ATC crackdown continues, airlines begin to fall in line

Mumbai Flights that missed departure slots continued to be held up on Tuesday as Air Traffic Control enforced DGCA instructions on airlines, giving revised slots to 50 flights, including 15 in the morning, on the second day of the drive. On Monday, many more slots had been revised. “Airlines have shown remarkable improvement in one day. This shows that the circular can be complied with,” said M G Jhungare, Mumbai ATC General Manager. Of the flights given revised slots, most were held back by 30- 45 minutes and some by an hour, he said.
Air India said four flights were delayed, one delayed by an hour and three by 30-40 minutes. Jet Airways said till afternoon, three were held back by an hour and a few others by 5-15 minutes.
Kingfisher Airlines said from midnight, the check-in counters for domestic flights from Mumbai, New Delhi, Bangalore, Kolkata, Hyderabad and Chennai will close 40 minutes before departure, 10 minutes earlier than they used to. “Further, the boarding gates for our domestic flights from these six airports will close 15 minutes before departure,” said a spokesperson.
21/07/10 Express India

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AI flight covers 3½-hr journey in 2 days

Mumbai: Flight IX-452 to Cochin with 160 passengers on board was to leave Abu Dhabi at 9pm local time on Saturday. The flight did not take-off that day as the aircraft developed a technical snag and had to be grounded. The next day, it took off at 8.45pm only to be airborne for an hour and develop a snag again. "It was diverted to Muscat and landed there at 10pm local time on Sunday," said an Air India spokesperson confirming the inordinate delay.
"The passengers were provided accomodation in a hotel for the night," he added. It finally left Muscat at 2.30pm local time on Monday and landed in Cochin, its final destination, at 7.30pm local time. "The technical snags along with the pilot duty hour limitations caused the long delay," the spokesperson said.
If there could have been anything worse for the AI Express passengers, then it's the fact that the draft for passenger compensation in cases of flight delays, cancellations, denied boarding etc. is still in the works. In fact, Tuesday was the last day for sending suggestions to the seven-page draft formulated by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA). It is expected to be implemented later this year. The draft makes airlines liable to pay compensation to passengers for flight delays. In the case of this flight, a delay exceeding three hours would have made the airline liable to pay compensation to the passenger.
21/07/10 Manju V/Times of India

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Policy Buzz: Airport fee cut in the air

How long will air travellers pay user development fee (UDF) at key airports like Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore and Hyderabad?
That a lot of investment has gone into building new airports at Bangalore, Hyderabad; and modernisation of Delhi as well Mumbai airports does not mean that passengers will continue to pay UDF forever. So the Airport Economic Regulatory Authority (AERA) is getting the books of DIAL (which is upgrading Delhi airport) audited to see when the UDF can be disbanded.
KPMG and Engineers India are doing the audit and their report is expected to be with AERA soon. Interestingly, the move comes at a time when the swanky new terminal at Delhi airport, the largest and most expensive in India’s aviation history, is set to be unveiled.
Depending on how the Delhi airport audit goes, a similar exercise could happen at Mumbai, Bangalore and Hyderabad also. While the companies concerned are watching the Delhi audit closely, passengers will also feel the impact of the AERA’s decision since it could set an important precedent for the other airports.
30/06/10 Economic Times

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Tunnel from PM's house to airport

New Delhi: To prevent traffic snarls caused by VIP movement, the government is planning to build an underground tunnel from the prime minister's residence at 7, Race Course Road to the nearby Safdarjung airport, it is reliably learnt.
The PM often takes a helicopter from this airport to reach places in and around Delhi as well as to go to the IGI airport to catch a flight. His short movement -- via Kemal Ataturk Road, Safdarjung Road and Aurobindo Marg-- causes traffic to be held up.
The tunnel, said sources, is meant for use as an emergency exit, but may also be used for the PM to reach Safdarjung and minimise inconvenience caused to motorists. The entire plan is being conceived and implemented by the PM's security wing.
While PM's residence -- a complex of three bungalows, collectively known as 7, RCR -- and Safdarjung airport are about 3km apart, the PM has sought to minimise traffic snarls by using choppers within the city.
A tunnel link, while enhancing his security, would cut back on traffic restrictions.
The proposed new link may even be partially underground -- from PM house to beyond Kemal Ataturk Marg -- and then an overground drive to the chopper hangar behind Rajiv Gandhi Bhavan.
30/06/10 Economic Times

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New towers at Mumbai to help planes connect better with ATC

Mumbai Following complaints from airlines that aircraft flying into Mumbai sometimes struggle to get in touch with the Air Traffic Control (ATC) while over the sea because of heavy congestion, the Airports Authority of India has boosted infrastructure to make communication smoother.
Officials said they have set up additional receiver towers at Mumbai airport’s Remote Receiver Station at Dahisar. This will increase the frequency spots available to planes. “We are increasing the frequency spots from two to six. This will help communication,” said an AAI official.
The installation was done in the span of a week earlier this month, to ensure that the facility is available during the monsoon. Airlines from Sri Lanka and Mauritius too have been known to face communication difficulties, the official said.
30/06/10 Ranjani Raghavan/Express India

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Maldives President Praises Plans for “World Class” International Airport

President Nasheed has said that the new Male’ International Airport will be a “state-of-the-art, 21st Century airport of which every Maldivian can be proud.”
The government awarded the contract for building and operating the new airport yesterday to Malaysia Airports Holdings and GMR Group, after a competitive tendering process, overseen by the World Bank’s International Finance Corporation.
Malaysia Airports Holdings operate 59 airports, including Kuala Lumpur International Airport, which many aviation experts consider to be one of the best airports in the world.
Malaysia Airports Holdings has worked with India’s GMR Group for over seven years. The two firms designed, built and now manage Hyderabad’s new international airport. Malaysia Airports Holdings and GMR Group also manage Istanbul International Airport and next month will unveil Delhi’s new international airport.
“GMR Group will build the new terminal and Malaysia Airports will operate and manage the new airport for 25 years. However, the airport will still remain the property of the Maldivian people. The Maldives National Defense Force will provide security and the government will retain control over which aircraft can land at the airport,” said Mifzal.
Malaysia Airports Holdings and GMR Group will invest over US0 million in the new airport, which is due to be completed in 2014.
30/06/10 ISRIA

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DIAL appoints agency to forecast air traffic for NCR

The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), an intergovernmental body that helps plan and develop global air transport to ensure safe and orderly growth, has been asked to study if the National Capital Region (NCR) centred around New Delhi needs a second airport.
Delhi International Airport Pvt. Ltd (DIAL), which operates the Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport in New Delhi, has commissioned ICAO to forecast air traffic for the region, two aviation ministry officials said, requesting anonymity.
The decision follows a spat between DIAL and the Uttar Pradesh (UP) government, which wants to construct another airport in the Greater Noida area, on the outskirts of the national capital.
DIAL has informed the aviation ministry that it had hired ICAO to conduct the study. The ministry had earlier asked the airport operator and the UP government to reach an agreement on the traffic projections for NCR, but they were unable to do so.
DIAL has protested the plan to build the Taj International Aviation Hub at Jewar, Greater Noida, as competition will hurt the airport operator that’s investing Rs12,700 crore to ramp up IGI Airport for handling 60 million passengers annually.
Traffic at IGI Airport was 26 million in 2009, and DIAL says the expansion is sufficient to meet future traffic growth, based on a study by UK-based consultancy Mott MacDonald.
Under aviation rules, a second airport cannot be built within 150km of an existing airport, though exceptions are allowed on a case-by-case basis. The proposed airport falls within the limit.
30/06/10 Tarun Shukla/Live Mint

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Agartala airport to be renamed after Tagore

Agartala: Cutting across party lines, the Tripura assembly on Tuesday passed an unanimous resolution asking the Civil Aviation Ministry to rename the Agartala airport after Rabindranath Tagore.
'As a tribute to the great poet, who had visited Tripura seven times between 1899 and 1926, we propose to rename the Singerbhil Airport after Tagore,' Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar told the house.
Earlier, Congress legislator Sudip Roy Barman moved the proposal saying that as part of the celebrations of Tagore's 150th birth anniversary, the Agartala airport should be renamed after Tagore.
29/06/10 IANS/Sify

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Proposed airport could be international hub for western India: aviation expert

Pune: The proposed airport near Chakan has many advantages to it its credit. According to experts, if there is political will, the airport has the potential to become the International hub of Western India.
Air Marshall (Retd) S S Ramdas,member of the MCCIA’s civil aviation comittee said compared with the proposed international airport at Navi Mumbai or Nagpur, the Chakan airport has strategic advantage. “The proposed Kopar airport is on trans harbour link and has limited area of 1,142 ha as compared with 2800 ha of Rajgurunagar airport. Nagpur is a remote position with inadequate cargo and passenger potential,” he said.
He said apart from the cosmetic works nothing can be carried out to extend the present the runway of the Mumbai airport. “ Also the proposed Navi Mumbai airport does not have enough area to construct two runways.
30/06/10 Indian Express

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Jetlite flight delayed by 3 hours

Mumbai: A Nagpur-bound Jetlite flight with 129 passengers on board was today delayed by three hours from the airport here following a technical fault reported in the aircraft.
The airline said that the flight, which was originally scheduled at 7.05am, was rescheduled due to a technical problem.
A Jet Airways spokesperson said that the flight has been rescheduled at 10.30am.
30/06/10 PTI/Daily News & Analysis

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AI flight makes an emergency landing

Nedumbassery: An emergency landing was made by Air India flight IC 509 bound for Bangalore-Chennai with 42 passengers and 7 crew members on board in Kochi Airport here.
The flight took off to Bangalore from Kochi as scheduled at 7.00 AM. However, Commander Joseph found that one of the two aircraft engines failed to function properly. He alerted the Air Traffic Control and sought permission for emergency landing.
The airport made arrangements for the emergency landing of the aircraft.Fire and rescue personnel, ambulance and doctors were pressed into service. The flight IC 509 landed safely at 7. 20 AM. Air India authorities have made arrangements for 12 passengers of the grounded flight to leave for Bangalore by a Kingfisher flight at 8.30 AM and the remaining passengers were provided hotel accommodation.
30/06/10 ExpressBuzz

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Karna HC issues notice to Centre on air safety

Bangalore: Karnataka High Court today ordered issue of emergent notices to Civil Aviation Secretary DGCA and AAI on a PIL seeking directions for implementation of aircraft rules for passengers safety.
The PIL was filed citing various air mishaps, including the Mangalore aircrash which claimed 158 lives last month when the Air India's 737 Boeing Aircraft overshot the tabletop runway and plunged into a valley.
The petitioner, a city-based advocate G R Mohan, stated that as per relevant aircraft rules, an aerodrome should have a valid licence for flight operations.
29/06/10 Press Trust of India

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Nagaland Home Minister detained at Kathmandu airport

Kohima: Nagaland Home Minister Imkong Inchen was detained at the Kathmandu airport today for carrying Indian currency notes in the denomination of Rs 1000 and Rs 500, which is banned in Nepal. Official sources here said the minister was not aware of the ban. The sources said that after receiving the information, the government immediately informed Union Home Minister P Chidambaram about the detention. Unconfirmed reports said Imkong Inchen had Rs nine lakh with him.
30/06/10 Press Trust of India

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AI plane makes emergency landing at Kochi airport

Kochi: An Air India plane, with 49 people on board, made an emergency landing at Kochi airport on Tuesday. The plane landed under emergency conditions at the airport soon after take off as the pilot noticed some technical problem in one of the engines. The Kochi-Bangalore-Chennai A-320 IC 509 flight with 42 passengers and seven crew had taken off for Bangalore at 0700 hrs IST from Nedumbassery Airport in Kochi, but returned within 30 minutes after the problem was noticed.
29/06/10 CNN-IBN

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Blank zone risk in airport link failure

Calcutta: A thousand aircraft entering the Calcutta air space daily face a safety hazard as they fly through “blank zones” where the pilot fails to communicate with the air traffic control at the city airport.
Sources said “inadequate network” of the airport’s Very High Frequency Omni Range communication system has turned 1,000 nautical miles — 1,852km — on various routes covering Calcutta into blank zones.
The Airports Authority of India is aware of the problem and has asked the Calcutta ATC to identify the zones. “The study is almost complete and we are expecting a report soon,” said an AAI official.
“Once we fly into a blank zone, the voice communication with the ATC is snapped abruptly. Attempts to communicate through other higher frequencies, too, don’t work,” said a senior Air India pilot. “During emergencies like sudden bad weather, we try to communicate through other aircraft which are in the coverage area,” he said.
Pilots in a blank zone also face “severe problems” in changing altitude or direction. “With the ATC out of bounds, there is no one to guide us if we need to go down or fly up. In such situations we take a call based on our interactions with adjacent aircraft,” a pilot pointed out.
The problem is most acute on the Calcutta-Port Blair route as almost the entire 500 nautical miles (926km) of the stretch fall in a blank zone. On the Calcutta-Bagdogra route, flights have no communication link with the airport on a 100-nautical mile stretch (185.2km) between Katihar and Bagdogra.
29/06/10 Sanjay Mandal/Telegraph

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Hi-tech system to cut flight delays

Mumbai: Flight delays in India may soon be a thing of the past. In a bid to ensure smooth flights at a time when air traffic is rising, the Airports Authority of India (AAI) has speeded up the process of setting up an Air Traffic Flow Management (ATFM) system, which will monitor the data system of all airlines and also collate information provided by the Air Traffic Control (ATC) system from various airports. A US-based company, which also provides services to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), will be asked to instal the system in India and it will be set up at crucial airports, officials said.
"The decision is almost made. It only needs to be put to paper and announced to the authorities concerned," an official said. "Once that is done, the work on ATFM can begin. However, it is likely to take a couple of years." He said though the original deadline to complete ATFM installation was 2010, but the proceedings might take longer.
Officials said, once the system is in place, it will help cut down on flight delays and the air-traffic flow will also get organised. "The system can provide gate-to-gate information on flights and will update their status regularly," an official said. This means that a flight, which is already late, can check the system, see what its waitlist number will be at the destination airport and start accordingly.
29/06/10 Chinmayi Shalya/Times of India

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Man, who stole Rahul Gandhi's phone, held

Delhi: An employee of Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) was arrested on Monday for stealing All India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary Rahul Gandhi's mobile.
Sources at the airport said soon after he told his securitymen about the missing handset, a manhunt was launched and the culprit was apprehended the very next day.
The incident took place on the night of June 25 when Rahul had arrived from London on an Emirates flight after his Europe visit. He was there to celebrate his birthday that falls on June 19. This was the second consecutive year when Rahul celebrated his birthday outside India, sources said.
According to sources, Rahul Gandhi came to know about the theft only after he had reached home. "He informed the officials of the Special Protection Group, which guards him. The SPG then contacted the CISF, which in turn started a quiet investigation and reviewed the close-circuit TV footage and list of people working at the airport when the incident occurred," sources said.
The technical surveillance carried out by the CISF helped them detect the lost mobile phone. "The CISF personnel identified two baggage handlers as suspects and questioned them who were working for a private firm. One of them accepted that he had stolen the phone from the baggage and handed it over to the security personnel," the sources said.
No case was lodged, as that would have brought the matter into limelight.
29/06/10 Surender Sharma/MiD DAY

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Madurai airport to get new terminal building soon

The opening of the newly constructed terminal building at Madurai Airport is awaiting green signal from the Airports Authority of India.
It will become functional within two to three months of getting the approval. The new terminal building, with an area of 17,000 sq m, has 16 check-in and independent security holds for international and domestic passengers, he said, speaking at the executive committee meeting of the Tamil Nadu Chamber of Commerce and Industry here.
The new building has been provided with six escalators and six lifts with separate enclosure for immigration and customs. As it becomes functional, seven flights can be accommodated during peak hour capacity.
29/06/10 Logistics Week

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AAI floats tender for ad rights for Udaipur’s Maharana Pratap Airport

The Airports Authority of India (AAI) has floated a tender under the ‘two-bid’ system for awarding advertisement rights at the Maharana Pratap Airport, Udaipur. The display locations being offered are inside and outside (city side) of the terminal building.
The total advertising space being offered is 612.12 sq. m comprising 270 sq. m space inside and 342.12 sq. m outside the terminal building. The contract shall be awarded for a period of five years. The ‘two-packet-system’ bidding involves a technical bid and a financial bid.
Interested parties having a minimum of three years’ experience in advertisement display business at transportation centers like airportsairp, seaports, railways as whole, bus terminals, including bus shelters and public places, will be eligible for participation. This experience should be within the previous 10 years from the date of publication of the tender notice.
In addition, the parties should have minimum gross turnover of Rs 1.14 crore per annum from similar businesses. Further, the turnover during any financial year in the relevant period for which experience has been claimed shall only be taken into account. The minimum reserve license fee per month specified for the contract is Rs 19 lakh plus service tax, with an EMD of Rs 10.52 lakh.
29/06/10 Pallavi Goorha Kashyup/Exchange 4 media.com

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Navi Mumbai airport to be further delayed

Mumbai: The proposed Navi Mumbai airport is likely to be further delayed, des- pite the Environmental Impact Assessment report for the project having been submitted to the enviornment ministry.
This was confirmed by Union Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh, who said on Monday that his ministry will take time to go through the report before granting necessary clearance.
Speaking at a two-day conference on ‘Global Carbon Budgets and Equity in Climate Change’, at Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Ramesh said, “We received the report on June 24.
But there are several infirmities in and the report on public hearings had several objections. The report has therefore been sent back to Valsa Nair, environment secretary, Maharashtra government.
The assessment of the proposed airport was done by Centre of Environment Science and Engineering of IIT-Powai, Central Water and Power Research Station, Pune, and 12 national and international consultants.
The minister said, "As issues raised against the project included the diversion of two rivers, besides destruction of mangroves, we have requested the Maharashtra government to view the project under the Coastal Regulation Zone provisions."
Speaking about the environment, Ramesh said that mangroves should be preserved as they are considered ‘bioshields’ and work against natural disasters like tsunami.
29/06/10 Mumbai Mirror

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Tawang MP writes to Patel about airport project

New Delhi: A Congress MP from Arunachal Pradesh today demanded that the government set up the green field airport at Tawang near the Indo-China border as planned by it.
In a letter to Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel, MP from West Arunachal, Takam Sanjoy, said although the Airports Authority of India conducted a study and subsequently finalised a site, no further development was taking place to set up the airport.
Apprehending that the project may be shelved as it falls near the Indo-China border, Sanjoy requested the minister to revive the project as Tawang "is the most important tourist destination in the state."
28/06/10 Press Trust of India

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Bidding party urges to re-evaluate Male airport bids

Male: The Turkish-French consortium that submitted proposal for Male International Airport has expressed dissatisfaction over the bid evaluation process, urging for a re-evaluation of the bids.
“Firstly, the newspapers started reporting that GMR won the bid even though we were not told the party who won the bid. We faced many problems, since the two companies in our consortium are also listed in stock exchange,” Gusiloo Betkin, who heads the consortium, told Haveeru via telephone.
“It cannot be said that a certain party won the bid without signing the concession agreement.”
Betkin stressed that the two companies, Turkish TAV Airports Holdings Company and French Airports De Paris Management were also experienced companies with several airports in operation across the world. The marking criteria were not based on a formula that would bring the most income to the government within the 25 years, he added.
TAV Airports Holdings and Airports De Paris proposed US$7 million (RF89.95 million) for upfront payment, 31 percent of the total profit until 2014, and 29.5 percent of the total profit for the remaining years. The companies also offered 16.5 percent of profits from fuel trade. The consortium formed between India’s GMR Infrastructure and Malaysia Airports Holdings that scored the highest marks, proposed to pay US$78 million (almost Rf1 billion) upfront, one percent of the total profit in the first year (until 2014) and 10 percent of the profit from 2015 to 2035.
28/06/10 Haveeru Online, Male

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GMR's Delhi airport cost overrun in focus again

New Delhi: The ministry of civil aviation is planning to once again ask GMR, which leads the consortium developing the Delhi International Airport (DIAL), for a detailed explanation over cost overrun.
The current estimate pegs the cost of modernising this airportat Rs 12,700 crore, significantly higher than the earlier-projected Rs 9,875 crore.
The ministry had written to GMR in April this year, too, but did not get details of projects which led to an overall cost overrun.
A ministry official told DNA, “We had asked DIAL to explain how and when costs escalated but they haven’t explained. We will write to them again… we need details of which specific projects within the airport led to overall cost escalation.”
He gave several examples of how, while constructing the new integrated terminal building, T3, GMR has overshot its own estimates given earlier.
“Glass work was extended to a much larger area without any previous planning to make the airport look good. Even the number of aerobridges was increased, which led to an increase in the terminal area and subsequently the overall cost for building T3. Earlier, GMR had projected that 70% of passenger traffic would use aerobridges but later changed this to over 90%… as many as 15 new aerobridges were added to the original plan.”
Sidharath Kapur, chief financial officer (airports) of GMR, said his company is cooperating fully with the Airport Economic Regulatory Authority (AERA), which has appointed two firms — Engineers India Ltd and KPMG — to conduct cost audit of DIAL.
28/06/10 Sindhu Bhattacharya/Daliy News & Analysis

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GMR to charge US$25 per passenger, reveals Male President’s Office

Male: India’s GMR Infrastructure will take a service charge of US$25 per passenger once it takes over Male International Airport, the President’s Office revealed Sunday.
GMR won the bid to build, operate, modernise, and expand the airport via its consortium formed with Malaysia Airports Holdings. The company proposed to pay US$78 million (almost Rf1 billion) upfront, one percent of the total profit in the first year (until 2014) and 10 percent of the profit from 2015 to 2035. It also agreed to pay 15 percent of fuel trade revenues in the first four years and 27 percent from 2015 to 2035.
A hasty function organised by the President’s Office Sunday to sign the agreement with GMR was postponed "a few hours" and, later, a day amid resistance from opposition parties.
Press Secretary Mohamed Zuhair said that the US$25 airport development service charge was an addendum to the US$18 tax passed by the parliament.
“This is a service charge, same as that charged by other companies for services like electricity and water. It is an income for GMR. Even if GMR takes over the operations of the airport, the US$18 tax and profits from in-flight catering and Hulhule Island Hotel would come to the government,” he said.
Zuhair stressed that the government would still control aeronautics fees while GMR determines charges for non-aeronautics like fuel trade. Maldives National Defence Force (MNDF) would continue to oversee airport security, he added.
28/06/10 Haveeru Online, Male

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Ireland offers to provide a hub to Air India in Dublin

London: Ireland has offered to provide a hub to Air India in Dublin, India's Minister of State for Corporate Affairs Salman Khursheed has said.
Air India has been scouting for an airport in Europe that is cheaper to operate than its current hub in Frankfurt, Germany.
Khursheed, who was on his way back home after attending a memorial service in Dublin to mourn the death of 329 people aboard an Air India trans-Atlantic flight that was blown up by terrorists 25 years ago, told newsmen in an informal chat that Ireland is setting up a new terminal in Dublin and they are keen that Air India shift its hub from Frankfurt to Dublin for one-stop flights between India and the US.
"They (Ireland) are also offering transit visas," he said.
Besides Khursheed, Irish Foreign Minister Michael Martin and Canadian Immigration Minister Jason Kenney also attended the annual memorial service held at the Sheep's Head peninsula on Ireland's West Cork coast on Wednesday.
The Montreal-New Delhi Air India Kanishka flight was flying via Toronto and London when it exploded in mid-air about an hour before its scheduled landing at London's Heathrow Airport. All 329 people onboard were killed.
27/06/10 Press Trust Of India/Hindustan Times

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Mumbai airport has no surveillance system to guard boundaries

Mumbai: Keeping the city's airport premises free of trespassers has left the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) too short-staffed to focus on improving security cover within the airport. The Mumbai airport received 113 terror alerts in 2009 alone.
The CISF wants to focus on areas such as the airport entrance and the airport building because of alerts of possible fidayeen attacks and hijacks, but it has not been able to do so because the busiest airport in India does not have a Perimeter Intrusion Detection System (PIDS). Instead, it's busy guarding the airport boundary walls.
A combination of three surveillance systems — CCTVs, infrared rays and radio frequency — to control trespassing, the PIDS was made mandatory for all Indian airports in 2007 by the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security, which however has no power to ensure its decisions are implemented.
The Mumbai International Airport Limited (MIAL), which has been running the airport since 2006, placed an order for the equipment only earlier this year.
28/06/10 Soubhik Mitra/Hindustan Times

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Air India flight lands with steering jammed

Mumbai: An Air India flight AI-140 from New York with 234 passengers onboard made a 'priority' landing at the city airport after the pilot reported a technical fault in the aircraft.
The plane landed safely at 9:48 pm at the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport and all the passengers are safe, a Mumbai International Airport Ltd (MIAL) spokesperson said.
"The steering of the aircraft got jammed when it was on approach to landing at the city airport, which forced the flight make a priority landing," an airport official said.
27/06/10 Press Trust of India

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Male opposition to campaign against awarding Airport to GMR

Leaders of the opposition parties in the parliament have launched a joint campaign against the government's decision to award Male International Airport to India's GMR Infrastructure.
A member of the coalition formed to work against the government's decision, told Haveeru that the coalition consists of leaders of the opposition Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP), People's Alliance (PA), Jumhooree Party and Dhivehi Qaumee Party (DQP).
"The leaders met and made an agreement over the issue of awarding the airport to GMR. It would specify the measures that we would take against the government," the official said.
Leaders of the four opposition parties would sign the agreement in a function to be held Saturday at 9.30pm at Nalahiya Hotel, the official added.
26/06/10 Haveeru Online

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GoAir flight suffers bird hit

Ahmedabad: In a close shave for a Mumbai- bound GoAir flight, the plane with over 130 onboard suffered a bird hit that damaged one of its blades soon after it took-off from the city airport today, forcing it to return.
All 131 passengers are safe after the aircraft landed under emergency conditions here and the plane has been grounded.
The passengers are being transferred to other airlines, an official said.
26/06/10 Press Trust of India

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Pay more to fly from Delhi

The Delhi International Airport Ltd (DIAL) has been making hapless air passengers at the Indira Gandhi International (IGI) airport pay through their nose to make up for its inefficiencies.
And it plans to do so for another three years at least.
DIAL has sought an extension of one year for charging the airport development fee (ADF), which is levied on domestic and international passengers to bridge the deficit caused by an inexplicable "cost overrun" during the modernisation of the airport.
Each domestic passenger is charged an ADF of Rs 200 while each international traveller pays Rs 1,300.
This was allowed by the government in 2009, when it said DIAL could levy the ADF on passengers for three years so that the airport operator could raise over Rs 1,827 crore.
But now, DIAL contends that three years will not be enough to raise the required sum and has sought an extension of one year. The original cost estimate was Rs 8,975 crore but the final cost of modernising the airport has increased to Rs 12,700 crore. The only way to bridge the financial gap, as suggested by DIAL, is to charge the ADF from passengers.
27/06/10 Ajmer Singh/Mail Today/India Today

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Viability of new Terminal 3 at IGI Airport questioned

The swanky new Terminal 3 (T3) at the Indira Gandhi International Airport may have brought New Delhi onto the list of largest terminals in the world. However, how DIAL, the joint venture by GMR Infrastructure, Airports Authority of India, Fraport and Malaysian Airport Holdings, which had undertaken construction of the airport, will ring in the revenues especially in a recuperating global economy, remains to be seen.
“Airports are lumpy investments. Given the capex on the new terminal, Delhi airport is expected to break even in 2-3 years,” says Sidharath Kapur, CFO-Airports for GMR Group, adding that T3 is not an over-investment.
Air traffic has cautiously picked up from the earlier slump over the past six months. Being a regulated business, reasonable profitability would need to be ensured through tariff increases approved by the regulator and also through focus on non-aero revenues.
GMR is hoping the Delhi airport will see around 8% growth in traffic this year.
The Airport Economic Regulatory Authority (AERA) has asked global consultancy KPMG to review the project cost that has been submitted by DIAL. Amber Dubey, director at KPMG Advisory Services says that his firm will be scrutinising the increase in the cost from that of the masterplan. In December 2007, the project cost was estimated to be around Rs 9,000 crore. However, the final cost has been estimated to be upwards of Rs 12,000 crore.
27/06/10 Lisa Mary Thomson/Economic Times

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All eyes on you at IGI airport

New Delhi: Every time you board a flight at the Delhi airport, you will be watched, that, too, on a giant screen.
With the opening of the new Terminal 3 (T3) at Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport in July, a new Airport Operations Control Centre (AOCC) will kick into action. Built next to the massive T3 building, the AOCC will have a 10X5 metre wall screen, where each movement at every nook and cranny of the airport will be monitored.
Both the AOCC and its video wall, private airport operator Delhi International Airport Ltd. (DIAL) claims, are the biggest in Asia.
The screen will hold 28 70-inch screens that display live CCTV camera feeds from all airport departments.
Each screen can display up to 25 multiple camera images, providing the AOCC the ability to display 700 images at one time. There will be up to 5,000 CCTV cameras installed in the airport that will provide the live feed.
The airport already has an AOCC, inside an old Air Traffic Control tower near the existing domestic terminals. The new AOCC is much bigger in size and better equipped to coordinate and monitor all information received from airlines, terminals and departments.
The AOCC is the ‘brain’ that controls all airport operations. It receives information from all the airport terminals, airlines, technical and operational departments and controls both operations and situational responses.
26/02/10 Sidhartha Roy/Hindustan Times

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Strike delays pilot, Delhi-London flight waits

Kolkata: A total of 222 passengers, including an infant, got stranded for over an hour at the Indira Gandhi International Airport in the Capital on Saturday because the London-bound Air India flight from New Delhi kept waiting for the 61 passengers from Kolkata, who were to be flown in by a connecting flight.
That flight from Kolkata could not take off on time as Citu members driving pick-up cars for pilots didn't report for duty. But the transport strike didn't come in the way of Citu officebearers, who reached the CPM state headquarters on Alimuddin Street for a meeting in chauffeur-driven cars. But rules differ.
Car rental agency Indus, which supplies vehicles to pick up crew members, informed airline officials at Kolkata on Friday it would not provide vehicles on a strike day, fearing the cars would be damaged by demonstrators. Air India mobilised its own fleet of cars attached to other departments — including commercial, engineering and ground support — to bail out the operations department on Saturday. But another problem cropped up. The drivers of these vehicles did not know the way to the homes of the crew members and needed guidance.
27/06/10 Times of India

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62 AAI staff want to stay back, resist transfer orders

Mumbai: As many as 62 employees of the Airports Authority of India (AAI) are resisting their transfer orders issued last month. The employees have been negotiating with the management to accommodate them in the Mumbai AAI office.
The Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport (CSIA) in Mumbai is being run by the Mumbai International Airport Limited (MIAL), a consortium of four companies of which AAI is a partner.
After three years of deputation at the Mumbai airport, almost all AAI employees who were earlier posted in Mumbai, were transferred to other airports across the country. In April 2009, while as many as 350 were accommodated in Mumbai, over 1,000 staff were left for new postings. At that time, around 144 employees were allowed to stay back in Mumbai for an additional year because of medical reasons or if their child was in a critical school year.
A year on, this extension has come to an end.
Last year over 250 employees have opted for Voluntary Retirement Scheme (VRS), of which 100 were posted in Mumbai.
27/06/10 Indian Express

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GMR Infrastructure Limited wins the bid to expand & operate Malé International Airport

Bangalore: GMR Infrastructure Limited (GIL) announced today that it had won the bid to build, operate, modernize and expand the MALE International Airport (MIA).
MIA is the gateway to the idyllic and enchanting Maldives and is one of the fastest growing airports in the region. Situated on Huhule Island in the politically stable archipelago of Maldives at the South Western tip of India, MIA is the biggest airport situated in the capital of Maldives. With its tourism potential and exponential growth in passenger movement, the MIA is an extremely profitable boutique airport with a high revenue model. Male is the prime destination for tourist traffic from Europe in the entire region.
Three parties namely Aeroport De Paris, France-TAV, Turkey consortium; Zurich Airport-GVK consortium and the GMR - MAHB consortium were invited by the Maldives Government to take part in the keenly contested international bid process which was monitored by IFC, Washington in an extremely open and transparent manner. The mandate is for the next 25 years. A unique feature of the MIA is that it includes the Sea-Plane port also.
Incidentally, this is the second airport that GMR has taken up in Maldives as they had previously signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Government of Maldives for the modernization and operation of the Hanimaadhoo airport situated in the Northern Islands of Maldives. With this, the group now has five airports in its portfolio and it reinforces the Group’s deep commitment in the infrastructure space and for the region of South Asia in particular.
24/06/10 PRESS RELEASE/GMR Group

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GMR to spend $400 mn on Male airport modernisation: Rao

New Delhi: GMR Infrastructure, which has bagged the expansion and management contract from the Male International Airport, today said USD 400 million would be invested on the mega project over the next four years.
The GMR Infrastructure-Malaysian Airports consortium would "invest about USD 400 million over four years" to build, operate, modernize and expand the Male International Airport (MIA), GMR chief G M Rao told reporters here today.
In response to a question, Rao said the project, estimated to be of USD 300 million, would be financed through a 75:25 debt-equity ratio.
The State Bank of India and other banks would provide the finance, he said.
"We will have the financial closure in the next six months" and it would take about four years to complete the upgradation of the airport, which would include building a large seaplane port to house about 40 such aircrafts.
In the consortium, GMR holds 77 per cent stake and Malaysian Airports the remaining 23 per cent.
25/06/10 PTI/Economic Times

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GMR Infrastructure plans holding co for airport business

Bangalore: GMR Infrastructure, the Bangalore-based power and infrastructure major, plans to set up a separate holding company for its airport business in order to make fund raising easier, a senior official said.
“The company is yet to incorporate and we do have plans to set up a separate holding company which will consolidate our airport business,” said a senior official from GMR Infrastructure, requesting anonymity
A separate company, which will hold all GMR airport projects, will make it easier for the firm to raise money and list the business, if it so wants, at a later stage. GMR now owns the Hyderabad and Delhi airports and is also bidding for overseas airport construction contracts. “This will allow the company to be focused and secure fund from financial institutions as they look for specific business plan. This will also help GMR to reach a critical mass and valuation,” said Amber Dubey, director, aerospace and defence, KPMG India.
The GMR group which won the bid to build, operate, modernise and expand the Male International Airport (MIA) from the Maldives government plans to leverage on its experience and focus on international opportunities, especially in South East Asia.
26/06/10 Sobia Khan/Economic Times

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AAI clarification on licensing of Airports

Traditionally, the airports in India were managed by the Central Government i.e. DGCA following the established international safety standards and hence no need was felt for their licensing. These airports were handed over to National Airports Authority in 1986 and subsequently to Airports Authority of India.
However, with the advent of private airport operators Govt. of India felt the requirement of Aerodrome licensing for all airports in order to maintain the required safety standards. Accordingly a Gazette notification was issued by the Ministry of Civil Aviation in year 2005 and Civil Aviation Requirements (CAR) on “Requirements for issue of an Aerodrome License” was issued by DGCA in October, 2006.
Thereafter, Airports Authority of India, initiated the process of obtaining Aerodrome License. AAI has so far applied for issuance of aerodrome license (new/renewal) for 40 Airports out of which licenses for some Airports have been issued and others are under process by DGCA.
The process of Aerodrome Licensing involves voluminous documentation, coordination with various internal & external agencies and validation by the regulatory authority and thus it is a time consuming process.
Since airports have been built and operated strictly as per ICAO SARPS (standards and recommended practices), there is no compromise from operations point of view. However, improvement is a continuous process. In order to fulfil the requirements, AAI has initiated the process for licensing of all operational airports in a time bound manner.
25/06/10 PRESS RELEASE/Press Information Bureau

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Delhi seeks Lengpui airport upgrade

Silchar: The Union civil aviation ministry has sought to improve infrastructure at Lengpui airport near Aizawl and make it more “passenger friendly” after the directorate general of civil aviation (DGCA) declared the airport “critical” in terms of runway length.
Airports Authority of India (AAI) sources in Aizawl yesterday said the DGCA, the country’s aviation regulator agency, had declared the Lengpui airport one of the 11 “critical” airports as the 8,200-feet “tabletop” runway was “short of expected length” and listed its technical facilities as “not enough”.
The airport, commissioned in 1998 at a cost of Rs 140 crore, is under the control of the Mizoram government, which has of late proposed to hand it over to the Union civil aviation ministry because of escalating maintenance costs, according to the sources.
The aviation regulator agency, however, clarified that there was nothing to worry about the Lengpui airport as of now and its possible improvement in the future was merely “a reassurance drive”.
The agency will soon rush teams of technocrats and specialists to inspect these “critical” airports and review their functioning.
26/06/10 The Telegraph

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Flight for a noble cause touches down in Bangalore

Bangalore: The aviation capital of India – Bangalore – jettisoned into the Australian aviation history books when two Australian pilots Ken Evers, 33, and Tim Pryse, 51, touched down at the Bengaluru International Airport and later at HAL military airport on June 23.
Sources at the HAL airport confirmed the arrival of the aircraft.
The pilots are on a circumnavigation flight across the globe, to mark 100 years of powered flight in Australia.
The aircraft is GA8-TC Airvan, powered by a Lycoming TIO-540-AH1A turbocharged fuel-injected engine, with a cruise speed of 140 knots at 10,000 feet. It is the first Australian designed and manufactured aircraft to ever circumnavigate the globe and their mission began on May 8 this year from Bendigo in Victoria.
Brought to India by their main sponsor, Mahindra Aerospace, the GA8-TC Airvan’s flight is also unique as it raises funds for malaria eradication.
Hence, the pilots have named their flight ‘Millions Against Malaria’, and are helping raise online donations to two nominated charities: Australian Foundation for the Peoples of Asia and Pacific (AFAP) and Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF).
26/06/10 Anantha Krishnan M/Daily News & Analysis

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‘Mangalore airport needs frangible masts’

Mangalore: The installation of frangible masts and huts on the Mangalore airport's table top runway is among the new safety recommendations that are proposed, following the tragic crash of the Air India Express flight last month, which left 158 onboard dead.
The air safety team reviewing the safety aspects at the airport has recommended that frangible masts be installed at the airport, which will result in minor damage if an aircraft hits the masts.
An Airports Authority of India (AAI) official, earlier associated with the Mangalore airport and who was at the airport following the crash, said that frangible masts would come in handy, if an aircraft overshoots the runway like the fateful plane on May 22.
The official added that the Director General of Civil Aviation has recommended frangible masts be made mandatory at all airports in the country for enhanced safety.
26/06/10 ExpressBuzz

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Nagpur airport to get advanced surveillance cameras

Nagpur: Around six dozen Internet Protocol (IP) mega-pixel surveillance cameras will be installed at Nagpur’s Babasaheb Ambedkar International Airport to enhance security as part of an ongoing modernisation programme, officials said Friday.
This will be the first time that the advanced IP cameras - closed circuit television cameras which use the Internet to transmit image data and control signals - will be installed at a non-metro airport in India, and the first time that the three mega-pixel cameras would be put up at any Indian airport.
The cameras - the cost of which has not been disclosed - will be made operational within the next six weeks, an official said.
An agreement was signed between the MIHAN (Multi-modal International Hub at Nagpur) India Pvt Ltd (MIPL) and Chennai-based Adtech Systems Ltd for the project, said MIPL chairman and managing director R.C. Sinha.
MIHAN, one of the country’s biggest economic development projects currently underway, aims to leverage the central location of Nagpur and convert the present airport into a major cargo hub with integrated road-rail connectivity, Sinha said.
25/06/10 IANS/Thaindian.com

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Mumbai airport too does not have a license

Chennai: If the Express report on June 19 that the Chennai airport has no valid license to conduct flight operations shocked you, be prepared for more. It now transpires that quite a few other aerodromes under the control of Airports Authority of India across the country, including the high traffic Mumbai airport, do not have licenses to conduct operations.
According to sources in the DGCA, at present just eight airports, including Delhi, Bangalore, Shamshabad, Bhopal, Coimbatore and Jaipur, are authorised to conduct flight operations. In fact, the site of the worst air crash in Indian aviation Mangalore's Bajpe airport too has a provisional license, which lapsed in early June this year.
Express had earlier pointed out that according to the Indian Aircraft Rules 1937, an aerodrome that has no license cannot conduct any operations.
Airports are also required to maintain an Aerodrome Manual in accordance with the requirement contained in the Rule 81 of the Indian Aircraft Rules 1937, including the establishment of an effective Safety Management System.
The Aerodrome Manual is used to inform the operating staff about their duties, the services and facilities made available, operating procedures and any restrictions on aerodrome availability.
In the case of the Chennai airport, DGCA sources revealed that a proper manual in accordance with the ICAO standards was not being maintained.
25/06/10 ExpressBuzz

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Chennai airport among 40 operating without licence

Chennai: Lost in the din of debates on air safety and claims of aerodrome modernization is a fact known only to a few even in aviation circles: Only eight of the more than 50 operational airports in the country have the mandatory licences issued by the Director-General of Civil Aviation. Airports without a licence include those at Chennai, Kolkata, Madurai, Pune, Ahmedabad and Thiruvananthapuram.
The last airport to see its licence lapse was the Bajpe airport in Mangalore that had a provisional licence at the time of the Air India Express crash, which claimed 158 lives on May 22. Its licence expired on June 15.
Not having a licence means that the airport does not conform to Indian Aircraft Rules, 1937, or the International Civil Aviation Organization's safety standards. The immediate fallout, experts say, could be that insurance companies may not be liable to pay compensation in case of an accident. Such non-compliance could prove costly for Indian aviation, which the US Federal Administration (FAA) has already threatened to downgrade from the current top billing to sub-Saharan Africa levels.
While the DGCA website has listed 18 private use' airports and 23 public use' ones as having licences (till December 31, 2009), the latest list of licenced airports accessed by TOI shows that only eight have their licences renewed.
DGCA issues licences to airports which are supposed to meet a number of criteria, including adherence to ICAO Annex 24 safety norms. Though the 1937 rules specify the need for a licence, DGCA called for its strict implementation only in 2006 just as private airports were coming up. While private airports in Delhi, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Kochi have licences, a majority of airports operated by AAI do not meet the statutory requirement.
25/06/10 Arun Ram/Times of India

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World's biggest aircraft will fly in for T3 party

New Delhi: Size matters and how. The world’s biggest commercial aircraft, Airbus A 380, may fly in on July 14 when the country’s biggest airport terminal, IGI’s T3, becomes operational. The Delhi International Airport Pvt Ltd (DIAL) has sent invites to the heads of all international airlines that fly to IGI to showcase their products at the grand T3 inaugural function.
One of the leading Gulf carriers, which has a whopping 90 A 380s on order and is a market leader in India, had earlier expressed the desire to send the aircraft on July 3, the inauguration day. But concerns over the security of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who will inaugurate the terminal, and the fact that the superjumbo may compete for limelight with the spank new T3, made authorities here suggest another date.
The airline will now send the aircraft on the first day of operations of T3 — July 14-15. Sources said authorities here will seek a one-off permission to bring the superjumbo as a grand finale to the inaugural ceremonies.
The A-380 won’t be the first aircraft to land once T3 begins operations on July 14. An Air India aircraft will be the first plane to have passengers embark or disembark from T3.
25/06/10 Saurabh Sinha/Times of India

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Airports Authority of India on Rs 800 cr cash quest

With its plea for Rs 5,000 crore worth tax-free bonds falling on deaf ears, Airports Authority of India (AAI) is looking at alternate ways to fund its airport upgradation plans. It is expected to raise approximately Rs 800 crore this year to funds its various airports expansion plans.
It is being learnt that AAI is in talks with banks to raise Rs 400-500 crore short-term loans at sub-6% interest rate.
24/06/10 CNBC-TV18/Swati Khandelwal Jain/Moneycontrol.com

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Mumbai runway will soon get taxiway lights

Mumbai: After a series of runway incursions and power failure on the runway and taxiway lights, Mumbai International Airport (MIAL) has finally agreed to install taxiway lights on the secondary runway (14-32).
The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) recommended that MIAL install these lights after an incursion by an Indigo flight almost a month ago. The flight had come into a collision path with an approaching Jet Airways flight. The collision was averted after the Jet Airways pilot did a go-around instead of landing.
An MIAL spokesperson said that the taxiway lights will be installed by next month. “We have agreed in principle to install the lights. The work is likely to be completed by next month,’’ the spokesperson said. The secondary runway at Mumbai airport is also, at times, used as a taxi path for flights going towards the main runway. However, while the nature of operations was being changed, the runway only had yellow runway lights signaling active flight operations.
25/06/10 Chinmayi Shalya/Times of India

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Mass burial site of crash victims not indicated

Mangalore: The mass burial site of 12 victims of the IX-812 crash at Tannir Bhavi near here is now an obscure spot. Barring a few undulations where the bodies were buried and a red and white tape bordering the site, there is hardly any indication to show that the bodies of the air crash victims lie interned there.
This has angered many, including Robert Pinto, who had airline crew -- Yuganthar Rana and Mohammed Ali and who perished in the air crash -- as his tenants. Pinto said the district administration should at least erect a fence so that the site is not disturbed and a board to indicate that unidentified bodies were buried there.
To give credit to the district administration, it tried hard to get a land for mass burial, but due to religious sentiments involved they could not get any land. New Mangalore Port Trust had stepped in to provide the land. Sources in NMP say that nothing can be done at that site as it is abutting the river and high tension power lines run above the site.
The 12 bodies were laid to rest after the religious leaders from Hindu, Muslim, Christian and Sikh communities performed the last rites.
24/06/10 Stanley G Pinto/Times of India

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To avoid chaos, IGI Terminal 3 operations to be shifted in one go

New Delhi: The inauguration of Terminal 3 from next month will make life easier for flyers. Unlike last year when domestic airlines started migrating to new departure terminal 1D in phases in mid-July, this year all the designated airlines will shift operations to T3 not in a phase-wise manner but on the same day.
When domestic airlines had started shifting to 1D in phases last year, it had created a lot of confusion for passengers as they were unsure of the take-off terminal. But this year, to avoid any confusion and facilitate passenger movement from the new and upgraded terminal at the earliest, all airlines will shift in one go, said DIAL officials.
Said an official from DIAL: "All 58 international airlines which operate from Delhi will shift to Terminal 3 on July 4. Likewise, domestic airlines which will now be operating from here will shift on July 30 and start operations on July 31." Domestic airlines that will operate from here are Air India (domestic), Kingfisher, Jet Airways along with their lowcost wings — Kingfisher Red, Jetlite and Jet Connect. Spice-Jet, Paramount and IndiGo will continue to function from terminal 1D which was inaugurated last year and 1C (arrival). GoAir will subsequently move to terminal 3 from 1A.
DIAL officials said that international carriers would move to T3 between 12 noon and 6pm on July 14 when least number of foreign flights operate.
24/06/10 Richi Verma/Economic Times

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Iran detained and harassed in Chennai

Popular Sri Lankan singer and music producer Iraj Weeraratne says he was unfairly detained at the Chennai Airport for over six hours, Wednesday, and later released without an apology by the Indian immigration officials
Speaking to Daily Mirror online from Chennai Iraj said that he had landed in Chennai to receive the ‘Best Song of the Year Award’ for one of his songs which he had produced with Vijay Anthony and also attend the music launch of an upcoming South Indian movie in which he had composed and produced a song.
However he said as soon as he landed at the Chennai Airport at 4 this morning, the Immigration officer on duty had checked his passport and questioned him whether he was a Sinhalese or Tamil.
After stating he was a Sinhalese, Iraj said that the Immigration officer had raised his voice and asked him what he was doing in their country and had scolded him in front of the other passengers present causing an embarrassing situation.
While the scolding continued, Iraj had questioned the officer as to why he could not come to Chennai when he held a valid Indian visa to which the officer immediately summoned all the other Immigration officers present and falsely accused Iraj of arguing with him and scolding him.
He was then immediately taken into a room by the officer and detained for over six hours without an explanation.
23/06/10 Jamila Najmuddin/Daily Mirror, Sri Lanka

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New Mangalore terminal to be opened in 10 days

Mangalore: Director of the Mangalore airport Peter Abraham has said that the new integrated terminal building of the airport will be opened for passenger traffic in the next 10 days.
Speaking to The Hindu on Tuesday, a month after the May 22 crash of the Air India Express flight from Dubai, Mr. Abraham said that the opening of the new terminal was scheduled for June 1. “But the circumstances that prevailed in the aftermath of the crash prevented us from opening the terminal,” he said.
The date of commissioning would be decided by the local authorities in consultation with the regional headquarters of the Airports Authority of India at Chennai. The only aspect that was currently holding up the opening was the construction of a standby road, which would take another week, Mr. Abraham said.
23/06/10 The Hindu/Bellevision.com

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Plane's Tyre Bursts While Landing at Raipur

Raipur: A Kingfisher Airlines flight with at least 75 passengers on board had a close shave late Wednesday as one of its tyres burst while landing here, an official said.
The tyre burst occurred as the Aizawl-Hyderabad flight IT 2804, which goes via Kolkata and Raipur, touched down here at about 8 p.m., a Kingfisher Airlines official said.
24/06/10 IANS/Daijiworld.com

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Worker killed in accident at Chennai airport

Chennai: An arm of a crane deployed at the project site for the new domestic terminal at the Chennai airport collapsed on Wednesday, killing a 38-year-old construction labourer Selvamani of Coimbatore.
According to Airports Authority of India (AAI) sources, around 11.45 a.m. when the crane was lifting a truss, a steel structure weighing 26 tonnes and measuring 49 metres in length, the boom, the arm of the crane, collapsed. The truss fell on the first floor of the Air India's operation building located close to the project site and the boom fell on a building inside the project site.
The AAI authorities said Selvamani was standing on top of the building at the project site and guiding the crane operator. When the boom fell, he was trapped under it. It took nearly an hour for the AAI authorities to retrieve the man from under the arm of the crane. When he was rushed to a hospital in Chromepet, he was ‘declared dead on arrival.' The body was shifted to the Tambaram Taluk Government hospital, Chromepet.
Air India authorities said after the truss fell on their operational building, those working there were evacuated immediately. However, the accident did not affect the national carrier's airline operation, they said.
24/06/10 The Hindu

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IGI's T3 ready to take on the world

New Delhi: Unofficially, executives of Delhi International Airport Ltd (DIAL) would tell you that T3, the world’s second largest integrated airport terminal at New Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport, will leave you with a sense of “shock and awe” when it opens on July 3. In fact, it does precisely that on a sneak peak this writer managed today.
Finishing touches are still being given to the terminal.
Spread over four kilometres, it is a sprawling architectural marvel in gleaming glass. The sun rays reflecting from the glass facade could be felt a good five kilometers away on the driveway to the airport.
Move closer and one could see the frenzy with which T3 is being dolled up to dazzle.
With a multi-pronged driveway to Delhi’s latest airport terminal — by metro, bus and cab — the first structure that will strike the eye is the six-storeyed parking space, with its tentacles embracing the colour-coded glass-and-steel structure.
Nearly a kilometre-long passenger terminal greets the guest to T3 with mirror-finished vitrified tiles in grey and beige, and walls, whatever little of it is there, in pristine white.
The terminal is all about space. With more than 80 per cent of the structure in clear glass, supported by metal frames, T3 is endless on both sides. Readying to handle 34 million passengers a year, with 168 check-in counters, 49 immigration desks and 50 emmigration desks, all housed in a blend of tradition with modernity.
Vitrified tiles give way to exquisitely crafted Kashmiri carpets of two different designs on two floors for domestic and international piers, each about one-and-a-half km long. They are interspersed with a whopping 92 traveloters (automatic walkways). The roof has been designed to allow natural light to enter the building. The terminal leads to the staggering 78 aerobridges, said to be the highest in the world in a single site.
The central hall from where domestic and international passengers part ways dons a huge mural with mudras of Indian dance forms. Stairways to the upper floors reveal walls designed with traditional art forms reflected in blue neons.
23/06/10 Arindam Bhattacharjee/Business Standard

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Kingfisher Delhi flight stops at Jaipur to drop Minister

Srinagar: In a bizarre episode of its kind, a Delhi-bound Kingfisher flight from Srinagar was Tuesday diverted to Jaipur allegedly at the behest of a minister from Jammu and Kashmir on board, much to the annoyance of rest of the passengers, who have lodged a strong protest against the airline.
Sources said the Srinagar-Delhi Kingfisher flight (IT0353) was diverted to Jaipur allegedly after the minister of state for health and agriculture, Javaid Ahmad Dar prevailed upon the authorities to get the plane diverted so that he could get down at Jaipur.
The flight, according to the passengers on board, was scheduled to depart at 2.40 pm from the Srinagar International Airport but it took off at 3.50 pm. “When the flight reached Delhi, the pilot announced that there was congestion at the Delhi airport and he was running short of fuel, and has to therefore divert the flight to Jaipur,” said a group of passengers, pleading anonymity.
They said the plane was diverted at about 5.30 pm from Delhi to Jaipur. When it reached Jaipur, the minister, his wife and some other passengers were allowed to de-board at the Jaipur airport.
Sources said the minister and his wife where scheduled to visit the shrine of Khawaja Moin-ud-Din Chisiti (RA) at Ajmer. “It can’t be a mere coincidence that the minister and his wife were scheduled to visit Ajmer and the flight was diverted to Jaipur. The airline must probe the matter and bring the facts before people because the diversion caused inconvenience to over 150 passengers on board,” passengers said.
After an hour long delay, the flight reached Delhi at 8 pm, where the passengers had a verbal dual with the Kingfisher officials.
When contacted, the Minister on board Javaid Ahmad Dar, refuted that the flight was diverted at his behest.
22/06/10 Faheem Aslam/Greater Kashmir

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Jet starts new flight between Ranchi and Kolkata

Ranchi: Jet Airways will connect Ranchi and Kolkata with a daily flight from Wednesday, making the Jharkhand state capital its 44th domestic destination.
Jet Airways Konnect flight 9W 2856 will depart from the Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose Airport in Kolkata at 2.35 pm and arrive at Ranchi Airport by 3.45 pm.
Likewise, flight 9W 2857 will depart from Ranchi at 4.15 pm and arrive at Kolkata by 5.27 pm, he said.
22/06/10 Press Trust Of India/Hindustan Times

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People continue to visit crash site

Mangalore: What was once a fuming metallic pyre exactly a month ago is today a wreckage guarded by policemen and slopes made slippery by the rain. Long after the flames have died down and the ash has settled, scores of visitors are drawn to the site everyday; some by a sense of grief and condolence and others by an urge to see the site of one of the worst air tragedies the country has seen.
Policemen at the crash site said that about 50 individuals who gathered at the site on Tuesday afternoon standing only a feet away from the fragments of the aircraft, could be seen at any given point of time during the day. ?On Sundays and holidays, we get well over a hundred visitors. We also see a lot of people visiting in the evenings,? said Mr. Dineshsanil , who was in charge of the security.
The wreckage is guarded round the clock with policemen in two shifts. Immediately after the crash, 15 policemen were required for each shift but as investigations draw to a close, only two policemen guard the wreckage. ?If we leave the aircraft unguarded, someone will steal a piece of it. The plane is still owned by Air India,? said Mr. Dineshsanil. Two officials from Air India were also present at the site throughout the day.
22/06/10 The Hindu/Mangalorean.com

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Cavotec to support the expansion of Mumbai International Airport

Cavotec Middle East, the UAE-based subsidiary of global engineering group Cavotec MSL, has announced that it has received a milestone order to supply and install 53 advanced fuel hydrant systems and related materiel at Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport (CSIA) as part of the aviation hub’s modernisation programme.
Under the terms of the order, Cavotec is to supply 44 hydrant pits, including Cavotec Dabico Cla-Val hydrant valves, and nine DAB-24 pits for low point drains and high point vents. Low point drain pits remove non-fuel fluids and other contaminants that can accumulate in aircraft fuel pipelines. Deliveries are due for completion in early August.
The fuel hydrant systems project is one element in the first phase of a two-stage expansion programme at the airport. Launched in 2006, the improvements are designed to meet booming demand in India’s rapidly expanding aviation sector. The plans include a new terminal, a new air traffic control system and new taxiways and upgrades of existing terminals.
22/06/10 mena REPORT

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A month later, no report on AI crash

Mumbai: Even a month after Air India Express IX 812 crashed at Mangalore airport killing 158 passengers and crew members, several important questions remain unanswered. The civil aviation ministry and the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) are not keen on releasing a preliminary investigation report. It points to a lack in transparency in the system. TOI chalks out a list of five questions which need to be answered:

Why doesn’t India have a practice of releasing a preliminary investigation report after an aircrash?
The Digital Flight Data Recorder (DFDR) can be downloaded in 15 days and the Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR) can be decoded in a couple of hours. Both of these were retrieved just days after the Mangalore crash. According to sources, the inquiry team sought a deadline extension and it has been granted.

Why doesn’t the investigating team have a single official who is an expert on the particular aircraft?
The aircraft which crashed was from Boeing 737 Next Generation series. Airline accident probe in India are always handled by IAF officials, who are not familiar with civilian aircraft types. Of the four investigators, Capt Ron Nagar is the only expert with experience in civilian aircraft.

Why was Mangalore airport’s only radar, the Air Route Surveillance Radar (RSR), kept off?
If the radar has been on, the controller could have seen the aircraft’s height and if it was high on approach, the radar controller would have warned the pilot for altitude correction.

Why was an outsider (a villager) and not an air traffic controller, the first person to inform the police?
Air traffic controllers are trained for emergency response, but manpower shortage makes it impossible for the controllers to inform 20 other units within the desirable 5-10 minutes of the accident.

How long did the fire tenders take to reach the scene?
22/06/10 Manju V/Times of India

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Mangalore black box taken to US

Bangalore: A month after an Air India Express Boeing aircraft crashed at Mangalore International Airport, officials forming part of the Court of Inquiry (CoI) have taken the black box and the cockpit voice recorder to the instruments’ American manufacturer.
Sources in the Civil Aviation Ministry told Deccan Herald over phone that a three-member team, headed by Air Marshal (retd) Bhushan Nilkanth Gokhale, who heads the CoI, S N Dwivedi, who is Director of Airworthiness in the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), and is also secretary to the CoI, and an operations expert Capt Ron Nagar, left for the US a few days ago.
The team is expected to return to Delhi on July 1 along with transcripts of the cockpit voice recorder and retrieved data from the digital flight data recorder (DFDR), also known as black box. The DFDR was recovered from the crash site on May 25 but DGCA said it was in a “very, very bad condition”.
The sources said once the data from the chip inside the black box is recovered, the CoI will take a view on having them analysed by the US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) or Boeing, which is the manufacturer of the aircraft.
A senior official said that since the equipment, but not the chip contained inside it, is not crash-proof, the CoI took the decision to have the data retrieved from the chip.
“The chip will have to be played on another identical instrument, a process which can be done by the black box manufacturer,” a DGCA official said.
21/06/10 Chandan Nandy/Deccan Herald

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Safety is still an issue at Mangalore airport

Mangalore, Mumbai: So what have we learnt from the Air India Express flight IX-812 crash at Mangalore’s Bajpe airport on May 22? Nothing, it seems.
According to the figures released by the Airports Authority of India (AAI),the month after the crash saw about 840 flights of three major airlines bringing in 1.26 lakh passengers to the airport.
The numbers are good but the Civil Aviation Safety Advisory Council (CASAC), which was formedsoon after the crash, is yet to meet to discuss the safety issues to avert another disaster.
Flight IX-812 crashed into the ravineat the end of the 8,000-foot-long runway, killing 158 passengers including six crew members on board.
Aviation experts were quick to point out that it was the short tabletop runway which had forced the ill-fated aircraft to overshoot and fall into the 300-foot deep ravine at the end of the landing stretch. On May 28, Union civil aviation minister Praful Patel had announced that the runway would be extended to 9,000 feet.
However, a member of CASAC confirmed that they had not yet discussed the matter concerning the extension of the Bajpe Airport runway. “Since the formation, the council has not even met once,” he told DNA on condition of anonymity.
Sources in the Bureau of Indian Aviation Safety (BIAS) told DNA the process was still on to install a civil variant of the Precision Approach Radars (PARs) at Bajpe. These are used by the IAF and Indian Navy (on aircraft carriers).
22/06/10 M Raghuram & Naveeta Singh/Daily News & Analysis

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30 months after approval, construction work for Mohali airport yet to begin

Mohali It’s been 30 months since a formal approval was given to the international airport in Mohali, but construction is yet to begin.
Except a boundary wall, no other construction work has been done, as the Ministry of Defence (MoD) has not given the mandatory permission to the Airports Authority of India (AAI).
“Construction of the boundary wall was taken up to secure the land transferred for the project. This should not be construed as commencement of the project,” AAI General Manager (Planning) Piyush Joshi said in reply to an RTI query.
For the airport, the Greater Mohali Area Development Authority (GMADA) had handed over 305 acres of land in Jheourheri village to the AAI in September 2008.
Joshi said a ‘no objection certificate’ (NOC) was given by the MoD in January 2008, when AAI had signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Punjab and Haryana to construct the airport.
But a separate NOC or working permission is required before starting construction work at defence airports. “This working permission/NOC is still awaited from MoD,” Joshi said.
The airport will be an extension of the existing Chandigarh domestic airport, which is built on defence land and is used by the Indian Air Force.
22/06/10 Nitin Jain/Express India

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GMR expresses interest in buying partners' stake in airports

The GMR Group is willing to buy stakes held by minority partners in all the three airports it operates if there is any such offer, the group's Chief Financial Officer A Subba Rao said on June 21.
"We will certainly consider if the stakeholders come forward with an offer. If a minority partner wants to sell its stake, naturally we have the first opportunity to buy," Subba Rao told PTI.
Subba Rao referred the example of IDFC, which had 3.9 per cent stake in the New Delhi Airport and later swapped equity for GMR Infra stake.
Though none of their partners in the airports so far offered to sell their share, he said it is natural in any joint venture business.
The GMR Group operates two international airports in India (New Delhi and Hyderabad) and one in Turkey (the Sabiha Gokcen International Airport, Istanbul).
21/06/10 Press Trust of India/NDTV.com

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IndiGo flight suffers tyre burst while landing in Srinagar

Srinagar: Over 160 people onboard an IndiGo flight from Delhi had a narrow escape today when one of the tyres of the aircraft burst while landing at the airport in Srinagar.
"The tyre of the flight coming from Delhi burst during landing at around 1.10am," airport director Mohammad Israr said.
All 158 passengers and six crew members are safe, the airline said.
Israr said the tyre had been replaced and the IndiGo flight 6E-551 was ready for take off.
The Airbus A-320 was operating on the Bangalore-Delhi-Srinagar- Jammu sector and the incident happened soon after it landed at Srinagar airport, airport sources said in Srinagar.
An airline spokesperson said that a tyre was found damaged during routine inspection by aircraft engineers and had to be changed.
"The IndiGo team had carried out necessary inspection, and changed the tyre to ensure we meet all safety standards. Owing to this development, there has been a delay in the flight take-off from Srinagar," the spokesperson said.
The incidents adds to a string of close calls for various flights. On June 16, an Air India plane from Mumbai to Delhi with 140 passengers and six crew members had a close shave when it suffered a bird hit while landing at the city airport here, a day after two tyres of the same aircraft were found deflated on landing at Delhi.
21/06/10 PTI/Daily News & Analysis

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‘Mumbai airport work hits flight schedule’

Mumbai: Airlines are up in arms against the Mumbai airport operator because marathon construction activity at the airfield is delaying flights and thus spoiling their on-time performance record.
The issue was raised at the Airport Operators’ Co-ordination Committee (AOCC) meeting last week. “This is the second time we have raised the issue in the past few months,” said an Air India spokesperson.
The national carrier that caters to about 16 per cent of the domestic fliers in the country is among the worst affected because it operates the maximum flights out of the city.
“We have about 12 operations out of Mumbai during peak hours. Congestion caused by the construction activity has a cascading effect on flights throughout the day,” added the spokesperson. Last week, a Chennai-bound Air India flight was stuck on the airfield for about an hour after boarding.
Domestic carriers have also raised the matter with the Federation of Indian Airlines (FIA), a body formed by domestic carriers. “It is a big challenge. Airlines are contemplating claiming damage from the airport operator,” said Anil Baijal, secretary general, FIA.
22/06/10 Soubhik Mitra/Hindustan Times

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Assam's international airport a hub for smuggling wildlife products?

Shillong: Assam's Lokpriya Gopinath Bordoloi International Airport appears to have become one of the main transit points for smugglers to transport wildlife products to China and Far East Asia.
In less than a week, customs seized tiger skeletons and pangolin scales worth more than Rs.5 crore (over a million dollars) from the airport.
"From the frequent seizures, Guwahati has become the main hub for smugglers to tranship endangered wildlife products to China and the Far East via Myanmar," North East Customs Commissioner S.R. Baruah said.
India shares a 1,600-km unfenced border with Myanmar.
The modus operandi used by the smugglers has made the customs authorities rethink their strategy afresh.
Customs sleuths Sunday seized from the airport another Royal Bengal Tiger skeleton and 271 kg of pangolin scales - 146 kg from Berhampur in Orissa and 125 kg from Dimapur (Nagaland).
"They (smugglers) have opted to tranship the wildlife products by flights rather than using the Dimapur-Imphal road (National Highway No.39) mainly to evade military checkpoints," Baruah said.
On Wednesday and Thursday, customs sleuths seized a full-grown Royal Bengal Tiger skeleton from Guwahati airport along with 320 kg of pangolin scales.
21/06/10 IANS/Times of India

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BAPL selects In4velocity for its Durgapur Airport Project

Bangalore: Bangalore based In4velocity Systems, a provider of Real Estate and Infrastructure solutions, has announced that it has partnered with GENPACT, a Business Process Management company, for a 5-year contract to provide its product In4Suite as the product platform of choice, for the Development of the Durgapur Airport, currently underway.
Bengal Aerotropolis Projects (BAPL), a specialist company engaged in the development of Aerotropolis projects in India, had selected GENPACT as the service partner giving it a 5-year contract which in turn has partnered with In4velocity Systems to provide the product platform for managing the construction, sales and leasing of the Aerotropolis.
Bengal Aerotropolis Projects is developing India's first set of Airport Cities Aerotropolis in Durgapur by utilizing the best elements of international urban design and operational efficiencies through strategic alliances and partnerships.
20/06/10 siliconindia

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IGIA upgrades its lighting system

New Delhi: The Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) will get a brand new integrated terminal by next month. Keeping in the mind the state-of-the-art Terminal 3, which will cater to both international and domestic flights, other technical systems at the airport are also in for a major overhaul.
As part of the renovation of the airport ground lighting (AGL) system, 8,700 new light fittings, 400 km of conduits and nearly 800 km of cables are being installed. The ground lighting system is the primary visual aid for pilots landing at the airport during night or poor visibility conditions.
“The system covers the centre line, edges and the touchdown zones of the runways, taxiways and apron taxi lanes. Unlike smaller airports, the lighting system at IGIA is much more complex as we also have CAT IIIB Instrument Landing Systems (ILS),” said a spokesman for Delhi International Airport Ltd, the private airport operator.
The lighting system is controlled by the airport’s air traffic control and the brightness of the lights is increased or decreased according to the weather conditions.
21/06/10 Sidhartha Roy/Hindustan Times

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Pilot Error Seen Likely in Fatal India Landing

Investigators are becoming increasingly convinced that last month's fatal Air India Express crash was caused by pilots landing too far down a hilltop runway, and belatedly trying to get the Boeing 737 airborne again, according to people familiar with the probe.
Preliminary conclusions about the May 22 accident in India's southern city of Mangalore, these people said, indicate failures by the pilots to follow basic safety rules during the final approach, compounded by apparent cockpit confusion after touchdown.
Only eight of the 166 people aboard survived the early morning crash, in which the twin-engine jet plummeted down a cliff at the end of the strip, broke apart and then caught fire. It was India's worst aviation disaster in more than a decade, and has prompted a barrage of criticism.
Regulators and international air-safety experts are now focusing on ways to fix persistent shortcomings in India's pilot-training programs. Indian officials already have proposed tightening rules ranging from acceptable landing procedures to fatigue-prevention schedules for crews. Broader mandates are likely.
According to people knowledgeable about the crash probe, the tentative conclusion by investigators is that pilots failed to adhere to widely accepted safety rules about breaking off an approach if the plane is losing altitude too quickly, has too much speed just before landing or is likely to touch dangerously far down the runway. The lack of scorched rubber or other evidence of extreme braking on the runway supports the idea that the plane tried to lift off again. Information retrieved from the plane's flight-data and cockpit-voice recorders, however, indicates some confusion and hesitation, these people said.
21/06/10 Andy Pasztor and Vibhuti Agarwal/Wall Street Journal

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Kolhapur airport unsafe: directorate general of civil aviation

Mumbai: After declaring 11 airports across India unfit for flight operations, the directorate has marked Khowai airport at Kolhapur as unsafe.
On June 15, the directorate declared the Khowai airport runway unsafe and suspended operations on it. According to a DGCA source, since operations at the airport become risky during monsoon, it has been decided to shut it down temporarily. “The airport is located amidst the Sahyadri hills and some lakes.
Landings and take-offs become very risky due to poor visibility during monsoon. Moreover, even the 4,500-ft runway needs repair. So, we decided to close it,” he said.
However, this decision will inconvenience those who charter flights to Kolhapur.
Kingfisher, the only airline that flew to Kolhapur, suspended its operations a few months back.
21/06/10 Naveeta Singh/Daily News & Analysis

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Goa-Mumbai flight develops snag

Mumbai: Go Air flight GB 179 developed a technical snag after landing at the Goa airport last morning. The pilot on board observed that the steering was jammed and he was not able to take the flight to bay, hence a towing vehicle had to be called.
Rakesh Tiwari, VP commercial, Go Air said, "There was a very minor issue which required rebooting of the brake steering computer. This was rectified immediately and there was no delay on account of this. The flight got back to Mumbai on time with 172 people on board." The incident, which happened at 6 am, was confirmed by an ATC official.
21/06/10 Bipin Kumar Singh/MiD DAY

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NGO files petition in Bombay high court over air scares

Mumbai: An increase in facilities for citizens can increase danger to their lives if infrastructure is not developed in a proper manner, says a public interest litigation (PIL) filed in the Bombay high court over the recent increase in plane accidents.
The PIL, filed by the Pune-based NGO Association for Aiding Justice, also raises the issue of VIP visits disrupting the daily routine of the “common man” because of the inability of airport and airline authorities to maintain order, leading to flight diversions.
“The PIL will come up for hearing next week,” said petitioners’ advocate Dipesh Siroya.
The PIL says that news of near-collisions appears almost every week. Also, “during VIP movement, all bureaucrats seem to be working on their toes, but forget their duty towards the common man. It cites an incident on May 30, “when three flights carrying 450 passengers were diverted at the last moment due to VIP movement”. “The life of more than 450 passengers on board at the time was put at question during the VIP movement…
Fortunately a mishap was averted.”
The PIL says the reason for such incidents is inadequate infrastructure and failure to upgrade technologies.
“Air surface movement ground control systems should have been procured and installed at all major airports, but are currently available only in Delhi and Mumbai. Fog-prone Kolkata has been sanctioned one such system after a major mishap was averted in January this year, but the rest of the airports still do not have the facility,” the PIL says.
21/06/10 Hetal Vyas/Daily News & Analysis

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Tall air tower denied

Calcutta: A new and taller air traffic control (ATC) tower earmarked for Calcutta airport’s modernisation project has been dropped because of a cash crunch.
“The Rs 150 crore ATC tower has been deferred. This is not considered a priority,” a senior Airports Authority of India (AAI) official told Metro from Delhi.
The existing ATC tower, beside the international terminal building, is 112 feet and the proposed one would have been taller, providing a better view of the airfield.
“Along with the new integrated terminal, new parking bays will be added and most of those will be on the remote side. Clear viewing of the flight movement will be a problem then,” said an airport official.
The estimated cost of the Calcutta project has risen from an initial Rs 1,942 crore to Rs 2,525 crore. This has been approved by the AAI board, but minus the ATC tower.
There is some good news for Calcutta airport, though, with the authorities finally deciding to replace the old radar equipment. The three radar at Calcutta covering the east, west and north and also the approach radar were more than 12 years old and needed to be replaced long.
21/06/10 Sanjay Mandal/The Telegraph

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New safety rules for VIP operation of planes, copters

New Delhi: New safety rules have been put in place for VIP operation of planes and helicopters to avoid mishaps like the one which killed former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YSR Reddy. The rules, framed by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), encompass all aspects of flight operations -- from acquisition of aircraft, employment of crew and engineers to definition of VIPs.
The new rule says that a VIP flight would mean having amongst the passengers any one of the eight categories of dignitaries.
The President, the Vice President and the Prime Minister travel on IAF aircraft as a rule.
20/06/10 Press Trust of India

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Coimbatore airport building to be opened on Monday

Coimbatore: The newly-constructed Coimbatore Airport terminal building with state-of-the-art modern facilities will be opened on Monday noon. Airports Authority of India (AAI) Regional Executive Director D. Devaraj and Coimbatore Airport Director M.R. Vasudeva told The Hindu that the existing terminal building could handle 150 “arrival” passengers and 150 “departure” passengers.
Both Mr. Devaraj and Mr. Vasudeva said a building parallel to the existing one was constructed to cater to the increasing number of passengers.
The new building can at a time accommodate 350 passengers arriving at the airport and 350 departing from there. The new building will have all modern facilities - four lifts, four escalators and two aerobridges. Work on the aerobridges is expected to be over in six months.
With the expansion, the area of the building has been increased from 5,962 sq. m to 14,673 sq. m having separate domestic and international arrival halls.
20/06/10 V.S. Palaniappan/The Hindu

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Transport hub, commercial centre to come up at Chandigarh airport

Chandigarh: The upcoming international airport in its master plan has decided to construct a transport hub and the commercial development centre on the land acquired by the Indian Air Force. In all, the Indian Air Force is to handover 2.5 acres of land for the construction of upcoming international airport.
The transport hub will have the local bus station from where passengers can take AC buses operated by the Chandigarh Administration. There would be a metro station apart from taxi as well as auto service. The passengers getting off the flights would have a couple of transportation options to choose from. This transport hub will also be equipped with retail facilities, a food court and restaurants to facilitate passengers. According to the master plan, an apron will be constructed along with adequate number of taxi tracks connecting the runway to the apron. The AAI will coordinate with the Indian Air Force to construct parallel taxi tracks in order to minimise the runway occupancy time. Based on the demand, runways will be extended.
20/06/10 Jyotsna Jalali/Indian Express

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Railway, bus ticket bookings at airport soon

Patna: Fliers coming to the city's Jayaprakash Narayan International Airport would soon get the facility of booking railway and bus tickets at the airport itself.
The Airports Authority of India (AAI)'s Patna branch has leased out a space for setting up a kiosk christened `Yatra Mitra' for the purpose. It would also serve as an information centre from where tourists can get information about important tourist destinations of Bihar.
"After a competitive bidding, we have selected a travel agency for delivering the said service," airport director Arvind Dubey told TOI on Wednesday and added the kiosk would start functioning in two months' time.
Incidentally, AAI recently took the initiative to make the snack bar inside the security hold area operational. The snack bar was closed for quite some time.
18/06/10 Times of India

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Flight cancelled, Indians stranded in Kyrgyzstan

New Delhi: About 70 Indian students stuck in Kyrgystan will have to wait through the weekend to get back home as their chartered flight from Kyrgyz capital of Bishkek to Delhi has been cancelled on Saturday. Now they will have to wait for two days more since the flight can't depart before Monday.
A private airline broker had collected 350 dollars each for a ticket from the students. But the broker could not get permission from the Indian government for the flight on Saturday on some technicality. The Indian embassy sources said the flight will depart only on Monday.
Money was collected and names were noted down. But the students were not issued tickets.
19/06/10 CNN-IBN

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Animal parts seizure from Assam airport

Guwahati: Tiger skull and pangolin scales worth over rupees two crore were seized from the Lokapriya Gopinath Bordoloi international airport here, forest department sources said here today.
Following a tip-off from the police, customs officials seized two bags containing, ten kg of tiger skull and huge quantity of pangolin scales, they said. They were to be sent to Imphal via Dimapur.
Not ruling out the possibility of poaching from the wildlife sanctuaries in the state, the sources said these were in great demand in China for medicinal value.
20/06/10 Press Trust of India

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Bag contained only brick

Chennai: Two Sri Lankan nationals rushed out of the airport after abandoning their baggage on Friday, while another was offloaded from the aircraft and examined. One of the bags contained just a brick.
Explaining the sequence of events, airport sources said around 11 a.m. three Sri Lankan nationals came to board the Colombo-bound Jet airways flight 9W-232. One of them, Mohammadu Salauddin Mohammadu Fawusi (41), completed his immigration and other formalities and boarded the aircraft.
Two others came afterwards. As they approached the Jet airways counter, security personnel wanted to check their suitcase and asked them to open it.
They refused and moved away, abandoning their baggage. One of them was identified as Abdul Ameed Mohammed Assan (51) as he had left his passport with the airline staff.
The airline staff immediately alerted CISF personnel who, in turn, informed the Bomb Detection Disposal Squad (BDDS) of the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS).
When the BDDS authorities opened the suitcase, they found another small suitcase, which was found to contain another smaller suitcase. In this suitcase, the authorities found an even smaller suitcase in which a thermocol box was found. When it was opened only the brick was found.
20/06/10 The Hindu/Sunday Observer, Sri Lanka

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3 Indian cos to bid for Male airport

New Delhi: Two leading private airport operators and the Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (ADAG), that has been keen to be a big player in airport development field, on Sunday will bid to build a $360-million airport in Maldives' capital Male. The GMR-Malaysia Airports; GVK-Flughafen Zurich AG (that runs Zurich airport) and Reliance Infrastructure-Mexico Airports Aeropuertos y Servicios Auxillaries consortias will have Aeroports de Paris and Vienna Airport as the foreign competition.
According to sources, the real fight will be between the three Indian companies and Aeroports de Paris that has tied up with Turkish company TAV. The financial bids will be opened next Thursday. The Maldives government has invited bids to build a new terminal that has a capacity of handling five million passengers annually and 12 aircraft parking bays. This capacity has to be built by 2014.
19/06/10 Saurabh Sinha/Times of India

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