How the AERA bill will impact the government's airport privatisation plan

The Narendra Modi-led government has made privatisation of public sector undertakings (PSUs) and asset monetisation cornerstones of its economic agenda. And as part of the Rs 2.5 lakh crore asset monetisation plan, the central government is also looking to sell its residual stake in airports.

As per reports, the government is looking to raise Rs 20,000 crore in 2021-22 and is all set to sell its residual stake in Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru and Hyderabad airports. Furthermore, the government has identified 13 more airports run by the Airports Authority of India (AAI) for privatisation.

In a bid to expedite its assets monetisation plan and for faster development of smaller airports in the country, the Central government on March 24 introduced the Airports Economic Regulatory Authority of India (Amendment) Bill, 2021 (AERA bill).

The AERA bill intends to change the definition of ‘major airport’ in India and under the bill, the central government may designate any airport as a major airport by a notification. The bill adds that the central government may group airports and notify them as one major airport.

The move is expected to help make smaller airports more attractive for private players to redevelop and operate under the public-private partnership model, market experts and analysts said.

“Airports like Kanpur, Gorakhpur, Agra and Aligarh are examples of airports that can be clubbed together as a ‘major airport’ and then bids can be invited for their operation and redevelopment,” a Delhi-based industry expert said.

He added that airports in Nashik, Aurangabad and Nagpur can also be grouped together to be redeveloped and operated.

31/03/21 Yaruqhullah Khan/Moneycontrol.com

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Air Services from 8 airports to 68 locations in the last 4 years in UP

Lucknow: The air connectivity to Uttar Pradesh has increased 3-fold in the last four years, with as many as 68 connections now to domestic destinations from eight functional airports in the state, against just four operational airports four years back.
The sustained efforts of the Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath have started showing positive results as far as regional air connectivity is concerned and consequently, the number of passengers also increased by 27.2 percent in the year 2018-19 as compared to the year 2016-17, officials here on Wednesday said.

By 2025, Uttar Pradesh will have the highest number of airports both domestic and international with a total of 21 airports including 5 international airports.

The remarkable growth of the civil aviation sector in the past 4 years is the outcome of UP CM Yogi Adityanath’s commitment and vision to make Uttar Pradesh a civil aviation hub. The Yogi Government focused on the development of the airports in every division with the aim to provide air connectivity to every resident of the state.

The thrust to air travel emanates from the Centre’s regional connectivity scheme and the proactive stance taken by the Adityanath government to boost the aviation sector for tourism and industrial development.

31/03/21 UNI

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48 flights at city airport under summer schedule

Patna: Altogether 48 flights to and from Jayaprakash Narayan International Airport (JPNI) are operational from Sunday as per the summer schedule released on Tuesday.

Earlier, 47 flights were operating from the city airport as per the revised winter scheduled from February 5.

Airport director Bhupesh CH Negi told TOI on Tuesday that the number of flights operated by different airlines has remained almost the same under the summer schedule as well. “Few airlines have added a few while others have reduced their flights. Thus, the overall number of flights operating from the airport has remained around the same,” Negi said.

An IndiGo executive said two flights have been added to its winter schedule from Patna -- one direct flight each to Jaipur and Pune.

Negi said one of the reasons behind not much change in the number of flights is a capping on total number of flights operated by the airlines in the country at 80% of their pre-Covid levels. The commercial domestic flight operations in the country remained suspended from March 23 to May 25 last year owing to Covid-induced lockdown.

The civil aviation ministry in November last year allowed the airlines to operate 70% of their pre-Covid levels and the cap on the number of flights was further increased to 80% in December.

“The cap of 80% will remain effective till April 30. This is why the airlines could not make substantial increase in the number of flights operated by them,” Negi said.

He said few airlines have proposed to increase the number of flights from Patna but it is possible only if the civil aviation ministry raises or lifts the cap.

“We are operating 20-21 flights daily from Patna airport and proposals are afoot to increase it up to 28. However, it will be possible only when the capping of 80% flights of pre-Covid level is lifted,” the IndiGo executive said.

31/03/21 Piyush Tripathi/Times of India

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Maldivian to start flights from Maafaru to Mumbai

 Maldivian is set to commence direct flights from Maafaru, Maldives to Mumbai, India in April 2021. Flights on the new sector will be operational on Tuesdays, Fridays, and Sundays.

Currently, the flag carrier of Maldives operates three flights from Malé to Thiruvananthapuram and two flights from Malé to Cochin under its India network.

Maafaru International Airport located in Noonu atoll was opened in 2019 and is managed by Island Aviation Services.

“With three weekly direct flights from Maafaru, another international hub of the largest source market will be connected to the North Maldives from India,” reads an official release by Maldives Marketing and Public Relations Corporation.

31/04/21  Business Traveller 

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Hyd-Hubli flights restart from Wednesday

Hyderabad: Commercial flights between Hyderabad and Hubli, in Karnataka, recommenced with the first Alliance Air aircraft taking off at 6.35 am on Wednesday. With this sector, the GMR Hyderabad International Airport is connected to 57 domestic destinations.

Pradeep Panicker, CEO, GMR Hyderabad International Airport Ltd, said, "The Recommencement of this service testifies that the passenger confidence in flying is gradually increasing and GMR Hyderabad International Airport is geared up to meet the growing demand. These services which were launched under UDAN (Ude Desh ka Aam Nagrik), a regional connectivity scheme launched by the Government of India to enhance air connectivity to tier 2 and tier 3 cities, are very crucial in re-establishing connectivity with metros."

Alliance Air has deployed a 70 seater ATR 72 600 on this sector. Flight No. 9I 879 will depart from Hyderabad at 6.25 a.m. and arrive in Hubli at 8 a.m. In return, Flight No. 9I 880 will depart from Hubli at 8.25 a.m. and arrive in Hyderabad at 9.55 a.m. The flight service is scheduled to operate thrice a week: Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

Harpreet A De Singh, CEO - Alliance Air, said "This new flight will make the connectivity between Hyderabad and Hubli seamless and agile. Alliance Air aims to connect India with an Alliance of Hearts across the country with unique routes, unique destinations overcoming unique challenges. We look forward to serving Hyderabad and Hubbali with safety and service as our first priority."

31/03/21 IANS/Daijiworld

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Taxi services hit at Bengaluru airport after driver commits suicide, passengers told to use BMTC services

Bengaluru: Taxi services at the Bengaluru airport have been severely impacted after a taxi driver, who set himself ablaze on Tuesday, succumbed to his injuries later.

According to reports, Pratap Gowda, the taxi driver from Karnataka's Ramanagara, had attempted suicide by setting himself ablaze inside his cab at Kempegowda International Airport on Tuesday.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Bengaluru-Northeast Division CK Baba said the taxi driver died at the Victoria Hospital last night. The reason for committing suicide is yet to be ascertained, he added.

As a result of the tragic incident, the taxi services at the BLR Airport were impacted. 

Kempegowda International Airport had on Tuesday issued an advisory and asked the passengers to use the BMTC bus service for travel to and from BLR Airport or make their own travel arrangements.

31/03/21 ZeeNews

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Random Covid-19 screening at Delhi airport from today, mandatory quarantine for those found positive

New Delhi: The Delhi Disaster Management Authority has said that passengers arriving in Delhi from states witnessing a surge in Covid-19 cases may be tested randomly for infection. It said that the random testing will be conducted at the Delhi Airport, all railway stations, Inter-state Bus Terminals (ISBT) and other alighting points.

The order said that passengers who are found positive for infection will be mandatorily quarantine either at home or at a hospital for at least 10 days. The decision has been taken in view of rising Covid-19 cases in the national capital.

Earlier on Tuesday, aviation regulator Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) told airport operators to increase surveillance at airports and levy spot fines against those not following Covid-19 protocols.

Delhi had recorded 1,881 fresh cases on Sunday, 1,558 on Saturday, 1,534 on Friday, 1,515 on Thursday, 1,254 on Wednesday and 1,101 on Tuesday -- the first time since December 24 that the number of cases crossed the 1,000 mark. The positivity rate was 2.77 per cent on Monday, 2.35 per cent on Sunday, 1.70 per cent on Saturday, 1.80 per cent on Friday, 1.69 per cent on Thursday, 1.52 per cent on Wednesday and 1.31 per cent on Tuesday.

Delhi's caseload stood at over 6.25 lakh on January 1 and the total fatalities were 10,557.

The number of daily cases had started to come down in February. On February 26, the month's highest daily count of 256 cases was recorded. However, daily cases started rising again in March and have been steadily increasing over the past few days. Last week, Jain had ruled out the possibility of another lockdown being imposed in Delhi, saying it was not a solution to check the spread of coronavirus.

31/03/21 India TV

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‘UP first state with int’l flights from 5 airports’

Gorakhpur: Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and Union civil aviation minister Hardeep Singh Puri flagged off the inaugural Gorakhpur-Lucknow flight from the Mahayogi Gorakshnath Airport on Sunday as Air India’s subsidiary, Alliance Air, commenced its daily direct flights.

The CM also laid the foundation of the expansion of the Gorakhpur Airport terminal building.

Now, Gorakhpur has direct flights to Lucknow, New Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Prayagraj. Another flight from Gorakhpur to Ahmedabad is all set to be launched on April 12.

Union civil aviation minister Hardeep Singh Puri said Uttar Pradesh is the first state which has drafted a civil aviation policy and said the Jewar international airport in Noida would be completed on time.

Speaking on the occasion, CM Yogi said, “The air connectivity in the state was not good earlier. Just four years ago, except Lucknow and Varanasi, not many cities had air service, but with the inspiration of PM Narendra Modi, UP is going to become the first state to provide international flights from five airports.”

“PM Modi had said that a person wearing ‘hawai chappal’ should also be able to travel by air, and his dream is coming true. Now, there are flights from Gorakhpur to all major cities like New Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Prayagraj. Today daily flight between Gorakhpur and Lucknow has also started,” he added.

31/03/21 Arjumand Bano/Times of India

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There will be no hike in tariff fees for to air passengers till Sept

Bengaluru: Air passengers travelling through Kempegowda International Airport (KIA) can heave a sigh of relief for now as the Airport Economic Regulatory Authority of India (AERA) has ordered that the existing User Development Fee (UDF) and other tariffs will continue for the next six months, from April to September 30.

However, this is only an interim arrangement. The UDF could seek a hike if the tariff determination process for the current Control Period (five-year periods in terms of aeronautical tariff), now in progress, is completed earlier than six months, according to the KIA sources.

Citing revenue shortfall due to the Covid-triggered closure of airport operations, the Bangalore International Airport Limited (BIAL) had sought an increase in aeronautical charges.

Last year, AERA had revised both the UDF and landing charges at KIA for the 2020-21 financial year, effective from June 1, 2020. This was to recover the shortfall of Rs 136.82 crore due to the abolition of Fuel Throughput Charges (FTC).

For international embarking passengers, the UDF was fixed at Rs 839 and Rs 184 for domestic travellers. BIAL had then sought a 66 per cent increase in landing charges, which the authority felt was high in view of the crisis in the aviation industry. The airlines had benefited from the abolition of FTC.

To moderate the burden, it was decided that the compensation should be shared by the airlines and d passengers by a 70:30 ratio. The aircraft landing charges were revised accordingly, sources added.

30/04/21 UNI

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Bangalore airport to refuse boarding or evict passengers without mask inside terminal building

New Delhi: The Bangalore airport management has told TOI it will either not allow boarding of flights to passengers inside the terminal building who refuse to wear masks despite being requested to do so, or evict them from the terminal building.

While violators outside terminal building will be fined Rs 250 each.

Bangalore International Airport Ltd’s (BIAL) decision came hours after the government on Tuesday warned Covid norm violators at airports will face police action and may also be fined at some places.

Union aviation minister H S Puri on Tuesday warned the government is “moving in direction of punitive action by police against passengers who don’t comply.”

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has directed all airport operators to explore “taking punitive action, such as levy of spot fines… so as to serve a deterrent for violation of Covid-19 protocol.”

Following this directive, a BIAL spokesperson said the airport is constantly reminding passengers to follow all Covid norms and has constituted a dedicated team of officials to patrol the terminal to ensure passengers wear a mask properly.

“Nevertheless, if passengers refuse to wear masks, or do not cooperate with the task force, we will initiate punitive action — including not allowing them to board their flight, or even evicting such passengers from the terminal. BIAL is determined to ensure COVID-19 protocols.”

About the Rs 250-fine levied as per Karnataka state rules on mask-rule violators in public places, she said, “So far, 16 people in the airport premises (outside terminal building) have been fined for not adhering to the government order.”

Aviation authorities’ action comes after the regulator carried surprise checks at several airports in recent days.

“During surveillance of some airports, (found) compliance is not satisfactory,” a DGCA circular issued Tuesday directing airport operators to ensure everyone follows Covid norms of properly wearing masks and social distancing.

A Mumbai airport spokesperson said, “In light of the latest DGCA order, (it) will strategise with all relevant stakeholders and adopt any relevant measures to safeguard the health and safety of passengers and personnel at the airport.”

Delhi and Hyderabad airports says their experience so far has been violators “comply with the protocol on being reminded.”

30/03/21 Saurabh Sinha/Times of India

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As Privatisation of More Airports Hits Runway, Jittery AAI Staff Plans Protest Action

New Delhi: Multiple union bodies representing different class of employees of the Airport Authority of India (AAI) have planned to intensify their campaign against privatisation and launch an agitation against handing over of airports to private players.

Under the banner of the Joint Forum of Unions and Associations of AAI, the unions have urged the Centre to roll back its plan for privatising more Indian airports.

To begin with, the unions have given a call to stage a one-day dharna on Wednesday, March 31, in front of all AAI establishments, including the airports controlled by it and the regional headquarters. This will be followed by lunch hour demonstrations every Wednesday.

Having earmarked an ambitious target of raising Rs. 2.5 lakh crore through asset monetisation in the upcoming 2021-22 fiscal year, the Narendra Modi-led Central government has given a green signal to privatise AAI-owned airports in Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities, as announced last month by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman during her Budget Speech.

Consequently, the Ministry of Civil Aviation identified 13 AAI airports to be monetised through the OMDA (Operation, Management, Development Agreement) model, as per an Indian Express report.

Among these, the AAI board had approved the leasing of six airports – Bhubaneshwar, Varanasi, Amritsar, Raipur, Indore and Trichy – earlier, while seven more airports – Jharsuguda, Kushinagar, Gaya, Kangra, Jalgaon, Jabalpur, and Salem – were reportedly shortlisted recently.  

The AAI plans to bundle the airports in the latter group with the former one before offering it to the prospective bidders. This decision is in line with its proposed new model to club a profitable airport with a non-profitable one, before putting them on the block.

The Ministry of Civil Aviation is hoping to raise Rs. 20,000 crore through sale of assets under the upcoming round of privatisation that is set to kickstart from April.

The Centre has already privatised six airports – Ahmedabad, Lucknow, Mangalore, Jaipur, Guwahati, and Thiruvananthpuram – last year. Besides, the government is also now looking to divest the remaining equity stakes held by AAI in the Delhi (26%), Mumbai (26%), Bengaluru (13%) and Hyderabad (13%) airports.

30/03/21 Ronak Chhabra/Newsclick

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16 airports in tier-2, 3 and 4 towns surpass pre-COVID-19 passenger traffic

Even as the overall recovery in passenger traffic slowed down in the Indian aviation sector in February, airports in tier 2, 3 and 4 cities continue to be outliers.

From 14 in January, now 16 airports in these cities and towns have surpassed their pre-COVID-19 numbers, data from Airports Authority of India show. Most of the airports on the list improved on their numbers from January.

Airports in metros continue to be in deficit, with subdued corporate travel and restrictions impacting demand. These trends may accentuate in March, say industry observers, as reported cases of COVID-19 infection re-surge. In some of the busiest destinations, including Mumbai, the infections in this second wave have been much higher than the toll in the first wave.

Interestingly, daily flights continue to rise. A report by rating agency ICRA showed that departures have increased from 416 on May 25, when domestic flights resumed post the lockdown, to 2885 on February 14.

Still, from a year ago period, the average daily flights in February continue to be lower.

Airports in Dibrugarh, Rajkot, Dimapur and Kishangarh entered the list of those with traffic numbers higher, year-on-year, in February.

Interestingly, Airports Authority of India took to Twitter on March 29, to highlight the increase in footfalls in Dibrugarh airport. 

29/03/21 Prince Mathews Thomas/Moneycontrol.com

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Bengaluru, gear up for DigiYatra: Here's how your face will be your passport at KIA

Bengaluru: Your travel to Bengaluru's Kempegowda International Airport may already be a tedious affair duue to the congested roads. But the Ministry of Civil Aviation hopes to make your journey through the airport a lot faster, smoother and hassle-free.

According to a report in the Bangalore Mirror, entry into the airport, security check and aircraft boarding will be processed based on facial biometric systems soon.

The report says that the first phase of DigiYatra will be implemented by the end of the year at several airports, including Kempegowda International Airport (KIA). This paper-free journey experience also promises to give air travellers a seamless and hassle-free journey.

This DigiYatra initiative is the brainchild of the Ministry of Civil Aviation. It will use the facial biometrics system to identify travellers at checkpoints like an entry point, entry into security, and aircraft boarding.

In July 2019, as part of the DigiYatra, Early Go Live, a fully biometric-based self-boarding solution for a seamless flow from registration to boarding was launched by the KIA, says the Bangalore Mirror report.

30/03/21 Kirti Pandey/TimesNowNews.com

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Northeast: IndiGo introduces Shillong to Silchar flight

IndiGo airlines began new flight services from Shillong to Silchar.

The news has been confirmed by the Silchar Airport authority.

The IndiGo ATR flight (No. 6E 7957/7943) started its operation on Monday (March 29, 2021) from Shillong to Silchar and back.

The Airports Authority of India (AAI) and SilcharAirport extended all the required support for the smooth operation of the flight.

While sharing a few images of the new flight standing at Silchar Airport, the airport authority tweeted:    “@IndiGo6E introduces new @ATRaircraft Flight no. 6E 7957/7943 from #Shillong to #Silchar & back from 29.03.2021. #AAI #SilcharAirport extended all necessary support for smooth operation of the flight,” Silchar Airport tweeted.

With this, the flight routes that have been operationalised under the UDAN scheme increased to 345, the Union civil aviation ministry said.

30/03/21 Northeast Now

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Gorakhpur Airport terminal building all set for expansion

New Delhi: Gorakhpur Airport in Uttar Pradesh is all set for major makeover and expansion. The foundation stone for extension of the terminal building at Gorakhpur Airport was laid by Yogi Adityanath, Chief Minister, Uttar Pradesh recently in the presence of Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri. An Alliance Air flight from Gorakhpur to Lucknow under RCS-UDAN was also flagged off on this occasion.

Nore that the existing terminal building commissioned in the year 2018 was designed to cater 100 passengers and has an area of 1890 sqm. The passenger traffic at the Gorakhpur airport has grown exponentially in a very short span of time. Thus, to increase the passenger handling capacity of the airport and make the airport suitable for Airbus 320 type of Aircraft, AAI has planned the extension of the existing terminal building at a cost of Rs 26.87 Crores.

Spread in an area of 3440 sqm, the extended terminal will be equipped with 10 check -in- counters and two conveyor belts in the arrival hall. An additional security hold area will also be created at the first floor, after which the terminal building will be able to handle the 200 passengers during peak hours. The new expanded building will have escalators, lifts and enough space for a restaurant and commercial activities.

30/03/21 Harshita Tyagi/ETNowNews.com

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First flight lands at Orvakal airport with 52 passengers

Kurnool: It was a moment of joy and exuberance for the district authorities as well as the passengers who arrived at the newly inaugurated Uyyalawada Narasimha Reddy Airport in Kurnool. As the first flight (IndiGo 6E7911) with 52 passengers from Bengaluru touched the ground, ministers and district officials cheered the arrival of the first flight by waving the national flag and welcomed the passengers with saplings and mouth-watering sweets. The passengers too expressed joy for being one among the first to travel on the maiden flight to Kurnool.

After being inaugurated by Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy and Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri (virtually) on March 25 under the regional connectivity scheme  —Ude Desh ka Aam Nagrik (UDAN)—flight operations began at the Narasimha Reddy Airport as the first passenger flight landed here from Bengaluru at 10.10 am on Sunday. Direct flight operations to Bengaluru, Visakhapatnam and Chennai, which began on the first day is expected to bring the region closer to the major hubs in South India. Flight services to Vijayawada and Tirupati will also begin soon. 

Pilot of the flight, Veera, who was born in Kurnool, expressed satisfaction over the high standards maintained at Orvakal airport. A passenger SMD Sarif said it used to take 15 hours by bus to reach Visakhapatnam from Kurnool. But, now it takes only a couple of hours to reach Vizag, he added. 

29/03/21 New Indian Express

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Meghalaya: IndiGo to begin flight services from Shillong to Silchar

Shillong: IndiGo Airlines is all set to begin flight services from Shillong to Silchar from Meghalaya’s Umroi Airport.

Taking to his official Twitter handle, Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma announced the development on Monday.

“Bright news on #Holi2021 with @IndiGo6E flight commencing its operations from #Shillong to #Silchar. Thank Hon’ble Union Minister of @MoCA_GoI, Sh. @HardeepSPuri Ji for connecting North East closer through the #UDAN Scheme.@sarbanandsonwal@aaishillong@AAIIXSAirport,” Sangma tweeted.

We may note that the Airports Authority of India (AAI) plans to upgrade the runways in seven different airports across the country by March 2022, including Umroi Airport.

29/03/21 Northeast Daily

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Dubai flight misses summer schedule, Indore, Dehradun find space in the list

Mohali: The Dubai flight again misses the international sector connectivity from Chandigarh as the flight has not been announced in the summer schedule by the Airports Authority of India (AAI) on Sunday. The lone Sharjah flight will operate twice a week.

The Indore flight also figures in the summer schedule and another flight will connect Dehradun with the city according to the summer schedule. The Indigo flight will depart for Dehradun at 6.30 pm from Chandigarh to reach Dehradun at 7.30 pm and will depart from Dehradun at 8 pm to arrive Chandigarh at 9 pm. The flight will operate for six days.

Similarly, the Indigo flight will depart from Chandigarh at 6.25 pm to reach Indore at 8.15 pm. The same will depart from Indore at 8.45 pm to arrive Chandigarh at 10.40 pm. The flight will be operational for seven days.

Chief executive officer (CEO) of airport Ajay Bhardwaj said, “We are soon going to introduce two new destinations i.e. Jammu and Jodhpur. The Jammu flight will start from May 1, while the date for Jodhpur is yet to be decided.”

Indigo flight is yet to finalise the timings of Jodhpur and even Go Air, which operates to Jammu, is also finalising the timings.

However, the watch hours have been increased at the Chandigarh International Airport to attain the 24x7 flight operations. Towards this, the last flight to arrive at Chandigarh will be past midnight at 00.15 hours from Jaipur and will depart for Jaipur at 5.30 am. The seven days flight will be operated by Indigo, reads the summer schedule. The frequency of the flight operations have also been increased from 38 flights per day to 47 flights per day adding up the existing destinations.

29/03/21 Times of India

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Flyers out of Mumbai to keep paying development fee for a year more

New Delhi: People flying out of Mumbai must continue paying development fees (DF) — Rs 120 for domestic and Rs 720 for international destinations — till March 31, 2022.

This levy was expected to end this month but has been extended by a year — the situation will be reviewed this December — due to a drastic fall in passenger numbers since the Covid outbreak.

The Airports Economic Regulatory Authority (AERA) had in December 2012 allowed Mumbai International Airport Ltd (MIAL) a levy of DF of Rs 100 and Rs 600 per departing domestic and international passenger, respectively, to cover a deficit of Rs 3,845 crore in airport project financing, up to April 30, 2021.

In 2016, MIAL was allowed to charge a levy of Rs 20 and Rs 120 per departing domestic and international passenger, respectively, to finance the metro works to garner Rs 518 crore. Both these levies were merged to a combined DF of Rs 120 and Rs 720 per domestic and international embarking passenger, respectively that was to be charged till March 31, 2021.

After the outbreak of Covid, passenger numbers dropped drastically at all airports, including Mumbai Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (CSMIA), and the collections went awry.

“… request was received from MIAL for extension of period of levy (in September 2020) due to shortfall in the collection of both the levies…. Airports Authority of India (AAI) confirmed that as on March 31, 2020, Rs 524.6 crore are yet to be collected under project DF, and, a deficit of Rs 102.7 crore is to be collected under metro DF,” AERA says in its order last week.

29/03/21 Saurabh Sinha/Times of India

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Maiden flight to Jaipur takes off from Adampur

Jalandhar: After a hiatus of over two months, the Adampur-Mumbai flight services from the Adampur airport resumed on Sunday. Taking a step further, the airport authorities also launched their maiden air service to Jaipur.

On the first day of the flight to Jaipur, a total of 21 passengers availed the service. While 15 passengers boarded the flight to Jaipur, seven passengers returned on the same flight. For the last two years, several announcements have been made to start the flight from Adampur to Jaipur. MP Santokh Singh Chaudhary, had also assured last year that from November 20, flights for three major cities, including Mumbai, Jaipur and New Delhi, would be operational but they could take off after a delay of 4 months. Similarly, the Spicejet service to Mumbai also resumed today. It was suspended on January 12, this year.

The flight taking off from Mumbai to Adampur has been given a connecting route for Jaipur-Adampur route. The flight will first leave for Adampur from Mumbai Airport at 5.55 am and land here at 9.20 am. The same flight will leave from Adampur at 9.40 am and will land at Jaipur Airport at 10.55 am. After a halt of 30 minutes, the flight will leave Jaipur at 11.25 am and will reach here 12.50 am. After taking a break of 20 minutes, it will take off for Mumbai at 1.10 pm and reach Mumbai Airport at 4.35 pm.

28/03/21 Tribune

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Chennai: Airports Authority of India forms team for mask compliance

Chennai: The Airports Authority of India (AAI) has formed a team of employees to ensure that passengers wear face masks and follow social distancing inside the terminals at Chennai airport.

The compliance team moves around the domestic and international terminals and reminds passengers to maintain social distancing and also to wear masks.

The move comes after there were complaints that many people were not wearing masks and following social distancing at the airport.

Airlines have started to penalize passengers for not wearing masks in flight.

A senior AAI official said, "The initiative was started three days ago. Staff are deployed on rotation every day. They move in teams of three and remind passengers to wear masks if they find anyone without masks in domestic and international terminals." He said, "This is a step forward from creating awareness. Many measures are already in place for creating awareness for Covid-19 precautions. There are notices, boards, announcements. Volunteers too have been roped in earlier to spread awareness."

Periodic awareness programmes are being done. Staff and volunteers from the UN conducted a programme outside the terminals recently.

Though these campaigns are done, people not wearing masks outside the terminals. Many people who come to drop or see off passengers do not wear mask.

It is now difficult for people to walk in without a mask as CISF and other staff remind them to use one after the ministry of civil aviation has asked for strict compliance.

However, social distancing has gone for a toss at the entry and exit, security check, security hold area inside the terminals. In the arrival terminal, baggage conveyor is a point where a lot of crowding happens as some times bags of more than one flight are delivered in one conveyor. This leads to at least 200 people standing around waiting for bags at a time.

28/03/21 Times of India

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Yogi Adityanath, Hardeep Singh flag off Gorakhpur-Lucknow flight service under RCS-UDAN scheme

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath along with Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri on Sunday flagged off Gorakhpur-Lucknow flight service under Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS)-UDAN scheme, the Airports Authority of India (AAI) informed.

According to a press statement issued by the AAI, the dignitaries also laid the foundation stone for expansion of the Gorakhpur Airport terminal building in Uttar Pradesh's Gorakhpur.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath along with Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri on Sunday flagged off Gorakhpur-Lucknow flight service under Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS)-UDAN scheme, the Airports Authority of India (AAI) informed.

According to a press statement issued by the AAI, the dignitaries also laid the foundation stone for expansion of the Gorakhpur Airport terminal building in Uttar Pradesh's Gorakhpur.

"The existing terminal building of the Gorakhpur Airport commissioned in the year 2018 was designed to cater 100 passengers and has an area of 1890 sqm. The passenger traffic at the Gorakhpur airport has grown exponentially in a very short span of time. Thus, to increase the passenger handling capacity of the airport and make the airport suitable for Airbus 320 type of Aircraft, AAI has planned the extension of the existing terminal building at a cost of Rs 26.87 crores," the statement said.

The spread in an area of 3440 sqm, the extended terminal will be equipped with 10 check -in- counters and two conveyor belts in the arrival hall. An additional security hold area will also be created at the first floor, after which the terminal building will be able to handle the 200 passengers during peak hours, it added.

28/03/21 ANI/Economic Times

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Night cargo services for perishable items starts from Srinagar Airport: Div Com

Srinagar: In a significant development, authorities in Kashmir have started the night cargo services from Srinagar Airport.

The development comes after DGCA approved the night flight operations from Sunday at Srinagar Airport. The proposal was sent by two major airlines for night flight operations.

Divisional Commissioner Kashmir, P. K. Pole told Kashmir News Observer (KNO) that after the DGCA approved the night flight operations at Srinagar Airport, which has added more into the flying hours and more flight movements. “The flight movement will increase from 32 to around 40 in a day.”

He said that the increase in more flight operations at Srinagar Airport will have a positive impact on the economy of the Valley as far as tourism is concerned.

Talking about the night flight Cargo services, he said, “The night flight cargo services will be used in transporting perishable fruits like cherry or other perishable items like flowers also, which are fragile and will be transported in lesser time”, he said.

Meanwhile, Director Srinagar International Airport, Santosh Dhoke, said that DGCA has approved the night flight operations at Srinagar Airport, after two major Airlines last week conducted night flights on a trial basis at Srinagar Airport, which was successful.

28/03/21 Kashmir Images

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A profitable year for city airport

Coimbatore: Just before the Covid-19 pandemic hit, the Coimbatore International Airport, which had been making losses, made a profit for the first time.

The airport recorded a profit of Rs 23.35 crore in 2019-20, which was also the year it witnessed the highest passenger volume in its history. It became the most profitable airport in the state, leaving Chennai, Trichy, Madurai and Salem airports behind.

According to the profits declared by aviation minister Santanu Sen, the Coimbatore airport handled 30 lakh passengers that year. The airport, which recorded a loss of Rs 19.7 crore and Rs 17.53 crore in the previous two years, managed to turn itself around to make a profit of Rs 23.35 crore, higher than Chennai Airport’s profit of Rs 22.65 crore.

This is despite Coimbatore’s passenger traffic being hardly 13% of Chennai’s. The profit was higher than that of traditionally profitable smaller airports like Trichy, which recorded Rs 22.85 crore.

The numbers also seem to correlate with passenger traffic. Coimbatore’s passenger traffic that year was almost twice that of Trichy, which saw only 15.44 lakh passengers, more than twice that of Madurai, which saw only 13.5 lakh passengers and almost 10 times of Salem. “Our main revenues are from passenger service charges and flight landing charges, which were naturally high because we saw sizeable passenger traffic. As many as 40 flights were landing and taking off, giving us good revenue. Also, we did not have much infrastructure expenses that year,” airport director R Mahalingam said. “More vendors opened stalls and generated more rental income.”

28/03/21 Times of India

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First Vizag-Kurnool IndiGo flight takes off

Visakhapatnam: The first scheduled connectivity flight of IndiGo Airlines from Visakhapatnam Airport to Orvakal Airport was inaugurated by Tourism Minister Muttamsetti Srinivasa Rao here on Sunday. As part of Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS), the flight arrived here from Orvakal. The Minister was accompanied by Visakhapatnam MP M V V Satyanarayana, Visakhapatnam West constituency MLA P G V R Naidu, Airport Director M Raja Kishore, Deputy Mayor of GVMC Jiyyani Sridhar, among others. Later, they distributed boarding passes to the Kurnool-bound passengers at Visakhapatnam Airport. Meanwhile, Chief Post Master General M Venkateswarlu released a postal carrier cover, reflecting Kurnool and Visakhapatnam heritage and culture. With the new air connectivity between Port city and Kurnool, Tourism Minister said, both the cities will be developed more in future.

28/03/21 Hans India

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Madurai-Singapore services hit by CISF shortage at airport

Madurai: Shortage of CISF manpower has hit the frequency of the Madurai-Singapore flight service operated by Air India Express from three a week to just one after officials of the Madurai airport refused to entertain the airline’s request to schedule the departure at 10.55pm, citing that working hours ends at 10pm.

Though the airline was insisted to reschedule it before 10pm, it could not find a suitable slot at the Singapore airport. The change in schedule will affect Madurai as it stands to lose three services to Delhi, as the Singapore flights originate from there.

Director of the airport, S Senthil Valavan said that they could not approve the timing request due to shortage of Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) manpower. They have sought concerned authorities to review the requirement for the airport and allot additional manpower according to the present requirement.

Recently, Madurai airport got additional strength to facilitate round-the-clock operation, but airlines did not come forward for night operation. Subsequently, the strength has been diverted, he said.

As per the summer schedule, the flight will reach Madurai at 1.45pm and leave for Singapore at 10pm on Mondays. Although the schedule starts from March 29, the flight will start its operation as per the new schedule starting from April 5.

28/03/21 V Devanathan/Times of India

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‘Remove meat shops, prune trees near Patna airport’

Patna: Sanjay Kumar Agarwal, the Patna divisional commissioner, on Saturday issued instructions to remove fish and meat shops in the vicinity of the city airport and prune trees for safe and smooth aircraft operations. He also directed the monitoring of the functioning of CCTV cameras in the airport premises.

Agarwal issued the instructions while chairing the meeting of the airport environment management committee.

Meat shops near the airport, including at Chitkohra railway overbridge and Aneesabad among others, have often have been cited as the reason for flights facing bird-hit incidents.

Similarly, trees around the airport, including those at Patna zoo and nearby government bungalows, are required to be pruned periodically to ensure an obstacle-free approach funnel for aircraft landing here. This is also done owing to the comparatively shorter length of the runway.

In his presentation at the environment management committee meeting, airport director Bhupesh C Negi pointed out that the height of the trees has increased beyond the permissible limit and needed pruning.

Accordingly, the divisional commissioner asked Patna divisional forest officer (DFO) to coordinate with the Sanjay Gandhi Biological Park (Patna zoo) to prune the trees.

The Patna Municipal Corporation was asked to remove the encroachment near the airport entrance and the boundary wall. The civic body has also been told to take care of the stray dog menace in the airport vicinity.

"Instructions have also been issued to shut the meat and fish shops near the airport. The SDO and the DSP concerned have been asked to initiate steps for the removal of such shops near the airport. The SDO and DSP will ensure closure of meat and fish shops at any cost," the divisional commissioner said.

28/03/21 Piyush Tripathi/Times of India

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Couple arrested in Mangaluru airport for smuggling gold

Mangaluru: Officials of Mangaluru Air Customs on March 28 arrested a woman passenger and her husband hailing from Cheroor of Kasaragod in Kerala on the charges of smuggling gold.

The woman had concealed the gold in her inner garments after turning it into in powder form and mixing it with a solid gum.

The gold weighed 851 grams valued at ₹39.48 lakhs was seized from them, a customs release on March 28 said, adding that the arrested were identified as as Fousiya Missiriya Moideen Kunhi (33) and Moideen Kunhi Cheroor (44).

They had arrived by an Air India flight No. IX 1384 from Dubai on March 27 evening along with their four children.

The woman had concealed the gold in her specially designed inner garment, the release said.

The operation was led by Deputy Commissioner (Manokatyayani) Avinash Kiran Rongali, and Superintendent rank officers Shrikanth and Nagesh.

28/03/21 The Hindu

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UP to have maximum number of international airports in the country with recent addition of Kushinagar

New Delhi: Uttar Pradesh will soon be the state with maximum number of international airports in the country. With three new international airports expected to be made operational in the next three years, the state will soon have five international airports. 

The Yogi Adityanath-led government in UP has sanctioned Rs 200 crore for the Kushinagar airport, which got the Directorate General of Civil Aviation’s (DGCA’s) approval recently, thus becoming the third licensed international airport in UP after Lucknow and Varanasi.

The Jewar international airport, which is coming up in the NCR region and is expected to be ready by 2023 while construction work for the international airport in Ayodhya is on full swing and air services are expected to start early next year, news agency Press Trust of India had earlier reported citing state government officials.

All these international airports in UP are expected to give a boost to the tourism sector in UP and aid in the development of the economically backward eastern region of the state.

27/03/21 Priyabrata Prusty/ETNowNews.com

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Chennai airport registers steep decline in profit

Chennai: Passenger traffic may be reviving gradually at Chennai airport, but the facility was not making much money in the pre-Covid-19 days too.

The airport made a profit of Rs 22.65crore in 2019-20, which is a severe dip from the Rs 455crore it profit earned in 2017-18. Its profit fell to Rs 5crore the next year in 2018-19 and then revived, information tabled in the Rajya Sabha shows.

Sources said that the drastic dip in the profits at Chennai airport is because user development fee for international terminals had to be slashed after Airports Economic Regulatory Authority (AERA) barred the airport from collecting user fee when the new international arrival terminal was lying unused. This affected its revenues in subsequent years.

Another reason for a dip in profits is a change in the landing and parking fees because of the construction work going on in the airside.

“A few parking bays had to be rearranged to accommodate the expansion work that was going on the airside. This is likely to have caused a revenue loss,” said an official.

The taxiway work and parking bay work were going on in the years when the airport took a hit in its income.

Defaulting airlines, absence of adequate retail and food and beverages hubs in the terminal, absence of adequate passenger utilities, troubles in car parking contracts are considered to be other reasons for the decline in profits.

Unlike private airports of Bengaluru and Hyderabad, Chennai airport is also struggling to encourage airlines to help it become an aviation hub. Similarly, except for flights to Dhaka, the airport has not seen any flights to new destinations. Though there are many passengers to the US and Europe, airlines have chosen to start services from Bengaluru.

27/03/21 V Ayyappan/Times of India

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Villagers threaten protest against proposed airport

Mandi: Residents of the Balh valley in Mandi district on Friday threatened to stage a massive protest against the government on April 12 to oppose the proposed construction of airport in the valley.

The residents are fearing that they will lose their agricultural land because of the project.

The residents said they had always been opposed to the decision of the state government.

Joginder Walia, president of the Balh Bachao Sangharsh Samiti, urged the state government to change the project site, where less people would be affected.

27/03/21 Tribune

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AAI Integrates Upper Air Space Over North East Region with Kolkata Air Traffic Management Facility

The Airports Authority of India (AAI) has successfully integrated the upper air space over the northeastern region with Kolkata CNS/ATM facility as part of its ongoing initiative towards establishing a single continuum of upper airspace, according to a statement. Upper airspaceis the space above a specific flight level (26,000 ft and above) dedicated to overflight, while lowerairspaceis the space below that flight level, dedicated to airport approaches.

The integration of the NE Region upper space with the Kolkata Communications, Navigation, Surveillance and Air Traffic Management (CNS/ATM) facility, was achieved on March 25, the AAI said in the statement. This is a huge step towards enhancement of capacity, efficiency and to ensure the highest level of safety in the air space over India and associated oceanic airspace, the AAI said.

Till now, it was being controlled from Guwahati control centre, it said. AAI had in 2014 planned for Upper Airspace Harmonisation (UAH) in the four Flight Information Regions (FIRs) of Chennai, Kolkata, Delhi and Mumbai, for establishing a single continuum of upper airspace as part of the safety and air navigation services improvement project.

“This (the integration) is a huge milestone for the Airports Authority of India as well as the Indian civil aviation sector. The single continuum in the Sky is a gift from AAI to ‘Azadi ka Amrut Mahotsav’,” said AAI Chairman Anuj Aggarwal. The move will facilitate the provision of seamless ATM services resulting in the reduction of the cockpit work load besides helping in reduction of operational cost (fuel) and thereby less carbon emission through assignment of economic flight level and direct routing, the AAI said.

UAH is a process by which aircraft flying in airspace above a height are controlled from a central location with multiple airspace sectors. the entire upper airspace is harmonised with application of uniform air traffic management procedures and standards to achieve enhanced levels of safety and efficiency.

26/03/21 PTI/News18.com

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Sanjeev Kumar to be AAI head

As part of a major bureaucratic rejig, total 22 bureaucrats have been assigned different ministries on Thursday. Senior IAS officer Saurabh Garg has been appointed as the chief executive officer of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI).  

The 1993 batch IAS officer from Maharashtra cadre Sanjeev Kumar has been appointed as the chairman of Airports Authority of India (AAI) in the rank and pay of additional secretary, Ministry of Civil Aviation.

26/03/21 Business Today

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Andhra’s Kurnool to be on air map from March 28

New Delhi: Andhra Pradesh got its sixth airport on Thursday with the inauguration of Kurnool Airport and flights under regional connectivity scheme (RCS) to this city will start from Sunday (March 28).

The aviation ministry said RCS-UDAN flights will link Kurnool with direct flights to Bangalore, Vishakhapatnam and Chennai. The Central and state governments will jointly share the viability gap funding on an 80:20 basis.

Kurnool, the judicial capital of Andhra Pradesh, is famous for its caves and temples.

The airport was inaugurated by Union aviation minister H S Puri in a virtual ceremony that was attended, among others, by AP chief minister Yeduguri Sandinti Jaganmohan Reddy. Before Kurnool, AP had functional airports in five of its cities — Kadapa, Visakhapatnam, Tirupati, Rajahmundry and Vijayawada.

25/03/21 Saurabh Sinha/Times of India

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Letter of Agreement signed! What you need to know about Noida International Airport

In a major development in the Indian aviation sector, a Letter of Agreement (LoA) was signed between the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) and Yamuna International Airport Private Limited (YIAPL) in New Delhi on Wednesday. The agreement letter was signed by Ankit Garg, Deputy Director General, BCAS, and Christoph Schnellmann, CEO, YIAPL. Jaideep Prasad, DG, BCAS, and Kiranjeet Kaur Jain, COO of YIAPL were also present on the occasion.

- The LoA defines provisions for civil aviation security responsibilities and functions at the upcoming international airport at Jewar, Noida. 

- The Letter of Agreement stipulates the civil aviation security responsibilities and functions and implement the tasks relating to civil aviation security, defined, and allocated for implementation of various aspects of the National Civil Aviation Security Programme (NCASP) at Noida International Airport. 

A Letter of Agreement was signed on 24 March between BCAS & Yamuna International Airport Private Limited defining the provisions for civil aviation security responsibilities and functions at the upcoming international airport at Jewar, Noida.

25/03/21  Prashant Singh/ZeeBiz

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YS Jagan inaugurates Kurnool airport

Kurnool: Chief Minister YS Jaganmohan Reddy here on Thursday inaugurated the Orvakallu airport, built by Andhra Pradesh government on its own.

Speaking on the occasion, Jagan said that operation of flights would commence from March 28 at the airport. Initially, flights to Bangalore, Chennai, and Visakhapatnam would be available at the airport which would be sixth in the state. In this context, he recalled that though the previous government made a lot of fuss cutting the ribbon to mark the inauguration of the airport before the elections, it was the present YSR Congress Party government which spent Rs.110 crore to complete the airport within one-and-a-half years.

He also said that modern fire fighting equipment was available at the airport. It was from this place the legendary Uyyalavada Narasimha Reddy emerged, he said, and announced that the Orvakallu airport would be called Uyyalavada Narasimha Reddy airport.

IndiGo airlines would operate flights to Visakhapatnam, Chennai and Bangalore from March 28. The airport was built at a cost of Rs.153 crore on 1,008 acres. The DGCA clearance was obtained on January 15 and the BCAS security clearance on Jan. 27. The runway is 2000 metres long and 30 metres wide and there is provision for parking four aircraft.

25/03/21 Telangana Today

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Bihar’s Darbhanga Airport Set To Become Busiest RCS Airport in India! Hardeep Singh Puri Reveals Expansion Plan

New Delhi: Union Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri on Friday said that the Darbhanga Airport in Bihar is being expanded under the UDAN Regional Connectivity Scheme. “Districts like Darbhanga have a lot of people who travel for work to other parts of India. We are creating connectivity,” Puri told ANI.

"At Darbhanga Airport, earlier, there was no place to park the aircraft. Eventually, the facilities are increasing and by creating a bigger terminal and by getting more land, we will be solving the problems,” the Minister said. “The land for the development of an airport is to be provided by the state government. The government should give land for the development of the airports as the state government will also get the political dividend and economical benefits,” he added. 

Puri further said, “The UDAN (Ude Desh ka Aam Naagrik) scheme produced connectivity and affordability. I am 100 per cent confident that the UDAN scheme is a roaring success. We are building another 100 airports. We have more than 300 operational routes which will be increased to 1000.” 

26/03/21 India.com

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GMR Hyderabad Air Cargo signs pact with StaTwig for vaccine shipments

Mumbai: GMR Hyderabad Air Cargo (GHAC) on Thursday said it has signed an initial pact with Singapore-based startupStaTwigto roll out a new tech solution for tracking and monitoring vaccine shipments at the airport's cargo terminal.

The airport serves as a major pharma hub for air cargo and is one of the primary gateways for vaccine exports from India.

GHAC, a division ofGMRAir Cargo and Aerospace Engineering Limited, through this exclusive partnership will leverage the next-gen blockchain technology to deliver enhanced track-and-trace solution and real-time monitoring of vaccine shipments at the cargo terminal,the company said in a release.

The development assumes significance given Hyderabad's position as one of the biggest vaccine manufacturers globally, with the region set to produce over 3.5 billion doses of COVID-19 vaccine over the next couple of years to aid the battle against the pandemic, it added.

We are glad to announce this partnership for launch of VaccineLedger, a first of its kind initiative in air cargo industry in India.This new technology product would enable us to deliver enhanced real-time visibility and status information on vaccine shipments to our customers, GMRHyderabad Air Cargo CEO Saurabh Kumar said.

The partnership brings together the domain expertise ofGMRCargo and its time-tested relationships with vaccine exporters and air cargo trade with StaTwig's proven blockchain platform to help this solution strengthen the supply chain of vaccine exports from India, said the release.

25/03/21 PTI/Business Standard

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In 5 months, 198 monkeys caught from Ahmedabad airport

Ahmedabad: A year after an Airports Authority of India (AAI) employee had posed as a bear to scare away monkeys from the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International (SVPI) airport in Ahmedabad, the management of the city airport is still working on curbing the menace of monkeys infesting the campus of the city airport.

Well-placed sources confirmed that at least 102 monkeys were caught from the airport campus in three months from November 2020 to January 2021 with the help of district forest officials and released in remote areas. Forest department officials also confirmed that some 96 monkeys were relocated in February and March 25.

According to forest department officials, monkeys jump over from the nearby Cantonment area. “Territorial fights keep taking place between the monkeys in the cantonment area due to which a bunch of them jump over the airport compound wall towards the airport runway. Special permission has been obtained based on which we have formed a team to address the monkey menace at the airport,” Sakira Begum, deputy conservator of forests – social forestry, Ahmedabad.

Forest department officials have also pruned at least 200 trees so that monkeys don’t jump over the airport peripheral wall.

An email query sent to city airport authorities about the issue did not elicit a response. A meeting of the Airport Environment Committee is held on a quarterly basis to discuss the issue of animal and bird sightings at the airport in addition to other measures that are required to keep both at bay in the interest of aircraft safety. The last meeting was held in mid-January during which the issue of relocation of monkeys and trimming of trees is being discussed.

26/03/21 Niyati Parikh & Himanshu Kaushik/Times of India

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Bengaluru’s Kempegowda airport becomes first in south India to have operational parallel runways

Bengaluru: With the successful touchdown of an IndiGo flight from Lucknow at the refurbished north runway on Thursday, the Kempegowda International Airport (KIA) in Bengaluru became the first in south India to have operational parallel runways.

It also marked the resumption of flight operations from the north runway, which was closed for renovation and upgrades in June 2020.

A spokesperson for the Bengaluru International Airport Limited (BIAL), which operates KIA, confirmed that approval to begin operations on the north runway was obtained from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA).

“With the CAT IIIB-equipped South Runway becoming operational since December 6, 2019, these enhancements would offer BLR Airport the flexibility to operate both runways in low visibility and adverse weather conditions,” the spokesperson said.

However, despite a proposal earlier to also make the north runway compliant to CAT III-B, it will remain, for now, remain CAT I-compliant. A CAT III-B-compliant runway expands the permissible visual range to as low as 50 metres and 125 metres for safe landings and take-offs.

BIAL officials attributed the decision to not make the north runway CAT III-B to a “drop in traffic due to the pandemic”. “In addition, given that low visibility weather conditions at BLR Airport usually occur during limited periods each year, one CAT IIIB compliant South Runway should suffice for seamless operations, in the near term,” the BIAL spokesperson added.

25/03/21 Ralph Alex Arakal/Indian Express

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Mumbai: Jet Airways slots: DGCA to respond

Mumbai: Ministry of civil aviation and the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) will be filing an affidavit, explaining their decision on Jet Airways airport slots. The affidavit will be submitted to the bankruptcy court on April 5.

Early this month, the ministry and DGCA told the National Company Law Tribunal that Jet Airways would have to apply afresh for its airport slots that were handed over to other airlines after the carrier was grounded in April 2019. On March 19, Kalrock-Jalan consortium, the resolution applicant of Jet Airways, filed an affidavit before the court listing reasons why the slots should remain with Jet. “During today’s hearing, the DGCA and ministry lawyers said they wanted to file a response to the resolution applicant’s affidavit,” said a source. 

25/03/21 Manju V/Times of India

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Two new flights from city by month-end

Prayagraj: After introducing direct flight for several cities across the country, the air passengers of the Sangam city would be able to now fly directly to two more destinations, which are Bhubaneshwar and Bhopal. The flights from the Civil Enclave of the Bamruali would start from the end of this month.

IndiGo airlines is all set to start air connectivity for these two cities from the end of this month. However, the schedule for Dehradun has not been cleared yet because of which the air connectivity for this city has to wait for more time.

According to the authorities of the Airport Authority of India (AAI), to start a direct flight from the civil enclave of Prayagraj, the slots of Bhubaneswar and Bhopal have been decided.

As per the flight schedule, direct air service will start from March 28 for Bhopal and back to Prayagraj. On the same date, the direct flight from Bhubaneswar for Prayagraj would land. The flight from Prayagraj to Bhubaneswar will start from March 29 onward. According to Indigo Airlines officials, direct flight service to Dehradun is still in the proposal stage.

The IndiGo Airlines flights to Bhopal and Bhubaneswar would follow the following schedule. The flight from Bhopal to Prayagraj will depart at 9.20 am from Bhopal and reach Prayagraj at 10.55 am. On its return flight, the flight from Prayagraj to Bhopal will take off at 11.55 am and will reach Bhopal at 12.55 pm.

25/03/21 Times of India

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Chiranjeevi expresses joy over naming Orvakal Airport after Uyyalawada Narasimha Reddy

Tollywood actor Megastar Chiranjeevi was elated with YS Jagan's announcement of naming Kurnool District Orvakal Airport as Uyyalawada Narasimha Reddy airport. Chiranjeevi said he was happy with the decision to pay due respect to the Indian freedom fighter. Meanwhile, CM Jagan along with Union Minister P Hardeep Singh on Thursday inaugurated the Orvakal Airport, which is being built by the Andhra Pradesh state government, and dedicated it to the nation. On this occasion, CM Jagan announced the name of Uyyalawada Narasimha Reddy for Orvakal Airport.

Responding to this on Twitter, Chiranjeevi said, "Heartened and Overjoyed at the Honourable CM YS Jagan's announcement naming Kurnool Airport after the First-ever Freedom Fighter of India Uyyalavada Narasimha Reddy, Much deserved recognition to the greatest patriot and unsung Hero. He further wrote that he was fortunate and honoured to play the great soul on screen. 

It is known that the megastar Chiranjeevi played the lead role in the movie 'Saira' based on the life of Uyyalawada Narasimha Reddy. The film was directed by Surender Reddy and produced by mega power star Ram Charan.

25/03/21 Pavan Kumar Bandari/Hans India

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CM Jagan to inaugurate Kurnool airport

Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy will inaugurate the Orvakal Airport and formally launch commercial flight operations in Kurnool on Thursday. Commercial flight operations from the airport will commence from March 28. IndiGo Airlines is all set to start its services from the airport to Bengaluru, Visakhapatnam and Chennai. 

This will be the sixth civilian airport in the State after Visakhapatnam, Tirupati, Vijayawada (all three international) and Rajamahendravaram and Kadapa (domestic).The airport has been categorized as ‘3C’ and is capable of handling turboprop aircraft like ATR-72 and Bombardier Q-400. Developed on a 1,010 acre site at a cost of `110 crore, the Kurnool airport has a 2000-metre runway with four aprons for parking of aircraft.

Finance Minister Buggana Rajendranath Reddy along with District Collector G Veerapandian visited the airport on Wednesday and inspected arrangements for the visit of the Chief Minister. The minister inspected the runway, ATC tower, PTP building, isolation bay, protection inspecting area, scanning centre, drinking water, washing room, VIP lounge, electrical room, emergency exit facility and functioning of CC cameras. Later, the minister held a review meeting. 

IndiGo to operate services to Vizag, B’luru, Chennai 

IndiGo will operate commercial flights connecting Kurnool to Visakhapatnam, Bengaluru and Chennai from March 28. This will be the sixth civilian airport in the State after Visakhapatnam, Tirupati, Vijayawada (all three international) and Rajamahendravaram and Kadapa (domestic). 

25/03/21 New Indian Express

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HC takes exception to AAI survey of Jakkur aerodrome over metro work

The High Court of Karnataka on Wednesday demanded how the Airports Authority of India (AAI) carried out a field survey of the Jakkur aerodrome without its permission.

A division bench headed by Chief Justice Abhay Shreeniwas Oka is hearing a PIL petition filed by a city-based lawyer Ajoy Kumar Patil. The petition contends that the proposed airport metro line and the retaining wall would be within just 60 metres of the aerodrome’s runway.

The petition argues that there is an “absolute statutory prohibition” against all kinds of construction as the place has been declared a ‘No Construction/Obstruction Zone’.

Further, the construction violates the Ministry of Civil Aviation (Height Restrictions for Safeguarding of Aircraft Operations) Rules, 2015, according to the petition.

The state government informed the court that the AAI had done the survey between March 9 and 16, and sought time for preparing the charts. But the counsel for the AAI said that he had not received any instruction about the survey.

The bench noted that at a previous hearing, the counsel for the Union of India had stated that the Director of Civil Aviation was not willing to carry out the survey. It asked whether the AAI could have undertaken the survey touching the issues raised in the petition without seeking leave of the court. 

25/03/21 Ambarish B/Deccan Herald

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Covid grounds Calcutta airport expansion plan

Calcutta: The city airport has put on hold a Rs 1,000-crore expansion project because the Covid-19 pandemic has led to a sharp drop in the passenger count and revenue and the authorities are not sure when the volume would reach the pre-pandemic level.

In the past year, the airport has lost 10 million passengers and a Rs 600-crore profit plunged to aRs 200-c rore loss. The shelving of the project once again shows how the Covid-19 pandemic had a deep impact on the country's economy.

“The airport recorded a huge drop in the passenger count in 2020-21. We are not sure when the passenger count would go up again because there is a fresh surge in Covid-19 cases.

Also, there is a shortage of funds because of revenue loss. So, at this point the expansion project has been shelved,” said an official of the Airports Authority of India.

According to the official, a project consultant, a construction agency and around 10 other subsidiary firms would have received contracts for the job had the project taken off in 2021-22.    

In the financial year 2019-20, the airport had handled 22 million passengers, said an official. Because of the pandemic, the airport would have handled only around 12 million passengers in the 2020-21 fiscal, which will end on March 31, an official at the airport said.

In 2019-20, the airport had earned a profit of Rs 600 crore. With a sharp drop in the number of passengers and most commercial activities stalled, it has suffered a loss of Rs 200 crore this fiscal, the official said.

25/03/21 Sanjay Mandal/Telegraph

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Alliance Air begins operation between Kalaburagi & Mumbai

Kalaburagi: The first flight, carrying 22 passengers, took off from Mumbai Airport at 9.07 am and arrived at Kalaburagi Airport at 9.40 am. In the wake of a surge in Covid-19 cases in Maharashtra, those passengers who landed without RT-PCR negative certificate were subjected to RT-PCR test at the airport itself. 

The fight was accorded water salute as soon as it landed at Kalaburagi Airport. The flight will be operated every day between Mumbai and Kalaburagi. Alliance Air and Star Air are already operating flights to Bengaluru, Delhi (Hindon) and Tirupati from Kalaburagi.

25/03/21 Gururaja/Deccan Herald

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Work on international airport at Halwara picks up pace

Ludhiana: Ludhiana, known as the Manchester of India, will soon have its own international airport. The facility is coming up at the Halwara Air Force Station, which is one of the oldest frontline airbases of the Indian Air Force (IAF).

While the tender document for the construction of new terminal building and associated works has been finalised, the construction of boundary wall and approach road is underway and almost 50 per cent complete.

The tentative cost of the civil terminal conclave to be spread across 135 acres, worked out by the Public Works Department (Buildings & Roads), is Rs 58 crore, which is subject to change by the Airports Authority of India (AAI). Rs 11.31 crore is being spent on the construction of 630-metre-long boundary wall (Rs 3.01 crore) and 5.1-km-long and 5.5-metre-wide approach road (Rs 8.3 crore).

Chief Secretary Vini Mahajan reviewed the progress of the project at a virtual meeting with the district officials here recently and discussed the issues concerning the ongoing work, Deputy Commissioner Varinder Kumar Sharma told The Tribune here on Wednesday.

The Chief Secretary directed the district administration to ensure quality control and timely completion of the project.

“We have fixed November 10 as the target date for the completion of the project, following which the process to start the international flights from here will commence,” disclosed the Deputy Commissioner.

He said the tender document for terminal building, prepared by the PWD (B&R), was sent to the AAI for comments and observations, following which the work would be allotted likely in May. The estimated time limit for the completion of work was six months.

With the construction of the approach road and boundary wall almost at the halfway mark, they were targeted to be complete by May 31 (road) and June 9 (wall).

The decision to build a new international airport in the Maximum City of Punjab was taken after the state government had raised the demand with the Centre sometime back, following which the AAI conducted a pre-feasibility study of the Halwara IAF station and gave nod to set up international civil enclave here to meet the growing demand for civil flight operations.

24/03/21 Nitin Jain/Tribune

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HC asks Centre if airport health officials examined man from Australia who jumped to death

New Delhi: The Delhi High Court Wednesday asked the Health Ministry whether its officials examined a 23-year old man who was detained at IGI Airport here on March 18 last year after he arrived from Australia and died the same day after allegedly jumping from the roof of Safdarjung Hospital shortly after being admitted there.

Justice Prathiba M Singh issued notice to the ministry and sought its stand after the court was told that the man was detained at the airport and later taken to the hospital by the airport health officials who come under the Health Ministry.

The court also directed the Delhi International Airport Ltd (DIAL), which manages the IGI airport, to place on record the CCTV footage of the intervening night of March 17-18, 2020 when the young man was detained and taken away to the hospital.

With the directions, the court listed the matter for further hearing on April 30.

The directions came on the plea moved by a family member of the deceased alleging that the young man -- Tanvir Singh -- was detained and then taken to the hospital without communicating any reason to his mother who was also travelling with him.

According to the plea, the deceased''s mother was informed around 9.00 pm on March 18, 2020 that her son had been taken to the hospital and within a few minutes of his arrival there, he jumped from the roof of the building leading to his death.

24/03/21 PTI/Outlook

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Airports Economic Regulatory Authority of India (Amendment) Bill, 2021 introduced in Lok Sabha

New Delhi: Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Puri on Wednesday introduced the Airport Economic Regulatory Authority of India (Amendment) Bill, 2021.

The Bill proposes to amend the definition of "major airport" so as extend its scope to determine the tariff for a group of airports also, which will encourage development of smaller airports.

The Airports Economic Regulatory Authority of India has been determining the tariffs of aeronautical charges at major airports in the country.

Under the present Act, a"major airport" has been defined to mean any airport which has, or is designated to have, annual passengers in excess of three and a half million. However, it does not provide for determination of tariff for a group of airports.

Developing more number of airports through public-private partnership mode would expand air connectivity to relatively remote and far-flung areas.

24/03/21 Tribune

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Bill to amend definition of 'major airport' introduced in Lok Sabha

A bill which seeks to amend the law governing the airports economic regulator was introduced in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday.

The Airports Economic Regulatory Authority of India (Amendment) Bill, 2021 proposes to tweak the definition of "major airport" so as to extend its scope to determine the tariff for a group of airports.

The move, the government believes, will encourage development of smaller airports.

The Airports Economic Regulatory Authority of India has been determining the tariffs of aeronautical charges at major airports in the country.

Under the present Act, a "major airport" has been defined to mean any airport which has, or is designated to have, annual passengers in excess of 35 lakh. However, it does not provide for determination of tariff for a group of airports.

Developing more number of airports through public-private partnership mode would expand air connectivity to relatively remote and far-flung areas.

24/03/21 PTI/Economic Times

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Satvik food distribution: Hare Krishna Movement, Airport Authority of India sign MoU

Guwahati: His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada Founder Acharya of Worldwide Hare Krishna Movement has given the direction that "no one should go hungry up to 10 miles radius of our temples. To fulfill the instruction of spiritual master Srila Prabhupada the Hare Krishna Movement had launched a programme called "Pure for Cure" since February 2017 in which it serves hot and nutritious meals to the underprivileged families across the city.

'Saatvik Meal' is prepared with full cleanliness and in a complete hygienic way and it is sanctified food. The food is served in vessels which retains the temperature of the food till 6 hours. We serve this food in government run hospitals, schools, orphanages, disabled homes and old age homes, besides railway tracks and slums and many more such locations of the city where people live in adverse situations.

24/03/21 Sentinel

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Arunachal Pradesh's Holongi Airport to get a facelift

The renovation work has commenced at Arunachal Pradesh’s Holongi Airport.

The statutory body under the Ministry of Civil Aviation, Airports Authority of India (AAI) said:

“To facilitate and explore tourism and development of Itanagar, Arunachal Pradesh and to improvise its aerial connectivity with the rest of India, the pavement construction work and levelling of ground have started at AAI’s Holongi Airport.”

The new terminal building at the airport will be well-equipped with necessary facilities and will be spread across 4,100 sqm.

It will be an energy-efficient building with a rainwater harvesting system and will have a glass façade offering a panoramic scenic view of the Himalayas.

AAI Tweeted:

“This New Greenfield Airport will be equipped to handle A320 type aircraft, having a capacity of 200 flyers during peak hours and will consist of five check-in counters and two parking bays. The project is to be completed at an estimated cost of ₹645.63 crore.”

Apart from this, AAI has announced several new developments to boost air connectivity within India. This includes Kanpur, Leh, and Patna airport getting new terminal.

24/03/21 Busines Traveller

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Vadodara airport director, nine AAI staff infected

Vadodara: As Covid-19 continues to tighten its grip in the city, ten staff members of Vadodara airport, including the airport director, have tested positive for the virus.

Sources said that the employees of the Airports Authority of India (AAI) tested positive in phases over the last two weeks.

Vadodara airport director T K Gupta is undergoing treatment at a hospital after testing positive of Covid-19.

A majority of other staff members are under home isolation while a couple of them are hospitalised.

Gupta told TOI that he is recovering. “I am hospitalised for the last couple of days. I am feeling much better and I have almost recovered,” he said.

Gupta said that the staff testing positive has not affected operations of Vadodara airport that handles 11 flights and over 1,000 passengers every day.

“It is not that everybody caught the infection in a day. The staff slowly caught the infection. We have staggered our manpower in various groups so that work does not get affected,” he said.

It is worth mentioning here that Vadodara airport officials had approached the state authorities requesting them to vaccinate airport staff.

24/03/21 Times of India

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Hike in aviation security fee for domestic, international passengers at Indian airports

Chandigarh: The Civil Aviation Ministry has enhanced the rates of aviation security fee (ASF) charged from domestic as well as international passengers from April 1 onwards. The increase comes about six months after the ASF rates were revised.

“Aviation Security Fee for domestic passengers will be levied at the rate of Rs 200 per embarking passenger,” orders issued by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) state. “Aviation Security Fee for international passengers will be levied at the rate of US$ 12 or equivalent Indian Rupees embarking passenger,” the order adds.

The new rates will be effective on tickets issued on or after April 1, 2021. Airlines include ASF in airfare at the time of booking tickets and the amount so collected is paid to the government. ASF is used to fund the security arrangement at airports across the country. Given security environment and heavy deployment of forces, considerable expenditure in incurred on this account.

In September 2020, the ASF for domestic flyers had been increased to Rs 160 from Rs 150, while for international passengers it went up to US$ 5.20 from of US$ 4.85. The new rates for international travellers are more than double the existing rate.

Children under the age of 2 years, holders of diplomatic passports, airlines crew on duty, persons travelling on official duty on aircraft operated by the IAF, persons travelling on official duty on United Nations peacekeeping missions, passengers in transit of transfer or those departing from any airport due to involuntary re-routing because of technical problem or weather conditions are exempted from paying ASF.

23/04/21 Vijay Mohan/Tribune

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HC asks asst SG to explore utilisation of Umroi Airport

Shillong: The High Court has directed Assistant Solicitor General, who represents the Airports Authority of India, to explore with his client the possibility of utilising Umroi Airport optimally by either making it unidirectional just like the Port Blair Airport or facilitating smaller jet aircrafts operators to use the airport.

The matter, which came up after a gap of almost a year on Tuesday, has been listed for hearing on April 6.

The Assistant Solicitor General has also been asked to place on record all developments, which have taken place in the meanwhile, before the court.

23/03/21 Shillong Times

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Tariff hikes could lift profits of four private airports

A material increase in tariffs will help lift the aggregate operating profit of four private airports - Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Bengaluru - to 65 per cent of their pre-pandemic levels in next fiscal, Crisil Ratings said.

This fiscal, the operating profits of these airports are expected to plunge 90 per cent due to a vertical drop in passenger traffic.

The ratings agency, in a report, said these airports accounted for over 90 per cent of the air passenger traffic handled by private airports in India, and 55 per cent of all such traffic in calendar year 2020.

As per the report, three of these four airports are likely to see their aeronautical tariffs levied on the passenger traffic, cargo, airport landing and parking fee, more than double, on an aggregated average, from current levels.

Currently, the airport regulations allow the airports to get a fixed regulated return on the capacity addition being done in the control period, charged through tariffs.

Further, regulations also allow a true-up in the tariff to compensate for the loss in aeronautical revenue due to lower-than-expected traffic over the previous control period.

About one-third of the anticipated hike in tariffs is to compensate for the loss in aeronautical revenue due to lower than-expected traffic over the last and current fiscals.

The remaining two-thirds is to provide a fixed return on the capacity addition done in the current tariff control period of 5 years.

"The tariff hikes will help aeronautical revenue bounce back next fiscal to 1.3 times of fiscal 2020. However, these form only half of the overall revenue of these airports," said Manish Gupta, Senior Director, Crisil Ratings.

23/03/21 FreePressJournal

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Bengaluru: Kempegowda International Airport to have 2 independent parallel runways

Kempegowda International Airport will soon become the first in South India to have 2 independent parallel runways. Both the runways at KIA will be functional from March 25 onwards. The airport is now waiting for clearance from the regulatory authorities. Flight services to existing routes have resumed and new routes have also been introduced. Bangalore International Airport Limited has already completed all refurbishment work.

23/03/21 Times of India

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Incubation to Blame? Flyers With Negative Report Test Covid Positive Upon Arrival at Hyderabad Airport

Amid a rapid surge in Covid-19 across the country, Hyderabad airport authorities have revealed that several international passengers arriving in the city are often found positive for coronavirus when tested on arrival, despite carrying negative COVID-19 test reports.

Talking to the media, the airport sources said that those arriving from the Middle-East and UK are tested mandatorily, while passengers from countries like the US, Singapore, and the Maldives are allowed to go home provided they carry a negative RT-PCR report of 72 hours.

Union Health Ministry official has also confirmed that such cases have been reported where passengers carrying negative RTCPR reports have again tested positive on arrival. The official, however, said she does not have details immediately on the number of such passengers.

While there were conjectures that some passengers testing positive on arrival might be carrying fake reports in order to travel, the airport sources said that there is a possibility that these passengers might be testing positive due to the quick incubation of virus during the flight journey.

Some were of the opinion that a person might have tested negative before the journey despite them carrying the virus in reality.

Meanwhile, Telangana reported 394 cases during a 24-hour period, pushing the cumulative tally to 3.03 lakh. The cases spiked in Greater Hyderabad, surrounding districts, and other parts of the state. The state’s daily count reached near 400, the highest this year, on Sunday.

22/03/21 News18.com

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Kempegowda International Airport is a model airport

With air traffic picking up at the Kempegowda International Airport (KIA) over the past few months, the airport is likely to have two functional runways in a

couple of days. Flight services to existing routes have resumed and new routes have been introduced in the last few months.

Both the runways at Kempegowda International Airport (KIA) will be operational from March 25 onwards subject to clearance from the regulatory authorities.

The north runway (or old runway) at the airport had been closed for rehabilitation from June 22, 2020. The rehabilitation work included strengthening and

resurfacing of the runway as well as the installation of runway centreline lights.

Bangalore International Airport Limited (BIAL), the airport operator, has already completed all the refurbishment work and is now awaiting regulatory approvals

for commencing operations.

“BIAL has worked closely with all the stakeholders to complete the refurbishment of the North Runway. We are now awaiting regulatory approvals to

commence operations,” a BIAL spokesperson said.

Recently the Airports Authority of India had issued an aeronautical information publication supplement (AIP) stating that the north runway will be ready for

operations from March 25.

“The purpose of this AIP supplement is to inform the stakeholders (Airlines, ANSP, regulator etc.) about commissioning of north runway 09L/27R postrehabilitation at Kempegowda International Airport, Bengaluru,” it stated. The AIP mentions that the effective date for the commissioning of the north runway

and additional, associated taxiways after rehabilitation and up-gradation work at KIA is March 25.

23/03/21 Bangalore Mirror

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Mumbai airport worst affected by Covid, lost 81% flyers in 10 months

Mumbai: The Mumbai airport registered the highest percentage loss in passenger traffic in India owing to the Covid-19 pandemic and its attendant restrictions, but the Delhi airport lost the most when it came to sheer passenger volumes.

Between April 2020 and January 2021, the Delhi airport handled 1.5 crore passengers, while in the corresponding period the year before, it saw 5.7 crore passengers. The second biggest loser was Mumbai with 3.2 crore fewer passengers in the pandemic year, followed by Bengaluru with 2 crore fewer passengers, according to data provided by the Airports Authority of India.

It was this week, a year ago, that Indian airports shut down to airline passenger flights as part of the nationwide lockdown. International flights were suspended on March 23 and domestic services on March 25. Domestic flights resumed, with restrictions, on May 25 and passenger load has been on a steady rise since then.

A comparison of passenger traffic registered at major Indian airports from April to January in 2020-2021 and 2019-2020 showed that the Mumbai airport had the highest percentage fall in passenger traffic of 80.6%, followed by Chennai at 80.4%, Bengaluru at 68%, Delhi at 67.6%, Kolkata at 67% and Hyderabad at 64%.

But the passenger volumes list was led by the busiest airport in India, Delhi, with 1.32 crore fewer international passengers and 2.85 crore fewer domestic passengers. The second largest loser, Mumbai had about 1 crore fewer international passengers and 2.2 crore fewer domestic passengers. When it comes to volume of flights, Delhi airport had 2.2 lakh fewer flights, followed by Mumbai (1.7 lakh) and Bengaluru (over 1 lakh).

23/03/21 Manju V/Times of India

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Hyderabad Airport achieves landmarks galore in 13 years

Hyderabad: GMR Hyderabad International Airport, India's first Greenfield airport under Public Private Partnership (PPP) model, will celebrate its 13th anniversary on March 23.

Commissioned in a record time of 31 months with an initial capacity of 12 million passengers per annum (MPPA) and 1,50,000 MT of cargo handling capacity per annum, it was also the first airport for the GMR Group that was entering into the aviation segment as an airport developer.

To meet the passenger demand, the airport at present is in the mode of expansion which will enable the airport to enhance its capacity over a period of time to cater to over 34 MPPA.

The airport is operated by a joint venture company promoted by the GMR Group (63 per cent) in partnership with the Airports Authority of India (13 per cent), the Telangana government (13 per cent) and Malaysia Airports Holdings Berhad (11 per cent).

According to the airport operator, it ushered in a number of first-of-its-kind technological innovations for the airport sector in the country, including the first ever integrated and centralised Airport Operations Control Centre (AOCC) and an array of modern passenger information systems and technological initiatives.

During the last 13 years, it achieved many landmarks. In 2009 it commissioned India's first and only aerospace park in an airport. India's first and only dedicated Pharma Zone was commissioned at GMR Hyderabad Air Cargo in 2010.

In 2012, GMR Aero Technic, a world-class 3rd Party Airframe MRO, was inaugurated. The year also saw the GMR Aviation Academy at Hyderabad Airport becoming an IATA Authorised Training Centre.

Schulich Business School India Campus was inaugurated at the airport in 2014. The next year a 5 MW solar energy power plant was commissioned which led to reducing airport's thermal electricity consumption. This green energy meets approximately 15 per cent of the airport's total electricity demand.

The same year, it became first airport in India to offer end-to-end E-boarding facility for all domestic flights, offering seamless and fully paperless experience for the passengers. Today all the domestic services operating from Hyderabad International Airport are on the e-boarding system, making Hyderabad the only airport in the country to offer 100 per cent 'stamping-free' travel to its domestic passengers.

In 2016, it became the only airport in India to handle the An-225, the world's largest aircraft. The next year it started offering 'Express Security Check' facility for passengers traveling with only hand baggage, the first and only airport in the country to do so.

In October 2018, international operations commenced at the Interim International Departures Terminal (IIDT). IIDT has an exclusive concourse to handle check-in, security, immigration and customs processes for departing international passengers and it is connected to the main Passenger Terminal Building.

On December 21, 2018, Hyderabad Airport handled over 70,000 passengers in a single day, the highest since inception. On December 30, 2018, it also handled 540 Air Traffic Movements (ATM), which was again the highest ever ATMs registered since the airport's inception. The same month, Hyderabad International Airport handled 19.3 lakh passengers, which was the highest pax footfall handled in any month since its inception.

22/03/21 IANS/daijiworld

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Bengaluru Set To Beat Mumbai To Be India’s 2nd Busiest Airport, Pune Down To 10th Spot

Mumbai: Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport has dropped from second to third place among India’s busiest airports in the first ten months of FY 21. The city saw a significant drop in passengers in FY21 during the pandemic as Maharashtra continues to reel under the coronavirus. And with the second wave of Covid gripping the state, Mumbai is all set to end at the third spot in air passenger volume in 2020-2021. Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA), which took over Mumbai in 2009, continues to be India’s busiest airport, while Bengaluru’s Kempegowda International Airport (KIA) is all set to emerge as the second busiest airport in the country. 

According to data provided by the Airports Authority of India, Mumbai lost almost 3.2 crores passengers in the pandemic year, followed by Bengaluru with 2 crores fewer flyers. Last year as well, KIA had beaten Mumbai by recording 4,54,704 international and domestic passengers from April to June 2020. However, in the same period, Delhi’s IGIA had the maximum patronage with total of 12,31,338 flyers. 

In 2020, following the COVID-19 outbreak, international passenger traffic at Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport had witnessed a sharp decline of up to 70 per cent. The AAI-GVK group-run Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport handles 950-980 arrivals and departures per day with around 200-250 of them international.

It may be mentioned here that the government last year in March had announced a complete ban on international commercial flights to and from India as part of a nationwide lockdown to curb the spread of COVID-19.

23/03/21 India.com

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A new pecking order among airlines at India’s busiest airport

Be it getting back Jet Airways slots or adding capacity — the bone of contention has always been slots at Mumbai — the country’s second busiest airport, which serves the financial capital of India. It is not as if all other airports have slots aplenty… but other airports are expanding. Bengaluru, for example, will have both its runways operational at the end of this month. This will lead to the release of additional slots for airlines. Delhi is building its fourth runway. It already has two parallel runways in operation and with the expansion of Terminal 1, there will be more slots on offer.

Cut back to Mumbai. The airport that prides itself as the busiest single-runway airport in the world has run out of slots. It works in multiple peaks during the day, and like many other airports in the country, Mumbai’s runway capacity and apron capacity are not in sync. This means that the runway could handle more movement at night but there are hardly any bays that can accommodate widebody aircraft. With so many constraints, who would not want to have a slot in Mumbai?

No wonder then, that AirAsia India accepted red eye flights to Mumbai to get a foot in the door when it began operations. It got lucky when Jet Airways suspended operations. The last two years have been tumultuous, with 2019 leading to a scaleback in Jet Airways’ operations followed by suspension in March-April. Thereafter, 2020 being a pandemic year, saw air traffic coming to a halt in March-April.

Maharashtra has been a Covid-19 hotspot, and when domestic aviation re-started, the State was one of the first to have restrictions in place. Mumbai, for example, allowed only 25 departures daily. Slowly, this increased, while rules like having a negative RT-PCR test result to enter the city by air continued for passengers arriving from certain States.

The Central government also started lifting restrictions in phases and from 33 percent capacity at the beginning, airlines were allowed to operate up to 80 percent of their pre-Covid capacity. In February 2020 — the last full month before operations were suspended, domestic aviation in India saw 3,136 daily departures. This translates into airlines now being allowed 2,509 daily departures, a number they have so far not operated.

23/03/21 Ameya Joshi/Moneycontrol

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Stranded B’desh aircraft seeks nine more months for removal from SVA

Raipur: The 183-seater aircraft of United Airways (Bangladesh) Limited, stranded here at Swami Vivekananda Airport (SVA) for the past 2,054 days, will not be airborne for another whole nine months or may be some time beyond this year. For reasonsof its own, the private carrier has sought the aforesaid timeframe for the purpose of selling the stranded aircraft and thereupon paying its parking fee of nearly Rs 1.63 crore to Airports Authority India (AAI). A communiqué regarding the offer of ‘aircraft for sale’ has been received by the authorities here. The stranded aircraft has been parked on a dedicated piece of land, just behind the Wind Indicator Station, situated on the north of main runway (06) here at Swami Vivekananda Airport (SVA) for over 5 years since mid 2015.

 The disclosure surfaced against the backdrop of an official communiqué sent by the aircraft operator United Airways (BD) Limited to AAI after the former was served eviction notice. A copy of the communiqué, which is available with ‘The Hitavada’, however, was received by the Raipur Airport’s Eviction Officer on January 5, 2021. Airport Director Rakesh Ranjan Sahay also happens to be the ex-officio Eviction Officer. The communication sent to SVA has been signed by Director Engineering of the United Airways (BD) Limited, Wing Commander (Engr) M Shahabuddin Ahmed. Sources, in the meantime, explained to ‘The Hitavada’ that multiple government agencies including Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA), Ministry of External Affairs (MeA) as well as private agencies have been involved in constant communication with the flight operator to evict the stranded plane from the Raipur Airport’s premises since the time it arrived here. “On August 7, 2015, the Muscat-bound United Bangladesh flight (321) with over 165 passengers and aircraft crew on-board was forced to make an emergency landing at SVA after one of its jet engines (MD-83 McDonnell Douglas) developed some major snag,” the sources recalled.

 The AAI authorities have been regularly pushing up the matter with the airlines operator through MoCA and MeA, to evict the aircraft after paying its long-due parking fee, which had been seeing a revised hike of 10 percent per annum, ever since it landed in Raipur. “The exact known amount of parking fee till 31st December, 2020, submitted by the SVA authorities to the Legal Department of AAI, is Rs 1.50 crore. The amount details along with other information were shared by SVA officials in response to AAI’s Legal Department queries which were necessitated after the United Airways (Bangladesh) Limited came up with their offer letter seeking more time to sell out their stranded aircraft and pay the requisite parking fee, which is over Rs 5,000 per day,” the sources disclosed. As per the communiqué, the airline mentioned that it is in the process of selling the aircraft to a suitable buyer and pay the due amount to AAI before the removal of the aircraft from SVA’s premises.

23/03/21 Hitavada

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Panaji: Nearly 300 passengers left stranded after Dubai-Goa flight cancelled

Panaji: An Air India flight to Goa from Dubai International Airport that was abruptly cancelled left about 300 passengers stranded. The passengers, mostly Indians which included children and few senior citizens had to wait over 15 hours at the airport.

The stranded passengers complained that they were not provided with any assistance and were left to fend for themselves. The fliers said that Air India flight AI994, which was to arrive at Goa International Airport at 4.35 pm, was cancelled at the last minute. They were not provided with any food or given any accommodation by Air India, the passengers complained.

"Air India cancelled flight in Dubai has us waiting in the airport for over 13 hours. No intimation, no hotels, no food, no direction, no staff in sight, a planeload of passengers aimlessly waiting around," said Mumbai-based creative professional Tanishaa Cunha. Cunha said that no social distancing was maintained which put the passengers at risk of contracting Covid.

23/03/21 Daijiworld

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Fog in summer onset: Three flights diverted from Surat

Surat: A total of three domestic flights were diverted from Surat Airport on Monday due to dense fog. All three flights were coming to the city from New Delhi. Two flights were diverted to Ahmedabad while one was diverted to Vadodara airport.

The flight operations normalized after 9.04 am as the visibility improved, said airport officials. Delhi Surat flights of Air India and Spice Jet were diverted to Ahmedabad while Indigo flight was diverted to Vadodara. The diverted flights were brought back to the city airport later in the day.

The disruption in flight operations due to fog at the onset of summer season that too at the city airport, which is equipped with Instrument Landing System, led to discussion on social media among airport activists.

“The flight operations were affected due to poor visibility and three flights were diverted to other airports. After 9.04 am the flight operations was normal,” said Aman Saini, airport director.

23/03/21 Times of India

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New Indigo Flight Mysuru-Chennai From Mar. 29

Mysore/Mysuru: A new flight has been introduced between Mysuru-Chennai from Mar. 29. This will be in addition to the already existing daily flight to Chennai and will cater to the growing demand for more flight services to Chennai. 

Mysuru-Kodagu MP Pratap Simha tweeted yesterday that the flight has been introduced by Indigo Airlines and will operate thrice weekly from Mar. 29. At present, TruJet is already operating a daily flight between Mysuru and Chennai. Now, Indigo Airlines has also added another flight. 

The ATR flight 6E 7269 will leave Mysuru at 16.35 hrs (4.35 pm) and reach Chennai at 17.55 hrs (5.55 pm). Flight 6E 7259 will depart from Chennai at 14.50 hrs (2.50 pm) and arrive in Mysuru at 16.15 hrs (4.15 pm). The frequency of the flight will be Monday, Wednesday and Friday. 

The flight will be launched under Ude Desh ka Aam Naagrik (UDAN) Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS) of the Narendra Modi Government. With the latest service to Chennai, people can fly out of Mysuru to cities like Hyderabad, Goa, Bengaluru, Kochi, Mangaluru and Belagavi. 

Stakeholders say that the pace at which the airport was growing under the RCS-UDAN scheme was benefiting the business people of the city as also the tourists besides those from the surrounding regions.

IT giant Infosys has campuses in Mysuru, Hyderabad and Chennai and the flight operations would increase their convenience and also promote the growing business ties between Mysuru and Chennai. 

23/03/21 Star of Mysore

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FIR Against SpiceJet for Allegedly Flying Ahead of Scheduled Time from Srinagar Airport

A case has been registered against SpiceJet Airlines for alleged cheating after one of its Jammu-bound flight took off from Srinagar airport ahead of its scheduled time ‘without prior information to the passengers.’ A group of aggrieved passengers alleged the flight had already flew to Jammu in the morning hours without sending notification to flyers.

As per the timing it had to leave from Srinagar at 2:35 PM, however the airline had rescheduled the flight timing and preponed it to 10:40 AM in the morning without informing passengers. Airline authorities claimed they sent SMS to passengers.

Meanwhile police registered FIR number under section 420 and set investigation into motion.

22/03/21 News18.com

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Udan Pradesh! Aviation sector takes flight in UP; Kushinagar, Ayodhya, Jewar airports add to state’s major infra upgrade

The aviation sector is all set to take flight in Uttar Pradesh, with three new international airports expected to be made operational in the next three years. While the Jewar international airport, which is coming up in the NCR region and is expected to be ready by 2023, will reduce congestion at the Delhi airport, the Ayodhya international airport and Kushinagar international airport are likely to boost the development of the economically backward eastern region of the state, apart from facilitating religious tourism to these world-famous sites.

The state government has sanctioned Rs 200 crore for the Kushinagar airport, which got the Directorate General of Civil Aviation’s (DGCA’s) approval recently, thus becoming the third licensed international airport in UP after Lucknow and Varanasi. International flights are likely to commence soon at the Kushinagar airport.

“India is in talks with the Sri Lanka government for the country sending the first international flight to the newly upgraded Kushinagar airport. We expect the inaugural flight to happen soon. Though domestic air travel has picked up remarkably, we are waiting for international travel to revive, so that we can start regular operations at Kushinagar,” says Vishak G, special secretary, civil aviation, adding that being situated strategically near the Nepal border and also close to Bihar would allow Kushinagar to become an ideal destination for Buddhist pilgrims from within the country as well as across the world.

“Kushinagar is an important historical site as Buddha is said to have attained Mahaparinirvana there. It is also the mid-point of the Buddhist circuit, which consists of pilgrimage sites at Lumbini, Shravasti, Kapilvastu, Sarnath and Gaya. Every day thousands of tourists from countries like Thailand, China, Malaysia, Thailand, Japan and Singapore, apart from domestic tourists, visit the site. Apart from facilitating international tourism, the airport can cater to domestic passengers, including the thousands of migrant workers from the area who work in the Middle East as well as in other parts of the country,” he says.

The upcoming state-of-the-art international airport at Ayodhya, renamed Maryada Purushottam Sriram Airport, has also got the Union government’s nod. The state government has already approved Rs 1,076 crore for the project, while the Airports Authority of India (AAI) has sanctioned Rs 242 crore.

Around 270 acres of land has been made available by the state government for the first phase of the airport’s development. Commenting on the issue, Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri has said it would boost tourism in the region and also facilitate travel on the Buddhist circuit.

While the first phase of the Ayodhya airport project would see operations of ATR72 aircraft, the state government is acquiring an additional 558 acres to eventually allow the use of wide-bodied aircraft. Construction work for the first phase of the project is in full swing, with services expected to start early next year.

22/03/21  Deepa Jainani/Financial Express

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