Mock drill at int’l airport to check emergency response plan

Mumbai: A mock drill was today conducted at the international airport here to check efficacy of the emergency response plan to cope with an aircraft emergency.
The four-hour-long exercise `Operation Black Panther’ – was held at the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport (CSIA) from 10 AM onwards, a release said.
The full-scale aerodrome emergency exercise was conducted jointly with Hong-Kong based Cathay Pacific airline.
A simulated aircraft disaster was enacted as a part of the drill, it said.
The exercise helped in assessing and evaluating the preparedness of all response teams, including CSIA, which is involved in handling aircraft emergency situations, it said.
09/03/17 PTI/India.com

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Shamsabad Airport raises User Development fees from 1st June

Hyderabad: Passengers travelling abroad have now to pay Rs. 1955 whereas for domestic travels Rs. 495 would be collected. These charges are higher than any airport in India. This increase would affect the Hajj Pilgrims also.

It may be mentioned that Rajiv Gandhi International Airport at Shamsabad has been constructed on Wakf land.
31/05/16 Siasat

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GMR Infra Q4 net loss widens to Rs 953.50 cr

New Delhi: GMR Infrastructure, a diversified group with interest in energy and airport sectors, saw its net loss on consolidated basis widen to Rs 953.5 crore on higher expenses during the fourth quarter ended March 31, 2015-16.

The company had clocked net loss after tax, minority interest and share of loss of associates at Rs 891.90 crore in the corresponding quarter of the 2014-15 fiscal.

Its total income from operations rose 28.27 per cent to Rs 3,736.68 crore, from Rs 2,912.91 crore in the year-ago period, GMR said in a regulatory filing to BSE.

For the entire 2015-16, the company's net loss stood at Rs 2,161 crore, as against Rs 2,733.29 crore in the previous fiscal. It total income from operations rose to Rs 13,357.66 crore last fiscal, from Rs 11,087.68 crore.

The company said in a statement that there is a significant improvement in EBIDTA - increase of 67 per cent to Rs 4,264 crore last fiscal, from Rs 2,555 cr in 2014-15.
31/05/16 PTI/Business Standard

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ICRA forecasts 16.6% growth in non-aeronautical revenues of airports by 2025

New Delhi: Ratings agency ICRA has forecast that non-aeronautical revenues at Indian airports will grow by 16.6 per cent to touch Rs 16,150 crore over the next 10 years, driven by increase in scope of activities there and growing commercial orientation of the operators.

Revenues from such activities primarily consist of fees for the rights to operate businesses at the airport, and rental of leased land and premises.

Some of the common non-aeronautical activities include food and beverage business , duty-free shops, leasing of terminal space, and running car rentals/parking and hotels/motels.
Over the last 10 years, non-aeronautical revenues at domestic airports have increased at a CAGR of 22.9 per cent -- from Rs 450 crore in fiscal 2005 to Rs 3,500 crore in 2014-15, according to ICRA.
30/05/16 PTI/Economic Times

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Passengers left hassled as technical snag grounds Indigo flight at Nagpur

Nagpur: An unspecified number of passengers were left stranded at Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar International Airport here as Indigo flight No 6-E-135 from Nagpur to Bengaluru via Pune developed a technical glitch and was grounded for over four hours.

The passengers of Indigo flight had to face harrowing time at Nagpur Airport when Indigo Airlines flight No 6-E-135 with specified tickets. The passengers were supposed to board the flight at 12:25 with flight take-off at 13:10. However, the flight did not depart even at 16:00 hours due to technical snag.

The hassled passengers said that they had many pre-scheduled work and business to attend to at Bengaluru but with this unprecedented delay, their business or work was affected to no end. Passengers having connecting flights from Bengaluru had missed their onward journey. Who will bear the loss of cost of tickets for international flights?

One of the passengers identified as Manish Chauhan, National President of Oriental Human Rights Protection Forum, said that the boarding was done on time at 12:25 pm. However, even after an hour of boarding the flight, the flight did not take off. Even the air-conditioners inside the flight ceased to work making it unbearable for the passengers.
30/05/16 Nagpur Today

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AI to continue daily op between Delhi and Surat in morning

Surat: Buckling under political pressure from the Diamond City, Air India (AI) has decided to continue the daily operation of its Delhi-Surat-Delhi morning flight from June 2. Earlier, AI had announced cancellation of the flight for two days, i.e., Thursdays and Sundays till June 16 due to non-availability of aircraft and the ongoing work of recarpeting and extension of runway at Surat airport.
As per the official communication received from AI on Monday, the AI will operate an ATR aircraft on Thursday and Sunday. The flight will depart at 5:25 am from Delhi to arrive at 7:45 am at Surat and in the return journey the flight will depart at 8:25 am to reach Delhi at 11:10 am.
Similarly, for the rest of the days, the AI will be operating CRJ-700 aircraft. The aircraft will depart from Delhi at 7:45 am to reach Surat at 9:25 am and begin the return journey at 9:55 am to reach Delhi at 11:35 am.
AI stated that the Delhi-Surat flight is highly popular among textile and diamond businessmen and provides seamless connectivity between the two business cities. It also offers convenient connections to other international flights from Delhi.
31/05/16 Times of India

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Direct flight to Puttaparthi sought

Vijayawada:  The Andhra Pradesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry Federation on Monday wrote to the Chairman of the Airports Authority of India, emphasising the need for direct flight service between Vijayawada and Puttaparthi.

Federation executive director P. Bhaskar Rao in the letter mentioned that Puttaparthi is world famous for its association with Sri Sathya Sai Baba and every year, millions of devotees throng the town which has an airport. He said Puttaparthi is also visited frequently for health care and education purpose with the existence of premier Sathya Sai institutions.
31/05/16 The Hindu

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Grant all due clearances to IndiGo to start international flights from Chandigarh by June 10, HC directs Centre

Chandigarh: The Punjab and Haryana High Court on Monday directed the Centre to grant all due clearances to IndiGo airlines for starting of international flights from Chandigarh airport by June 10 and told IndiGo airlines to submit its flight schedule within three weeks thereafter.
The court issued directions to Air India to submit its flight schedule about starting of international combo flights from Chandigarh on the next date of hearing. The court also directed the Central ministries, including the Defence Ministry, to convene a meeting for making available all the necessary facilities at the Chandigarh airport, including the CAT-II or CAT-III landing system.
During the hearing of the case, secretary of Civil Aviation Ministry and chairman of the Airports Authority of India were also present in the court. The secretary of Civil Aviation Ministry submitted that the ministry was making all-out efforts to start international flights at the earliest from Chandigarh and assured his full cooperation.
31/05/2016 Indian Express

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Delhi storm throws flights to city off schedule

Mumbai: People travelling to the city from New Delhi by air were subjected to much distress when several flights were delayed on Sunday by bad weather in the national capital. Airport authorities said 40 flights out of the Indira Gandhi International Airport were diverted.

Also affected were Delhi-bound passengers from Newark, USA. The United Airlines flight UA-82 they were travelling on was diverted to Mumbai, and passengers had to wait for five hours before they were allowed to deplane and accommodated during the delay period.

R.K. Jenamani, director-in-charge of meteorology at IGIA, said thunderstorms are a difficult phenomenon for the aviation industry across the world globe and usually rise in frequency in May and June in India. “On an average, we usually face 30-35 diversions in these two months. 2008 saw 83 diversions, but the storms were well-distributed. This year, we saw 38 diversions alone on May 23 and 40 diversions on May 29,” he said.

The United airlines flight was scheduled to land in New Delhi at 9.30 pm on Sunday, but was re-directed to Mumbai where it arrived at 10.30 pm. Passenger Sunil Kumar Singh, 42, said, “We did not receive any response from the staff for quite some time. By the time we left the aircraft, it was 3.15 am. They took our passports saying they would be returned when we board the next flight. Some passengers were missing bags. The experience was not good.”

United Airlines’ representatives remained unavailable for comment. A GVK Mumbai official, who declined to be named, said in accordance with Flight Duty Time Limitation, the crew requires adequate rest before they can be assigned. “Since it’s an international flight, they cannot change their crew and take off again, which generally happens in the case of domestic flights,” the official said.
31/05/16 Shivam Patel/The Hindu

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7 Delhi-bound flights diverted to Ahmedabad airport

Ahmedabad: Dust storm and low visibility in Delhi on Sunday night led to seven flights including five international ones getting diverted to Ahmedabad airport.
According to the Ahmedabad airport officials, bad weather in the national capital forced diversion of seven flights to the city airport which included Hong Kong-Delhi and Jeddah-Delhi flights.
Besides five international, two domestic flights - one each of IndiGo and Air India flying from Pune to Delhi - were diverted to the Ahmedabad airport on Sunday night. All these seven flights had to wait for two-three hours before the weather cleared and the flights were able to take-off.
The airport officials claimed that weather in Delhi was really bad, and in the last one week, this is for the second time that so many flights had been diverted from Delhi at such short intervals to Ahmedabad. The officials said that flight operations to and from Delhi were back to normal after 11pm. On May 23 too, five flights including four international ones were diverted to the Ahmedabad airport following inclement weather in Delhi.
31/05/16 Times of India

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Delhi's bad weather causes chaos at Ahmedabad

Ahmedabad: Bad weather at Delhi affected air traffic in Ahmedabad, throwing life out of gear at Ahmedabad Airport. According to airport sources, dust storm and bad weather in Delhi grounded or delayed several flights at the Indira Gandhi International Airport, having a cascading effect in Ahmedabad. As many as 19 flights arriving or departing from the city were affected due to the congestion at Delhi airport. According to airport sources, six flights scheduled to Delhi had to be diverted to Ahmedabad while a flight from the city to Delhi had to be diverted to Udaipur before it resumed its journey.

"Schedules of 12 flights from Ahmedabad to Delhi were affected. Resulting in delay of a minimum 50 minutes to a maximum of three hours. The flights were scheduled on late Sunday and Monday morning," sources said. Two Air India flights from Delhi to Ahmedabad were delayed on Sunday and Monday by an hour. Air India and SpiceJet flights from Delhi to Mumbai with a stop at Ahmedabad, were delayed by 45 minutes and 55 minutes respectively. Apart from flight delays, as many as six flights made emergency landing at Sardar Vallabhbhai International Airport. Airport Director A K Sharma dismissed the events as routine.
31/05/16 Ahmedabad Mirror

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AAI organizes ‘Swachh Bharat Pakhwara’ at Rajiv Gandhi Bhawan

New Delhi: The Airports Authority of India (AAI) who is responsible for creating, upgrading, maintaining and managing civil aviation infrastructure in India has organized ‘Swachh Bharat Pakhwara’ and Pledge taking ceremony on “Mission Swachh Bharat” at the Rajiv Gandhi Bhawan, New Delhi.
The event witnessed large number of officials in present and emphasized to give two hours per week for cleanliness drive to realize the dream of Mahatma Gandhi lead ‘Swachh Bharat’.
30/05/16 ANI/Financial Express

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Air India to resume services to Surat from 2nd June

New Delhi: State-run Air India will run daily services from here to Surat from June 2, almost five months after it had curtailed operations to the diamond city due to paucity of aircraft.

The airline currently operates five times a week with its regional jet, CRJ-700.

The decision to enhance connectivity was driven by growing air travel demand on the route, the Air India said.

The flight that operated five days a week now -- Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday -- will also operate on Thursday and Sunday, starting June 2, Air India said in a statement.
30/05/16 PTI/Economic Times

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Good news for Chennai airport

Chennai: The Chennai airport has been in the news more often for the wrong reasons. It may be noted that there have been  numerous incidents of glass panels falling/breaking.

However, in some good news, the city has gained some points in the recently conducted Airport Service Quality survey across airports in India for the first quarter of 2016 (January to March).

The ASQ rating has improved from the previous quarter’s (October to December 2015) from 4.51 to 4.66 and the ranking has improved from 41 to 36.

This is a considerable improvement as the parameters are linked to the basic user facilities like toilets and terminal utilities. The survey is conducted every quarter and published by Airports Authority of India (AAI), based on user feedback across various parameters.

Expressing joy over the improvement in the ranking, Chennai Airport Director Deepak Shastri tweeted: "Glad to info ASQ rating in last qtr jumped to 4.66 fm 4.51,in the previous qtr.Ee will continue our efforts@ gajapati_raju." he had posted.

The detailed reports of the survey showed that the cleanliness of the toilets in the airport, which was once a cause of concern has improved the most from 3.39 to 4.32 with an increase of 0.98.

While there are many sectors that have improved, the parking facilities at the airport still seem to irk the passengers as the points had a 0.63 dip from the previous quarter of 3.88 and is now at 3.25.

Value for money of parking, Availability of baggage trucks/trolleys and Internet access/Wifi are the only others aspects that had seen some reduction in the points in which the AAI has to concentrate.
30/05/16 M Balasubramani/News Today

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Snap protest by taxi drivers causes traffic jam near Bengaluru airport

Bengaluru: People reaching the city from the Kempegowda International Airport on Tuesday morning witnessed huge traffic jams at the Devanahalli toll booth. Several cab drivers staged a snap protest against the Transport Department's attempt to 'illegally' plying aggregator booked taxis.

The traffic jam, which according to some sources stretched for nearly five km from the toll booth into the city, was reportedly cleared by 10 a.m. by the police.

R. Hitendra, Additional Commissioner of Police (Traffic), said the snap protest against action by Transport Department by cab drivers created a road block from airport towards the city for over 45 minutes. He stressed that there was no disturbance for traffic moving towards the airport and added that jam had now been cleared.

Drivers of the two can aggregators claimed that the officials of the Regiobnal Transport Office initially blocked the Ola and Uber zones at the airport. This, they claimed, led to the enforcement at the Davanahalli toll plaza.
31/04/16 The Hindu

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Saffron worth Rs 4.8 lakh seized at Mumbai Airport's Terminal 2

Mumbai: In a rare occurrence, Customs officers confiscated 8 kg of saffron from an Indian at Terminal 2 in the wee hours of Monday. The confiscation took place after Air Arabia flight G9 409 (Sharjah to Mumbai) landed at T2 around 4.30 am. Based on suspicion, officers intercepted Sanaf Thuruthi Abdulla at the green channel and recovered the spice from his handbag. The consignment is worth Rs 4.8 lakh.
“After we recovered the undeclared saffron from his possession, the passenger was fined R1.25 lakh. He was also asked to pay another R60,000 as taxes. Smugglers keep innovating ways to sneak in various commodities. The most preferred method is to wrap the consignment in such a manner that the scanner fails to detect it. But once a passenger raises our suspicion, s/he is thoroughly checked even if nothing suspicious is detected during scanning,” said a Customs officer.
31/05/16 Mid Day

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Malaysian cop held at airport

Kochi: A policeman from Malaysia - who arrived in Kerala for his honeymoon - was held at Cochin airport on Sunday night after CISF personnel found bullets in his baggage during checking. The man who was arrested at the airport was identified as Mukundan (31). They later handed him over to Nedumbassery police and a case was registered. The police said that the foreigner had a licence to use gun in Malaysia and he was not aware of the norms in India. The foreigner had come to Kerala on May 23 with his wife. While the man was detained, his wife was allowed to fly back to Malaysia. He was produced before a court on Monday and remanded in judicial custody.
31/05/16 Times of India

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Two held for stealing diesel from airport

Amritsar: The Central Industrial Security Force arrested two persons for allegedly stealing diesel from the power house of Sri Guru Ram Dass Ji International Airport here last evening.
They were later handed over to the police for further investigations. The CISF also recovered 120 litres of fuel (three cans) from their possession. Those arrested were identified as Ravinder Singh, son of Joginder Singh, and Kuldeep Singh, son of Lalli, both residents of Rajasansi here.
The airport police have registered a case under Sections 380 and 411, IPC, against them. It has also impounded a luxury car from their possession that was used for stealing the fuel. Inspector Sushil Kumar in his complaint to the police stated that the accused were arrested when they were coming by the car after stealing three cans of diesel. They could not give satisfactory answers to the queries of the CISF.
30/05/16 Tribune 

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Airport at Kothagudem to take wing soon

Khammam: The Central government has given its nod for setting up of an airport at Kothagudem in the district, said Minister for Roads & Buildings Tummala Nageswara Rao.

He was speaking at a special meeting of the Zilla Parishad held here on Sunday.

The meeting was convened in connection with the ensuing Telangana State Formation Day celebrations slated for June 2.

Addressing the ZPTC members and MPPs at the meeting, the Minister said the land acquisition process for the proposed airport at Kothagudem, the coal hub of the State, will be completed soon and the land required for the proposed mega facility will be handed over to the executing agencies.
30/05/16 The Hindu

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Special group to fix maintenance issues at Chennai Airport

Chennai: A special group will soon be formed to fix various maintenance issues at Chennai airport, Minister for Civil Aviation Ashok Gajapathy Raju said.

Recently, he took to Twitter to make the announcement after top officials of the Civil Aviation Department and the Airports Authority of India inspected the airport and recommended measures for improving the airport.

He tweeted: JS MOCA and chairman AAI inspected Chennai airport; suggested changes. Special group to be set up for improving facilities and maintenance.

The inspection by the officials came weeks after Mr. Raju said he had received several complaints on the maintenance of the Chennai airport.
30/05/16 The Hindu

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Bids for upgrading Nagpur airport to be issued soon

In a boost to regional air connectivity in Maharashtra and Central India, the state government is planning to expand the capacity of the Nagpur airport and to construct a new runway.

"The request for quotations (RFQs) for the upgradation and modernisation of the Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar International Airport (BAIA) will be issued soon. This project will be undertaken on a public private partnership (PPP) basis on design, build, finance, operate and transfer basis," said a senior government official.
He added that a decision in this regard was taken in a recent meeting of the Maharashtra Airport Development Corporation (MADC) – a special purpose company to develop Multi-modal International Hub Airport at Nagpur (MIHAN) and Aviation Infrastructure in the state to provide the regional air connectivity.

The BAIA airport is considered among the top 20 busiest airports in the country. According to an estimate, the airport saw a movement of around 1,401,147 passengers and 13,330 aircraft in 2014. The airport also saw handling of around 6,063 tonnes of cargo. The recent development is expected to improve its traffic handling capacity.
The official said the decision to add another runway to the existing one would augment the capacity of the airport to handle passenger and cargo traffic. "One runway can be earmarked exclusively for the use of the Indian Air Force... now, there are restrictions on civilian flights. If a new runway is constructed, one can be kept exclusively for them," he added, stating that the capacity augmentation would also help boost passenger traffic and exports from the units located in MIHAN and the larger region.
30/05/16 Dhaval Kulkarni/Shahkar Abidi/DNA

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No new international flights in last one year

Visakhapatnam: Even though international passenger traffic has doubled at the Vizag Airport in the last one year, surprisingly not a single new international flight has been added in the last 12 months. The development interestingly comes at a time when the state government is planning to develop an international airport at Bhogapuram in the coming days.
According to airport sources, the two airlines - Srilankan Airlines and Air Arabia - have completed surveys on the potential traffic from the Port City to Sri Lanka and the United Arab Emirates. However, airport sources were not able to confirm if either of the two airlines would be launching operations from the Vizag Airport any time soon.
Incidentally, the city airport registered a massive 102.7% increase in international passenger footfall during 2015-16 as against 2014-15, which was the highest percentage change among the eight customs airports and second highest change among all airports receiving international passengers in the country. In 2015-16, the airport witnessed international footfall of 1.21 lakh as against 59,995 passengers in 2014-15.
An airport source said the delay in airlines beginning operations from Vizag may be due to long procedures as they have to not only receive feedback from various stakeholders such as public and tour operators, but also from their respective countries. At the same time, the airlines have to obtain permission from the directorate general of civil aviation for starting their operations.
30/05/16 Times of India

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Baggage, customer care issues irk travellers

Mumbai: In the first quarter of 2016, the domestic air travellers addressed customer services and baggage handling facilities as the biggest problems they face while travelling on a flight. According to the data from January to April 2016 issued by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), 2,993 complaints were received by the domestic airlines from their fliers.
As per the data, 50 per cent of the complaints were about customer services and baggage handling, while about 20 per cent was regarding other flight-related problems.
According to the data, other matters that irk fliers the most include, flight problems and refund. However, problems related to fare, catering and staff behaviour troubled less than 0.5 per cent passengers, stated the data.
Among domestic airlines, Air India topped the list with the maximum number of passenger complaints. While Jet airways stood second and was followed by Go Air and Indigo in the list. The data further revealed that in January 2016, 823 passenger-related complaints had been received by the scheduled domestic airlines, In February 759 complaints were filed followed by 737 in March and 674 in April.
30/05/16 Ashita Dadheech/Asian Age

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'Late' passenger turned back from plane ladder

Kolkata: A city-based doctor was turned away from the step ladder of a Mumbai-bound Air India flight on Saturday morning for not reporting on time.
The passenger , Rasmi Ranjan Rath, has lodged a complaint with the airline and questioned why the ground staff had allowed him to board a bus that ferried passengers from the terminal to the aircraft bay if he had been offboarded for being late . Rath claimed the airline staff stopped him at the ladder point around 9.30am, 15 minutes before the scheduled departure.
"I was travelling to Mumbai to join my wife and child, an infant, for a family function. Since they were booked on a SpiceJet fligth at 7.55am, we reached the airport at 7am. I collected my boarding card around 7.15am, went through security check with my wife and kid, saw them off from a boarding gate on the ground floor and then went up to first level to kill time before my flight," he recounted.
29/05/16 Times of India

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DGCA seeks IAF nod for more flights to JK

New Delhi: The airports are under the control of the IAF, which has allowed limited civilian aircraft movements.

With airlines keen on increasing services to Srinagar and Jammu, aviation regulator DGCA has sought Indian Air Force's approval for increasing flight movements at the two airports.

The airports are under the control of the IAF, which has allowed limited civilian aircraft movements.

Sources said the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has sought IAF approval for increasing the number of flights at the two airports from the current eight to 12 per hour.
29/05/16 PTI/Greater Kashmir

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Passengers Stranded as 40 Flights Diverted from Delhi Airport

Squalls, dust storms and heavy rains in the national capital upset flight schedules at the Indira Gandhi International Airport.
Until 2 am on Monday morning, 40 domestic and international flights were diverted to nearby airports due to bad weather.
Airlines urged the Civil Aviation Ministry to help institute a mechanism for providing weather updates, “well in advance.”
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who was returning from Karnataka, after addressing a public meeting in Devangere, also had to make a stop over in Jaipur on Sunday after inclement weather prevented his flight from landing in Delhi.
30/05/16 Isha Purkayastha/The Quint

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Bad weather forces PM Modi's flight to stopover at Jaipur

Jaipur: Heavy rainfall and strong winds in Delhi last night, forced Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Air India flight to stall at Jaipur, while it was flying from Karnataka to the national capital.

Prime Minister Modi was on his way back from Karnataka where he addressed a public meeting in Devangere earlier in the day, to mark the completion of two years of his government.

The plane landed in Jaipur at around 9.15 p.m. After a stoppage of over two hours the flight took off from Jaipur and landed in Delhi at around 12:10 a.m.
30/05/16 ABP Live

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Exporters tear hair out as packages go missing from Kolkata airport

New Delhi: Bengalis have the best hair in India, or that's what thieves at Kolkata airport think. In what appears to be a hair-raising case fit to be investigated by none other than Satyajit Ray's fictional sleuth Feluda, packs of high-quality human hair waiting to be shipped abroad, have been allegedly disappearing regularly from airport premises in the city of joy.
West Bengal has emerged as an important hub for hair collection after Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh due to the quality of Bengali hair, said exporters. Hair collectors on cycles roam around in villages with dugdugis (damaru) in places such as Midnapur and Murshidabad in search of good-quality hair. Women and children exchange tufts of their hair for utensils or cheap gifts. On a good day, a collector gathers 200-300gm of hair.
"Bengalis have a tradition of cleaning and oiling their hair, a process which helps maintain hair quality and colour. Chinese buyers prefer jet black, long and straight hair, something easily available in West Bengal compared to other parts of the country, including Tamil Nadu," said Arup Ghosh, a hair exporter in Kolkata.
The most sought-after human hair for export are 18-26 inch long and cost around Rs 16,000 per kg. In comparison, a kilo of 6-inch hair is sold for Rs 100. It takes around five tons of hair to produce around 10kg of 18-26 inch hair, said exporters. "This is what the hair thieves are after," said Habibul S K, a Kolkata-based hair exporter. "I have lost around 30kg of such hair from Kolkata airport. My competitors have lost more."
30/05/16 John Sarkar/Times of India

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Delhi flight did not make emergency landing: Indigo

Vadodara: Private carrier Indigo on Sunday clarified that Delhi-bound flight from Vadodara had made a normal landing at the Delhi airport on Saturday night.
The company denied the claims made by passengers that its flight from Vadodara had to land on a temporary runaway at the Delhi airport.
In a statement issued to the media, Indigo confirmed that "6E 488 flight enroute Vadodara to Delhi made a normal landing at the Delhi airport (May 28, 2016) at 10.35 pm on runway number 11."
"The flight had landed late due to weather conditions causing air traffic congestion, hence the aircraft was holding overhead for 20 minutes," the statement said.
29/05/16 Prashant Rupera/Times of India

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Night landing facility restored at Gaya airport

Gaya: After nearly seven-week long suspension, night landing facilities were restored at the Gaya International Airport on Sunday. The facility was suspended following the theft of devices like control panel, solar plate and battery installed at Ramshila hill. Such devices have been put in place at five different points on the hilltops around the town.
The devices, installed at pre identified obstruction points, are required for special lighting arrangement to facilitate safe landing during night hours. The devices were stolen on April 5.
Confirming the replacement of the stolen devices and restoration of night landing facility, Gaya airport director Dilip Kumar said special arrangements were needed to protect the devices which were stolen several times in the past. Though home guards are specially deputed at hilltops to protect the devices, incidents of theft have taken place.
29/05/16 Abdul Qadir/Times of India

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Passenger dies of cardiac arrest aboard IndiGo Mumbai-Chennai flight

A passenger on a Mumbai-Chennai IndiGo flight died on board of cardiac arrest even before the flight took off on Saturday, an airline official said.
Ganesh Thapathi suffered a heart attack during the boarding process on the IndiGo flight 6e-279.
The crew on board immediately alerted the ground staff and quickly arranged a doctor to attend to the passenger while providing first aid and made an inflight announcement, declaring a medical emergency on-board.
In response, three passengers, who identified themselves as doctors, joined the IndiGo crew to administer all medical aid, including cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) to Thapathi.
Later, the airport doctor examined Thapathi and declared him dead.
29/05/16 IANS/Financial Express

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Husband abandons wife's body at Hyderabad airport

A B.Tech graduate named Ramya Krishna hailing from Hyderabad died under suspicious circumstances in Australia. However, her husband Mahanth who brought the body back to the city abandoned it at the Shamshabad airport and fled from the place.
At the airport, Mahanth argued that he alone was entitled to cremate Ramya and demanded her passport to be given to him. Once he received the passport, Mahanth left the body at the Shamshabad airport.
Ramya's parents alleged that Mahanth was responsible for the death of their daughter, as they informed that Ramya had called them on May 18 asking Rs 25 lakh for Mahanth's business. They stated that two hours after the call, they were informed by Mahanth that Ramya had died. Ramya's parents alleged that the couple might have been in an argument following which Ramya had hanged herself from a ceiling fan in the house.
29/05/16 Deepthi Reddy/Hans India

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