domestic passenger traffic declined 15% from 72.47 lakh in 2007-08 to 61.79 lakh last year, according to the statistics compiled by AAI.
20/06/09 V Ayyappan/Times of India

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