Larsen & Toubro to bid for new Muscat airport

Mumbai: Engineering and construction major Larsen & Toubro is set to bid for building the new greenfield airport at Muscat in Oman.
The contract value was expected to be in the region of Rs 2,500-3,000 crore, said an executive familiar with the negotiations.
The company has already built two greenfield airports in India and is currently engaged in the modernisation of the Delhi and Mumbai airports.
"The government of Oman is in the process of inviting bids. We will be submitting bids," the executive said asking not to be named. The bid will be submitted through L&T Oman, a wholly owned subsidiary of L&T, which has ongoing construction work in Oman.
When contacted, K V Rangaswamy, president, construction division, L&T, said, "We will look for foreign airport modernisation contracts and greenfield airports as and when they come up. We have the expertise and are part of the all major airport projects in the country."
The current international airport at Muscat is called Seeb airport and it handles around 4.2 million passengers a year. The new airport will come up around 15 km away and will have a capacity of 12 million passengers a year in the first phase and 48 million passengers eventually. The first phase expected to be completed in three years.
01/06/08 Indulal PM/Hindustan Times

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Speed Post services to improve; India Post to acquire 4 aircraft

New Delhi: Faced with stiff and growing competition from private courier services, India Post plans to induct four freighter aircraft by the year-end for faster delivery of Speed Post services to major cities across the country.
Top officials of India Post told UNI that they are negotiating with Air India the lease of four aircraft in the Boeing series.
The service will benefit all agencies and sectors associated with mail, express, parcels and logistics. The Department is seeking the comments and approval of various Ministries before the proposal goes before the Cabinet.
These include the Finance Ministry and External Affairs Ministry as well as the Planning Commission. Air India offers seven Boeing aircraft for purposes of lease.
The sources said if for some reason or other the deal with Air India does not come through, then it will knock the doors of other leasing agencies.
The officials were hopeful that the entire process will be completed by December-end. The cities where the new aircraft service will be deployed include Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Hyderabad and Bangalore.
02/06/08 UNI/Deccan Herald

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Pak govt behind Burney's deportation: Sources

New Delhi: Former Pakistan human rights minister Ansar Burney was not allowed to enter India on the advice of the Pakistan government, CNN-IBN on Sunday learnt from sources in Pakistan Prime Minister’s office.
Burney, who had come to Delhi on May 30 to attend a peace conference, was sent back from the Indira Gandhi International Airport soon after his arrival.
The sources revealed that Burney’s personal initiative on behalf of Indian prisoners was not to the government's liking.
They also added prisoner swapping is an internal matter between the governments of the two countries and no individual can decide any case or take credit.
Earlier, Home Ministry sources had told CNN-IBN that Burney was sent back on the basis of a 'Lookout Notice' issued by the Indian High Commission in Islamabad about a year ago. For some reason, the sources said, that notice was never revoked.
In an official statement though, the Ministry said that he was deported because of lack of proper documentation.
Despite the apologies, the man who was instrumental in securing the release of Kashmir Singh, an Indian prisoner languishing in a Pakistani jail for 35 years, said he was hurt by the treatment meted out to him in India.
Burney, however, added that he suspected Pakistan government’s hand to be behind his deportation from India.
01/06/08 CNN-IBN

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Mystery thickens, Bukhari says government cleared Burney’s visit

New Delhi: A day after India “regretted” denying entry to former Pakistan human rights minister Ansar Burney, Shahi Imam of Jama Masjid Syed Ahmad Bukhari Sunday said the government had given a go-ahead to the rights campaigner’s visit. The schedule of Burney, who was to come here to address an international conference on terrorism that took place Sunday, was conveyed to the external affairs ministry and the home ministry six months ago, Bukhari told reporters.
“The list of delegates was finalized and the confirmed list was sent to both ministries. The government had also sent its letters for visa clearance,” he said.
Bukhari’s remarks triggered speculation about the government’s actual reasons for denying entry after he landed at the airport here Friday night.
Reliable sources said Burney was not allowed to enter India as Pakistan’s new civilian government was not favourably disposed towards his visit at a time when the two countries are trying to resolve at the highest political level the issue of prisoners detained in each other’s country.
Pakistan Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gillani had written to President Pervez Musharraf for granting clemency to Sarabjit Singh, accused of his complicity in terrorist blasts in Multan nearly two decades ago.
But the issue of clemency evokes mixed reactions in Pakistan with a section of the establishment unhappy with the way Burney has taken up the cause of Sarabjit Singh and accolades he has earned in India.Burney has suspected the Pakistan government’s hand behind his “deportation” from India.
01/06/08 IANS/Thaindian.com, Thailand

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Jam in air gets no space in revamp

The skies over Calcutta are becoming as congested, and probably just as unsafe, as its roads.
Multiple flights on one route, skeletal infrastructure and an obsolete airspace management plan have combined to bring down the safety level of air travel to and from the city by several notches, experts say.
It’s not that the civil aviation ministry is not spending money on modernisation. As much as Rs 2,000 crore has been set aside for Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose International Airport, but most of it is for passenger amenities on the ground rather than technology for safer skies.
An airspace management committee set up by the Airports Authority of India did compile a to-do list three months ago, but there has been no official word on implementing the plans.
Pilots and Air Traffic Control (ATC) officials have long been asking for demarcation of air corridors for busy routes like Delhi, Mumbai and the Northeast. Flights on these routes are often forced to wait long for take-off or hover over the airport for permission to land.
“Separate arrival and departure corridors are immediately required for certain routes. High traffic increases safety hassles, like aircraft coming dangerously close to each other or mistakes in calculating climbing and descending levels of two aircraft,” an ATC official said.
Calcutta is the only metro where one-way air corridors have not been demarcated.
02/06/08 Sanjay Mandal/The Telegraph

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Biggest currency haul of two decades in airport

Kolkata: Customs officials at NSC Bose Airport yesterday seized Rs 9.92 lakh in 500 rupee note denominations from an air passenger, Arab Muhammad Javed (27). Preliminary examination has proved that the notes are fake. The man was arrested today.
Muhammad Javed, a resident of Ahmedabad, came from Bangkok by a Jet Airways flight. Officials of the customs’ Intelligence unit interrogated him when they grew suspicious of his movements.
This is the largest amount of fake Indian currency seized at NSC Bose Airport in two decades. During interrogation he said that he received the money from a person in Bangkok and was supposed to hand it over to another in Kolkata. His passport revealed that he had travelled to Bangkok thrice in a year. The counterfeit money has been sent to the RBI for further examination.
01/06/08 The Statesman

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Private sector chips in to revive unused airstrips

New Delhi: After greenfield airports, the private sector is showing keen interest in reviving unused airstrips across the country. Aviation ministry has recently begun identifying old, unused airstrips that have a potential to be revived and be used for improving connectivity. Private sectors have started coming forward with mine owners of Orissa approaching the government for reviving an airfield at Jharasgura.
India has 125 airports of which only 80 are operational currently. The Airports Authority of India (AAI) is studying the unused ones. "There are about 15 airstrips like Shaila in Meghalaya that don't seem to have the potential for being revived. But a good 25 to 30 airports can be easily revived. The AAI will do the job and if some private players come forward, that can be considered," said a senior official. Among the ones that are likely to be revived are Kamalpur in Tripura, Teju and Passighat in Andhra and Pondicherry. The AAI is also looking at unused defence airports that can be revived. The private sector is learnt to be closely watching this area very closely to take up commercially viable projects.
Already big private players like Adanis, Sahara India and big hospitals have already filed applications for as many as 16 airstrips.
31/05/08 Times of India

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Green signal to Mopa

Panaji: The committee appointed by the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, under the chairmanship of the state Chief Minister, to decide on the issue of the proposed Mopa international airport, on Friday, finalised and in principle, approved a report recommending the construction of a greenfield airport at Mopa.
It may be recalled that the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) had earlier done the Mopa feasibility study and presented a report to the government, giving the project a green signal.
Addressing a press conference on Friday evening, the Chief Minister, Mr Digambar Kamat said that the report would be submitted to the Prime Minister in the first or second week of June."I have also directed the Collector to start formalities for land acquisition proceedings," the Chief Minister said, adding, "the rate of land depends on zoning, and I don't think it has increased substantially during past few years."
The meeting of the committee was held at the residence of the Chief Minister on Friday morning and was attended by the South Goa MP, Mr Francisco Sardinha, the Rajya Sabha MP, Mr Shantaram Naik and the joint secretary of the Union Ministry for Civil Aviation, Mr K N Srivastava, who is also the member secretary of the committee, besides others.
31/05/08 Navhind Times

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New airport woes: They happen elsewhere too

Hyderabad/Bangalore: If anyone presumed that newbie airports only in India send the shivers up the back of air travellers, perish the thought.
Hyderabad’s Rajiv Gandhi International that opened in March and Bengaluru that is barely a week into business can take heart that they are in elite company, especially from Asia. The Web is full of scary tales of how air passengers were let down across many new airports, across their many ground functions.
British Airways’ T5 ‘terminal illness’ at Heathrow is only too new: T5 which opened at Heathrow in March failed in baggage handling, caused thousands of luggage pieces to pile up and forced over 250 flight cancellations in the early days. There is no clear update on whether T5 has recovered from the nightmare. If that was in London, lesser Asian greenfields that have sprung up in recent years also fell far short of perfection in the early days. Today, frequent fliers rave about how cool it is to go through these very airports: Hong Kong, Incheon in South Korea; Kuala Lumpur and Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi.
30/05/08 K.V. Kurmanath/Madhumathi D.S./Business Line

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Kolkata to see AAI’s first mega airport

New Delhi: Putting an end to political bickering over the modernisation of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose International Airport in Kolkata, the government has decided that state-run airport developer Airports Authority of India (AAI) will undertake the Rs 2,000-crore project.
This will be first big airport revamp that AAI will undertake, as the contracts for Delhi and Mumbai airports were given to private sector developers. AAI is in line to pick up modernisation of the Chennai airport, the last of the four mega-airport projects in the country.
The Public Investment Board (PIB), comprising the secretaries of finance and civil aviation ministries among others, approved the modernisation plan of Kolkata airport on Friday. The plan will now travel to the Cabinet committee on economic affairs for its nod, which is expected to come through soon. The project was also discussed at a meeting between West Bengal chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Friday. The airport modernisation is a shot in the arm for the state government, which suffered a setback on industrial development after the Salim SEZ at Nandigram was scrapped.
A statement from the ministry of civil aviation said work is expected to begin in two months. PIB’s decision is a culmination of a process that was started in April 2007 when the government decided that the Kolkata airport would be brought to international standards by AAI.
30/05/08 Financial Express

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French, HK firms among consultants for Kolkata airport

New Delhi: The Airports Authority of India (AAI) has approved consultants for the Kolkata project, which include Aeroport du Paris Internationale and RMJM of Hong Kong.
Kolkata airport’s modernisation work includes extension of the second runway, construction of rapid exit taxiways and aprons, upgradation of air traffic management and communication, navigation and surveillance systems and a brand new integrated terminal building to cater to 20 million passengers.
The existing international terminal has a capacity of 0.882 million passengers and domestic terminal has a capacity of 4.06 million passengers. The new Integrated Passenger Terminal will add a capacity of 20 million passengers and estimated to be done in 30 months by 2011. After much discussion, it was decided to develop an integrated terminal building and accordingly, the Inter Ministerial Group approved the developmental plan of the master plan.
The Civil Aviation Ministry had in August last year approved the detailed project report furnished by the AAI. The PM’s Committee on Infrastructure approved Rs 1942.51 crore (Rs 1600 crores for the new integrated terminal building) Kolkata project in April 2007.
31/05/08 Financial Express

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Police to get tough with airport loaders

The Sahar police have decided to act tough following the incidents of theft at the Mumbai airport cargo complex that involved loaders from ground handling agencies.
According to the police, incidents of theft happen in the airport as loaders enter and leave its premises at their will, and they are not properly frisked at the gate.
“We will be writing to all the ground handling agencies to approach us in case they need any help to book such miscreants,” said Dilip Patil, senior PI, Sahar police station.
Patil said that all the ground handling agencies should ask their in-house security agents to keep an eye on loaders who hang around inside the airport premises even after their duty hours. “If they refuse to leave the premises when asked, we can book them under the trespass laws provided the company/authorities lodge complaints with us,” said Patil.
31/05/08 Navita/Daily News and Analysis

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PM greets CM with airport gift

New Delhi: Manmohan Singh today greeted Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee with news of progress on Calcutta airport’s modernisation but it turned out to be more a leap than a step when a crucial central clearance for the project came later in the day.
The public investment board (PIB) approved the nearly Rs 2,000-crore modernisation, which means it will now only need the stamp of the cabinet. It also possibly means the project has scaled the escalating dispute between civil aviation minister Praful Patel and Planning Commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia.
The Prime Minister gave the chief minister a second reason to smile. He said progress had been made on the East-West corridor that would link the eastern and western sides of the Hooghly with an underground railway. But there was no happy coincidence for the project, as with the airport.
Bhattacharjee, who is in Delhi to attend the CPM’s central committee meeting, also discussed the proposed deep-sea port but the Prime Minister’s response was not known.
In light of speculation that Bengal was unable to get a date from the Prime Minister whom it wanted to inaugurate a Jindal-promoted steel plant, Bhattacharjee was asked if he had carried an invitation with him.
30/05/08 The Telegraph

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India shamed over Burney deportation, orders probe

New Delhi: The Home Ministry is red-faced after Pakistani human rights activist and former minister Ansar Burney was refused entry into Delhi and sent back to Dubai from the airport on Friday night.
On Monday, it was said that there was a 'lookout notice' on Burney but the Home Ministry and Foreign Ministry say they don't know why he was sent back.
The Home Ministry has ordered an inquiry into what is now being seen as an embarrassment.
Some reports suggest it could be a mistake and could have been done at the level of the Foreigners Regional Registration office.
Burney was sent back from the Indira Gandhi International Airport by an Emirates flight at around on 8:30 pm on Friday.
31/05/08 NDTV.com

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Rights activist Burney deported

Amritsar: In a development that could have serious repercussions on Sarabjit Singh’s safe return from Pakistan, human rights activist Ansar Burney was deported from New Delhi airport on late Friday night.
Burney is also an advisory member of United Nations Peace Council and had played a key role in the release of Indian national Kashmir Singh, who had languished in Pakistani prisons for 35 long years.
Burney was in India to participate in a meet against terrorism scheduled to be held at Jama Masjid. He had arrived here from London via Dubai. Talking to TOI from the airport, he said, "This is the most heartbreaking moment of my life. I can’t understand how the Indian government could deport a person who is relentlessly working for the good of Indian persons lodged in Pakistani jails."
He added he was not given any reason by the immigration officials, but was asked to return to Dubai. Burney, who had faced the wrath of his countrymen for helping Indians, had recently visited India on the invitation of Punjab CM Parkash Singh Badal.
"I will continue my efforts in securing the release of Sarabjit Singh and other innocent persons, including Indians, lodged in Pakistani jails," he said.
31/05/08 Yudhvir Rana/Times of India

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AAI freezes airport charges to help airlines tide over crisis

New Delhi: The Airports Authority of India (AAI) will not rub salt into the wounds of a financially-troubled aviation sector. It has decided to freeze all kinds of charges on passengers and airlines until the situation improves or ATF prices dip.
Aero services provided by AAI forms 15% of the total operating costs of airlines and is the third-largest component after ATF and wage bill, which account for 40% and 30%, respectively. AAI provides passenger, terminal and aerodrome facilities at the airports, along with parking, landing and air navigational services to domestic and international airlines. AAI’s charges include the Rs 225 passenger service fee on each ticket and parking and landing charges as per the weight of the aircraft.
AAI chairman K Ramalingam told ET: “..Despite big plans to spend Rs 10,000 crore to improve infrastructure and modernisation of various airports, we will maintain the prevailing rates so as to cushion the rising input costs for airlines.”
The fixed rates will be applicable to Delhi and Mumbai airports too, which are currently being modernised by private players. Private airport developers —Delhi and Mumbai — had asked for a 10% hike in aero charges this year.
While AAI’s decision has come as a relief for the airlines, they are proposing various moves to increase revenue and fight rising ATF prices, which have almost doubled to Rs 60,468 per kilolitre now from April 2005 . The situation has become alarming enough for airlines to go beyond cutting flights with poor passenger load and postponing fleet acquisition plans.
30/05/08 Chanchal Pal Chauhan/Economic Times

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Cochin pins revenue growth aims on duty-free

Cochin International Airport Limited (CIAL) is hoping to attract new airlines by reducing landing charges with the help of its growing duty-free business. Speaking at the Gate One2One conference at the TFWA Asia Pacific show earlier this month, CIAL general manager commercial V Suresh Babu reported that duty-free revenue at the Kerala airport accounts for 30% of total airport revenues at present, and that the airport hopes to grow that figure to 40% with planned changes to the airport layout.
Babu said: “We want to be the first airport in India with no landing charges…Indian airports on average generate 70% of revenues through aeronautical operations and 30% through non-aeronautical operations. At Cochin we generate 42% through non-aeronautical. We have identified three areas to grow non-aeronautical revenue, of which duty-free is one. We are aiming to increase dwell time by redeveloping the airport layout, and to expand the area devoted to duty-free.”
Alpha Asia operates the duty-free business at Cochin under the Alpha Kreol fascia, through a management contract with CIAL. Alpha Asia managing director Paul Topping told DFNIonline that the business has been achieving “phenomenal” growth as a result of extending its product offer and improving customer service. He also attributed growth to the big space CIAL had given the retailer.
29/05/08 Gavin Lipsith/DFNIonline.com, UK

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BIA’s teething problems?

Bangalore: Delayed flights. Time-consuming baggage arrival. Non-operational aerobridges. Delays in connecting step ladders with the aircraft. Lack of help for passengers. Lack of signages. Filthy toilets. Lack of proper announcements of arrivals and departures.
Small display screen that poses problems for sighting the schedules. All this and more at the new Bengaluru International Airport that was once vouched to be at par with international standards.
Allen Joseph Mendonca, who arrived from Male on May 26 at 2.45 pm, complained: ''There were only two immigration officials at the counters to handle the long queues of passengers from three international flights that arrived within minutes of each other. Baggage arrival took an additional half an hour. It took me an hour and thirtyfive minutes to get to the terminal after landing. Of the six aerobridges that I could notice, only two were operational.
There are not enough buses to ferry people inside the airport, there is no proper process to hire a taxi, the air conditioners are not fixed in the cramped arrival area and everything seems to be done in a hurry and is still unfinished. The painting and marking for queues at various counters too are not proper.''
Bhuvan Eshwar, an employee at Baltimore Washington Airport, arrived by an Air India flight from Delhi (New York-Delhi-Bangalore) on Tuesday night. ''Airport! There is no proper planning and operational management. The conveyor belts have no railings, the toilets are filthy, no facilities at all...'' Eshwar said.
Suma Crawford, who arrived by Thai Airways flight late on Tuesday night, was accompanying her wheelchairbound mother from the US to Bangalore via Bangkok.She says she has never seen such unfriendly staff, even towards disabled passengers.
A Sri Lankan Airlines flight passenger Sheetal from Colombo, on Monday, complained: ''Immigration counters are on the first floor and baggage claim on the ground floor, but there is no signage to indicate this, causing lots of confusion amongst the passengers.''
29/05/08 Monica Jha & Mohammed Shariff/Newindpress

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Now, Mukesh Ambani plans to build his own airport

Mumbai: After starting construction of a helipad at his Seawind residence at Cuffe Parade, Reliance Industries Limited chief Mukesh Ambani now wants to build an airport in Raigad district.
Ambani, who has a fleet of private jets including an Airbus 319, is developing the MahaMumbai Special Economic Zone (SEZ) in the district and has identified a site in Uran for the airport.
Although details of the project are not known, an official of the Navi Mumbai SEZ Private Limited, a Reliance Group company, confirmed the development and said the company was examining the feasibility of an airport. "'We are looking at it (an airport) as one of the possibilities. It is in a preliminary stage," the official said, refusing to elaborate.
Indications are that the proposed Ambani airport could be for private use.
Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel told Mumbai Mirror over the phone that the government would permit a private airport (for non-scheduled and charter operations) near Mumbai but added that he had not received any proposal for a private airport.
Sources said the Ambanis owns several planes and helicopters. These planes are parked at the Mumbai airport, which is congested and has little additional parking space.
28/05/08 Aneesh Phadnis/Economic Times

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HAL airport has many options

Sources close to HAL's top management said HAL was playing a wait and watch game to see whether there could be any chance for commercial operations to re-start.
Aviation sources said: "If HAL does not get a second chance, it has multiple options before it."
Top on the list would be: give it a complete makeover, to turn it into a key defence establishment. Other than that HAL could use its base to operate helicopter services related to regional tourism, medical tourism and inter-city services.
"These are exciting options before HAL, from which a lot of revenue could be generated,"said sources. The airport operation of HAL used to rake in Rs 700 crore annually.
Also, HAL would look to strengthen its flight training school by making Bangalore a major hub to train and teach and breed pilots.
Not to mention HAL's plans for operating an MRO (maintenance, repair and overhaul facility). But sources indicate that as airlines would prefer having an MRO facility at their terminating destination; it is likely that they would prefer an MRO at the new Bengaluru International Airport.
Barely a quarter ago, there was talk about the possibility of HAL converting its terminal into a mall. However security concerns over having a mall in close proximity to a defence base have put the plans on the back-burner.
29/05/08 Anshul Dhamija/Times of India

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1.25 kg heroin found inside Nigerian

Chennai: After two Filipinos and a Thai, it was a Nigerian woman's turn to land in the enforcement net for trying to smuggle 1.25 kg of heroin through Chennai airport on Tuesday.
Unlike the Filipinos and Thai women who had concealed heroin in their bags, the Nigerian had swallowed them in capsular form. While the previous destinations were Far East, the Nigerian smuggler was headed for Colombo. The origin (Delhi) and final destination (East Asia) are, however, common in all the four cases.
Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) officials on Tuesday arrested 23-year-old Nigerian Rehemamuyanja Namuyanja, on a tip-off and recovered 1.25 kg of heroin, around 900 gram from her rectum and another 350 grams from her digestive system. DRI sleuths intercepted the woman, who was about to board a Sri Lankan Airlines flight to Colombo on Tuesday night. She was very arrogant when the DRI officials cornered her and refused to co-operate.
However, when she came to know that the officials had specific information, she agreed to co-operate.
"We took her to a private hospital and removed the capsules of heroin from her rectum. When we further interrogated her, she admitted to have swallowed more than 30 such capsules, each containing 10 grams of heroin. She was then subjected to a CT scan and the scan images showed the capsules in her intestine," a DRI source told The Times Of India.
29/05/08 K Praveen Kumar and Pushpa Narayan/Times of India

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Malaysian customs seize drugs couriered from India

Malaysian customs have seized three kilograms of ketamine worth 200,000 ringgit ($58,820) hidden in a box sent from India, reports said Wednesday.
Customs officers seized the box, which had been labelled as jewellery, from the cargo area of the international airport late last Friday, said the departments deputy head of narcotics Mohamad Subri Awang.
He said customs officers received a tip off from Hong Kong customs on the arrival of the package, which was addressed to a receiver in the central Selangor state.
'The package was sent from Mumbai, India and the receiver's address was in Selangor. It was brought here on a Cathay Pacific flight from Mumbai, which had a transit in Hong Kong,' he was quoted as saying by the Malay-language Berita Harian daily.
'Based on market pricing, the drugs are worth some 200,000 ringgit and the drugs would be sold in tubes of 100 ringgit each,' he said.
28/05/08 IANS/Malaysia Sun

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GE deploys team to identify airports

New Delhi: Planning a foray into the airport modernisation business in India, GE Infrastructure is in the process of identifying bankable projects out of the 35 non- metro airports that are being upgraded through public- private partnership route.
GE Infrastructure, which is into energy, transportation and water process technologies, has deployed a team to identify the non-metro airports which it thinks can be given a distinct GE identity.
The company intends to bid for the modernisation work through a consortia for which it is talking to other companies.
"We are in discussion with some companies to form consortia to bid for the projects," GE Infrastructure President and CEO Pratyush Kumar told PTI.
However, he declined to give names of the companies.GE Infra claims to have the expertise in airport management after its acquisition of airport development and consulting firm AviaSolutions. GE Commercial Aviation Services (GECAS), a group company, bought a majority stake in the UK-based AviaSolutions last year.
28/05/08 Press Trust of India/Business Standard

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GVK on lookout for overseas airport projects

Bangalore: GVK Group, which is modernising and upgrading the Mumbai International Airport, is scanning foreign geographies for airport development opportunities. It’s looking at airports in Prague, St. Petersburg and Mexico and is evaluating the privatisation processes in these countries. Rival GMR Infrastructure, which has Delhi and Hyderbad airports in its kitty, has already made a first by bagging a contract to develop an airport in Istanbul. GVK group has a JV with Airports Company South Africa for modernising the Mumbai airport.
Industry observers say that some of these overseas airports will witness very aggressive bidding by global players. Incidentally, GMR too is on the lookout for airport development opportunities in Eastern and northern Europe. GMR’s most aggressive overseas foray was by winning the bid to renovate the Sabiha Gokcen airport in Istanbul that cost the group a concession fee of Rs 10,808 crore ($2.7 billion) to be payable to the local government over 20 years. GMR, which is looking at adding one more international airport project to its kitty in 2008, raised $1-billion through the QIP route for asset acquisitions and allocation of equity across its projects.
28/05/08 J Padmapriya/Economic Times

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Blues galore at Bengaluru International Airport

Bangalore/New Delhi: Aerobridges don’t connect, ladders can’t be pushed in time to the aircraft, baggage takes one to two hours to show up and flight schedules are going haywire. Welcome to the new Bengaluru International Airport.
The operator and hundreds of airport users are discovering the harsh ground realities. It has not been smooth sailing for BIA after it began operations on May 24. The operator, Bangalore International Airport Ltd, plays it down as the teething troubles of a new airport.
If the old HAL airport that closed down on May 24 was notorious for congestion in the air which added to the flying time, the newly opened airport 40 km away has been dogged by ground-handling hitches – which, too, are causing flight delays. Half-a-dozen low cost carrier and full-service airlines that Business Line spoke to admitted this on condition of anonymity. BIAL has picked Air India-SATS and GlobeGround as its ground handlers.
A common complaint is that flights are getting delayed by 45-60 minutes and refuelling is getting hit; most flights touch Bangalore and ground delays here cascade down to rest of the schedules.
The CEO of a low-cost carrier (LCC) confirmed, “We have taken some delays due to ground handling. This, however, is not unusual when a new airport opens.” BIAL itself admitted that ground handling was a major problem. The situation was improving each day and, “We will iron out the teething problems within a week of operations”, it said.
28/05/08 Madhumathi D.S./Ashwini Phadnis/Business Line

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‘Distance’ shadow looms large on Bangalore airport

Bangalore: Tthe new Bengaluru International Airport, situated in Devanahalli, 40 km away from the main city and a good 70 km from the industry backyard Electronic City, is anything but a passengers’ delight.
The two-hour journey on the Volvo bus, even at 8.30 am when road traffic is still not chaotic, is tiresome. The state-run buses are a must, owing to the distance. A few passengers, first time travellers to the Bengaluru International Airport, looked apprehensive. The airport had waded through many controversies-including PILs seeking retention of old airport, seeking its renaming to “Kempegowda” and higher job allocation for locals-before it was commissioned on May 24 post-mid night.
“The airport looks neat,” said a co-passenger, alighting the bus at one of the 10 bays at the airport, allotted for the state’s Bangalore International Airport Service (BIAS) buses. In addition to the bus bays, the airport’s car parking facilities would accommodate 2,700 cars.
No auto rickshaws are allowed within 5 km of the aerodrome, lessening the traffic and voice commotion to an extent. But it adds to the transportation woes. The Volvos are the only affordable mode of transport from and to the airport. While the Volvo charged between Rs 80 and Rs 200 to the airport, the taxis charged at a rate of Rs 15 per km and a waiting charge of Rs 60 per hour.
At the airport terminal, a Go-Air executive mentioned that the technical issues on the first day had caused much difficulty to the passengers and the airline staff.
Another passenger Thrupthi Nair, who had flown from Chennai to Devanahalli, said the idea of retaining short-hauls at HAL was tempting.
28/05/08 Reema Jose/Financial Express

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Chennai to Bangalore: For once, trains are faster

Chennai: Flying is no longer the fastest way to get to Bangalore since the opening of the new airport.
With flights being delayed at Chennai airport and poor road connectivity from the new Bangalore International Airport Limited (BIAL) to the city centre, many travellers are finding that taking the train to Silicon Valley is faster. The new airport at Devanahalli in Bangalore is about 35 km from the centre of the city.
A railway official said the increased bookings on Shatabdi Express from Chennai Central show more people now prefer taking a train, though it takes nearly five hours to cover the 300-km distance by rail. There is tremendous demand for seats on virtually all Bangalore-bound trains and even tatkal quotas are sold out within hours.
On the other hand, airline tickets are freely available on this sector even at an hour’s notice. There are flights virtually every hour and they currently see an average 50-60% occupancy.
Apart from the difference in fares, one of the reasons for Flights taking off half-empty is that the time saved by flying is now virtually off-set by the time spent waiting or on travelling to and fro from airports at both ends. "Flights out of Chennai airport are often delayed. This is a further waste of time," said M Vignesh, an IT consultant who travels to Bangalore often.
27/05/08 Times of India

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Another air cargo robbery, 2 loaders are the culprits

Two loaders at the Sahar cargo complex of Mumbai airport thought it was a good steal until they were arrested on May 26 evening.
Identified by the police as Anand Swamichand, 38, and Dashrath Rajshirke, 28, consignment loaders with ground handling agency Cambata Aviation, whisked away two boxes with mobile phone handsets worth Rs 8.4 lakh from inside the cargo building on Monday morning. However, two other loaders had seen them and they were arrested by the Sahar police within 24 hours.
“Although they took away the consignments, they were caught in the act by two loaders of another agency,” said PI Dilip Shinde, Sahar police station.
The consignment had landed in Mumbai at 11.15pm on May 25 in a Cathay Pacific cargo flight, CX 057, from Hong Kong. The boxes were meant for two Delhi-based companies. The first, containing 89 China-made phones was for Royal Impex and the second, with 77 cell phones, was imported by OMNS International.
The two boxes were kept along with other boxes at the complex. “Rajshirke was on duty of a Jet Airways flight, while Swamichand had finished his shift by 11pm. It seems the loaders decided to steal something or the other that day and Swamichand stayed back,” said Shinde.
28/05/08 V Narayan & Naveeta Singh/Daily News & Analysis

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Mumbai airport upgrade to open up mega retail space

Mumbai: The Mumbai airport’s upgradation will open up a humungous 5.7 crore sq ft or about 132 acres of real estate (almost seven Oval maidans), exclusively for non-aeronautical purposes like retail, commercial and hospitality. The area is mainly around Sahar village, Kurla and Kalina.
According to a Cushman & Wakefield report on Airport Realty, the modernisation and upgradation of 47 airport projects across the country is expected to generate 78 million sq ft (1,790 acres) for commercial purposes by 2015.
In Mumbai, about 28% (1.6 million sq ft) of the 132 acres will be for retail, 50% or about 2.87 million sq ft will be for hospitality and 22% (1.26 million sq ft) will be reserved for office space. About 3,200 hotel rooms will come up in mainly five and four star hotels.
The Cushman & Wakefield report said nearly 50% of the estimated 78 million sq ft of airport realty in India will be concentrated in just three cities of Mumbai, Bangalore and New Delhi. These three cities alone will receive about 14 million sq ft of office space and about 10,200 hotel rooms. All over the country, roughly 27,525 hotel rooms will be generated from development of airports.
28/05/08 Times of India

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Flight flight develops snag, lands safely

Chennai: A British Airways flight, which developed a technical snag mid-air, landed safely at the international airport here on Wednesday, airport sources said.
The flight from London to Chennai developed a hydraulic snag when it was preparing to land. Following this, the flight with 247 passengers on board hovered over the airport for about half-an-hour before landing,the sources said.
All emergency services, including ambulance and fire service, were kept ready in case of any eventuality, the sources added.
28/05/08 PTI/The Hindu

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Singapore Airlines launches disabled support service at Chennai airport

Chennai: Singapore Airlines today launched its exclusive services for the disabled air travellers, which would become fully operational at the airport from June one.
The services have been introduced to simplify air travel, keeping in mind the difficulties faced by the disabled at the airport.
The airline has partnered with city-based NGO Vidya Sagar (formerly The Spastics Society of India) to lend its support for the disabled people and to create awareness for the cause.
Talking to newspersons here, Singapore Airlines General Manager India Foo Chai Woo said ''we will ensure that a dedicated escort takes care of the disabled traveller, right from the airport entrance till the boarding area.'' ''The airline will also provide a special lounge access for them while they wait for the boarding announcement,'' he said adding ''besides this, they will also receive priority baggage tags to cut down their waiting time.''
27/08/05 Chennai Online

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Govt looks at more airports in coastal regions

New Delhi: In a move that will benefit not only the proposed Navi Mumbai airport project but also the expansion of existing airports in the coastal area, the Ministry of Environment and Forests has proposed changes in the Coastal Management Zone Notification that will allow such projects to be taken up.
It is proposed that these projects be cleared on a case-to-case basis and only after a detailed scientific study has been conducted to ensure that adequate environmental safeguards have been taken to neutralise damage to the coastal environment.
A senior official of the Ministry of Civil Aviation told Business Line that the amendments were being proposed as the earlier Act was exhaustive and specified areas where an airport could come up in the coastal zone. “The new amendment proposed will pave the way for the Navi Mumbai airport project and also any new project being planned,” the official said.
A study is proposed to be jointly conducted by the Pune-based National Water and Power Resources Institute and the Mumbai-based Indian Institute of Technology on mitigating the impact of the Navi Mumbai airport project on the environment.
27/05/08 Ashwini Phadnis/Business Line

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Corporators want action against AAI

The BMC is considering action against Airports Authority of India (AAI) under the Maharashtra Regional Town Planning Act (MRTP) for dumping debris at Gobar nullah at Borivili (E). The nullah, which is adjacent to the western express highway, carries waste to Bhayandar creek.
The decision came after leader of the house in BMC Sunil Prabhu raised a point of order in the standing committee meeting following a story published in a daily stating that flooding would be unavoidable if the nullah was not cleared.
“There should be MRTP action against AAI and if such a thing happens again, commissioners should be held responsible,” said Prabhu, who led a morcha to the site. The protestors also filed an FIR against AAI.
According to Prabhu, areas like Ketkipada, Kahanipada, Rawal pada were in danger of flooding as the debris would block the flow of water.
The collector’s office had sent notices to AAI on May 22 for dumping debris on the 64 acre plot.
Yogesh Sagar of BJP said that it was surprising that the BMC did not know about the dumping.
27/05/08 Ashutosh Shukla/Daily News & Analysis

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Ambulance driver who ran over another on airside didn’t have permit

New Delhi: In a serious breach of safety rules, the ambulance driver who ran over an aviation firm employee on the IGI airside on Sunday afternoon did not have the mandatory Airport Driving Permit, Newsline has learnt.
The permit is mandatory for all drivers plying on the airside.
The errant driver, Ravi Shankar, had been hired by DIAL some 10 months ago, officials said. “He was part of the latest batch of drivers recruited by DIAL,” a senior official posted at main fire station inside the IGI Airport said.
Shankar had run over Sanjeev Kumar, 22, an employee of Arun Aviation, which has a contract with Jet Airways.
“He was driving at a speed of at least 80 km per hour, a police officer said. “Otherwise Sanjeev Kumar would not have died on the spot.”
The police have sent a notice to both Arun Aviation and DIAL, seeking employment details of Shankar. Only ambulances, ‘follow-me’ vehicles and quick reaction teams of CISF are exempted from the rule of installing a speed governor. The rule says that vehicles are allowed to gear up to 15 km per hour in apron area, and 30 km per hour in perimeter area.
26/05/08 Sobhana K/Expressindia.com

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At Mumbai airport this monsoon, automated weather data for pilots

Mumbai: This monsoon, pilots landing at Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport (CSIA) will not have to worry about frequently changing wind-speed, air pressure or cloud cover. For, the newly-installed Automated Weather Observing System (AWOS) is expected to make landings on both runways smoother.
The Indian Meteorological Department has, over the last two weeks, conducted trials of the AWOS on the runways.
Although airports in Delhi, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Amritsar and Guwahati are already equipped with AWOS, the system will be functional in Mumbai only this year.
AWOS is an integrated airport weather observing system for airports, accepted world-wide for its proven technology. Australia, countries in the Middle East , Germany, USA and Canada depend on this technology to support aviation operations in bad weather.
The AWOS calculates aviation meteorological data such as pressure values, visual range of runways and also generates weather reports called METAR—a description of the meteorological elements observed at an airport at a specific time, including temperature, dew, visibility, cloud height, etc. The system has 12-15 sensors, which are dedicated for collection of data on wind speed and direction, visibility, clouds, temperature, dew, lightening, thunderstorms and sea pressure. The AWOS also has connectivity with the Automatic Terminal Information System at the airport, where the METAR reports will be delivered.
27/05/08 Sheta Desai/Expressindia.com

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HAL Airport may Get Going Again

Bangalore: The HAL Airport may have wound up the flight operations following opening up of the new Bengaluru International Airport at Devanahalli. But there are still chances of the HAL Airport becoming functional.
The High Court has set a 12 week deadline for reconsidering the agreement reached with the Bangalore International Authority Limited (BIAL) by the State government. “Considering the developments in the civil aviation sector during the last three years, the State Government will also attempt to revive the HAL airport”, sources told Deccan Herald.
The sources informed that around 400 flights were being operated annually from Bangalore when the agreement was reached with the BIAL about three years ago. “But now around 700 flights are being operated and in the days to come, the number will go up further. From the travellers point of view, it is advisable to have more than one airport.
The Principal Secretary to Department of Industry and Infrastructure V P Baligar has taken a serious view of the court direction to renegotiate with the BIAL. Moreover the experts will also conduct a study on the capacity of the new airport after it becomes fully operational. Considering the views of air travellers and also the aviation experts necessary steps will be initiated”, the sources revealed.
Meanwhile when contacted, Baligar gave the indication that the renegotiations would be held with the BIAL once the new government assumed office in the State. “Considering the legal and also commercial aspects, a suitable decision will be taken,” he observed.
26/05/08 DHNS/Daijiworld.com

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HAL airport wears deserted look

Bangalore: The three-decade-old Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) airport wore a deserted look today following operation of greenfield Bengaluru International Airport late last night. The curtains came down on the commercial operations at the airport owned by the public sector aircraft manufacturer which was opened for civil aircraft in the 1980s. In 1997 the airport had begun international services.
The buzz in front of the HAL airport was missing and the road leading to it wore a deserted look, with several taxi drivers and shops outside the complex appeared a worried lot. The shift of civilian air operations from HAL airport has put thousands of people out of jobs. There were 800 taxis most of which was driven by the owners, while the complex had over 100 shops.
While the promoters of the new airport had invited tenders for various outlets they had also allowed multinational taxi companies to operate from the BIA. Out of 800 taxis that plied in the old airport, only 100 had been allowed by the new airport.
The teeming Airport road had become one of the busiest roads in the Garden City and hundreds of business units including hotels and other outlets depended on the airport for major portion of their business.
Nearly 10,000 people will now be affected with the sudden closure of the airport.
The airport was closed as per the concessional agreement reached between the Bangalore International Airport Limited, promoted by the private consortium consisting of Zurich International Airports Ltd, Siemens and the L and T. The Karnataka government holds 26 per cent stake in the project. The Civil Aviation Ministry was also a stake holder in the airport. Under the agreement no airport would handle commercial aircraft in the 150 km diameter from the Devanahalli airport.
26/05/08 Mangalorean.com

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Jet Airways employee hit by ambulance at IGI

New Delhi: An employee of Jet Airways at New Delhi's International Airport died after being hit by a speeding ambulance on Sunday.
Thirty-one-year old Sanjeev Kumar became a victim of reckless driving on the IGI tarmac. Sanjeev, a member of the ground handling staff of Jet Airways, was talking to his senior officials when a speeding ambulance hit him.
“He was standing when the ambulance hit him,” says brother, Pawan. The ambulance driver has been arrested for negligent driving. Sanjeev's family members say the GMR is to blame. “There is no one to check the speed of such vehicles,” says Pawan.
However, this is not the first time that such an incident has occurred on the runway. Over the last two-years vehicular traffic on the runway has become almost unmanageable.
On March 27, a 30-year-old labourer from Jharkhand was crushed to death by a road roller near the taxiway of the newly built runway. Last October, 27-year-old Sanskriti Sinha, an employee with Air Deccan, was found dead between the airport's taxiway and the ramp after allegedly being hit by a vehicle.
About 49 accidents involving aircraft and ground handling vehicles were reported at the airport last year.
26/05/08 Parikshit Luthra/CNN-IBN

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Jet Airways' flight suffers bird hit

Mumbai: All the 156 passengers on board a Jet Airways flight from Delhi to Mumbai had a miraculous escape when the aircraft suffered a suspected bird hit.
The pilot of the flight-9W362 reported to Mumbai ATC a suspected bird hit this evening, a Mumbai International Airport Limited (MIAL) spokesperson said.
However, it is not clear where the bird hit the flight.
When the aircraft suffered the bird hit, there were 156 passengers on board the flight which was coming to Mumbai from Delhi. Because of this, Jet Airways Mumbai-Delhi flight '9W361' took off at 9.45 pm instead of its scheduled departure at 8 pm.
However, a Jet Airways spokesperson, when contacted, attributed the delay to congestion at the airport.
25/05/08 PTI/Daily News & Analysis

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Briton sick, airport sicker

A young Briton with hypertension bled from the nose and slipped in and out of consciousness at Calcutta airport as officials of the international airline he had flown with and the Airports Authority of India (AAI) wasted time arguing whose responsibility it was to take him to hospital.
Allan Roddy arrived at Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose International Airport on a Biman Bangladesh flight around 9pm on Saturday.
The 33-year-old was in the queue for immigration clearance when he let out a scream and fainted.
Other passengers lifted him and put him on a sofa, where he lay for more than an hour as representatives of the airline and the AAI staff played pass-the-buck.
It wasn’t until around 10.30pm that the doctor on duty at the international terminal, the airport manager and immigration officials carried Roddy on a stretcher to the ambulance that took him to Apollo Gleneagles Hospital.
One of the doctors treating him said on Sunday that his condition was “serious but stable”.
Biman Bangladesh maintained that it was the AAI’s responsibility to look after the patient. “Once a passenger has disembarked and entered the terminal, it is the responsibility of that airport to look after him,” an official of the airline said.
Officials of the AAI contested the claim.
No wonder Roddy, when he came to, mumbled to the arguing officials that they should inform the UK embassy about his condition.
26/05/08 The Telegraph

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Kolkata airport modernisation may steal a march over Chennai

New Delhi: The modernisation of Kolkata airport could steal a march over Chennai. The public investment board meeting to take a view on the modernisation of Kolkata airport is scheduled to be held at the end of the month even as another date is being drawn up to hold the pre-Public Investment Board (PIB) meeting for the Chennai airport project.
Generally, the inter-Ministerial pre-PIB meeting is held to iron out any differences that various ministries have about the project. After the pre-PIB clearance, the project will have to get the nod from the Public Investment Board and finally the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs before work can begin.
Official sources told Business Line that the pre-PIB meeting for Chennai airport, which was earlier scheduled for May 12, was put off after the Ministry of Finance and Planning Commission sought more time.
The Minister for Civil Aviation, Mr Praful Patel, also raised the issue in a letter to the Deputy Chairman, Planning Commission, Mr Montek Singh Ahluwalia, pointing out that it was “the constant objections” on the size and scale of the project being raised by the Commission that were responsible for the delay in the project.
25/05/08 Ashwini Phadnis/Business Line

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GMR to Create Facility for Private Planes

New Delhi: The GMR-led Delhi International Airport (P) Ltd (DIAL) has invited express of interests (EoIs) from global companies for restructuring and setting up a dedicated aviation facility for private planes.
The number of private planes has increased by 22% in Delhi in 2007-08, with nearly 10,000 aircraft movement. About 100 aircraft are currently used for general aviation in India and the figure will triple in a couple of years. Currently there are limitations on the number of such planes allowed in peak hours to accommodate schedule commercial traffic, but that will soon be lifted once Delhi gets the third runway in a couple of months.
"We have invited EoI from globally renowned fixed base operators (FBO, who maintain general aviation facilities) to build and maintain an exclusive setup in Delhi, which will also include special lounges and conferencing facilities," said a GMR official. The FBO will also provide amenities like car rentals, charters, catering and hotel reservations.
DIAL's move comes within a month of the Centre clearing the policy of private airports and helipads. Already about 20 proposals for private airports/airstrips/helipads are likely to get clearance under the new rules across the country. But having private airports in big cities like Delhi and Bombay is not possible. So, general aviation facilities will have to be provided at the existing airports.
25/05/08 Saurabh Sinha/Times of India/RedOrbit, USA

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New Bangalore airport handles 341 flights Day 1

Bangalore: The Bengaluru International Airport on Saturday handled 341 air traffic movements, including 172 arrivals and 159 departures, setting a record of sorts on the inaugural day of commercial operations.
"It was business as usual on Day 1. Though a weekend, we have been well prepared to handle the heavy traffic from the new airport. The air traffic control guided about 100 aircraft in landing and taking off during the first 24 hours of commencing the operations," a spokesperson of the airport operator, Bangalore International Airport Ltd (BIAL), told IANS.
The Rs 2,500-crore swanky airport at Devanahalli, about 40 km from India's IT hub, took to wings in the wee hours of Saturday, with state-run Air India flying the first aircraft to Singapore 15 minutes past Friday midnight (00.15 IST) amid euphoria and anxiety over the arrival of other aircraft in the odd hours due to the simultaneous closure of the old airport in the city.
"The first 18 hours of day one operations have been satisfactory in comparison to other such transitions the world over. Teething problems apart, the operational take-off has been smooth. The glitches will be tackled within a week," BIAL said in a statement later.
25/05/08 IANS/Sify

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Proposal on Tiruchi Airport expansion to be reworked

Tiruchi: The Airports Authority of India (AAI) will rework its proposal on expansion of the Tiruchi Airport to reduce the extent of residential lands to be acquired for the purpose.
This was among the important decisions arrived at a high level meeting of senior State government and AAI officials chaired by Transport Minister K.N. Nehru here on Friday. The Secretary, Public Works Department, S.Audiseshiah, Secretary, Transport, Debendranath Sarangi, and the Southern Regional Executive Director, AAI, L.L.Krishnan, were among those who attended.
Though officials remained tight-lipped on the decisions taken at the meeting, given the sensitive subject of land acquisition, sources told The Hindu that the expansion plans would now be re-worked to substantially reduce the residential lands to be acquired on the western side, in front of the airport, in the wake of stiff opposition.
AAI plans to extend the airport runway to 12,500 feet from 8,000 feet and about 450 acres was initially planned to be acquired. A substantial portion of this was on the western side.
24/05/08 S. Ganesan/The Hindu

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Notice to government on airport workers’ plea

New Delhi: The Supreme Court Friday issued notice to the central government on a lawsuit by the Delhi airports’ existing contract workers opposing the ongoing recruitment of younger replacements for them. A vacation bench of judges C.K. Thakkar and Justice L.S. Panta also issued notice to the Airports Authority of India, Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL) and the Central Advisory Contract Labour Board on the contract workers’ plea.
The bench, however, refused to restrain DIAL, which is modernising the airport, from employing new and young workers in place of the older ones for retrieving trolleys at the terminal.
The bench adjourned the matter for detailed hearing after the court’s summer vacation ends in the first week of July.
The recruitment of new contract workers was challenged by 136 existing contract workers who earlier had fought a relentless legal battle with the government to get their jobs regularized.
Following this, the Central Advisory Contract Labour Board had in Feb 2004 held that “the job of trolley retrieval was of permanent and perennial nature”.
Pointing out the huge quantum of traffic at the Delhi airport, the Board also recommended that the government abolish the contract labour system and instead employ permanent workers for retrieving trolleys at the airport.
Acceding to the Board’s recommendation, the government promptly abolished the contract labour system for retrieving trolleys and the existing workers had hoped the Airports Authority of India would absorb them as permanent workers.
Instead, the government handed the job of managing Delhi airport to DIAL which in turn hired a private firm to handle the job of retrieving trolleys.
23/05/08 Thaindian.com, Thailand

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Plan panel acting as 'super cabinet' on aiports upgrade: Left

New Delhi: After facing the wrath of a parliamentary panel and the Civil Aviation Minister, the Planning Commission today came under attack from Left parties, which said it was acting as a 'super cabinet' that was pushing for privatisation of airports by delaying their modernisation.
"Under the guidance of the Deputy Chairman, the Planning Commission is behaving like a 'super cabinet'," top Left leaders, Prakash Karat and A B Bardhan, told reporters after a meeting of the four Left parties here.
Observing that the UPA government had made a commitment to them that 35 non-metro airports would be modernised by Airports Authority of India, Bardhan said now the plan body was "seeking to subvert this decision by pushing for private participation in commercial operations and maintenance of terminal buildings."
23/05/08 Press Trust of India

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MIG crash-lands in Bagdogra airfield, pilot safe

Siliguri: A MIG-21 fighter aircraft of the Indian Air Force on Friday crash-landed at the Bagdogra airfield, but the pilot was safe.
The aircraft was returning from a training sortie when its undercarriage failed to come out and the fighter had to virtually make a belly crash-landing at 9:15 am, sources said.
While landing, the aircraft also caught fire and three fire-tenders fought for about half-an-hour to douse the blaze, according to IAF Group captain M K Dey.
The pilot was safe, Dey said.
The debris of the fighter was on the Air Force side of the airbase, so all civilian flights to Bagdogra remained unaffected, police sources said.
The MIG fighter was of type 77 make which are in the process of being phased out. This is the second crash of a MIG-21 aircraft this year.
A MIG-21 aircraft crashed near Bhuj airbase on February 15. However, the pilot managed to bail out safely.
23/05/08 PTI/The Hindu

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After day of the jackals, dog’s life

Kolkata: The presence of a dog on the main runway of NSC Bose airport delayed the landing of two flights today. Air India's flight from Aizwal to Kolkata via Imphal was approaching to land followed by a flight of Air Deccan around 2.40 p.m. when Air Traffic Control officials told the pilot of the AI flight to discontinue approach and go round because there was a dog on the main runway.
The pilot of Air Deccan's flight was also asked to go round. Both the flights landed on the secondary runway after nearly 20 minutes.
It may be recalled that two flights had to land about 15 minutes after their scheduled time of landing because of the presence of jackals on the main runway on Wednesday.
23/05/08 The Statesman

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Bangalore's new airport takes off, finally

Bangalore: After weathering many storms, Bengaluru International Airport (BIA) finally took off on Friday with Indian Airlines flight IC609 from Mumbai touching the runway at 10.40 pm.
The atmosphere at the new Bangalore airport was thick with uncertainty as operator Bangalore International Airport Ltd (BIAL) formally launched its operations. Adding to the confusion was the airport’s public relations agency’s inability to confirm whether the first flight to land there was Jet Airways or Indian Airlines.
The plush new airport, which saw its launch date being deferred three times on flimsy grounds, has been designed to handle over 12 million passengers annually. With BIA’s launch, Bangalore’s old airport HAL will close to commercial flights.
HAL was designed for an annual load of 2.5 million passengers but its capacity was stretched to 10 million passengers as air traffic grew significantly at the information technology hub in the last few years.
With 42 parking bays and eight aerobridges, the new airport has the capacity to handle 720 aircraft movements per day.
BIA shareholders include Siemens Project Ventures, Larsen & Toubro, Unique Zurich Airport, and the governments of India and Karnataka.
24/05/08 Praveena Sharma/Daily News & Analysis

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Smooth landing, perfect takeoff

Bangalore:The long wait is finally over. Bangalore's flagship project and symbol of its emergence as a global destination, the Devanahalli-based Bengaluru International Airport (BIA), is now commercially operational.
Signalling its entry into the high list of world-class international aerodromes, an Air India flight (IC 957) took off to Singapore at 12:05 am. “It is a very happy moment. It’s a really lovely evening for all of us who have been working for many years to create this world class airport,” declared a visibly relieved Albert Brunner, CEO of the Bengaluru International Airport Limited (BIAL).
Before the first take-off, an Indian Airlines flight (IC609) from Mumbai touched down at the airport at 10:40 pm. on Friday. But even before this IA flight, a Deccan ferry flight landed at the airport after dropping off passengers at the HAL Airport. As many as 11 flights were to land on the brand-new runway of the Devanahalli-based airport, a dream project that was in the making for 17 long years. But all the flights barring the Indian Airlines flight were delayed.
In fact, the Jet Airways flight (9W477) from Mumbai, scheduled as the first aircraft to land at the new airport, touched down at the HAL Airport instead.
The first landing later signalled a decisive shift in commercial operations from the HAL Airport to the new airport. But the Air Traffic Control (ATC) at the HAL Airport is expected to constantly monitor the BIA operations for at least a month as a precautionary measure.
Besides the passengers who were to take the first flight to Singapore at 12:05 am, the new airport had several hundred Bangaloreans outside its terminals eager to be part of the landmark event.
Also waiting were people ready to receive their near and dear ones on the 11 scheduled arrivals: Three Jet Airways flights from Mumbai, Delhi and Hyderabad, an Indian Airlines flight from Mumbai, two Air India flights from Kolkata and Delhi, two Indigo flights from Delhi and Nagpur.
Among the expected arrivals before midnight were also a Thai Airways flight from Bangkok, a Malaysian Airlines flight from Kuala Lumpur and an Air France flight from Paris.
24/05/08 Deccan Herald

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Passengers give the thumbs up

Bangalore: It was the moment Bangalore was waiting for. When it did arrive, it was captured in all its glory, as thousands of cameras clicked away the first passengers to arrive.
As Indian Airlines flight IC 609 from Mumbai made a touchdown at exactly, 10:35 pm, the first passenger Sheela Shenoy, a techie from Infosys and a resident of Bannerghatta Road, had this to say.
“It is a proud moment for Bangalore and Karnataka. The airport is wonderful. Connectivity should not be an issue as long as good roads are provided,” she said.
Few seemed to have had great trouble in reaching the airport. At least no one wanted to complain, what with all the euphoria.
Passengers and their relatives who gathered at the airport were bowled over by the facilities at BIA, as the swank and swish airport greeted them in all its grandeur.
With NH 7, chock-a-block with airport passengers, platoons of policemen were deployed all along the road to Devanahalli. The trumpet interchange flyover, that was open to passengers was illuminated, all the way to the terminal.
V P Baligar, principal secretary (Infrastructure and Industry), who was present to receive the first flight, said the opening of the new airport is a very happy moment for the government of Karnataka.
BIAL CEO Albert Brunner, speaking to the media soon after the first flight landed, said though a formal inauguration of the greeenfield airport will be done later, a full fledged opening has taken place.
24/05/08 Deccan Herald

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Re-negotiate on connectivity and capacity: HC to B’lore airport stakeholders

Bangalore: The Karnataka High Court on Friday directed the stakeholders of Bangalore’s new international airport, to re-negotiate on the capacity and connectivity issues to the airport in the next 12 weeks.
With the latest litigation around the airport thus settled, the “Bengaluru International Airport” in Devanahalli finally opened to commercial traffic on Friday night, as the city’s old airport, run by Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) suspended civilian air traffic.
The court directed the airport’s builder-consortium Bangalore International Airport Ltd (BIAL), the Central government, Airports Authority of India and the Karnataka government to “explore the possibility of bringing about concession agreements after renegotiations in 12 weeks”. After renegotiations, if it were concluded that public interest was served better by keeping the HAL airport open, it had to be re-opened `immediately’, the court said.
Two public interest litigations filed at the High Court’s vacation bench had sought a stay on the closure of the HAL airport, citing insufficient capacity at the new airport, connectivity issues and lack of proper re-negotiations regarding retention of the HAL airport for smaller aircrafts of up to 80 seats.
24/05/08 Financial Express

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New airport in Bangalore faces criticism

Bangalore: The new international airport in Bangalore may not have opened yet, but industry leaders in India's Silicon Valley are already complaining that it is too small and too far away.
The privately-built airport, which is due to open today, is about 35 kilometres from the city centre, at the end of a road that already routinely gets jammed with traffic. The older state-run airport, closer to the city, is due to close.
"Seventy-five per cent of Bangalore's air traffic is business travel, and if it takes four to five hours to get to the airport and back to the city, how can you do business?" said Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, chairman of India's top biotechnology firm, Biocon.
The Bangalore City Connect Foundation, an association of business leaders in the city, says authorities should renegotiate with Bangalore International Airport Limited, the new airport's owners, and keep the old one open.
"We need an international-quality airport and we are not saying don't open the new airport, but let's also utilise the infrastructure that is already there," said M. Lakshminarayan, the chairman of Bangalore City Connect.
About five million people flew in and out of Bangalore in 2004, when the new airport was planned. Now the figure is ten million, and likely to reach 15 million in a couple of years.
23/05/08 Agencies/GulfNews, United Arab Emirates

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HAL airport might still have a chance

Bangalore: The Central government has told in the High court of Karnataka that it will make efforts to retain the HAL airport despite the fact that BIA was scheduled to open to operations on 24 May (Saturday). Additional Solicitor-General Aravind Kumar making this submission on behalf of the Central government has stated that the Central government would continue to talk to the Bangalore International Airport authorities on the issue.
The issue came up during the series of petitions filed by various persons in the High court before the divisional bench chaired by Justice Ram Mohan Reddy and Justice Javed Rahim.
Mr Kumar, said the central government has already held several rounds of talks with the authorities of BIA and AAI but the meetings have not given any result. The meetings featured talks on retention of HAL airport as well as reducing the User Development Fee by the BIA. In one of the petitions the User Development Fees was termed as not just being exorbitant but also draconian.
The Central government, according to Mr.Kumar was keen on allowing smaller aircrafts at HAL airport.
The BIA has made its stand clear that according to the contractual conditions there will be no airports around BIA in the radius of 150 kilometers.
23/05/08 IANS/Mangalorean.com

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Top retailers see cash registers ringing

Bangalore: The new airport, built and owned by the Bangalore International Airport Ltd (Bial), has seen its opening delayed thrice, and is now set to begin operations from Saturday.
Bial has spent Rs2,470 crore on the airport, and the vendors and concessionaires have invested another Rs1,000 to provide various services to passengers. The airport expects to handle 12 million passengers in its first year of operations.
HMSHost has invested $3.2 million (Rs13.8 crore) in nine outlets that include Pizza Hut and Barista, at the airport, a little less the $3.5 million in 12 outlets at the new airport in Hyderabad, which opened in March. “We expect better business here,” says Janveja.
His optimism is shared by other vendors such as Odyssey India Ltd, a bookstore company owned by Deccan Chronicle Holdings Ltd. Odyssey has four times the space in Bangalore than what it has leased at the Hyderabad airport, built and owned by GMR Hyderabad International Airport Ltd. “There is a lot of IT and BPO crowd here, more than in Hyderabad,” says Babu Bellan, head of Karnataka operations at Odyssey. The younger profile of workers here and their higher disposable income make them the right customers for flowers and gifts at these stores, he says.
The new airport here also hosts Nuance Group AG, a global airport retailer, and Shoppers Stop Ltd, an Indian departmental store, besides a clutch of eateries designed on the lines of the Lal Bagh gardens in the city. Bial says its airport has a parking space for 2,000 cars, short walkways and ramps, and as many as 53 check-in counters for maximum passenger convenience.
State-owned Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corp. Ltd has said it will ply air-conditioned buses to the airport from different parts of the city. But concerns over connectivity remain in a city where traffic crawls at 10km an hour on arterial roads.
The carriers that will operate flights out of the new airport are already flying in more staff from cities such as Mumbai and Chennai.
24/05/08 K. Raghu/Livemint

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Germans fly in, stroll out

Two German pilots on a world tour took Calcutta airport for a pit stop where they could land, park and walk out without any formalities and, shockingly, did so unnoticed until moments before their return journey two days later.
Marc Aurel Lehmann and Carl Heinz Maxwitat, both in their late 60s, landed their two-seater DA 40 aircraft at Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport on Monday and casually walked out after parking it on hangar No. 9, close to where Air India keeps its aircraft.
The veteran pilots didn’t bother going through immigration and customs clearance, and none of the airport personnel who might have seen the duo walking out bothered to tell them that they should.
The security breach was discovered only on Wednesday, when Lehmann and Maxwitat showed up at the immigration counter before they were to take off for Phuket, Thailand.
“They admitted to making a mistake and apologised. Their documents were checked and because everything was in order, they were allowed to leave,” said Basab Talukdar, the deputy commissioner of security control and foreigners’ regional registration officer.
The Germans told immigration officials that they were “extremely tired” and needed rest, which is why they “hurried off to a hotel”.
After travelling 180 nautical miles south of Calcutta, Air Traffic Control lost touch with the pilots.“We contacted Bangkok later and were informed that the aircraft was 50 nautical miles north of Phuket,” an official said.
Airport sources said it was the responsibility of the handling agent —usually an airline— to guide foreign pilots through the necessary formalities. Lehmann and Maxwitat did not have a handling agent and drew up their travel plans on their own.
23/05/08 Sanjay Mandal/The Telegraph

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Bengaluru International Airport set to take off

Bangalore: The much-delayed, debated and dramatised Bengaluru International Airport (BIA) will finally take wing with the first commercial flight scheduled to take off in the first five minutes of May 24.
The first take-off will also signal a decisive shift in commercial operations from HAL Airport to the new airport.
The BIA, which was decades ago conceived as the country’s first green field airport, will see the first flight touch down at 9:45 pm on May 23 and the first flight take off at 12:05 am on May 24.
Jet Airways’s flight 9W 477 from Mumbai will be the first flight to touch down at the airport, signalling a shift from the existing HAL airport to the BIA. According to its promoters, the Bengaluru International Airport Limited (BIAL), the commissioning of the airport will take place at 12:05 am with Air India’s flight IC 957 departing to Singapore.
The landing and departure of all flights after 12:05 am on May 24 will take place at the BIA. Flight departures from Bangalore before 11.59 pm on May 23 will take place at HAL airport. But, for a flight making a stopover in Bangalore and then taking off for a further destination, it will be BIA.
BIAL has announced that the first passenger of IC 957 to Singapore will receive his/her boarding card at 9 pm.
“The transition is expected to be a smooth affair, with BIA following the same flight schedules of HAL. The first international flight that will take off at the BIA runway is a Air India jet IC 957 from Bangalore to Singapore at exactly 12:05 am, while an Air France jet will make a touch down at the same time from Paris to Bangalore, “ said a BIAL Official.
The commissioning of the airport which was scheduled to take place on May 23 midnight, was put off by 24 hours, following last minute instructions by the Election Commission citing the third and final phase of polling on Thursday.
23/04/08 Deccan Herald

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MIG-21 catches fire while landing

Siliguri: A MIG-21 aircraft caught fire while landing at the Bagdogra airport in Darjeeling district on Friday morning but the pilot was safe.
Group captain of Indian Air Force, Bagdogra, M K Dey said the aircraft caught fire at 9:30 am while returning from a routine sortie.
Three fire tenders fought for about half-an-hour to extinguish the blaze.
Though the aircraft was damaged, the pilot was safe, Dey said. A court of inquiry has been ordered.
Bagdogra Airport Director K K Dey said air traffic at the airport was not affected due to the accident.
23/05/08 Press Trust Of India/Hindustan times

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Chennai greenfield airport project takes off

Chennai: Construction work for the new greenfield airport in the city is on, Tamil Nadu Chief Secretary L K Tripathy said today.
Speaking on the sidelines of a workshop on trade cooperation promotion, organised by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) here, he refuted reports that the construction of the airport was being delayed and said an announcement on the work would be made soon. Earlier at the workshop, Mr Tripathy stressed that India should tap solar energy for electricity generation to ensure energy security.
Suggesting that new technologies could be developed to make farmers' pumpsets solar energy-compatible, he said farmers could thus generate their own electricity in their fields from sunlight.
''This would avoid the necessity of providing farmers subsidised electricity.'' He called for deregulation and free trade to enable India to access those technologies.
22/05/08 Chennai Online

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Airport realty estimated at 78 mn sq ft by 2015

According to Cushman & Wakefield, Airport Realty Report, approximately 78 million sq ft of real estate space, across retail, commercial and hospitality, can be expected in the country by 2015 with the modernisation and upgradation of the 47 airport projects. These projects cover a total of approximately 40,000 acres of airport area which includes 40 brownfield and 7 greenfield projects across tier I, II and III locations of India.
At a time when the global growth rate of the airport sector has been about 9% per annum, India has seen an average annual growth rate of 35% over a period of six years. According to Cushman & Wakefield, if the current privatisation trend continues and all airport projects under development, as specified in the 11th Plan, are modernised as per schedule, then non-aeronautical revenues might increase from the current 35% to 54% by 2015. It is estimated that rent from retail, office and hospitality space will constitute approximately 45% of the total non aeronautical revenue by 2015 and the rest of the income would be generated from other non aeronautical sources like trading concessions, public admission fees and miscellaneous income, ie, advertising, car parking, etc.
According to Cushman & Wakefield research’s estimate, space for retail accounts for 18% of the total real estate space projections made for airport projects. Most of this supply is concentrated at tier-III towns and cities as it comprises tourist destinations. The highest supply is however expected to be in Hyderabad which accounts for 1.8 million sq ft of the total retail space projected.
23/05/08 Deccan Herald

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X-ray of shoe leads to record heroin bust

An X-ray scan found something amiss in the sole of a shoe in a traveller's suitcase at Calgary airport last week.
A border officer went in for a closer look.
"It had a hollowed-out sole," said Lisa White, spokeswoman for the Canada Border Services Agency. "There were drugs in there."
It was heroin, and by the time police and border officers dug deeper into the suitcase and two others, they had uncovered Alberta's largest heroin bust -- 7.8 kilograms worth around $2.3 million. Virtually all of it was hidden in the suitcases' false bottoms.
Police said a man and a woman left India on May 14 and flew to London. From there, they took a British Airways flight to Calgary.
It was around 7:15 p.m. on May 14 that border officers in Calgary pulled the pair aside for a secondary search.
The seized drugs would have yielded around 77,800 individual doses, police said. Each dose has an approximate street value of $30.
Police can't say for sure where the drugs were headed, but it's possible it was Vancouver, said Sgt. Patrick Webb, spokesman for the RCMP.
The previous largest heroin bust was 700 grams in June 2006, at the Montana border, White said.
Bakshish Singh Ghai, 21, and Aneelvir Grewal, 18, were charged with importing and possessing a controlled substance. The two Canadians are scheduled to appear in court next week.
22/05/08 Joel Kom, Calgary Herald/Calgary Herald

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Centre clears hurdles for revamp of Assam airports

New Delhi: The Ministry of Defence has agreed to allot land for development of three airports in Assam, clearing the hurdles for development of Jorhat, Lilabari and Mohanbari airports. The decision of the Ministry was conveyed at a meeting here this afternoon. The meeting was attended by Minister of State for Defence, Palam Raju, and Union Minister of State for Chemicals and Fertilisers, Bijoy Krishna Handique, officials of Airport Authority of India and Assam Government.
Later briefing newsmen, Handique said that as the then Defence Ministry, he had submitted two proposals for development of the airports, which were under the control of the Defence Ministry.
At today’s meeting the Minister of State for Defence conveyed his Ministry’s clearance for allotment of two acres of land for development of Jorhats airport, Handique said.
The land may be used for extension of runways to facilitate operation of bigger aircraft. They have in principle agreed to provide the land. However, actual extension of runway project is likely to take some more time, he added.
Besides, the Ministry of Defence has also agreed to allot additional land for extension of Mohanbari and Lilabari airports, in exchange of lands with the State Government.
22/05/08 Assam Tribune

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Ahmedabad runway renovation hits flights

Ahmedabad: A three-day renovation work initiated at the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel international airport here has left fliers of bigger aircraft fuming after an Air India flight to London was axed. National carrier Air India Thursday cancelled its Ahmedabad-London flight (AI 133), leaving passengers who had reported for boarding stranded at the airport.
Many passengers protested vocally saying they were not warned about the cancellation in advance.
Landing and takeoff of bigger aircraft have been affected after work on the runway renovation began Wednesday.
“We had informed all airlines about the repair work. Smaller aircraft and flights are operating normally,” airport director B.P. Bhagat told IANS.
22/05/08 Thaindian.com, Thailand

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B'lore airport opening delayed by 24 hrs

New Delhi/Bangalore: The government today issued a notification to Bangalore International Airport Limited (BIAL), the Siemens AG-led private consortium developing the airport, that it would now open on May 24 instead of May 23.
"The central government hereby notifies that the Bangalore International Airport at Devanahalli would be commissioned w.e.f. 00.01 hours of May 24 instead of w.e.f. 00.01 hours of May 23 as notified earlier," the notification read.
The notification follows the Election Commission's suggestion that the airport be opened after the completion of the voting for the Assembly polls in Karnataka. However, aviation circles attributed the postponement to non-compliance of several key operational issues by BIAL, including lack of clarity over sharing air space between BIAL and the Indian Air Force (IAF) air base at Yelahanka, non-completion of air traffic equipment calibration and failure to disseminate information to the international airliners.
Another reason, sources said, could be the case that is coming up for hearing in the Karnataka High Court on Thursday over keeping the old airport in the city open.
Reacting to the sudden decision of the government, BIAL CEO Albert Brunner said: "We are taken by surprise. In fact, we have just closed a press conference communicating our preparedness for tomorrow. However, there is nothing we can do at this point. All our efforts are now towards minimizing passenger and airline inconvenience owing to this postponement."
22/05/08 Business Standard

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GMR Infra hopes to DIAL a solution in two weeks

Top officials of GMR Infrastructure have indicated that the impasse regarding raising Rs 2,750 crore for the modernisation of the New Delhi Airport would be resolved in two weeks.
Alternate funding plans are being worked out, which would allow for a combination of equity from DIAL's stake holders and deposits and rent from leasing of airport land to fund the modernisation plan.
Subba Rao Amarthaluru, CFO, corporate integration, GMR, said, "We have submitted a few alternate plans. The funding gap of Rs 2,750 will be met through equity or a combination of equity and monetisation of property. If we are able to raise more money through such monetisation, the additional equity put in by the DIAL stakeholders, would be diluted."
GMR officials say that, while the government had agreed to pump in money to the tune of Rs 715 crore to ensure that the project would adhere to deadlines, it later asked DIAL to explore options which would reduce the government burden. With the current development, the equity put in by the DIAL stakeholders could be refunded, depending on the funding formula approved.
Earlier AAI and the Ministry of Civil Aviation had reservations with DIAL's formula of raising Rs 2,750 crore purely through deposits from those who wanted to tap into real estate opportunities on airport land.
GMR holds a controlling stake in the project which also has Fraport, Airport Authority of India and Eraman Malaysia as the other stakeholders. The first phase of the airport is expected to be complete by March 2010, in time for the Commonwealth Games which is being hosted by Delhi.
22/05/08 Nirmal John/DNA MONEY/Sify

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BIAL exploring real estate development around airport

Chennai/ Bangalore: The Bengaluru International Airport Limited (BIAL) is exploring real estate development around the airport.
According to Anurag Mathur, joint managing director of Cushman & Wakefield, BIAL is planning to put up premium office space, technology centre and business centre over 150 acres.
"The company is also exploring major urban entertainment centre on an area of about 50 acres. The opening of the airport will set benchmark for airport real estate sector in the form of retail, office space, convention centre and hospitality," he added.
Globally, airports derive a large portion of their income from non-aeronautical revenue sources; Heathrow, San Francisco, Vancouver and Brisbane, bring in as much as 50 per cent of their revenues from retail and other non-aeronautical resources.
Anurag Mathur said, "With the greenfield projects in Hyderabad and Bangalore taking their maiden steps, India will soon replicate this potential revenue earning model."
21/05/08 Business Standard

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Airports won't wait till terminal stage

New airports coming up across the country may be glass and steel structures, but they promise to come with a conscience.
Since the Union urban development ministry has long made it mandatory for all new big projects to harvest the rain, both the Airport Authority of India (AAI) and private developers say their new projects are going to be green buildings.
"Any new development project must have rainwater harvesting structures. If there's a place where the water table is shallow and harvesting will not be possible, rainwater has to be stored and used so that dependence on groundwater or municipal supply for secondary (non-drinking) uses is reduced. Similarly, wastewater has to be treated and used for purposes like gardening," a senior water resource ministry official said.
Accordingly, the AAI has is going to harvest the rain at all its project sites. "We did that in Lucknow last year and harvesting structures were put up at Udaipur airport six months back. All our airports will be harvesting the rain," said a senior AAI official.
He added that AAI is installing sewage treatment plants also at all big sites. The idea is not to have any discharge into already choked municipal drains. The wastewater will be recycled and used for gardening.
The AAI is in fact looking at green building concept for all its future projects so that they are water and energy efficient.
22/05/08 Saurabh Sinha/Times of India

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Bird hits: Airline operators to petition AAI

Kolkata: Concerned by the repeated incidents of birds being hit by aircraft during the last week at NSC Bose Airport, the members of the Airline Operators Committee (AOC) here met yesterday.
They decided to send a formal request to Airport Authority of India (AAI) officials to take steps to minimise such incidents. Every bird hit causes a loss of between Rs 1.5 to 2 lakh to the airline concerned. This includes the cost to repair the damaged aircraft, the fuel burnt for the return journey, transportation of passengers to hotels and their conveyance charges.
A spokesman of AOC said apart from the loss for the airline concerned, every bird death causes considerable harassment to passengers also. It can also lead to dangerous situation.
According to officials of airlines, these incidents usually occur during monsoon and during the advent of autumn. It is somewhat unusual at this time of the year. However it was known the earth was being dug towards the northern end of runway 19 L for runway extension. Insects might have come out because of the digging and birds might have been attracted to catch them.
21/05/08 The Statesman

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Instrument landing system at Pune airport by December

Pune: Finally, the Pune Airport will get the much needed instrument landing system (ILS) in December. The system will help aircraft land in poor visibility conditions, which will in turn cut down the delays caused by fog during winter.
Although the Pune airport is getting the ILS, there seems a difference of opinion between Pune MP Suresh Kalmadi and the officials of the Airports Authority of India (AAI). While Kalmadi on Wednesday said the ILS would be in place in two months, that is before the Commonwealth Youth Games, airport officials beg to differ. "The ILS is scheduled to be installed in December," said J P Mathur, officiating director of the Pune Airport. "The AAI will install the ILS which will help guide the aircraft in bad weather conditions," said Mathur. "It will minimise the rate of flights getting cancelled during winter or monsoon," he added.
ILS facilities are a highly accurate and dependable means of navigating to the runway in adverse weather conditions. When using the ILS, the pilot determines aircraft position primarily by reference to instruments.
22/05/08 Siddharth Kelkar/Pune Newsline

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Bangalore’s new airport hangs in balance again

Bangalore: The opening of a new airport in Bangalore, scheduled for the wee hours of 23 May, could get delayed yet again after a two-judge bench of the Karnataka high court asked for the minutes of a government meeting last week which decided that a city airport be closed down to make way for operations at the new one. The airport opening has been postponed twice already.
The court decision comes in the wake of charges that the state and Union governments are hurrying through with opening of the new Bengaluru International Airport before the court, which is hearing a public interest litigation against the closure of the city’s existing airport, reopens on 26 May. The court is on a summer break until then.
A meeting of Union government and Karnataka state officials with representatives of the Bangalore International Airport Ltd, or Bial, the new airport’s developer, at New Delhi on 12 May decided that the existing airport, run by state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd, or HAL, be shuttered keeping with a 2004 agreement with the Siemens AG-led developer.
On Tuesday, the litigant, Bangalore City Connect Foundation, or BCCF, filed a petition before the vacation bench of the high court demanding a stay on closure of the HAL airport until the court resumes on 26 May. The vacation bench that hears urgent pleas when the court is on vacation will take up the BCCF plea for hearing on Thursday, the midnight of which the new airport is to open.
21/05/08 K. Raghu/Livemint

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Bangalore's IT Industry Faces a New Hurdle With Airport Move

Bangalore, India's outsourcing hub, has been grappling with poor roads, traffic jams, and power cuts. From Friday, the city's outsourcing and other industries in the city have to cope with a new problem -- a new, and distant, airport.
Staff working in the city's outsourcing industry, who travel extensively within the country and abroad, will have to travel about 40 kilometers more on average to the city's new airport, called Bengaluru International Airport (BIA). As a result of the additional distance, air travellers may have to spend two to four hours on the city's congested roads to get to and from the airport, according to various estimates.
The city's older airport is scheduled to stop receiving commercial air traffic on Friday. This move is in line with an agreement between the government and the investors in the new airport, which has been set up in a remote suburb of the city called Devanahalli.
The city's business leaders and some other citizens are demanding that both airports be allowed to operate, with the older airport on the outskirts of the city at least handling short-distance traffic to and from Bangalore. The Bangalore City Connect Foundation (BCCF), an organization set up by Bangalore's citizens, is demanding that government renegotiate its contract with BIA to allow for the continued operation of the old airport for some traffic.
20/05/08 John Ribeiro, IDG News Service/PC World

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