Airport villagers likely to boycott Lok Sabha polls

Meetings are currently on between villagers of the six villages opposing the Navi Mumbai International Airport (NMIA) rehabilitation package, to take a call on boycotting the Lok Sabha elections. "We have no hope from the politicians. After the delimitation exercise in 2009, the Maval constituency came into existence and we have a Member of Parliament from the ghat region [referring to Pune's Pimpri-Chinchwad area] who has not shown any interest here nor has dealt with us to understand our problems and demands with regards to the airport project," said Mahendra Patil, who is representing villagers opposing the airport deal.
He added, "Internal discussions are on at present and we may boycott the upcoming polls, since no one has bothered to provide us good leadership. Same is the case for our MLAs – be it from Panvel or Uran - as even they have not supported us."
Navi Mumbai Antarrashtriya Vimantal Sangharash Samiti – a committee of six villages opposing the Navi Mumbai International Airport (NMIA) rehabilitation package – comprises professionals from these villages. The latter have taken up the matter with Cidco and the state government under the guidance of former Supreme Court judge Justice PB Sawant and former Bombay High Court judge BG Kolse-Patil.
22/03/14 Rahul M Tawade/Daily News & Analysis

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DIG's driver takes IGI airport authorities for a ride

New Delhi: Security arrangements in the Capital's IGI Airport seem to be in tatters. After a teen made a mockery of the security system last week as reported by Mail Today , it was the turn of the Chief Airport Security Officer's driver to flout norms and go on a free- wheeling drive inside the restricted area of the airport.
The driver not only intruded into the airport in the CISF DIG's official car but also drove into the apron area, where aircraft are parked, without valid documents, just to take a shortcut to reach the officer's residence.
The driver, a private employee, kept on driving until accosted by Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL) security personnel.
On being questioned, the driver made the surprising revelation that he was using the airside area as a shortcut to reach the DIG's house.
Valid documents like an Airport Entry Pass and Airport Driving Permit are mandatory to drive inside the highsecurity IGI airport.
22/03/14 Ankur Sharma/Mail Today/India Today

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AI Flight Brushes Against Catering Vehicle at Chennai Airport

Chennai: An Air India aircraft parked in a bay in Chennai airport was slightly damaged on Sunday after an in-flight catering vehicle accidentally hit the wingtip of the stationed aircraft at around 9 AM.
Airport officials said the in-flight catering vehicle came to the nearby bay to load food into a Jet Airways flight which was scheduled to depart for Bangalore at 9.45 AM.
The vehicle driver, while manoeuvring around the Jet Airways flight, miscalculated the distance with Air India flight and hit on the wing tip.
While the damage appears to be minimal, the Air India aircraft has been grounded as per DGCA protocol.
16/03/14 New Indian Express

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1 kg gold seized from aircraft at Trivandrum airport

Thiruvananthapuram: Customs enforcers on Sunday seized 1 kg of gold from the toilet of an aircraft that landed here from Dubai. The contraband, valued at Rs.35 lakh, was concealed in a box, which was seen ‘casually dropped’ in a waste bin inside the toilet, enforcers said.
The Customs Preventive Unit, headed by Additional Commissioner Sofia M. Joy was on a stake-out at the international airport here since early morning after its agents were warned by their informants that a passenger travelling on an Emirates flight would attempt to smuggle an unknown amount of gold.When they found no unaccounted gold on any of the passengers, the Customs officials entered the aircraft and searched the aisle, seats, toilet and overhead storage cavities. Investigators said they suspected a Chennai-based gang to be behind the smuggling operation.
10/03/14 The Hindu

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Customs at City Airport seize over 1 Kg of Gold concealed in Air Compressor

Mangalore: The officers of customs at Mangalore International Airport (MIA) have again thwarted attempt of smuggling of gold and seized 4 gold pieces, totally weighing 1000.130 grams and valued at Rs 30,60,398 concealed in an air compressor form the possession of a passenger named Muhammed Kunhi Cheeri Kundu aged about 49 years, who is a resident of Cheeri Kundu House, Cheruvathur, Kaidakkad Post, Kasargod district of Kerala and arrived at MIA on Monday March 10 at about 05.30am by Jet Airways flight 9W531 from Dubai.  The said passenger was arrested later and produced before the Magistrate. Further investigations are under way.
The operations were conducted under the supervision of MIA assistant commissioner of customs Krishna Kumar Prasad, led by superintendent B Prabhakar Poojary, superintendents Lionel Fernandes, Sendhil Murugan, B A Kariappa, H G Yogesh and inspectors G Kumaraswamy and  Virender Kumar, Hawaldar K S Ravindra.
10/03/14 Bellevision

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Ranchi's double treat for flyers, airlines

Ranchi:  The state civil aviation department on Saturday slashed 16% sales tax on aviation turbine fuel (ATF) prompting the Airports Authority of India (AAI) to announce that it would make night parking of aircraft free at Birsa Munda Airport here. The double bonanza for the fliers and the airlines, coming within a week of inauguration of the new terminal, is likely to increase number of passengers and flights in the city.
Ranchi probably becomes the first airport in the country where free night halt facility has been made.
The huge tax the state will now charge 4% tax on ATF has taken a toll on the number of flights at the Ranchi airport. Towards the end of 2011, a total of 16 flights operated from the city for various destinations. The lack of free night parking facility and highly taxed ATF took a toll on the number of flights here. Currently, eight flights operate from Ranchi connecting Delhi, Kolkata, Patna and Mumbai. Surprisingly, there is no flight to Delhi in the morning. Air India's flight is the first flight for the national capital at 1.30pm.
31/03/13 Alok K N Mishra/Times of India

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Surat-Bhavnagar flight service discontinued

Surat: Deccan Charters Limited (DCL) has called off its flight service on Surat-Bhavnagar route due to increased cost of operations and want of passenger traffic.
The Airport Authority of India (AAI) authorities said DCL submitted an official letter on Friday intimating that it wanted to terminate the Surat-Bhavnagar operations with effect from March 31 and that it wished to surrender the office space and other facilities at Surat airport.
Diamantaires in world's biggest diamond cutting and polishing centre in Surat seem to have been a big disappointment for DCL. The airline company, operating shuttle services between Surat and Bhavnagar five days a week, was not able to break even due to want of traffic.
Anticipating good amount of traffic due to presence of diamantaires hailing from Bhavnagar and diamond cutting and polishing job work going there from Surat, DCL had included Bhavnagar in its intra-state flight service operations in August 2012. In just a few months of connecting Surat with Bhavnagar, the company started facing problems as far as passenger traffic was concerned.
31/03/13 Times of India

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Israeli Arrested at Mumbai Airport over Bullet

An Israeli man, 23, was arrested in Mumbai Airport at week's end after a bullet was found in his personal bag when he was about to board a flight to Nepal.
He is in jail and efforts are being made to free him.
The young man's father told Arutz Sheva Saturday night that his son routinely carries a personal handgun and that one of the bullets must have fallen out of the cartridge inside the bag when he was still in Israel.
The father was notified by the Israel Police on Friday that his son was arrested. The Israel Police's representative in Mumbai asked him to obtain certain an approval that his son had no criminal record in order to assist in freeing him. However, he said, when he asked the Israel Police in Israel to give him the approval, he encountered a lack of good will.
30/03/13 Gil Ronen/Arutz Sheva

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Jeddah flight grounded at Amausi

Lucknow: Hundreds of Jeddah-bound passengers from Lucknow got stranded at Amausi airport on Saturday after a Saudi Arabia airline flight developed a snag. The flight, SV-891 was supposed to fly on the intervening night of Friday and Saturday with some 200 passengers and six crew members.
According to Lucknow airport authorities, engineers detected a snag in the aircraft's engine during a pre-take off examination exercise at around 5.30 pm. Airline officials refused to say anything about the technical fault.
There was no official confirmation as to when the flight would finally take off. Airport authorities said that while an alternate flight has been called for, arrangements to replace the damaged spare part is being made. Officials said that the spare part may have to be imported.
31/03/13 Times of India

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Malaysian Allegedly Assaulted by Co-Passenger on Flight

Hyderabad: A Malaysian PIO (Person of Indian Origin) was allegedly assaulted by three people including a co-passenger near the Outer Ring Road at Gachibowli here, after he objected to the passenger "talking" on a mobile phone while on a flight from Kuala Lumpur.
P Shankar Ram, a barrister from Malaysia, suffered injuries after he was beaten up by the young air passenger and his two bodyguards after he landed at the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport (RGIA) at Shamshabad here yesterday, the police said.
Ram, who lodged a complaint with RGIA police after the incident claimed that the youngster intercepted his car while he was on way to a hotel here and one of his bodyguards assaulted him with his belt even as he was kicked and punched, causing injuries, the police said, quoting his complainant.
31/03/13 Outlook

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Plea to IndiGo on flight to Delhi

Visakhapatnam: IndiGo is planning to introduce a new direct service to Delhi from Visakhapatnam, according to a statement issued by Air Travellers Association (India).
The ATA(I) suggested to the airline to plan the flight at suitable timings. In a letter to the president of IndiGo Airlines, ATA (I) president D. Varada Reddy and advisor GVR Sastry said the arrival and departure timings planned at both Delhi and Vizag were not at all suitable to the commuters.
30/03/13 The Hindu

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No doctor for ill flier at airport's new terminal

Kolkata: A plane carrying an ailing passenger requiring immediate medical attention landed at Kolkata airport on Saturday morning only to find no doctors on call. Though the airport has a team of doctors on its payroll and has a duty roster to ensure they are available round-the-clock, airport officials said they could not reach the patient on time as they are housed in the old terminal. There is no medical unit in the swanky new facility that was commissioned earlier this month.
Basant Kumar Raut, 60, on board Air India's morning Delhi-Kolkata flight AI 401 complained of suffocation and breathlessness midair. Following an announcement, a lady doctor on board came to his help. The pilot, meanwhile, radioed Kolkata ATC and sought priority landing. Accordingly, other flights were put on hold and the plane allowed to land without delay. After touching down at 8.51 am, it taxied to an aerobridge at the new terminal and the pilot requested passengers to remain seated so that a doctor could board the plane and attend to Raut and wheel him out if needed.
But there were no signs of a physician for several minutes and the cabin crew asked passengers to disembark. That is when CPI MP Gurudas Dasgupta, who was on the flight, stepped in. He urged all passengers to remain seated till the patient was attended upon. Though many passengers were in a hurry to leave, a majority readily agreed to stay put in the aircraft. When 15 minutes passed without a doctor in sight, worried Air India officials approached the MP and explained that if they did not disembark on time, the return flight would get delayed. Dasgupta, a known champion of public sector units, realized his stand would have an adverse affect on the airline's performance and agreed to vacate the aircraft.
31/03/13 Times of India

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Airports Authority of India to train tribals for skill development

Ranchi: The Airports Authority of India (AAI) will build and fund skill development centres in Ranchi and Deoghar as part of its corporate social responsibility. The AAI has made a communication to this effect to the state civil aviation department here.
The roadmap for the work is set to be developed soon. The civil aviation department has confirmed the development. Tribal boys of the state will be imparted training at these institutes.
Sajal Chakravarty, secretary of the civil aviation department, said, "The idea was mooted by AAI chairman when he was in Ranchi to inaugurate the new terminal building last Sunday."
The aspirants will be provided industrial training, taught house-keeping, aviation security, apart from other trades. It will cater to a huge population of the youth who remain unemployed despite getting formal education.
"The institutes will focus on training youths from the downtrodden sections of society, especially tribals," said Chakravarty.
31/03/13 Alok K N Mishra/Times of India

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Work on first pvt greenfield airport at Karaikal to begin soon

Karaikal: Super Airport Infrastructure India Ltd today said construction work on the country’s first fully private greenfield airport here is scheduled to commence in May.
It has obtained all necessary clearances from regulatory agencies, including permission from the Civil Aviation Ministry and a no-objection certificate from the Puducherry Government, company Chairman J.V. Chowdhary said.
Super Airport Infrastructure has proposed to set up the airport in about 526 acres and has already acquired 300 acres for the first phase of the project, which involves construction of a 1.8-km runway and a 250 peak hour passenger capacity terminal.In the first phase, aircraft of the type of regional jets and Boeing 737 could land and in the next phase, when it is expanded with a 3-km runway, bigger aircraft could land, he said.
30/03/13 PTI/Business Line

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Passenger held with over 1,000 Air India boarding passes at Kolkata airport

Kolkata: Over 1,000 Air India boarding passes were recovered from a passenger at the Kolkata airport on Friday. The recovery triggered alarm bells in security circles as boarding passes are critical documents that allow passengers access areas usually out of bounds to anyone other than genuine airport users.
The passes were recovered after a SpiceJet security staffer manning a baggage X-ray monitor became suspicious after he discovered a box in Satyendra Verma's bag that appeared to be full of currency notes.
There is no restriction on carrying money other than during the election time. But the official decided to check the bag, leading to the recovery. The passes were all blank without any details printed at the check-in counter and printed in Mumbai. All the passes appeared to be original. Verma (42), a Nalanda resident, told his interrogators that his brother-in-law had given him the box and he was clueless about what it contained. "I was asked to carry the box and hand it over to another man at the Port Blair airport," said Verma. He had arrived from Bihar's Nalanda district a day earlier to catch a flight to Port Blair.
30/03/13 Times of India

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DIAL plans to shift IndiGo or SpiceJet to T3

Delhi International Airport Ltd or DIAL, the company that operates the Delhi airport, plans to shift either IndiGo or SpiceJet to Terminal 3 and ease pressure at Terminal 1D.
T1D, which has an annual capacity of 12 million passengers, is expected to cater to around 11 million passengers in the current fiscal that is to end in two days.
"Among the two, we would prefer IndiGo because it has all jet operations through Airbus 320s and can be serviced through aerobridges. Spicejet, on the other hand, operates Bombadier Q400s and these planes cannot be serviced through aerobridges," said a GMR official.
He added that they are not considering shifting GoAir, as it is a small carrier and shifting it will not free much space in the terminal.
30/03/13 Mihir Mishra/Indian Express

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SIA eyes untapped airports to expand base in India

Mumbai: Having successfully connected Visakhapatnam to Singapore through its 100 per cent subsidiary, SilkAir, Singapore International Airlines (SIA) is now looking for similar untapped locations to expand its footprint in India.
Though the airline has exhausted its seat entitlements from India, it is identifying virgin markets which could be connected later on.
“When we launched flights to Visakhapatnam last year, many people asked us why? Even most Indians have not been to Visakhapatnam. But when we did a study, we found out that the city V has three to four million people staying in 100 kms radius, and the area has significant business. But the airport has no direct international flight to anywhere. There was one flight to Dubai via Hyderabad. So we decided to connect it with Singapore,,” said G. M. Toh, General Manager (India) of SIA.
29/03/13 Lalatendu Mishra/The Hindu

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Saif Ali Khan shoots at Lucknow airport

Mumbai: Contrary to reports that Saif Ali Khan got into a verbal spat with airport authorities in Lucknow, the actor returned to the Lucknow airport two days after the alleged scuffle to shoot a sequence for Tigmanshu Dhulia’s Bullett Raja. “Nothing had happened!” says Tigmanshu.
“Isaw the bonhomie between Saif and the airport authorities. We shot a sequence with Saif at the Lucknow airport. The same personnel with whom Saif was reported to have had an altercation came to us and extended all hospitality.”
30/03/13 Subhash K Jha/Daily News & Analysis

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“Include Madurai in bilateral treaty”

Madurai: The Tamil Nadu Chamber of Commerce and Industry (TNCCI) has requested Union Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh, scheduled to visit Singapore next month, to include Madurai airport in the bilateral treaty between the two countries and pave way for commencement of air services between Singapore and Madurai.
In a press communiqué, TNCCI said that many airliners based in Singapore, Malaysia and United Arab Emirates had evinced interest in operating flights to Madurai.
30/03/13 The Hindu

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Rs 15,850 fine levied on Air India

Bangalore: The III Additional Bangalore Urban district Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum slapped a fine of  Rs 15,850 to Air India for negligent service.
Complainant Banda Venkata Ravi Kumar, of LG Halli contended that the company had misplaced his baggage when he was traveling from Bangalore to Delhi on February 18.
There were birthday gifts worth Rs 80,000 for his daughter in the bag, he said.
Air India in its reply said it had handed over the baggage to the Bangalore International Airport Limited, therefore the BIA was responsible for it.
30/03/13 New Indian Express

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Ahmedabad turns parking bay for private jets

Ahmedabad: After landing at the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport in Ahmedabad one might just get a feeling that this is a city of billionaires. What else does a long queue of neatly parked private jets mean?
But, much of this is a spill-over from the Maximum City. Heavy congestion at Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport in Mumbai is forcing the richie rich to park their flying machines in Ahmedabad. The low parking charge in Ahmedabad — a mere one-third of Mumbai — is a plus.
There are about 20 private jets and choppers parked at Ahmedabad airport. Of these, only five are owned by local business groups Adani and Zydus Cadila.
29/03/13 Himanshu Kaushik/Times of India

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'India registers highest traffic for Abu Dhabi airport in Feb'

Dubai:  India recorded the highest traffic for Abu Dhabi International Airport in February 2013, with traffic growing by 9.1 per cent over the same period last year, says a report by the Abu Dhabi Airports Company (ADAC). The traffic report for February 2013 showed a 13.1 per cent growth in passenger traffic over the same period last year, with over 1.2 million (1,221,686) passengers passing through the airport, ADAC said in a statement.India was followed by Germany, Thailand, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan in the list, it said.
29/03/13 PTI/Economic Times

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Air India to launch flights between Bangalore and Tirupati

Bangalore:  To cater to the increased passenger demand in the ensuing holiday season, Air India will be launching new thrice-weekly flights between Bangalore and Tirupati from April 1 through its subsidiary Alliance Air.
The new flight AI 9509 operated by ATR 42 aircraft will leave Bangalore at 4 pm to reach Tirupati at 5 pm on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, Air India said in a statement here.
28/03/13 PTI/Economic Times

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Plane collision averted at Madurai airport

Madurai: A collision between two airplanes, one carrying more than 140 passengers and the other with a VIP on board, was averted at the airport here on Thursday.
According to informed sources, the passenger plane bound for Chennai had hardly taken off at about 10 a.m. when a non-scheduled chartered flight made an attempt to land on the same strip.
When the captain of the passenger plane noticed the approaching chartered flight, he alerted the Air Traffic Control (ATC) tower and moved away.
29/03/13 Mohamed Imranulliah S./The Hindu

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Old complaints pour in at Chennai's new domestic terminal

Chennai: Air travellers to Chennai who flew in on Spicejet and GoAir flights on Thursday were a pleasantly surprised lot as they got to experience the new domestic terminal. Though the design, lighting and facilities of the terminal have come in for much praise, some old complaints like lack of signage and distance from the taxi bays continued to pour in.
The airport terminals, which were constructed around the old terminals at a cost of Rs 2,150 crore, were inaugurated January end. Test arrivals have been handled over past two weeks and various issues like an over-steep ramp have been defused to get things in order.
Spicejet and GoAir are the first airlines to shift their arrival operations to the new terminal, but their staff were still feeling their way around.
29/03/13 New Indian Express

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Woman held with 5 kg of gold at airport

Ahmedabad: Customs officials on Thursday arrested a Surat-based woman from Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport with five kgs of gold biscuits worth around Rs 2 crore.
The woman, who had landed here from Dubai, allegedly had the gold biscuits strapped around her waist.
Sources said the woman was identified as Jamila Mohammad Shafi Shah (50), a resident of Kosamba in Surat.
Customs officials said she was a part of a racket and working as a carrier to deliver the consignment in Mumbai. They said she was also a frequent flyer.
29/03/13 Indian Express

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Airport Authority of India to develop 20 airports in next five years

Tiruchirapalli: Airport Authority of India (AAI) is considering developing 20 airports in the next five years, according to a senior official.
"Subject to cooperation from the respective state governments and access to suitable sites free of cost, AAI is hopeful of developing 20 airports in the next five years," G K Chaukiyal, member (operations), AAI told reporters here yesterday.
"With the government's policy of special focus on the development of airports in tier-II and tier-II towns and the ambitious policy of providing airports in every district headquarters - about 450 of them before the year 2020, AAI has started identifying the towns and accepting proposals from various state governments," he said.
28/03/13 PTI/NDTV

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Preliminary hearing on GMR arbitration next month

Male/New Delhi: Four months after Maldives terminated the contract given to Indian infrastructure major GMR to develop and operate the international airport in Male, the two sides will sit down next month in London to begin the multi-million dollar arbitration process.
The preliminary hearing that will structure the arbitration process over the abrupt termination of the 25 year contract with GMR Group for the development of Ibrahim Nasir International Airport (INIA) by the Maldives government has been slated for April 10.
"It is the initial meeting of the arbitration process," Sidharth Kapur, Chief Financial Officer of GMR Group told PTI in New Delhi.
"We will sit down and talk. The GMR has not given us any figure as yet. Forensic audit is still going on," Maldives' President Mohamed Waheed's Press Secretary Masood Imad told PTI in Male.
28/03/13 PTI/Business Standard

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Consultant begins working on revenue model for Mopa airport

Panaji: As the state government has expedited work on the international Mopa airport project, the financial consultant - KPMG - has been asked to work on a revenue model for the airport.
This is important as some stakeholders have raised queries of financial feasibility of the airport considering that the existing Dabolim airport will be allowed to continue operations.
An officer said that the financial consultant is working on the revenue model for the project.
KPMG is presently working on the RFQ (request for quotation) documents which are expected to be completed shortly. The RFQ documents will be published for selecting the prospective bidders, he added. Louis Berger is the technical consultant for the project.The Mopa airport will also have dedicated facilities for a cargo hub. In fact, to make the airport cargo handling financially viable, maintenance and repairs may form a part of the Mopa airport project, sources said.
28/03/13 Times of India

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Tiruchi Airport expansion hinges on availability of land: AAI

Tiruchi: The next phase of expansion of the Tiruchi Airport would begin as soon as the required lands are made available by the State government, said G.K.Chaukiyal, Member (Operations), Airports Authority of India (AAI), here on Wednesday.
Proposals for the construction of an additional terminal building, to double the passenger handling capacity from the current 400, and a new control tower are under the active consideration of AAI, he told reporters.
Mr.Chaukiyal was here for an inspection of the airport when he also declared open the additional barracks for the Central Industry Security Force personnel, in-charge of the airport security, and an air-conditioned dog kennel for the force. The additional barracks has been constructed at a cost of Rs. 73 lakhs and the dog kennel, to accommodate six dogs, at a cost of Rs.39 lakhs.
The AAI has already drawn up a master plan for development of the airport, taking into account the requirements for the next 20 to 30 years.
28/03/13 The Hindu

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Yusuff Ali lifts stake in Cochin International Airport

Kochi: M A Yusuff Ali, the managing director of UAE-basedEMKE Group, has raised his stake in Cochin International Airport Ltd (CIAL) on Monday by acquiring 5 lakhCIAL shares held by Thrissur-basedDhanlaxmi Bank Ltd.
With this purchase, the CIAL shares held by Ali and his immediate family members will increase to 9.37% from the current 9.21%. This represents 2.87 crore of the total 30.6 crore CIAL shares.
The deal is worth Rs 10 crore, Ali revealed. "There was a Reserve Bank of India regulatory requirement which forced Dhanlaxmi Bank to sell 5 lakh shares of CIAL and I bought them a couple of days ago," he said from his Abu Dhabi office.
Ali's wife Shabira Yusuff Ali holds 44 lakh CIAL shares and his daughter Shifa controls 5 lakh shares. According to CIAL's annual report, other major shareholders are Kerala government with 32.24%, N V George with 11.89% and Synthite Industries Ltd with 8.16%.
28/03/13 Shenoy Karun/Times of India

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Diabetic passenger dies at Mumbai airport

Mumbai: A 65-year-old diabetic man travelling from Singapore to Nagpur via Mumbai on Air India fight AI 343 died at Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport (CSIA) Tuesday.
At about 5 pm, Vinayak Mushrif suddenly became unresponsive while inside an inter-terminal coach. His wife Manisha alerted airport authorities.
"The CSIA medical team was called and cardiopulmonary resuscitation started. The doctors also used the automated external defibrillator (AED) installed in the coach, but the passenger did not respond," said a Mumbai International Airport Limited (MIAL) spokesperson.
28/03/13 Indian Express

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Foreign company to handle new Chennai airport terminals

Chennai: The new Chennai airport terminals will be run by a foreign operator experienced in managing technology-intense operations of a modern airport.
The Airports Authority of India, which owns the airport, plans to float a global tender to select a joint venture partner to ensure the buildings can be managed well without privatising. Minister of civil aviation Ajit Singh on Tuesday announced in New Delhi that the AAI was gearing to select a foreign airport operator as joint venture partner. AAI feels its staff are ill-equipped to handle the terminals built at 2,015 crore. Though details are still being worked out, sources said the selected firm might be allowed to hire and fire personnel and control operations from managing flight information, passenger flow, overseeing check-in counters and boarding gates to baggage handling and house-keeping.
27/03/13 Times of India

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9K baby tortoises from China seized at airport

Chennai: Air customs seized 9,000 baby tortoises from a passenger who arrived from Kuala Lumpur by a Malaysian Airlines flight on Tuesday. The consignment was handed over to the forest officials, while R Narayanan from Kolathur, who tried to smuggle in the reptiles claiming that they were packaged food, was fined.
Around 1,500 tortoises died because they had been kept in three bags for more than 10 hours. Narayanan had bought the tortoises, each three inches in size, from China. Forest officials told customs that the tortoises were an exotic species and would not survive for more than 15 hours inside bags.
Customs sleuths intercepted Narayanan when he tried to walk through green channel with three bags. He insisted that he had nothing to declare.
27/03/13 Times of India

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Brand new airport but slips are already showing

Kolkata:  If crumbling glass panels weren't scary enough, a ceiling light fixture came undone at the city's new integrated airport terminal a couple of days ago, trigerring concerns over air safety.
Airline and airport staff also raised questions about the quality of workmanship in the construction of the mammoth building.
According to airport sources, a portion of a light fixture attached to the ceiling of the glass-and-steel integrated terminal came loose and fell nearly 30ft to the floor of the departure lounge. Luckily, it landed on an empty section of the terminal floor and no one was injured. The area has since been cordoned off.
"Had it struck anyone, it could have caused serious injury or even turned fatal," said an airline staff.
27/03/13 Times of India

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Airport unions in a fix over ‘private’ parleys

Chennai: Almost immediately after Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh said that he wanted the Airports Authority of India (AAI) to find an operator to run the Chennai airport under a Joint Venture (JV) or Public-private Partnership (PPP) model, the members of the prominent AAI unions were a worried lot.
“They have been talking of privatising airports for a few years now, but it has always happened after the airport has been modernised or rebuilt — like in Bangalore, Hyderabad and Delhi,” a senior union member said.
Now that the new Chennai airport terminals have been opened, they believe that they may have to bear the brunt of swift changes.
27/03/13 New Indian Express

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New rule for passengers arriving in U.S.

Washington: The U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) on Wednesday published new rule for passengers arriving in the U.S. – the standard Form I-94, which serves as the arrival and departure record and is stapled to passengers’ passports, will soon be automated and in electronic form only.
From April 26, 2013, Form I-94, which essentially provides “non-immigrants” with evidence that they have been lawfully admitted to the U.S., will no longer be in paper form and hence obviates the need to complete this paperwork prior to landing at a U.S. airport or seaport, according to a CBP notification.
The CBP however clarified that individuals who go through “secondary inspection,” which is a closer examination of personal effects and travel circumstances, “will be provided a paper copy of Form I-94 by a CBP officer.” This would apply to such as asylees, refugees, and parolees, as typical examples. This change, which is an “interim final rule,” in the arrivals procedures, is aimed at streamlining the admissions process for non-immigrants arriving in the U.S.
27/03/13 The Hindu

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Couple remanded for trying to smuggle ketamine

Trichy: A man and a woman, who were arrested by the customs officers (preventive) at the Trichy airport on charges of smuggling Rs two crore worth of ketamine were on Tuesday remanded to 15 days' custody by the judicial magistrate-I. On Monday, the two persons, identified as Nasser Nazir, 31 and SreejaDevi, 29, from Chennai allegedly tried to smuggle 8.7kg ketamine and 1.3kg of ephedrine out of the country in an AirAsia flight bound for Kuala Lumpur.
It is said that there is a huge demand for the odourles ketamine and ephedrine in South East Asia where the substance is misused as a party drug by revellers. Moreover, informed sources said that ketamine is also used as a general antidote to pain and discomfiture during medical tests and as anaesthetic during minor surgeries.
27/03/13 Times of India

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AAI plans to set up JVs with public, private oil companies to meet jet fuel requirements

New Delhi: State owned airport operator Airports Authority of India (AAI) plans to set up joint ventures with public and private sector oil companies and airlines to meet jet fuel requirements of air carriers in remote regions of the country.
The idea of this arrangement was discussed in the presence of Petroleum Secretary and various oil companies including Reliance Industries, Agrawal said he said Tuesday.
AAI will hold a 13 per cent stake in joint venture with other companies being free to decide on how much stake they would like to hold among themselves, AAI chairman V P Agarwal said.
""Take Kangra, it does not have a fuelling facility. Somebody flying from Delhi has to carry the fuel from the national capital to be able to come back. This unnecessarily disturbs the economics. The other objective is that less space is occupied by oil companies otherwise everybody duplicates. We will create sufficient capacity so that everybody puts their oil in it," he said.
26/03/13 Anindya Upadhyay/Economic Times

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Flyer's pet cat escapes, crushed at IGI Airport

New Delhi: On her way to Singapore for a new job, Preeti Varma was about to board her Jet Airways flight from IGI Airport on Saturday when she was given some shocking news. Her cat, James Dean, who was to travel on the same flight, had died.
The attendents said James, so named under the mistaken belief that she was a tomcat, had escaped from her cage while being transported to the aircraft. CCTV footage showed James came under the wheels of a vehicle operating in the tarmac.
Jet issued an apology on a social networking site after Varma and her friends took up the issue. Nobody from the airline had contacted her personally till Monday night.
"I was waiting to board my flight when two personnel from Jet came to me and said the cat's cage was empty. I was completely stunned and only when I asked them what they meant, they replied that she was no more," Varma told TOI.
26/03/13 Times of India

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Kannur airport: uncertainty looms large over compensation

Kannur: Even as an Expert Appraisal Committee of the Ministry of Environment has recommended environmental clearance for the proposed Kannur airport and steps for the third phase of land acquisition are nearing completion, uncertainty looms large over fixing the compensation for civil structures.
During the second phase of land acquisition, the value of buildings was assessed on the basis of Public Works Department (PWD) rates in 2008-09.
When the rates for the third phase were finalised in 2011, an 18 per cent appreciation in the rates was recommended.
Meanwhile, a letter was forwarded by the Kerala Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation (KINFRA) in early 2011 to the Transport Secretary to fix the price for buildings and houses according to the PWD rates in 2010.
However, a government order is yet to be passed, and the 2008 prices prevail.
26/03/13 The Hindu

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New airport terminal sees hassle-free operations on Day 1

Ranchi: A new infrastructure especially dealing with both man and machine faces hiccups in early days but to surprise of the passengers and management of Birsa Munda Airport there was seamless transfer of operations from old to new terminal.
Passengers who landed in Birsa Munda Airport on Tuesday morning by the Kolkata-Ranchi-New Delhi flight, which eventually became the first airplane to touch down in Ranchi after the new terminal was inaugurated two days ago, were full of praise for the management and the facilities. Some of the fliers even likened the terminal to the ones in metros.
Rajiv Bhargav, a senior executive of the Steel Authority of India Limited ( SAIL) who was the first person to come out of the airport, was happy to see the new terminal.
26/03/13 Times of India

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Management control of 2 airports may be given to global operators

New Delhi:  Government is considering giving the management control of the new Kolkata and Chennai airports, built by the Airports Authority of India, to global operators through a competitive bidding process.
Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh said today that the AAI could set up joint ventures with major foreign airport operators to carry out operations and management of these two crucial metro airports. Addressing a CII meet on aviation here, he said, "The AAI could give management control of these airports through a competitive bidding process."
Earlier, the AAI had suggested to a Planning Commission Task Force that the management and operation of these airports could be undertaken through the public-private partnership mode by setting up joint ventures between it and foreign airport operators.
26/03/13 PTI/Economic Times

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Break-in exposes safety loopholes at airport

Mumbai:  The three brothers who tried to steal goods worth Rs 64,368 from a duty free shop at the airport late on Saturday, sneaked into the premises hoodwinking security personnel and broke into the maintenance room where they cut off the connection of closed-circuit television cameras of the shop before crawling through the false ceiling all the way to the store's warehouse. One of the accused was caught red-handed in the warehouse, while the two others were picked up on Sunday.
The break-in and the theft bid has raised questions about the security of the airport, especially, when the country is facing terror threats. "This means that a conniving individual can easily get into the airport unnoticed. Security has to be enhanced at all key entry and exit points of the airport. CISF recruitments also have to be expedited so that there is enough personnel to spot and preempt any security breach," said a retired security consultant.
26/03/13 V Narayan & Chinmayi Shalya/Times of India

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First flight from new airport takes off today

Ranchi: Jet Airways' Kolkata-Ranchi-Delhi flight, which is scheduled to land at 11.40am here on Tuesday, is likely to be the first airplane to touch down at Birsa Munda Airport, marking the beginning of air operations at the new terminal.
Ranchi airport director R R Kumar said all preparations were made. "The airlines have also made all the preparations. It will be a smooth shift," said Kumar. Ranchi will be one of the few airports in the country which will shift the entire air operation to a new facility in two days.
The commercial tax department is keen to slash slab on aviation turbine fuel (ATF) which is high compared to other states. The development comes a day after Ajit Singh asked the state to revisit its tax policy. Sources in the commercial tax department said the airlines wanted the tax slab on ATF to go down by at least 15%.
26/03/13 Times of India

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SA teacher held with Rs 7cr drugs at airport

Mumbai: The Air Intelligence Unit (AIU) officials arrested a South African schoolteacher at Mumbai airport for attempting to smuggle out 7kg of drugs concealed in school bags on Monday morning. The consignment is worth Rs 7 crore.
Around 5.30am, Blantinah Makoti (35) entered the Mumbai airport to board an Ethiopian Airline flight for Mozambique. The AIU officials had got a tip-off about the woman. When Makoti was about to check-in, the officials intercepted her, and sent her bags for a check.
26/03/13 Times of India

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Marginal rise in Pune's air passenger traffic this year

Pune: The Lohegaon airport is likely to witness a marginal rise in the number of passengers flying in and out of the city by the end of this fiscal as compared to last year.
"The airport handled over 33.2 lakh passengers during 2011-12 and the projected passenger traffic by the end of 2012-13 is over 33.49 lakh," airport director P S R K Sudhakar told TOI.
This is a far cry from the kind of air passenger traffic growth that the airport reported during the last few years. The numbers also signal the fact that the airport has touched a near saturation point vis-a-vis capacity to handle air passengers on an annual basis.
The muted growth is also being attributed to Kingfisher Airlines shutting down flights since October last year owing to its financial crisis and the eventual suspension of its licence by the civil aviation regulator. The Vijay Mallya-led airline, which was operating at least nine flights to destinations across the country, was one of the main carriers operating from the city.
25/03/13 Vishwas Kothari/Times of India

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Gannavaram airport gets tele-medicine facility

Vijayawada: The Gannavaram Airport that serves the city, is now one of the few select ones that have an emergency-cum-first aid centre with Automatic External Defibrillator, with the formal inauguration of such a facility on the terminal building premises on Sunday.
The Dr.NTR University of Health Sciences Registrar S. Babu Lal while inaugurating the First Aid Centre equipped with a tele-medicine facility put up by Dr. Ramesh Hospitals, said that this facility will come in handy for patients suffering heart attacks and with passenger traffic increasing this becomes essential. Reminding everyone of the incident in which a Belgian national had to be rushed from the Gannavaram Airport to the city last month for immediate angiogram, he complimented the hospital chief cardiologist P. Ramesh Babu for taking up the initiative to provide medicare free of cost with a trained doctor posted there.
25/03/13 The Hindu

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ICC official caught with silver trophy worth Rs 20 lakhs at Delhi airport

New Delhi: An ICC official was caught allegedly bringing into the country a silver trophy worth Rs 20 lakh without paying customs duty at IGI aiport following which it was seized.
 The ICC official, an Indian resident, was carrying the silver trophy in contravention of rules and was trying to bring it into the country without giving the customs duty payable on such metals, official sources said.
 The official, who had come from Dubai, was caught on Saturday at Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) and asked to show papers related to the clearance of trophy from customs.
25/03/13 PTI/Cricketcountry.com

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South African woman held for bid to smuggle drugs at airport

Mumbai: A South African woman was on Monday arrested from Mumbai International airport for allegedly trying to smuggle out seven kg of amphetamine drug worth about Rs seven crore, a Customs official said.
Blantina Makoti, a school teacher by profession, was found in possession of amphetamine drugs meticulously concealed in 14 school bags during her luggage checking this morning, the official added.
Makoti was to take an Ethiopian Airlines flight to South Africa, the official added.
According to the official of Air Intelligence Unit of the Customs, Makoti's luggage was frisked following her suspicious behaviour.
25/03/13 PTI/ZeeNews

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Civil aviation minister opens Rs 138cr Birsa Munda integrated terminal, predicts dawn of prosperity

Calcutta: Civil aviation minister Ajit Singh heralded a “new dawn” for Jharkhand’s flagging economy on Sunday by inaugurating the Rs 138-crore integrated terminal at Birsa Munda Airport in Ranchi that promises to increase the footfall of high-fliers.
It took four years for the state-of-the-art facility to see the light of day — courtesy hitches at both state and central levels since erstwhile civil aviation minister Praful Patel laid its foundation stone in 2009 — but “the wait has been worth it”.
“The new terminal will contribute to the overall economic development of the region. Fliers, both domestic and international, are on the rise across the country. In 2010-11, there were 142 million fliers. The figure rose to 162 million in 2011-12. So, having state-of-the-art terminals at tier II and III cities have become imperative,” the minister said.
He pointed out that his ministry, in association with the Airports Authority of India (AAI), had been working on massive modernisation and expansion projects across India. “Ranchi airport was a part of it. Though delayed, the wait has been worth it,” he said.
25/03/13 Telegraph

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Mihan finally gets cheap power from captive plant

Nagpur: Mihan has finally begun getting electricity from the Abhijeet Group-promoted captive power plant. The cheap power assured through this unit could not reach the special economic zone (SEZ) so far. The plant was supposed to supply power exclusively to Mihan-SEZ at Rs 2.97 a unit-- much lower than the market rates. However, uncertainty remains whether the contracted rate of Rs 2.97 a unit would continue for long.
Abhijeet Group has partnered with Maharashtra Airport Development Company (MADC)- Mihan's developer- in this venture. The former had insisted on arriving at a new tariff regime to which MADC was not agreeable. For MADC, cheap power was a major sop to attract investors. With the partners finally agreeing, Abhijeet Group has begun supplying power to the units in Mihan since March and a fresh tariff petition has been filed with Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission (MERC) simultaneously. "Nothing is clear about the rate so far. We have filed a petition to determine the tariff with the MERC," said a source in Abhijeet Group.
25/03/13 Shishir Arya/Times of India

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AAI to move fresh proposal for cargo terminal

Pune: With no government land available in the vicinity of Lohegaon airport, the Pune district collector's office has asked the Airports Authority of India (AAI) to furnish a fresh proposal seeking help for acquisition of nearly seven acre private land near the airport for the planned cargo terminal project.
"We will submit the proposal soon, after going through the pros and cons of securing private land for the project," AAI, Pune, director P S R K Sudhakar told TOI. "We will also require approval from the Indian Air Force (IAF) for such acquisition, considering that no construction is allowed within 400 m of the air force station, of which the airport is a part," he said.
25/03/13 Vishwas Kothari/Times of India

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Computer outage delays flights

Riyadh: A glitch in the computer network of the Immigration Department caused travel chaos at the two busiest airports of the Kingdom yesterday morning.
The computer outage at Riyadh and Jeddah airports delayed hundreds of travelers and embarrassed several airlines at a time when they are trying to win back customers after prolonged aviation strikes and massive snow storms across Europe that caused several airlines to suspend flights last week.
 “In fact, a breakdown in systems at immigration resulted in delayed flights and long waits for inbound and outbound passengers,” said Prabhu Chandran, Air India manager.
“The Air India flight to Calicut was delayed because of the outage,” said Chandran. “We were told that the immigration computer system was down from 3 a.m. to 5 a.m. on Sunday at the Riyadh-based King Khalid International Airport (KKIA) that caused inconvenience to airlines as well to passengers,” said Chandran.
25/03/13 Arab News

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Marginal rise in Pune's air passenger traffic this year

Pune: The Lohegaon airport is likely to witness a marginal rise in the number of passengers flying in and out of the city by the end of this fiscal as compared to last year.
"The airport handled over 33.2 lakh passengers during 2011-12 and the projected passenger traffic by the end of 2012-13 is over 33.49 lakh," airport director P S R K Sudhakar told TOI.
This is a far cry from the kind of air passenger traffic growth that the airport reported during the last few years. The numbers also signal the fact that the airport has touched a near saturation point vis-a-vis capacity to handle air passengers on an annual basis.
The muted growth is also being attributed to Kingfisher Airlines shutting down flights since October last year owing to its financial crisis and the eventual suspension of its licence by the civil aviation regulator. The Vijay Mallya-led airline, which was operating at least nine flights to destinations across the country, was one of the main carriers operating from the city.
25/03/13 Vishwas Kothari/Times of India

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Ahmedabad, Goa airports trio’s favourite targets: CISF

Three men who were arrested at the domestic airport in Santacruz last week for allegedly stealing valuables considered Ahmedabad and Goa airports as their favourite hunting grounds, the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) said.
The trio allegedly said they targeted passengers at these two airports as they were lax about their personal belongings.
The accused were nabbed on March 18 — five days after they allegedly walked away with Rs 1 lakh from the luggage of a passenger flying to Chandigarh from Mumbai.
The accused, Dwarkesh Daddoguda Kurba (47), Ushakant Janardan Sonawane (57) and Shankarlal Bhanushali (59) allegedly confessed to having committed seven thefts at Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Goa, New Delhi and Mumbai airports. They first came under the radar of the CISF in September last year when they allegedly stole Rs 75,000 from from a passenger in Bangalore.
25/03/13 Indian Express

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Security at Juhu airport gets a boost

Mumbai:  Security at Juhu airport finally got some boost after the local police sanctioned around 30 police personnel to guard the perimeter area. The airport has been battling sever security issues for the last few years with neighbouring slums spilling into the operations area. There have been reports of slum dwellers intruding into the operations field at will despite a live runway with aircraft operating on it. Airport Authority of India (AAI) officials have been unable to construct a boundary wall to keep the slums at bay.
Airport officials said that finally a total of of 30 policemen will guard the airport. Some of the personnel is armed and will be patrolling the airport periphery even during the night. "this is likely to bring down the theft cases and will secure the air-filed too," said a senior airport official. "We are trying to get more people so that the work on the wall can also be undertaken,' he added. Officials said that despite a request for about 200 Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) personnel at the Delhi headquarters, no strength has been sanctioned.
25/03/13 Chinmayi Shalya/Times of India

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AISSF militant getting off Sydney flight arrested

Sangrur: Sikh militant Manpreet Singh, who fled to New Zealand in May 1999 while on bail, has been arrested at Delhi airport, Punjab police said on Sunday.
Manpreet, who was a member of All India Sikh Students Federation (AISSF) in 1987 when he was booked under TADA, was arrested on Saturday following a tip off soon after he landed at the airport in the national capital on a flight from Sydney, they said. Police brought him to Sangrur and produced him in a local court, which remanded him in police custody for a day. Sangrur SHO Harinder Singh said Mapreed was booked under TADA for alleged seditious activities and masterminding jail break along with other militants in high security Sangrur prison.
25/03/13 PTI/Times of India

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Passengers create ruckus at Amausi on unscheduled flight

Lucknow: Nearly a dozen Delhi-bound passengers were left in lurch at Amausi airport after they could not find the flight in which they were supposed to travel. The passengers were carrying ticket of an Air India flight AI-970, which was not scheduled on Saturday morning, and were later adjusted in a Jet airways flight.
According to reports, 13 passengers arrived at the Amausi airport with tickets for a flight which, surprisingly, was not scheduled for the day. Even as some of them created ruckus alleging grave inconvenience, few others entered into a heated argument with the Air India staff. The situation was brought under control only after the passengers were adjusted in a Jet flight.
24/03/13 Times of India

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Recent spate of gold smuggling at the airports, a cause of worry for airport officials

Mumbai: The recent spate of gold smuggling through airport has made the authorities wonder if the laws are stringent enough to keep smuggling down. Many customs officials feel that not so strict laws are the reason behind the increase in smuggling.
Last week, Air Intelligence Unit (AIU) officials arrested a man carrying five gold biscuits concealed in his rectum. The man had landed in Mumbai from Dubai and was planning to smuggle gold out to earn a profit. Officials said that though it was a serious offence, he culprit was out on bail the next day. "Most smugglers do not fear the law when it comes to smuggling of gold. They all know that after being presented in the court, the carrier would be out on a bail," said a senior customs official.
24/03/13 Chinmayi Shalya/Times of India

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LGBI Airport accused of ignoring Assamese language

Guwahati: Urging the authorities concerned to ensure public announcements in Assamese together with Hindi and English at the LGBI Airport, public activist Prof Deven Dutta today said that Assam was probably the only State in which the State language was shown such disrespect.
“In every airport, public announcements regarding arrival and departure of flights and related matters are made in the local language besides Hindi and English. For reasons best known to the authorities concerned, the LGBI Airport chooses to be a deplorable exception,” Prof Dutta said at a press conference. He added that the announcements made in English in the LGBI Airport left a lot to be desired in terms of correctness and elegance of the language, making the uttering difficult to comprehend for the people.
Prof Dutta also accused the State Government and public representatives such as MLAs and MPs of the State of looking the other way to such a cavalier attitude of the airport authorities, and demanded that announcement in Assamese be made mandatory at the earliest.
24/03/13 Assam Tribune

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Aranmula Airport: Court rejects probe report

Kottayam: The Court of the Enquiry Commissioner and Special Judge (Vigilance), Kottayam, has rejected the inquiry report submitted by the Vigilance DySP on a complaint that there were anomalies and violation of law  in filling paddyfields, wetlands and a river for the construction of the proposed Aranmula Airport.
The judge S Soman directed the investigating officer to register a FIR against the persons involved in the case and to conduct a detailed inquiry. The FIR should be submitted to the court within two weeks.
The Vigilance Department had been directed to conduct a preliminary inquiry into the issue on the basis of a complaint filed by Kummanam Rajasekharan, the patron of Aranmula Heritage Village Karma Samithi.  While rejecting the inquiry report submitted by Vigilance DySP Baby Charles, the Court criticised the inquiry officer and the director of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau (VACB), who ratified the report. The court observed that though it was specifically mentioned that if a prima facie case has been established, crime has to be registered against the persons involved in it and the inquiry officer did not do that.
23/03/13 New Indian Express

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Encroachment threat to Borjhar airport

Guwahati: The Borjhar airport in the city is facing a serious threat due to the encroachment on the natural channels and water bodies in its vicinity, said State’s Water Resources Department (WRD) Minister Rajiv Lochan Pegu while replying to the debate on the demand of his Department for grant.
The Minister said that the Airport Authority of India is contacting the WRD with pleas to do away the threat. The threat is such that from the ensuing summer the airport may become unfit for landing of aeroplanes if the natural channels and water bodies in its vicinity are not freed from encroachment.
To get rid of the threat, the encroachment on the natural channels and water bodies in the vicinity of the airport should be removed and people in the neighbourhood of the aerodrome should cooperate with the authorities in this regard, the Minister said.
23/03/13 Assam Tribune

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Tyres of Air India flight burst after landing in Dibrugarh

Dibrugarh: Two tyres of an Air India flight from Kolkata to Dibrugarh burst while landing at the Mohanbari airport in Assam's Dibrugarh district today, but all the 90 passengers on board were safe, airports authority sources said.
After the flight landed at 12:15 pm two tyres of the Boeing aircraft were found punctured, the sources said.
23/03/13 PTI/Economic Times

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Passengers create ruckus at Amausi on unscheduled flight

Lucknow:  Nearly a dozen Delhi-bound passengers were left in lurch at Amausi airport after they could not find the flight in which they were supposed to travel. The passengers were carrying ticket of an Air India flight AI-970, which was not scheduled on Saturday morning, and were later adjusted in a Jet airways flight.
According to reports, 13 passengers arrived at the Amausi airport with tickets for a flight which, surprisingly, was not scheduled for the day. Even as some of them created ruckus alleging grave inconvenience, few others entered into a heated argument with the Air India staff. The situation was brought under control only after the passengers were adjusted in a Jet flight.While airport director, SC Hota could not contacted for comments, Air India, terminal manager, Sujit Kumar said that the airline will inquire as to from where the tickets were bought.
23/03/13 Times of India

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Nagpur airport may finally get solar fence this week

Nagpur: After much wait, Nagpur Airport might finally get the promised solar fence in the coming week. The fence, which was to be ready by mid March, is in its testing phase. Some work is also supposed to be completed in the next few days after which the regular usage of the fence is expected to begin.
"Testing is on for about 75% of the fence. It was important as there are so many people who will be working around the fence. So, the entire staff needs to be briefed about it. As weekends are off for many a staff we will begin the actual usage of the whole fence only after Monday," said a MIHAN India Limited (MIL) official.
Earlier, the solar fence was scheduled to be in place by December, but its installation was pushed further to mid January. Even then, the installation was postponed to mid March. Officials said that the testing began on 15-16 March. Before that they had maintained that the work was on schedule. "The fence usage will being before Holi," said the official.
24/03/13 Aparna Nair/Times of India

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Foreigners' tracking system set up at Cial

Kochi: The Cochin international airport on Friday joined 40 destinations across the country where immigration, visa, foreigner registration and tracking ( IVFRT) system have been activated.
The system provides an elaborate network to monitor the arrival of foreigners and track their movement by roping in hotels and even homestays. Primarily, it envisages keying in the data submitted by foreigners in their disembarkation card to a New Delhi-based central server. The hotels and homestays, where the foreigners stay, will also be given an ID and password to access the server. This will replace the current practice of hotels submitting 'C' forms on foreigners staying with them to the nearest police station, said S K Nair, foreigners' registration officer at the airport.
23/03/13 Times of India

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CIAL all set to offer visa on arrival

Kochi: The Cochin International Airport Limited has met the deadline for making arrangements for launching the visa on arrival scheme at the airport and is waiting for the nod from the Centre to get it going.
According to officials, March 15 was the deadline given by the civil aviation ministry in January this year to meet the requirements including the space to accommodate more people and more counters, a waiting area, refreshment counters and the required personnel in the Immigration Department. CIAL, within no time, met all the demands.
23/03/13 Deccan Chronicle

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Bandh over steep airfares brings Leh to grinding halt

Leh: Normal life came to a standstill in Leh town today due a bandh called by tour operators in protest against the exorbitant airfares and poor air service to the region.
The bandh was supported by various political parties and religious groups. Shops and business establishments remained closed and market places wore a deserted look.
A protest march from the town’s main bazaar area attracted thousands of demonstrators who raised slogans against the government and the civil aviation sector for steep hikes in airfares and expressed their ire at poor frequency of the air service between Leh and Delhi and other sectors.
23/03/13 India TV News

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Cops nab NRI from Mumbai airport for cheating wife

Gurgaon: A non-resident Indian was arrested by Gurgaon police at Mumbai airport following a complaint by his estranged wife here, alleging harassment by his husband and his family members. The accused was arrested after the Canadian High Commission informed the cops about the NRI's arrival at Mumbai airport. The accused was produced in a court here which sent him in 14 days' judicial custody.
According to reports, Navdeep, who belongs to Jalandhar in Punjab and is based in Canada, got married to Anita (name changed), a resident of Palam Vihar in Gurgaon, in 1999. Soon after the marriage, Navdeep left for Canada promising to return soon and arrange visa for Anita. However, he did not return and his family members stopped all communication with Anita and her family members. After almost two years trying to contact Navdeep, Anita's family registered a complaint of harassment and fraud against the groom and his family at Palam Vihar police station.
23/03/13 Times of India

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Airport glass panels crack

Kolkata: The bubble of enthusiasm over Kolkata getting its new terminal is bursting. For the fourth time in less than a week, a glass panel has crumbled without impact, raising serious concerns over the safety of the mammoth steel and glass structure.
Two glass panels, both in the departure level, crumbled and fell apart on Thursday evening, triggering fear among passengers as well as airport and airline staff. Earlier, two glass panels had shattered on Sunday and Monday, in the same area. Sources at the airport said 100 glass panels had shattered even before the terminal was commissioned.
"This is real scary. When the glass panel shattered on Sunday, we thought it was due to the gale that evening. But with glasses continuing to crumble for no apparent reason on Monday and Thursday, there is anxiety. What if the entire building crumbles?" asked an airline executive.
22/03/13 Times of India

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Jet plane windscreen cracks mid-flight

Srinagar:  Around 200 passengers and crew onboard a Srinagar -bound Jet Airways flight had a narrow escape Wednesday when the pilot detected a crack in the cockpit windscreen mid-flight, reports and witnesses said.
 Reports said that windscreen of New Delhi-Srinagar Jet Airways flight 9W-603 developed a crack mid air sometime before it was scheduled to land at Srinagar airport at 2 PM.
 “Air entered plane through cockpit. It was a panicky situation for the passengers had they come to know. But it was not much cause of concern for pilots as plane was about to land,” an official said on the condition of anonymity adding that situation could have worsened if plane would have been at a much more height.
21/03/13 Zahid Maqbool/Greater Kashmir

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Security beefed up at airports after alert about aerial strike

Mumbai: Security has been beefed up at the city's domestic and international airports after city police received alerts about a possible aerial strike on Wednesday and Thursday.
CISF officials said that repeated combing operations were being carried out and patrolling had been intensified. In addition to this, the Quick Response Team has been deployed to keep an eye on movements at air-side and inside the terminal buildings. Passenger checks have also been intensified and the intelligence wing at the airport is also on its toes.
Senior CISF officials said that CCTV control room is also working overtime to ensure that all areas are monitored. "The city-side security has also been enhanced," said a senior officer.
Juhu airport too got help from the local police to guard the aerodrome's porous boundary which merges with the slums. According to officials, Thirty police personnel, some of whom are armed, are currently deployed at the Juhu aerodrome to patrol and secure the area. The patrolling is being conducted at night too. "This has helped in plugging intrusions for a while. However, its still a long way to go when it comes to having a full security strength at Juhu airport," said an Airports Authority of India (AAI) official.
22/03/13 Chinmayi Shalya & Vijay V Singh/Times of India

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Kannur airport construction to start soon

Thiruvananthapuram:  Minister for Airports K. Babu said the construction of the Kannur international airport was expected to start in a few months.
He told A.P. Abdullakutty that the environment clearance for the airport project was in the final stage of approval.
Kannur International Airport Ltd. (KIAL) had shortlisted seven companies for doing engineering, procurement and construction works in the airside areas, and talks were on with banks to tie up financial assistance for land acquisition.
Mr. Babu said the KIAL Director Board had approved a revised master plan for the project prepared in consultation with the Directorate General of Civil Aviation, the Airports Authority of India, the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security and the India Meteorological Department.
The project, he said, is on track and a monitoring system put in place to keep a tab on its progress.
Moving a submission on the issue, Mr. Abdullakutty, Kannur MLA, said the tardy progress of work on the much-awaited airport project had led to concern among the public.
22/03/13 The Hindu

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Trinamool MP complains about poor shape of Kolkata airport

Kolkata: Unhappy over the poor shape of the new terminal of the Kolkata airport, Trinamool Congress MP Derek O' Brien has written to Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh, saying it's a "stigma" on the city.
"The airport terminal that is now functional is a stigma on the fair name of Kolkata. It is an insult to the city, its people and frequent users of airlines, and to the memory of Netaji, for whom the airport is named," Derek wrote in the letter.
The Trinamool Rajya Sabha MP said he was writing as a concerned citizen of Kolkata who was appalled and disgusted by the state of the new terminal at the Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport after it was opened this January.
"After years and decades of waiting, your Ministry and the Airports Authority of India, a body that comes under your superintendence, deigned to give Kolkata the modern airport terminal it deserved. Alas, the AAI and your Ministry have far from delivered on your promises," he said.
22/03/13 PTI/Business Standard

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'Centre is pushing for Mopa airport'

Porvorim: Chief minister Manohar Parrikar on Thursday told the assembly that by this year end tenders will be issued for the construction of the proposed greenfield airport at Mopa in Pernem taluka.
"It will take one year to get the contractor on board," said Parrikar in his reply to a discussion on the budget on Thursday.
He said it is not his government alone but the Centre that is keen to have the Mopo airport while referring to the 200 crore grant from the 13th finance commission which he claimed the earlier government failed to avail.
"Mopa airport is one of the airports expected to be successful," said Parrikar explaining why the Centre is supporting the project.
Invoking the memories of late Matanhy Saldanha, he said had he supported Mopa airport but also wanted Dabolim airport to be kept open. "I had given my word to Matanhy and it is more important to me to keep my word," he said in support of his statement that Dabolim will not be closed.
22/03/13 Times of India

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BirsaMunda New terminal takes off on Tuesday

Ranchi: The experience of flying from BirsaMunda Airport will change from March 26 - two days after the Union civil aviation minister inaugurates it - when the Airports Authority of India (AAI) will shift the all operations to the new world-class integrated terminal building.
Over 200 staff are working hard on last minute preparations. Union rural development minister Jairam Ramesh and Jharkhand governor Syed Ahmed will be among the guests at the inauguration ceremony. Vinay Kumar Choubey, deputy commissioner-Ranchi, also inspected the new terminal building on Thursday evening.
Automatic doors will replace the old manual doors. A space frame structure with insulated roof will replace the false ceiling, which had earlier collapsed due to heavy rain. The old terminal building will be used for cargo and other official work.
22/03/13 Alok K N Mishra/Times of India

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Saif Ali Khan to sue news agency on false story around airport tiff

Mumbai: Yesterday night, reports started floating around Saif Ali Khan's so-called tiff with the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) personnel at the Lucknow airport. Apparently, at the airport, he refused to move out of the lounge (which was reserved for the VIPs) and 'tried to throw his weight around'.
However, the actor has been caught totally unaware with the turn of events since the fact was entirely opposite.
Says Saif, "This is totally baseless. There was no tiff of any kind. What has come out as 'news' is in fact totally distorted. It was a polite conversation and nothing as dramatic as what is being put on print actually happened at all."
Instead it was Viveck Anand, Joint General Manager - Operations at the airport, who reached out to Saif immediately after and they spent some together over tea. "We have known each other for 20 years and he is a good friend of mine. We had tea together", adds Saif.
22/03/13 Indian Express

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Work stalled at Andal airport site

Andal: The Andal airport project which is already running late has run into rough weather again.
More than 250 share croppers of Arati village under Laudoha - Faridpur panchayat samity stalled work at the Andal airport project site on Thursday to protest against the delay in getting compensation cheques.
The agitators prevented the officials of Bengal Aerotropolis Limited (BAPL) from entering the site. The gherao was withdrawn after Andal police promised to look into the allegations. BAPL officials said the problem will be looked into.
Seikh Mamun, one of the share croppers, alleged that though the land owners had received their compensation cheques years ago, the share croppers were the deprived lot.
"Work for the airport has been going on in full swing. But the authorities are turning a blind eye to our problems. Hence we decided to take the route of agitation. If the problem persists, we will launch a bigger agitation," Sk Mamun, a share cropper, threatened.
22/03/13 Debajyoti Chakraborty/Timnes of India

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Birds hit new airport plan

Mumbai: The much-delayed Navi Mumbai International Airport project suffered a fresh threatthis week, after the environment ministry held back its approval over the impact it could have on the nearby Karnala bird sanctuary and the risk to aircraft from migratory birds.
The wildlife committee of the ministry on Wednesday expressed its reservations about the project, saying that air traffic could disturb the bird sanctuary, which is located just 10 km away.
Karnala is the only bird sanctuary in the Western Ghats and ecologists have been saying that the airport could also affect other wildlife in the region. Cidco, which is the nodal agency for the project, received clearance from the environment ministry two years ago, but it apparently did not mention about the bird sanctuary.
According to the rules, projects planned within a 10 km radius of such protected areas required the approval of the wildlife authorities, which is why the issue was referred to the ministry again. The wildlife committee is expected to visit the site for the airport soon, before arriving at a final decision.
23/03/13 Shankar Abidi/Daily News & Analysis

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Relief! Passengers with hand baggage zip out of new airport in 15 minutes

Chennai: Passengers arriving at Chennai’s new airport terminal were surprised that they could walk out of the complex in less than 15 minutes from the time their aircraft landed. Coming out early, some of them had to wait 20-25 minutes to be picked up .
It just took eight minutes for the first passenger arriving from Delhi to come out of the terminal. “This short time was next to impossible at the old terminal,” said Sudhakar, a businessman, who is a frequent traveller between Chennai and Delhi. “I hope they will be able to sustain this over a long run,” he said.
On the second day of the new terminal’s soft launch, a SpiceJet flight with over 100 passengers touched down at 1245 hrs, and the first passenger with just a shoulder bag walked out of the terminal at 1253 hours. In the old terminal, aircraft are parked near the runway with buses ferrying passengers to the terminal. It takes more than twenty-five minutes to come out of the terminal and if there is baggage, it takes more time.
22/03/13 TE Raja Simhan/Business Line

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Chennai airport new terminal opens, more operations from Monday

Chennai: The first passenger was a carpenter from Port Blair and the last a Greek couple when the new domestic terminal at Chennai airport received its first flight on Thursday afternoon. All the 93 passengers of the GoAir flight from Port Blair had a pleasantsurprise as they gotoff the plane.
"Twenty days ago, we flew outof a terminal which was not good.Today,this building isshiny and neat. We are happy to see the change," said Anastasios Sagris, a tourist."It is good airports here are becoming better," Sagris said. The passengers who started to file out of the terminal at 1.10pm were a mix of tourists, residents and traders.
Passengers had to walk to the existing terminal to meet relativesor friendsbecause visitors did not know the GoAir flight was arriving at the new building. AAI plans to keep a board at the existing terminal to display details of arrivals on the newbuilding.
22/03/13 Times of India

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RGIA gets Airport of the Year award

Hyderabad: The Rajiv Gandhi International Airport added another feather to its cap by winning the Airport of the Year award (in the category of airports handling less than 10 million passengers) at the 2013 Air Transport News Awards.
The  ceremony was held in Montreal, Canada.
The ATN Awards, in its second consecutive year, has established a reputation as a major distinction for the leading companies and personalities in the air transport industry.
22/03/13 Deccan Chronicle

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Three nabbed with gold worth Rs85 lakh at airport

Nagpur: The custom department's air intelligence unit has intercepted three passengers travelling with 3.45kg gold, worth around Rs85lakh, after they reached Dr BabasahebAmbedkar International Airport from Sharjah in an Air Arabia flight on Friday early morning.
Sources at the airport said that the three have been identified as Arshad Ahmed Bhatkal, Mohammed Ashraf and Fawad Abdul Qadir. They were nabbed immediately after they reached here with the gold in their possession. The reason for the three passengers choosing Nagpur as their point of entry into India is still not clear, since none of them hails from the city.
22/03/13 Times of India

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'Repeated' promise on Sahnewal airport fails to excite residents

Ludhiana:  The industry is not too excited and is showing a mixed response to the state government's claim to upgrade the Sahnewal airport to facilitate bigger commercial and cargo planes. The government's recent claim came in its budget document for 2013-14.
While some of the industrialists welcome the announcement, there are many who opine the government had announced this before, but failed to keep its word.
The budget document reads that the length of the runway at Ludhiana airport has to be increased from 4,800ft to 7,500ft to facilitate the landing of bigger Boeing passenger and cargo planes to cater to the needs of the industrial hub. The state government has also mentioned that it is in the process of acquiring 1,827 acre land to set up an integrated aero-city complex consisting cargo and warehouse facilities.
21/03/13 Times of India

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Javed in aircraft for an hour after landing air india

It was a 10 hour and 40 minute long flight from Tokyo to Delhi and JavedAbidi, the director of the National Centre for Promotion of Employment for Disabled People (NCPEDP) and a paraplegic, was looking forward to getting back home. However, Abidi had to wait an additional one hour inside the aircraft as the airline sent his wheelchair to the baggage pick-up area inside the terminal and had to have it retrieved.
"As an internationally established rule, if a disabled person is travelling with his or her wheelchair, it should be brought to the aircraft for the passenger to exit on that. I make it a practice to not only inform the airline at the departing station but also before we are to land that I will need my wheelchair. Despite taking all such precautions even this time, Air India sent my wheelchair to the conveyor belt and I was made to wait an hour for it," said Abidi.
21/03/13 Times of India

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IndiGo launches flights from Mumbai to Kolkata, Jaipur, Nagpur

New Delhi: No frill carrier IndiGo has launched new flights from Mumbai to Kolkata, Jaipur and Nagpur.
The airline would be operating these flights with the newly acquired Airbus A320 aircraft.
The Mumbai-Kolkata flight will be its fifth daily and direct flight between the two metropolis, while Mumbai-Nagpur and Mumbai-Jaipur would be its third daily and direct flights between these cities.
21/03/13 PTI/Economic Times

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IndiGo launches flights from Mumbai to Kolkata, Jaipur, Nagpur

New Delhi: No frill carrier IndiGo has launched new flights from Mumbai to Kolkata, Jaipur and Nagpur.
The airline would be operating these flights with the newly acquired Airbus A320 aircraft.
The Mumbai-Kolkata flight will be its fifth daily and direct flight between the two metropolis, while Mumbai-Nagpur and Mumbai-Jaipur would be its third daily and direct flights between these cities.
21/03/13 PTI/Economic Times

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Advocates attempt to barge into Madurai airport

Madurai:  Tension prevailed in Madurai airport as lawyers attempted to barge into the airport overpowering the security personnel, as a part of the protest against Sri Lanka.
More than 150 lawyers, both from the Madurai district court and the Madras high court bench here, who reached the airport tried to enter the premises. Despite heavy police personnel deployed to avert any untoward incident, the lawyers tried to enter the airport. Crossing two barricades near the airport's main gate, the lawyers reached the entrance. When they tried to enter into the airport, a skirmish occurred between the lawyers and personnel of the Central Industrial Security Force. An advocate sustained minor injury in the skirmish as a result of which the spurred lawyers demanded an apology from the security person. The scuffle came to an end after an apology from the police.
21/03/13 Times of india

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Saif asked to leave VIP lounge at Lucknow airport

Lucknow: Bollywood star Saif Ali Khan faced an embarrassing situation at the airport here today when he was asked to leave the VIP lounge.
The 42-year-old actor, who was in the city for the shooting of Tigmanshu Dhulia's upcoming directorial 'Bullet Raja', was on his way to Delhi when he reached the Chaudhary Charan Singh airport and entered the VIP lounge, airport sources said. An attendant informed Saif that only those who figured in a list authorised by the government could utilise the VIP lounge, and hence he should leave the place, they said.
21/03/13 PTI/ZeeNews

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Air travel: As small-town Indian soars, men from metros go limp

On air travel small town Indians' have grounded their cosmopolitan cousins and SpiceJet shows way, shows Airports Authority of India. Even as people in big cities are refraining from travelling by air, travellers from smaller cities have shown preference for flying over other modes of travel. The air travel data between April and December of the current fiscal show that smaller airports in the country have registered an increase in the total number of domestic passengers while airports in larger cities are seeing a decline.
Data compiled by the Airports Authority of India (AAI) show that 17 large international airports have registered a decline during the period. Of the 17 airports, six are private airports that include Delhi and Mumbai and have registered the highest decline of 8.6 per cent followed by 11 other international airports that has seen a decline of 4.5 per cent.
Smaller airports’ increase in domestic passengers, however, did not help the overall numbers from falling.
20/03/13 Mihir Mishra/Financial Express

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Centre to promote NE air connectivity

New Delhi: The Centre has ruled out the possibility of promoting low cost carriers for the North Eastern States. An initial No Objection Certificate has been given to North East Shuttle Private Limited to operate schedule air transport (regional) services in the region.
Civil Aviation Minister, Ajit Singh said that the Ministry has engaged M/s Delloittee Touche Tohmatsu India Private Limited as a consultant to recommend measures for promoting regional and remote Area Air Connectivity in the country.
A Committee headed by joint Secretary Rohit Nandan to review the Civil Aviation Requirement on Regional Scheduled Operations (RSOP) has recommended identification of towns and cities for promoting air connectivity, revision of the Route Dispersal Guidelines and creation of Regional Air Connectivity Fund (RACF).
20/03/13 Assam Tribune

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Bucharest Airports Company to audit India's Chennai and Ahmedabad aviation facilities

The National Company ‘Bucharest Airports' (CNAB) will audit India's Chennai and Ahmedabad aviation facilities under the 'Airport Safety Excellence Review' program, CNAB informs.
The National Company ‘Bucharest Airports' received in February 2013 the Airport Excellence Safety Review mission that was conducted by Airports Council International experts in partnership with the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). Following this audit, CNAB became the first airport to have received the Airport Excellence in Safety certification and was also confirmed as a strategic contributor to the Airport Excellence Program (APEX), which will promote the top-modern air safety procedures and standards in airports worldwide.
Along with the CNAB certification as 'Safety Partner' under the ACI Airport Excellence program, the company will also be part of the international airport auditing missions.
20/03/13 actmedia

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New domestic terminal to be thrown open on Friday

Officials of Airport Authority of India (AAI) conducted the safety assessment of the new baggage ramp on Tuesday and it proved to be successful, they said. Hence the arrival hall at the new domestic terminal building will be commissioned on Friday.
“We conducted trial runs on the ramp with the Airline representatives on Tuesday; and the ramp was safe and able to bear the required load as well. Hence the commissioning of the arrival hall will be done on Friday,” said an AAI official.
On Wednesday, AAI officials who conducted the safety assessment will hold discussions with Airline Operating Committee and then formulate the Standard Operating Procedure, he added.
This follows a meeting with the airlines in which the airlines have agreed to shift their operations from the existing old terminal arrival hall to the new arrival hall before Friday.
20/03/13 P Oppili/The Hindu

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Air Navigation Services to be Upgraded

The Minister of State for Civil Aviation, Shri K.C Venugopal informed Lok Sabha today about the details regarding upgradation of Air Navigation Services (ANS) of the existing airports in the country especially North Eastern States using latest technology. As per the Twelfth Five Year Plan the following measures are being taken :
(i) ATS Automation system has been implemented at 34 airports across India including Guwahati, Agartala, Imphal and Dimapur.
(ii) Automatic Dependent Surveillance- Broadcast (ADS-B) has been installed at 14 locations including Guwahati and Agartala.
(iii) Airports Authority of India (AAI) is in the process of installing ADS-B at Dibrugarh in the second phase, which will augment the surveillance coverage over North Eastern airspace.
(iv) VOR has been planned to be installed at Teju and Pakyong.
(v) Under upper Airspace Harmonization Programme (UAH), Area Control is being developed at Agartala, in addition to Guwahati, which will result in efficient provision of Air Traffic Management.
(vi) Two new ATS routes between Guwahati- Dimapur and Dimapur- Silchar are proposed to be established which will save fuel and reduce operating cost of Airlines and carbon emissions.
(vii) ILS has been planned to be installed at Barapani.
20/03/13 Press Information Bureau

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About 300 police personnel deployed at IGI airport

New Delhi: Close to 300 personnel from Delhi Police are deployed at IGI airport while 200 are deputed at Metro stations here, Rajya Sabha was informed today.
"The number of Delhi Police personnel posted at IGI airport and Delhi Metro stations as on December 31, 2012 is 296 and 200 respectively," Minister of State for Home Affairs Mullappally Ramachandran said in a written reply.
20/03/13 PTI/Economic Times

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SpiceJet passengers first to use new Chennai terminal

Chennai: The passengers reaching Chennai by SpiceJet flight on Friday morning are expected to be the first set of commuters to use the new domestic terminal in the city airport. With safety assessment for re-modeled ramp area underway and the officials working on standard operating procedures (SOP), the new terminal will soon be operationalised in a phased manner, said airport director H.S. Suresh.
“We will first start operations with two airlines, namely SpiceJet and Go Air and later bring in others to the new building,” Suresh said, adding that after a week or 10 days of stabilising arrival operations, the departure operations will also commence from the new premises.
Meanwhile on Tuesday, the former Chennai airport director and currently AAI executive director (technical) E.P. Hareendranathan met top officials in the Se­cretariat and discussed ab­o­ut the traffic plan pertaining to commissioning of the new domestic terminal.
20/03/13 Decan Chronicle

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Srinagar Airport area sold out to land mafias: BJP

Jammu: The BJP today alleged that the Congress-led UPA government has sold out the most secured runway of the country, at Srinagar.
 "It is now confirmed that the Congress-led UPA government has sold out the most secured runway of the country at Srinagar to land mafias", BJP national secretary, former MP and party’s Scams Committee national in-charge Kirit Somaiya said while addressing a press conference here.
 The Defence Ministry and CBI findings confirmed the apprehension that the Srinagar Airport is in danger, said Somaiya.
19/03/13 PTI/Greater Kashmir

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Indigo flight returns to Agartala airport after bird-hit

A Delhi-bound Indigo Airlines Airbus flight had a narrow shave when it suffered a bird hit immediately after take off from the Agartala airport today.
The aircraft had just taken off when a large bird, possibly a falcon or an eagle, was sucked into the engine, prompting the pilot to immediately fly back to the tarmac, airline sources said.
20/03/13 PTI/Economic Times

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Seat credit system mooted for regional air connectivity

The civil aviation ministry has mooted a carbon credit-like system which will allow airlines to trade seat capacity as a part of its plan to promote regional routes.
“It is an idea. We are discussing it with airlines. If we mandate an airline to fly to the Northeast and it is unable to operate, it would be able to trade seats under this policy. It will be akin to carbon credits,” Minister for Civil Aviation Ajit Singh said while speaking at the Routes Asia conference in Mumbai yesterday.
This carbon credit system is expected to generate greater financial viability for regional operators.
“Instead of scheduled carriers flying half empty A-320 and B-737 aircrafts to small airports to comply with their obligations under Route Dispersal Guidelines (RDG), the same can be done by smaller aircrafts operated by regional air taxi operators.  The regional operators would operate on high seat factors and provide greater frequency of service to smaller locations,” explained Amber Dubey, Partner and Head-Aviation at global consultancy KPMG.
Each available seat-km (ASKM) operated by regional operators can be given one ‘credit’. The credits can then be auctioned off to a national carrier that is ready to pay the highest. This value of the seat credit would be market determined and the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) can play an observer’s role.
19/03/13 Aneesh Phadnis & Disha Kanwar/Business Standard

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New airport terminal opens in Chennai on Friday

Chennai: The Airports Authority of India (AAI) is finally in take-off mode. After copping a jet load of flak by overstepping several deadlines for the new international and domestic terminals and delaying them by two years, AAI will finally open the domestic terminal for arrivals on Friday.
The glitzy structure, which has every facility expected in a world-class airport terminal, is expected to enhance flyer experience exponentially, as passengers using the airport have for long been used to making do with the drab old terminal.
However, AAI officials refused to set a date for opening the international terminal, saying only that it would be opened once all systems are moved from the old domestic terminal to the new one and they are satisfied that operations are streamlined.
19/03/13 V Ayyappan/Times of India

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Navi Mumbai airport project hits compensation hurdles

Mumbai: The Maharashtra government has decided to review the compensation to be paid to acquire the remaining land for the Navi Mumbai airport project, dealing a serious blow to the much-delayed airport's chances of being ready on time. Chief minister PrithvirajChavan told reporters that the Cidco has been asked to suggest whether the package promised to land owners from nearby areas in other projects can also be applied in this case.
Cidco, which is the nodal agency for the project, has acquired about 70% of the land. But it faces difficulty in buying the remaining land due to opposition from land owners who want the compensation to be on par with what Cidco is offering to other project-affected persons in other areas.
Chavan said that Cidco would study whether it can transfer 12.5% of the land acquired from each individual owner to his or her name after development, or provide land elsewhere in the district. "If the land that has to be still acquired needs a different compensation package, the government is willing to rework the package," the chief minister said.
19/03/13 Rohit Chandavarkar/Economic Times

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New terminal at Ranchi airport to be inaugurated on Sunday

Ranchi: The new terminal building at BirsaMunda Airport here will be inaugurated by civil aviation minister Ajit Singh on March 24. The decision has been taken by the Airports Authority of India (AAI) after a long wait. The world-class terminal building was waiting for inauguration for long.
Ranchi airport director R R Kumar confirmed the development on Monday evening. Though the airport was used by Team India and England players in the run-up to the maiden ODI in Ranchi in January, it was waiting for a date for the formal inauguration.
19/03/13 Times of India

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Chhattisgarh demands international flights from Raipur

Raipur:  The Chhattisgarh government has demanded that the Centre accord international status to Raipur airport and operate international flights from here.
"The state government has requested the Centre to accord international status to the airport here as it has facilities, which are at par with international standards," an official was quoted saying in a press note.
The release also said that about 200 acres of land was being provided to the Airport Authority of India (AAI) for extension of the Swami Vivekananda Airport here, so that 400-seater Boeings can also be operated, the release said.
19/03/13 PTI/Economic Times

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European airports woo Indian carriers

Mumbai: European airports are wooing Indian carriers to start services in the wake of intense competition from  aviation hubs like Dubai or Doha  for a pie of India's international traffic.
According to civil aviation ministry data, 37 million passengers flew to/from India in 2010-11, of which 11.4 million were connected by hubs outside India. Dubai, Doha, Frankfurt, Sharjah and Singapore are the top five aviation hubs preferred by Indian air travellers.
Now airports in Europe including ones in Amsterdam, Dublin, London Gatwick and Munich are luring Indian airlines to start direct services. Representatives from these cities met Air India and Jet Airways executives at the Routes Asia conference in Mumbai over the
last two days.
"We are discussing with Indian airlines. Munich would be a logical choice for Jet Airways  in Germany," said Oliver Dersch, Director (traffic development) of Munich airport.
19/03/13 Business Standard

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More land sought to extend Mangalore runway

Mangalore: Union Minister for Civil Aviation Ajit Singh said here on Monday that the Airports Authority of India (AAI) would extend the concrete runway at Mangalore International Airport if the State government hands over an additional 285 acres of land.
Addressing a gathering after inaugurating the cargo complex at the airport the Minister said if the land was made available the concrete runway (rigid pavement runway) would be extended up to 3,400 meters to handle larger aircraft like Boeing 747-400 and Boeing 777-200. “I will request the State government to provide the land to the AAI,” he said.
The existing concrete runway is 2,450-metere long and the length of the old tar runway (flexible pavement runway) is 1,468 meters.
He said that the cargo terminal at the airport had a floor area of 1,400 square meters for handling international cargo and 1,100 square metre of floor area for handling domestic cargo.
“The facility has annual holding capacity of 5,000 tonnes for international import cargo and 13,000 tonnes for international export cargo. It has the annual holding capacity of 18,000 tonnes for domestic in-bound cargo and 21,000 tonnes for domestic out-bound cargo,” Mr. Singh said.
19/03/13 The Hindu

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