Salem, Pondy and Neyveli airports being spruced up for Udan launch

Chennai: Airports Authority of India (AAI) will spruce up an airstrip and two airports in Neyveli, Puducherry and Salem after the Union government awarded three-year rights to airlines to connect these towns to Chennai as part of its regional air connectivity scheme.
Sources said AAI will inspect and install facilities at the Neyveli airstrip and at airports in Salem and Puducherry in the coming days. Though basic facilities are available in Puducherry and Salem, small structures and better approach roads are required at Neyveli where the runway, now used for VIP movements, can handle 70-seater ATR type planes.
A senior official said Hyderabad-based Turbo Megha -- which operates chartered flights and employs Cessna aircraft - and Bhubaneshwar-based Air Odisha may fly these routes. Air Odisha will connect Salem, Neyveli, Puducherry and Chennai although routes and schedules are not yet final.
The official said airlines may start flights to Puducherry and Salem first because airport facilities are available there. Operations may, however, take more than two months to begin. The first regional route in the south may be inaugurated at Vidyanagar airport in Bellary next month and it is expected to speed up preparations in Tamil Nadu.
31/05/17 V Ayyappan/Times of India

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Mumbai airport flies high on carbon neutrality

Mumbai: The Mumbai airport was on Tuesday awarded a level 3+ carbon neutrality certification by the Airports Council International (ACI), after it progressed from level 1 in five years.
Airport operator Mumbai International Airport Ltd (MIAL) had adopted the ACI’s airport carbon accreditation programme in 2011 and has since gradually earned the four certifications through a series of initiatives. A MIAl spokesperson said the measures included greenhouse gases accounting and management, adopting a greenhouse gas and energy policy, implementation of energy management system, and solar power installations. “All these formed an essential part of the sustainability programme at the airport. Besides, implementation of noise and ambient air quality monitoring system, operating as a silent airport, and recycling of food waste and water, are other green initiatives.”
The level 3+ is the highest level of environmental achievement available to airports for their contribution to the green house gas management. Only four other airports in the Asia-Pacific region have a level 3+ certification. The accreditation is given if an airport demonstrates reduction in carbon emissions and offsets the remaining scope 1 and scope 2 emissions. The certification assumes importance given that the Mumbai airport is credited as being the busiest airport with a single runway, with more than 45.2 million passengers having travelled between 2016-17.
31/05/17 The Hindu

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Surat Municipal Corporation to extend BRTS services inside airport

Surat: Passengers arriving and departing from the Surat airport will not have to worry about their travel arrangements. The Surat Municipal Corporation (SMC) is all set to extend its BRTS bus services on Piplod and Udhana-Magdalla junctions to the Surat airport next month.
The Airport Authority of India (AAI) had written to the civic body to extend the BRTS services inside the airport, to facilitate passengers travel to and from the city.
The civic body is operating the BRTS from Udhna-Magdalla and Pilod till TGB Hotel on the Dumas road. Recently, the civic body has introduced direct city buses from Chowk Bazaar to Dumas as well.
Sources in the BRTS cell said that the spot where the buses will halt inside the airport premise has been finalized. The time slots of the buses would be set as per the arrival and departure of the flights from the airport.
31/05/17 Times of India

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NEC funding upgradation of 12 airports in Northeast

New Delhi: The NEC, a nodal agency for the economic and social development of the Northeast, has funded upgradation of infrastructure in 12 operational airports in the region, Union minister Jitendra Singh said today.

Singh said the North Eastern Council has put maximum emphasis on the transport and communication sector with the construction of 10,500 kms of roads including inter-state and roads of economic importance.

"To promote air connectivity in the region, the NEC has supported Airports Authority of India (AAI) for upgradation of infrastructure in 12 operational airports," he said after chairing the 66th plenary of the NEC held here today.

Singh said the construction of Tezu airport in Arunachal Pradesh is supported by the NEC and is likely to be operational within the current financial year.
29/05/17 PTI/Business Standard

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Passengers arriving from abroad being screened at RGIA

Hyderabad: A high alert had been sounded at the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport (RGIA) in Shamshabad following reports about spread the of Zika virus in India.

Medical examination of the passengers arriving from various countries is being conducted at the airport.  It may be recalled that the World Health Organisation (WHO) had confirmed that three persons from Bapunagar in Ahmedabad were affected with Zika virus.

Two of them are pregnant women. Meanwhile, Gujarat government had announced that the two pregnant women affected with Zika virus have given birth to healthy babies.
30/05/17 Hans India

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Indian mangoes take wing, find a new destination in South Korea

Hyderabad: South Koreans have finally got a chance to taste the delicious Indian mango. Consignments of a few varieties of the ‘King of fruits' reached Seoul at the end of the week.

The initial consignment of 2.5 tonnes was airlifted the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport (RGIA)’s Cargo Terminal, operated by Hyderabad Menzies Air Cargo. In June 2016, the Ambassador of the Republic of Korea in India Cho Hyun had told BusinessLine in a interview that all hurdles for exports had been removed and the mangoes would be going to South Korea soon.

“Normally mangoes from the Philippines flood the market. “Indian mangoes have a big market here if properly marketed. Cost is not a problem. The Philippine varieties are much cheaper,” says Ram Garikapati, an Indian-origin professional settled in Seoul.

India exports 4,500 tonnes of mangoes annually. The fruit goes mainly to West Asia, the US, Australia, Canada and New Zealand. Exports to Japan, South Asian nations and the EU are low due to import issues there.

Teams from the GMR Hyderabad International Airport Limited (GHIAL), which operates the airport, and Hyderabad Menzies Air Cargo. worked with the farmer community at Vizianagaram to develop a pack-house, create markets, get requisite approvals and the export Suvarnarekha variety of mangoes to South Korea.
29/05/17 M Somasekhar/Business Line

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SP MLA with large sum of cash questioned at Varanasi airport

Lucknow: A Samajwadi Party legislator was briefly detained by the Income Tax department at the Varanasi airport on Monday when he was found to be carrying a large sum of cash, officials said.
Subhash Pasi, the legislator from Saidpur, was intercepted by IT sleuths at the Lal Bahadur Shastri international airport as he was found carrying Rs 10.45 lakh cash.
A full statement was taken from the MLA who also disclosed the details of the cash he was carrying and was subsequently allowed to go.
29/.05/17 IANS/India.com

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Status quo order on Kovai airport compound wall

Chennai: The Airport Authority of India (AAI) has been restrained by the Madras HC from proceeding with construction of a compound wall on the land leased out to it by private owners in Coimbatore district.
Vacation judge M M Sundresh, who granted the injunction last week, directed the AAI to maintain status quo, and ordered notice to it and the Collector of Coimbatore, returnable in eight weeks.

The judge was entertaining a batch of 12 petitions, including one from 82 year-old D Ammani, to restrain AAI from constructing the compound wall till the settlement of their dues of lease amount and the compensation for their land from the date of acquisition proceedings is determined. Land measuring over 100 acres was leased out to AAI by different owners in Singanallur, Kalapatti, Uppilipalayam and Irugur villages to the AAI.

The petitioners submitted that as per the agreement, the AAI has to pay lease amount as per the guideline value and despite repeated representations, it did not do so. They were made to run from pillar and even representations made to the PMO and Union Ministry of Civil Aviation went in vain.
30/05/17 New Indian Express

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GoAir team to visit Surat airport

Surat: Yet another private airline company is vying to start flight operations from Surat airport.
GoAir's operational team headed by its vice-president (operational) Kamal Kikani will be visiting the Surat airport on Tuesday to explore the opportunities to operate flight services.
Sources said that the GoAir team will be inspecting the newly constructed 655 metres of runway and the ongoing work of re-construction of the 185 metre patch at the airport and other infrastructural facilities at the airport terminal.
It must be recalled that this is the second consecutive visit of GoAir senior officials to Surat. Earlier, the team headed by GoAir's vice-president (network and planning) Clayton Begido had visited the airport to explore the opportunities of flight services in February, 2016.
30/05/17 Times of India

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Airlines in fix for collecting Airport Tax despite being exempted in U.K.

Not many passengers knew that the UK Authorities have exempted people upto the age of 16 to pay air passenger duty(APD) since March 16,2016 which was earlier restricted to 12 years.
The above exemption results in a waiver of approx Rs.7500 for an economy class travel between London to India which is included in the ticket price which has resulted in many of the passengers, mostly students, ending up paying higher fares though the discount is believed to have been claimed and applied on their tickets, by the travel agents.
 The Travel Agents Federation of India (TAFI) has claimed that airlines did not inform them about this. The agents have also demanded refunds for customers. This wouldn’t have come into the limelight and may have remained concealed for a longer time until a customer complained about this clause to an agent in April 2017.
Air India, Jet Airways, British Airways (BA) and Virgin Atlantic (VA) operate non-stop flights between India and London. There are also other airlines like Emirates and Etihad Airways which operates flights on this rout.
“There has been no circular from your airline to travel agents informing about this tax exemption. Neither have any procedures been informed to collect the tax refund for passengers. It is quite clear that mechanisms exist with the global distribution systems used by agents for ticketing to deduct this tax at the time of ticketing. However, no efforts have been made on that front either,” the TAFI said in a letter to airlines.
30/05/17 Sarath Babu/News Patrolling

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No handbag tags at 6 more airports from June 1

New Delhi: Six more airports in the country, including Patna and Chennai, will do away with the practice of tagging and stamping domestic passengers’ hand baggage from June 1. CISF Director General O P Singh told PTI that the new airports include Jaipur, Guwahati, Lucknow and Trivandrum, apart from Patna and Chennai.
“We had run a trial at these six airports for a few weeks. After finding that an enhanced number of new gadgets, CCTVs and security paraphernalia has been put in place, the process of doing away with the tagging and stamping of domestic air passengers’ hand baggage will begin from June 1,” the DG said.
The Central Industrial Security Force had first initiated this new system at seven airports of Delhi, Mumbai, Cochin, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Kolkata and Ahmedabad from April 1.
The force is tasked with guarding 59 civil airports in the country.
29/05/17 PTI/Indian Express

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Screening at airports, seaports intensified

Chennai: In the wake of detection of Zika virus infection in Ahmedabad, the Tamil Nadu health department has intensified regular screening and surveillance in  airports, seaports and other areas.
On May 15, the Union Health Ministry reported three laboratory confirmed cases of Zika virus disease in Bapunagar, Ahmedabad district, Gujarat.

Blood samples from a man aged 64, a 34-year-old woman who delivered a baby and a 22-year-old woman in her 37th week of pregnancy have tested positive for Zika virus disease. The samples were tested in February, November and January. “The screening of fever cases is going on in airports for detection of Zika infection. Airport health officials and also the Union health ministry officials will continue operations against Aedes mosquitoes in and outside the airports. We are following the same National Guidelines for Zika virus disease issued by the Union Health Ministry, when there was Zika scare in the country last year,” said K Kolandaswamy, director of public health.
29/05/17 New Indian Express

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Name Bhogapuram airport after Simhadri Appanna

Members of Sri Simhadri Appanna Prachara Samakya, Madhurawada,   met Union Civil Aviation Minister and Hereditary Trustee of Simhachalam temple P Ashok Gajapathi Raju during latter’s visit to Mahanadu and submitted a representation pleading him to use his good offices in naming the airport coming up at Bhogapauram as Sri Simhadri Appanna International Airport’.
29/05/17 The Hans India

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Flights from Sahnewal Airport under UDAN Scheme to start from next month: Ravneet Bittu

In a good news for Ludhiana residents, the flights from Sahnewal Airport under UDAN (Ude Desh ka Aam Naagrik) scheme will start from next month. This was informed by Ludhiana Member of Parliament Ravneet Singh Bittu who met Union Civil Aviation Minister Jayant Sinha and Punjab Officials to start the flights at earliest.
MP Ravneet Singh Bittu said that the state government will help the air lines company for the better connectivity. Earlier, the flights were suspended due to loss to air Lines Company but now the state and central government will provide financial aid to airline companies if they will suffer loss.
Stating on the importance of air connectivity Ravneet singh Bittu said “ That industrial potential and the entrepreneurial spirit of Ludhiana suffers a major handicap due to lack of regular and reliable air connectivity. Despite structural bottleneck of short length of the air strip , UDAN scheme will ensure regular and reliable connectivity”.
Punjab Government has apprised Bittu that it is actively cooperating with Union government with respect to issues like Viability gap Funding, relief on taxes on aviation fuel at refuelling facilities, exemption from landing charges and hanger facility . The matter of adding additional length to air strip is also under active consideration of the state to help make optimal use of Ludhiana airport.
28/05/17 S.K.Vyas/Punjab News Express

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More amenities sought at Visakhapatnam airport

VISAKHAPATNAM: Despite the efforts of the authorities to put the amenities for passengers in place at Visakhapatnam International airport, it appears to fall short of the requirement.  Highlighting the need to create more amenities at the city airport, the Andhra Pradesh Air Travellers Association has sent a letter to the Airport Authority of India director Prakash Reddy.

The discussions on the issues and improvements of the amenities were held with Prakash Reddy, and Dinish Kumar, CISF Commandant, recently which included strengthening of the security.
The increase in the passenger count at the airport in the peak hours is resulting in congestion at the main entrance, security check-point and boarding points, the Air Travellers Association highlighted.
It appealed to the AAI authorities that there was a urgent need to increase the number of entry and security check-points on the airport premises, say the association members.

Moreover, there is also a need to increase the number of X-ray machines, scanning units at the security check-point for speedy clearance of the papers of passengers before they board the flights.
With more and more number of flights from the city to other destinations being added, the passenger movement has seen a significant increase when compared to the previous years. But, the lack of amenities still remain a concern at the international airport.
29/05/17 The New Indian Express

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Sewage flowing through airport troubles residents

On the southern side of Coimbatore International Airport, a stretch of the compound wall rests on iron grills. The grills are to allow the flow of water through a natural drain that enters the airport from the north, after cutting across Avinashi Road.

But with the flow of sewage, the grills have turned sieve as plastic and other solid waste get stuck at the iron rods, letting out only water. From the southern compound of the airport, the drain turns east, flows through Kurumbapalayam and ends at the tank in Kolathur.

Odour from the sewage flowing in the drain is now troubling residents of GKR Nagar, PLS Nagar, RG Pudur, AG Pudur and a few other areas in Ward 35 of the Coimbatore Corporation. It is becoming increasingly difficult to carry on day-to-day activities without being mindful of the odour, rues resident R. Marappan.

Though the odour pervades the localities throughout the day, it is particularly difficult in the evenings. That is when the flow also increases.
29/05/17 Karthik Madhavan/The Hindu

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Coimbatore Airport: Minister tells Collector to form committee for land acquisition

Coimbatore: Amidst uncertainties looming over land acquisition for the expansion of Coimbatore International Airport, Minister of Municipal Administration and Rural Development S.P. Velumani on Saturday directed Coimbatore District Collector to form a committee to expedite the same.

The committee will have representation from land owners.

The meeting on Saturday was attended by District Collector T.N. Hariharan, Rajaya Sabha member A.K Selvaraj, MLA Amman K. Arjunan, Special Officer and Commissioner for Coimbatore Corporation K. Vijayakarthikeyan, District Revenue Officer Durai Ravichandran, and land owners from Chinniyampalayam village.

Mr. Arjunan said that the Minister directed the Collector to include land owners in the committee so that their grievances would be addressed.
29/05/17 Wilson Thomas/The Hindu

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RGIA on high alert

Hyderabad: In the backdrop of central intelligence agencies' alert about possibility of Pakistani nationals sneaking into India to carry out subversive activities, major airports, including Rajiv Gandhi International Airport (RGIA) has been put on a high alert.
Following this, the security staff at the airport is on the toes. While the internal security of the airport is take care of by the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), the external security is provided by Cyberabad police. Anti-terror commando force — OCTOPUS — has been deployed outside the airport for the past several months for any eventuality.
28/05/17 Times of India

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GHIAL starts exporting mangoes to South Korea

Hyderabad: GMR Hyderabad International Airport Ltd. (GHIAL), which operates Rajiv Gandhi International Airport (RGIA), here today said it started exporting mangoes to South Korea.
According to a statement issued by GMR, it has exported an initial commercial consignment of 2.5 tons of Indian mangoes for the first time to South Korea through its cargo terminal, being operated by Hyderabad Menzies Air Cargo Pvt. Ltd (HMACPL).
In this regard, GHIAL and HMACPL teams has worked with the farmer community at Vizianagaram facility for developing a pack-house, creating markets, commissioning this project with requisite approvals from government and exporting Suvarnarekha variety of mangoes to South Korea, it said.
27/05/17 PTI/India Today

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Forgotten laptops and fancy gadgets send airport officials into a tizzy

Pune:  Officials of the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) have said that they are constantly updating their system to ensure passengers who have forgotten their belongings inside the airport get it back immediately.
The Pune airport has witnessed many such cases, particularly related to passengers forgetting to collect their electronic items — especially laptops and mobile phones — after the security check.
Manjit Singh, a deputy commandant and the public relations officer with the CISF headquarters, said the forgetful attitude among passengers has increased.
"Last year, the CISF launched the 'lost and found' system, under which items left behind by travellers were uploaded on the website. Passengers can locate their items by selecting the airports," Singh told TOI from Delhi.
He added that a system had been developed to return forgotten luggage in the same airport. "We have started a system where if a passenger leaves the luggage, it immediately goes through a security check, and we try to return it to them while they are waiting in the airport lounge. CCTV cameras are used to identify the passenger. The system has been fruitful and is being improved further," he said.
28/05/17 Joy Sengupta/Times of India

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Cial duty-free sales increase over 7%

Kochi: One month into operations, Cial's new terminal (T3) has shown promise registering a 7% increase in revenues from duty-free sales.
The new duty-free facility, which is more than twice the size of the one which existed in Cial's terminal (T1) also recorded a 41% increase in footfall from April 18-May 18. Currently, the duty-free store, which is centrally-located at Cial, is a walk-through facility. Passengers exiting and entering the terminal have to pass through the store to reach the exit gates and the boarding gates, respectively.
The store has the combined area of 33,000 sq ft, with 25,000 sq ft allocated at arrival point and 8,000 sq ft at the departure point. The store in T1, had an area of 10, 000 sq ft and 4,000 sq ft at arrival and departure locations, respectively.
"Though we recorded daily sales worth over Rs 1 lakh, we expect it to increase during the peak season, which starts during June," said a Cial official.
He said the Cial would provide a range of offers during the period to attract more customers, including discounts on gold jewellery.
28/05/17 Vikram Vinod/Times of India

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Chakeri airport closes for two months

With the only flight operating between Kanpur and Delhi being suspended for two months due to re-carpeting of the runway at the Chakeri airport, the business fraternity in Kanpur is a worried lot. Businessmen from the city, who had just started enjoying the ease of commuting between the national capital and Kanpur since last six months, say they are again forced to travel to Lucknow to take a flight to Delhi or travel by train.
For leather exporter Mohammad Shahid, travelling to Delhi for work every week was a given thing. Shahid would take the afternoon flight from Kanpur and return the next day after finishing work. "Catching a flight from Kanpur was very convenient. One didn't have to travel all the way to Lucknow for it. I would take the afternoon flight and finish my work in Delhi and come back the next day by afternoon. But now, I will once again have to go all the way to Lucknow to catch a flight to Delhi and then come back to Lucknow only or else I take a train. This way I will waste at least two days just in travelling which for a businessman like me is a lot," says Shahid, adding, "I wonder why the runway wasn't completed when the airport was made functional in December last year."
A sentiment shared by businessman Nitin Jain who also used to travel quite often to Delhi for work and had planned to fly with his family to Delhi and further for vacations.
28/05/17 Sumit Jha/Times of India

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Four airstrips in Odisha to be developed for UDAN programme

Bhubaneswar: The Odisha government on Friday decided to make four airstrips operational by September this year for regional air connectivity under the initiatives of Ude Desh Ka Amm Nagarik (UDAN).
Four airstrips at Utkela, Jeypore, Jharsuguda, and Rourkela would be developed for regional air connectivity, it was decided at the state-level monitoring committee meeting chaired by Chief Secretary A.P. Padhi here.
Biju Patnaik International Airport, Bhubaneswar has also been included in the list for regional connectivity. The routes like Bhubaneswar to Utkela, Utklela to Raipur, Bhubaneswar to Jeypore, Bhubaneswar to Jharsuguda, Jharsuguda to Ranchi, and Bhubaneswar to Rourkela were suggested for regional connectivity.
The UDAN scheme, which is being implemented in Odisha in joint collaboration between state and central governments, would prioritise the unserved and underserved areas in the state, said an official.
26/05/17 IANS/India.com

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Flying to cost more from Thiruvananthapuram airport

Thiruvananthapuram: Flying from Thiruvananthapuram will cost more from June with the Airport Economic Regulatory Authority (AERA) set to give its nod for a proposal of the Airports Authority of India (AAI) for a steep hike in aeronautical tariff at the Thiruvananthapuram International Airport to enable the latter to recover its investments.

A User Development Fee (UDF) of ?450 each embarking passenger in the domestic sector has been proposed for the first time from June 1, 2017 to March 21, 2018. Those flying in international sector will have to pay?950 as UDF instead of the present ? 575.

The Passenger Service Fee (PSF)-Security proposed is ?130 each embarking passenger or $3.25 each international and domestic

passenger. In addition to the UDF, a Throughput charges of ?39.80, PSF Facilitation of ?77 and $1.93 from each domestic and international passenger is now being collected. But, the Authority has proposed to merge the UDF and PSF Facilitation charges and only UDF charges will be applicable to all passengers.

An increase of 4% per annum every subsequent year from 2018-19 financial year onwards in UDF each departing passenger has been proposed. The operating airlines will also have to pay more from next month for using the premier airport as a hike has been proposed in landing, parking, handling of aircraft and throughput charges, which are likely to be passed on to passengers.

For Throughput charges, the proposed rate is ?146.80 per kl. In the case of landing charges (international) the fee proposed is ? 300 a Metric Tonne (MT) up to 25 MT to ?82,250 an MT for above 200 MT and ?520 for every excess MT. In the case of domestic flights, it is ?60 an MT up to 25 MT to ?66,00 above 200 MT and ?440 for every excess MT.

Incentives have been proposed for domestic flight with 1% incentive for 75 landing a week, 2% for 125 landings, 3% for 175 landings, 4% for 225 landings and 5% for 225 landings per week.

No landing charge has been proposed for aircraft with a maximum certified capacity of less than 80 seats operated by domestic scheduled operators, helicopters of all types, approved flying school and Flying Training Institute aircraft.
26/05/17 S. Anil Radhakrishnan/The Hindu

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First night flight takes off from Silchar

Silchar:  In a major development to the prolonged wait for night landing operations to begin at the Silchar airport, the ATR flight 9W 2878 of Jet Airways flew from the the airport for Guwahati at 8pm on Thursday, marking a historical beginning for commercial civil airlines from here.
According to Debashish Borthakur, station incharge of Jet Airways at Silchar, the flight flew with 60 passengers. “We are happy to witness this moment of history. Its a great feeling and hope that the much awaited night flight operations shall get regular in the coming days,” Borthakur told this correspondent. He informed that they took special permission for the day from the IAF to fly the aircraft at night.

On the other hand, Nand Kishore Deoli, airport director at Silchar said “we have been prepared for so long and it is good to see this development. Provided we get a proper schedule, Silchar airport is well-equipped for flight operations at night.”
26/05/17 Arindam Gupta/Assam Tribune

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Naveen Patnaik demands Visa On Arrival facility at Bhubaneswar airport

Bhubaneswar: Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik today demanded that steps should be initiated by the Centre to provide 'Visa on Arrival' facility at Bhubaneswar airport and include the capital city of Odisha as a stop Colombo-Varanasi flight started by Air India recently.

The chief minister made the requests in separate letters to external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj and civil aviation minister A Gajapathi Raju. "The state government has established international connectivity recently with Air Asia starting its operations between Bhubaneswar and Kuala Lumpur.

We had entered into an MoU with Air Asia in which the state government is providing viability gap funding to the international carrier for its operations," Naveen said in his letter to Swaraj. Stating that there has been a good response to this international connectivity with Indian citizens travelling abroad through Bhubaneswar, he said a sizeable number of foreign arrivals have also been noticed. "In order to facilitate the travel of arriving tourists, it is requested that Bhubaneswar be included as a 'Visa on Arrival' Station for citizens of the eligible nations as it would encourage people from countries connected by the recently launched international connectivity and boost tourist footfalls to our state," he said.
26/05/17 New Indian Express

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BCAS asks all airports to get floor plan of security restricted areas approved

New Delh: In an attempt to make airport terminals ready for any eventuality, aviation security regulator Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS), has asked all airports to get the floor plan of security restricted area (SRA) approved.
This move will also help check encroachment of shops in the security area at airports in the country, which could have hampered safe evacuation of passengers in case of emergency.
“Each airport shall submit floor-wise plan of the SRA depicting the area earmarked for pre-embarkation security checks, adequate movement area for screened passengers and their baggage and evacuation route/passage area and area for business establishments to get one-time approval from BCAS,” said an order from the security regulator that was seen by ET.
Analysts feel that this would impact the revenues of airport companies. “Any reduction in retail area is set to impact non-aeronautical revenues of the airport companies, which would lead to spike in charges, as non-aeronautical revenues are used to cross subsidise airport charges,” said VP Agarwal, former chairman at Airports Authority of India.
27/05/17 Mihir Mishra/Economic Times

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MIA parking contractor fined for fleecing public

Mangaluru: The Mangaluru International Airport (MIA) has cracked the whip on the parking contractor for violating contract conditions and fleecing the public who drop off and pick up passengers.
The MIA chose to monitor the parking services following several complaints from the public, especially about a parking fee being charged even though vehicles that came to drop or pick up passengers exited the airport premises within seven minutes. The MIA charges Rs 60 for vehicles that don't exit the premises within seven minutes of entry from the toll gate.
MIA airport director VV Rao said he set up a permanent committee to monitor deficiencies at the airport and suggest changes. On Thursday, a major glitch found was synchronization error of three minutes at the entry and exit clocks which meant that the parking contractor was charging vehicles for staying inside the premises for just four minutes.
The contractor has been heavily fined and warned that his contract would be recommended for cancellation if it occurred again.
26/05/17 Stanley Pinto/Times of India

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Language: A No Barrier in Andhra Pradesh Airports

The famous proverb “Every two miles the water changes, every four miles the speech” is the best way to describe our country. India is a country so diverse, proved by the number of languages spoken by us. People are most comfortable when they communicate in their mother tongue. This is the reason that Visakhapatnam Airport will soon have all the public announcements in Telugu besides English and Hindi.

The same will be followed in all flights operated by various air lines and also at five other airports across Andhra Pradesh. The Civil Aviation Minister P Ashok Gajapati Raju stated that it is difficult to train the crew to make announcement in all regional languages, but none-the-less announcements will soon be made in Telugu in all the airports of Andhra Pradesh.
This year has been very crucial when one talks about the developments in Visakhapatnam airport. The much anticipated Sri Lankan airlines will kick-start its services from Vizag to Colombo from July 8 which would operate 4 times a week. The airlines will provide flights from Vizag to Beijing, Shanghai, Tokyo, London, Jakarta, Hong Kong, Male, Seychelles, Dubai, Bahrain, Muscat, Abu Dhabi, Doha, Riyadh and Jeddah.

Meanwhile G Prakash Reddy took charge as the new director of Visakhapatnam Airport earlier this year. The airport will also soon be equipped with night parking bays for aircrafts that arrive in the evening, which will tend to increase the number of early morning flights to all over India and also the night landings in the city.

26/05/17 Yo! Vizag

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MAHB gets nod to go international, eyes more airports in India

Sepang: Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd (MAHB), which is the third largest airport operator in the world by passenger size, plans to expand its presence abroad and may acquire some airports in India to ride on strong air travel demand in Asia.

Its managing director Datuk Badlisham Ghazali said the board has approved its fourth pillar strategic plan to expand internationally by acquiring new airports as well as getting more services-related business.

"The strategy is to tap intra-Asia air travel market which currently generated the highest passenger traffic in the world.

"We are looking at a few opportunities. Sometimes it is not just about one-to-one airport but basket of airports... And acquiring airports is not going to be through the normal tendering process.

"It is about making representation of capabilities, synergies and value creation as well as whether we can work hand in hand with local partners," he told reporters here at the company's annual general meeting.

Badlisham said India's airport market is opening up and currently enticing investors to look at it.

"Last year, India announced 50 secondary airports to be put into the market. So now they are soliciting whether we should do a basket of airports. They are not sure and really asking how they should go about this.
25/05/17 Amir Hisyam Rasid/New Straits Times

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NID to revamp the Ahmedabad airport, add ‘glocal’ touch

Ahmedabad: The National Institute of Design(NID)- Ahmedabad is all set to rejig Ahmedabad’s domestic and international terminals with state-of-art design intervention on visual ergonomics and aesthetic experiential appeal using its design competency to improve overall passenger experience. With the endeavour NID is going to empower the overall appeal of the domestic and international terminals of Ahmedabad’s Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International (SVPI) Airport.
NID Director Pradyumna Vyas along with faculty colleagues met Manoj Gangal, Director – SVPI and his team recently. NID and SVPI team visited both domestic and international terminal to workout a comprehensive ‘action plan’ and would be submitting it before the SVPI authorities in 10 working days.
The main objective of the project would be to add the traditional local flavour while enhancing and improving the segment of passenger amenities and overall experience of SVPI Airport. This will include enhancing of physical and visual components of comfort and overall ambience of the existing terminals in areas linked to parking, dropping, passenger corridors, arrival and departure enclosures, entry & exit enclosures, security, checking and hold areas, baggage dispose and claim areas, washrooms, refreshment, lobby and lounges, etc.
25/05/17 Indian Express

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More international flights from Lohegaon airport in the offing

Pune: Doors to the Middle East are all set to widen for Pune-based travellers as at least two flights are expected from here to the United Arab Emirates soon.
The new flights will also give a boost to passenger traffic, besides attracting foreign tourists, airport sources told TOI.
"A private airline is set to start flight operations to Dubai from the Pune airport in three months. Air India will also start an international flight to Sharjah, the final plans are being chalked out," the official said.
At present, four international flights — two to Dubai (Air India and SpiceJet), one to Abu Dhabi (Jet Airways) and one to Frankfurt (Lufthansa) — operate from the Pune airport.
26/05/17 Joy Sengupta/Times of India

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DC hands over land papers to AAI for passenger terminal at Adampur airport

Jalandhar: In a leap towards starting work on civil air terminal at Adampur airport near here, Jalandhar Deputy Commissioner Varinder Kumar Sharma on Thursday handed over papers for transfer of land to the officers of Airport Authority of India (AAI). The Deputy Commissioner handed over papers for transfer of more than 36 acres of land to Simardeep Singh, manager (engineering) at AAI. The land was recently acquired by the state government at the rate of Rs 37 lakh per acre. Compensation to the tune of Rs 16 crore has already been disbursed to the owners of the land.
At present, the Adampur airport, which is used by the Indian Air Force, does not have any terminal for passenger airlines.
The DC said this project would act as a major catalyst for development of the Doaba region, besides helping NRIs stay connected with their roots. He said the Public Works Department (PWD) had also submitted a detailed proposal for widening and strengthening of the already existing dedicated approach road to the airport at a cost of Rs 33.85 lakh.
26/05/17 Financial Express

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Mumbai airport refuses slot for flight linking Mumbai, Surat, Bhavnagar

Surat: In what has come as an upset for the Surti fliers, the Alliance Air, airline partner of Air India (AI), has been refused slot for its Mumbai-Surat-Bhavnagar daily flight services by the Mumbai International Airport Limited (MIAL).
Sources said that the Alliance Air had submitted a proposal for providing slot at the Mumbai airport for operating its proposed daily flight between Mumbai-Surat-Bhavnagar. The MIAL vehemently denied the proposal, citing reasons about the heavy traffic and the unavailability of the slot at Mumbai airport.
This has upset the Surti fliers and the airport association is preparing to write a letter to the Prime Minister and Union minister of civil aviation against the MIAL ignoring air connectivity to Surat.
Social groups crusading for increased air connectivity have alleged that the MIAL is ignoring Surat airport, sensing its huge potential and the future threat.
26/05/17 Times of India

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Telugu at Andhra Pradesh airports

Visakhapatnam: Civil Aviation minister P Ashok Gajapathi Raju promised that henceforth the public announcements would be made in Telugu language besides English and Hindi in all flights, operated by various airlines and also at five airports across Andhra Pradesh.

Responding to the letter of Andhra Pradesh Assembly deputy speaker  Mandali Buddha Prasad on February 16, 2017, the Civil Aviation minister released an official letter on Thursday announcing that the request would come into force soon.


Though it is very difficult to train the crew in making announcements in all regional languages (18 languages are recognised in the Constitution) in India, he promised that the announcement would be made in Telugu language in all airports of the state.
26/05/17 New Indian Express

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Night parking facility at Visakhapatnam International Airport soon

Visakhapatnam: The Visakhapatnam International Airport will soon have night parking facility for the aircrafts arriving in the evening. The works at the airport for creation of six more parking bays is in full swing and the project will be completed in the last week of June.

The night parking facility will increase the number of early morning flights to several parts of the country from the city and also increase the night landing of flights in the airport.The Airport Authority of India officials said that the four airports in Andhra Pradesh have registered a robust growth in air passenger traffic during 2016-17 fiscal with Vizag Airport leading by handling an all-time high of 23.58 lakh passengers as against 18.04 lakh in 2015-16 by registering a growth of over 30 per cent.
26/05/17 Hans India

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Man detained for unruly behaviour, family misses flight

Dabolim: A family of five, which included a cancer patient, her son recovering from surgery and her 83-year-old mother, was detained at the Dabolim international airport on Sunday by a CISF personnel after a ruckus broke out over an unclear e-boarding pass on the passenger's phone.
On Monday, Patricia Afonso, the passenger and an employee of the Airports Authority of India (AAI) in Mumbai, lodged a complaint with the airport police against the CISF, alleging harassment. On the same day, the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) also lodged a complaint with the airport police saying that their assistant sub inspector was ill treated by a passenger on Sunday night.
However, the airport director B C H Negi informed that the Afosnso family apologised after they were shown CCTV footage of them behaving badly with the official. They were also shown written witness statements accounting their bad behaviour. He added that they later realised their mistake and apologised to the CISF.
25/05/17 Times of India

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President forwards GAF memo on Greenfield Airport

Itanagar: President of India Pranab Mukherjee has forwarded the memorandum submitted by the Green Arunachal Foundation (GAF) to the offices of the Prime Minister and the Chief Secretary for further action regarding the Greenfield Airport and other issues.
Through the representation, the GAF pleaded to the President to intervene and take necessary steps for early construction of the proposed Greenfield Airport in Itanagar; solve the issue of staple visa with China; bring an amicable solution to the boundary problem with neighbouring Assam and for establishment of Arunachal Pradesh Regiment.
“It is first of its kind that the President of India responded positively to a representation put forth by a state based NGO. He has endorsed the representation put forth thereof and has forwarded letters to the office of the Prime Minister of India and the Chief Secretary of Arunachal Pradesh to look into the matters”, said GAF Chairman Takam Tatung.
25/05/17 Arunachal Times

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Jammu Airport to get makeover: From childcare, coupons for Vaishno Devi to expansion of area, here’s all you need to know

New facilities are being added at Jammu Airport with an aim to cater to the growing traffic, ANI reported on Thursday. The report said that the area of the airport itself will be expanded as a measure to cater to the growing requirement of the region for aviation. The setting up of new facilities by the airport authorities is already getting positive feedback from passengers.
“One of the greatest facilities that are being provided is that we can now purchase coupons for Vaishno Devi darshan. It has saved us from stranding in long queues and saved a lot of time for us,” a passenger was quoted as saying by ANI.
Besides these, the authorities are now mulling to expand the total area of the airport from 6745 square meters to 14500 square meters. “In 2001, Jammu Airport was constructed. However, its operation of flights was less. Since the area was less, the airport’s capacity was 180 arrivals and 180 departures,” Director of Jammu Airport, DK Gautam was quoted as saying ANI.
25/05/17 Financial Express

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3 Bangalore bound flights diverted to RGIA

Hyderabad: Three flights bound to Bengaluru from Bhubaneswar, Mumbai, and Hyderabad were diverted to the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport (RGIA) in Shamshabad on Tuesday due to inclement weather conditions.
The three Indigo flights landed at RGIA after the Air Traffic Control (ATC) in Bengaluru airport did not give permission to the crew to land due to bad weather after which the aircraft were diverted to the RGIA. After reaching RGIA, the airline staff made alternative arrangements to send passengers to their respective destinations, officials said.
25/06/17 Telengana Today

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Airports Authority of India plans to integrate terminals at airport

CHENNAI: The Airports Authority of India is moving closer to building new terminals proposed as part of phase II expansion of Chennai airport. A detailed project report has been submitted and a tender will soon be floated to find a contractor.
The proposal to build two buildings after demolishing the old ones and integrate them with the steel and glass terminals currently being used was announced when the new terminals were inaugurated in 2013.
Airport director G Chandramouli said, "We will be holding meeting with stakeholders [airlines and terminal users] to finalise details." The buildings, AAI hopes, will help push the aiport's passenger capacity to 30 million from the existing 23 million.
The old domestic building is lying unused while the old international building has been integrated with the new building and is being used as an international arrival. As the phase II expansion was taking time, the authorities demolished a wall, expanded the arrival area and installed more baggage conveyors for international passengers a year ago.
Sources said that the design of the new building would be in sync with the steel and glass buildings that were opened in 2013.
25/05/17 The Times Of India

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‘Dummy aircraft on fire’ at Mumbai airport bags CII top award

‘Dummy aircraft on fire’ at Mumbai airport bags CII top award
 A reusable dummy aircraft made from scrap, which was set on fire during a mock drill, has earned Mumbai International Airport Pvt. Ltd. (MIAL) the top prize at the 30th Renovative Kaizen Conference & Competition conducted by the CII, an official said here on Thursday.
The MIAL’s Aircraft Rescue and Firefighting (ARFF) team hit upon the idea of creating an in-house dummy aircraft using scrap material instead of the regular scrap bus, to conduct the mandatory biannual emergency drill in March at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport.
“After the immense appreciation that we received from across the world following the mock drill at the airport when ‘the dummy aircraft on fire’ caught everyone’s attention, we decided to apply for the award,” the spokesperson added.
The MIAL team took two months to create the dummy aircraft that was first used for a realistic simulation of an aircraft crash for an airport emergency drill.
25/05/17 India

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Airport project: Land acquisition to begin soon

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan told the Assembly on Wednesday that the government would go ahead with land acquisition for the development of Thiruvananthapuram Airport.

“Though the local people stand firm in their stance against land acquisition, the government is for going ahead with the development of the airport,” he said during the question hour.

He also called upon the people’s representatives to take initiative to make the local people aware about the importance of the airport development project. Instead of taking part in the protest against land acquisition, they should discuss with the people about the need for development, he said.
25/05/17 The New Indian Express

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Man detained for unruly behaviour, family misses flight

DABOLIM: A family of five, which included a cancer patient, her son recovering from surgery and her 83-year-old mother, was detained at the Dabolim international airport on Sunday by a CISF personnel after a ruckus broke out over an unclear e-boarding pass on the passenger's phone.
On Monday, Patricia Afonso, the passenger and an employee of the Airports Authority of India (AAI) in Mumbai, lodged a complaint with the airport police against the CISF, alleging harassment. On the same day, the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) also lodged a complaint with the airport police saying that their assistant sub inspector was ill treated by a passenger on Sunday night.
However, the airport director B C H Negi informed that the Afosnso family apologised after they were shown CCTV footage of them behaving badly with the official. They were also shown written witness statements accounting their bad behaviour. He added that they later realised their mistake and apologised to the CISF.
25/05/17 The Times Of India

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No going back on land acquisition for airports

Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has said that his government is committed to acquire the land sought by the Airports Authority of India (AAI) for the further development of Thiruvananthapuram and Kozhikode international airports.

‘There is opposition against the move to acquire the land and the government is determined to go ahead with the land acquisition for the further development of the airports,” the Chief Minister said in reply to a question by K. Muraleedharan.

The AAI is putting pressure on the government to expedite the land acquisition and hand over the land to them. The facilities in the two airports had not gone up commensurate to the increase in traffic and air traffic movements, he said.

The Chief Minister said people’s representatives should create awareness among the local people to part with the land for the development of the airport.
24/05/17 The Hindu

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Complete construction of 6 bays on time at Vizag airport: AP ATA

Visakhapatnam: Andhra Pradesh Air Travels Association appealed to G Prakash Reddy, director of Airports Authority of India, and Dinish Kumar, Commandant of CISF, to develop Vizag airport and strengthen CISF staff.
Andhra Pradesh Air Travels Association said if the six proposed bays were completed, it would facilitate parking of more flights, said a release here on Monday. The bays are expected to be ready by June 30. They said the bays would be useful for the upcoming proposed flights from the city as well.
Meanwhile, the strength of CISF personnel would be increased from 160 to 270 to meet the requirements of the airport. A time study will also be conducted from entry to boarding which includes luggage scanning / check in counter and security check to reduce the waiting time at all stages. The association also requested to introduce a separate queue for children, women and senior citizens, the release said.
23/05/17 Times of India

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Now, you can halt at Mumbai airport's T2 without paying Rs 130 toll

Mumbai: Good News Mumbaikars! If you enter Mumbai airport's Terminal 2 and halt there in the premises, you won't be required to cough up Rs 130 as toll fee as it has been withdrawn. Shiv Sena activists stormed the Mumbai international airport premises on Tuesday, and forced the closure of the toll booth stating it is illegally collecting a steep fee of Rs 130 from each vehicle entering the area.
According to The Times of India, Mumbai airport officials say that a Rs 130 toll fee was charged in order to discourage people, who arrive to drop passengers off from loitering in the premises. But, the move has been criticised by flyers, who allege that the toll collectors won't let them enter the terminal building in time and also accussed them of rude behaviour.
Also read: Shiv Sena forces closure of toll booth at Mumbai airport
Leading the protest, senior party leader Anil Parab warned that the entire aerodrome, one of the busiest in the country, will be closed if the airport operator (MIAL) collects toll from motorists entering its premises. Dozens of Sena activists forcibly closed the outlet in suburban Vile Parle, calling it "illegal" and shouting slogans against toll collection.
24/05/17 Mid Day

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Cochin International Airport Selects Smiths Detection’s CTX 9800 for Next-Generation Hold Baggage Screening

Smiths Detection on May 23, announced that India’s Cochin International Airport has deployed four high-speed CTX 9800 DSi hold baggage explosives detection systems (EDS) to screen all passenger checked baggage.

With the inauguration of its international Terminal 3, Cochin is the first airport in India to screen all checked baggage, referred to as Level 1 screening, with computed tomography (CT)-based EDS. Commonly referred to as European Civil Aviation Conference (ECAC) Standard 3 capabilities, CT EDS produce high-resolution, 3-D images that facilitate more accurate detection, lower false alarm rates, and reduce the need for manual inspections. In addition to CTX 9800 EDS, Smiths Detection has supplied 13 HRX™ dual view X-ray systems to screen arriving baggage at customs checkpoints.

To ensure maximum uptime and performance, Smiths Detection’s onsite network of expert engineers and technicians will provide preventative and rapid-response services for a minimum of ten years.
23/05/17 Smiths Detection/Aviation Pros

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Greater Noida airport could be ready by 2023, says Ashok Gajapathi Raju

After years of dilly-dallying, it has been finally settled that Delhi-NCR would have a second airport in Greater Noida by 2023 and the work for it would begin well in advance, civil aviation minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju told FE.
Raju said that a new airport in Delhi-NCR would be required as the current one — Delhi International Airport (DIAL), run by the GMR Group — would reach a saturation point by then. He said that the government would not like to repeat the Mumbai experience where work on the second airport began late, and therefore would begin the exercise well in advance.
“We are in 2017 and looking at the trend or footfalls this airport in Delhi would be reaching a saturation point in 2023. So that gives us six years in hand and according to the studies conducted by International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), the current developers are protected till the footfalls reach a saturation point in the existing airport and the agreements are also done accordingly. So we feel that in another six years, that is by 2023, the current airport in Delhi would reach a saturation point, hence Delhi and its surroundings will need another airport,” Raju said.
On the question of GMR’s objection that any new airport in the radius of 150 km would hamper its growth, Raju said, “GMR’s right is until the footfalls in the existing airport reaches the saturation point, whereas the ministry of civil aviation has to think beyond that about the larger canvas. Once your airport reaches a saturation, then there should be no problem. If any airport comes up before before the existing one reaches the saturation point, then it will be a loss for GMR. The country needs to have another airport by 2023.”
The Delhi airport’s current handling is of around 50 million passengers annually and it has enough space to handle traffic of up to 100 million.
24/05/17 Malyaban Ghosh/Financial Express

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Drama at airport when an edible powder is suspected of being TNT!!!

Nagpur: We know for sure there is one passenger who was hoping to fly out of Nagpur airport today who is ruing the indulgent action of a mother/ mother in law who tend to load visiting dear ones with “healthy, home – made stuff” which they are sure only they can provide.

One such package of a ‘brown powder’ cost him his flight to Mumbai, and probably would have affected his onward flight to New York if he had not been sent to Mumbai post haste after the scare was proved to be ‘false’. But for a while ‘the powder’ created a stir and a scare at the Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar International Airport when an ETD machine indicated that a passenger could be carrying TNT or some similar material.
24/05/17 Nagpur Today

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Delhi Airport India’s Most Difficult Airport To Reach; Ranked Lowest On Accessibility & Reliability; Hyderabad The Best!

In a unique study conducted by PG students of School of Planning and Architecture (SPA), it was found Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport takes maximum time to reach, compared to any other airport in the country.

This means that if you are in Delhi or NCR region (Noida, Gurgaon, Ghaziabad, Faridabad), then you actually have some spare time, or else you may miss your flight.

The study was conducted at 60 airports in the country, and the average time taken to reach the airport was calculated from the ‘center point’ of the city. For Delhi, Chandni Chowk was considered as the centre point. The researchers found that it took 31 minutes to reach the airport from Chandni Chowk, in case there is no traffic.

In the case of traffic, this travel time increased to 76 minutes, which is 145% more.

Because of this massive difference of 145% between low traffic and high traffic road travel to the Delhi airport, it received lowest ranking for “average speed” (time taken to reach the airport from the city’s centre) and “reliability” (difference in minimum and maximum time).

Senior professor (transport planning) Dr Sewa Ram, under whom this study was conducted, said, “It is better to wait for some time at the airport than risk missing the flight. The Rao Tula Ram Marg and Airport Road are mostly packed with traffic and you can never estimate how much time you will take,”

Rao Tula Ram Marg and Airport Road are the areas within 20 km-radius of the Delhi Airport, and mostly remains jammed due to Airport traffic.
24/05/17 Mohul Ghosh/Trak.in

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Shiv Sena forces closure of toll booth at Mumbai airport

Shiv Sena activists today stormed the Mumbai international airport premises and forced a toll booth there to shut down, alleging it is illegally collecting a steep fee of Rs 130 from each vehicle entering the area.
Leading the protest, senior party leader Anil Parab warned that the entire aerodrome, one of the busiest in the country, will be closed if the airport operator (MIAL) collects toll from motorists entering its premises.
Dozens of Sena activists forcibly closed the outlet in suburban Vile Parle, calling it “illegal” and shouting slogans against toll collection.
“If GVK (a partner in MIAL) restarts toll collection, serious consequences will follow. Today, we have protested outside (the airport) and ensured closure of the toll booth.
Tomorrow, we will not hesitate to go inside and close down the entire airport,” Parab told reporters.
A sum of Rs 130 is being illegally collected by MIAL from each vehicle entering the airport premises, he said.
23/05/17 PTI/India

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Study confirms airport baggage delays

A common grouse among passengers who fly in to Chennai is the long wait to collect the baggage at the terminal.

Harried passengers often take to social media to vent their anger. “Flight arrived at 8:20, baggage arriving to the belt at 9:40, Chennai airport is the best in handling the baggages,” tweeted Venkat recently on his handle @venkat1INDIA. An exasperated Venkat couldn’t help the sarcasm.

Another passenger through his handle @dinu757 posted: “50 mins to start baggage belt and worst services. No responsibility and immature labour.”

What has been known anecdotally has now been established by a recent study by the Airports Authority of India (AAI) that operates Chennai airport. The study found that it can take up to one hour for a passenger to see his or her bags rolling down on the belt.

The study was initiated after frequent complaints by passengers.

Done over a month, it sought to analyse how long it takes for checked-in bags to travel from the aircraft to the belt in the terminal.
24/05/17 Sunitha Sekar/The Hindu

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Jalandhar’s Adampur Airport To Begin Flights Under Udaan Scheme Soon

Jalandhar’s Aadampur Airport is setting itself up to start its domestic airline services from September this month. The date for new flights from Jalandhar has been fixed as 25th of September.

The Adampur Airport whose foundation stone was laid by India’s Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on December 16 after taking in account its viability reports drafted by government agencies has been nonoperational and raw since then.

The Jalandhar’s Adampur Airport was going through land acquisition issues in the past. The airport needed atleast 40 acres of land and has got 36 acres right now.

The airport has been serving the Indian Air force before and the commercial flights will be using the same runway that the Air Force uses to land its aircraft. The work on the terminal building is in full boom.

The first flight that will begin from the Adampur Airport will connect Delhi at a fare of Rs 2,500per/person from September. It will be a one-way flight.
24/05/17 Shivali Angrula/Chandigarh Metro

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State government's proposal to develop regional airports fails to take off

BENGALURU: The Karnataka government's proposal to develop airstrips in Tier 2 cities has failed take off with the Centre refusing to be on the same page with the state on the quantum of investment needed to develop them.
Chief minister Siddaramaiah, who holds the finance portfolio, had announced in his budget for 2017-18 that the state government would develop airstrips at Karwar, Madikeri and Chikkamagaluru this year. The proposal was to develop greenfield airports with an investment between Rs 50 crore and Rs 100 crore. The proposal has hit a roadblock with the Centre disagreeing with the state's idea of the low-cost airport.
"The state wants to develop no-frills airports at moderate cost. However, there are some concerns and the government of India is looking into them," said D V Prasad, additional chief secretary, department of commerce and industries.
The main concern, according the sources in the state government, is security as the Centre feels that high security cover cannot be provided to the airports with investment less than Rs 100 crore.
" The Centre believes that security has to be compromised if an airport is to be developed at low investment. While the state government is clear about the plan, we'll convince the Centre the proposal is practical," said C M Dhananjay, chairman, Karnataka State Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation, the nodal agency to develop airports.
24/05/17 BV Shivashankar/The Times Of India

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Panel pushes for quicker T2 shift

New Delhi: A parliamentary committee led by chairman Mukul Roy and several MPs visited the Indira Gandhi International Airport on Tuesday. While the purpose of the visit was to inspect the latest developments at IGI, the committee also inquired about the status of the airport's Terminal 2 and asked the ministry for civil aviation to ensure that airlines are shifted there 'as soon as possible'.
The Transport, Tourism and Culture Parliamentary committee visited both Terminal 1D and Terminal 3 along with the newly renovated Terminal 2. Sources said the committee was happy with the preparedness and the infrastructure of Terminal 2. They, however, asked for the ministry of civil aviation to ensure that airlines are shifted as soon as possible so that the space can be utilised, reducing the burden on Terminal 1D.
The committee members included MPs Ritabrata Banerjee, Kiranmay Nanda, Rajeev Shukla among others. Currently, three airlines — Indigo, SpiceJet and GoAir operate from Terminal 1D. "We have asked the ministry of civil aviation to ensure that the airlines shift to Terminal 2 at the earliest. This will reduce the burden on the existing terminal as it is already up to capacity. The committee has also recommended that commercial utilisation at the terminals is spread out so that there is less congestion and inconvenience for passengers," said a senior MP and member of the committee.
23/05/17 Jasjeev Gandhiok/Times of India

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Defunct Salem airport hopes of flights relaunch within six month

Salem: The likelihood of revival of Salem Airport, lying idle for many years, got brightened with Tamil Nadu Cabinet deciding to support the Centre’s Udan scheme by reducing the VAT on aviation turbine fuel for the proposed air services between Salem and Chennai under the Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS).

The cabinet, which met under the leadership of Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami recently, decided to reduce the VAT on aviation turbine fuel from 24 % to one % for the proposed air services.

Mr. Palaniswami, during an informal chat with reporters at his native Edappadi Assembly constituency, had stated that the state government has taken all effective initiative for reviving the Salem airport within six months and is in touch with the Union Civil Aviation Ministry.
23/05/17 Syed Muthahar Saqaf/The Hindu

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Salem-Chennai direct flight sought

Salem: The public and the members of trade and industry have pleaded for a direct flight connection from Salem to Chennai. At present, the Ministry of Civil Aviation has provided licence to the Air Odisha to operate its flight from Chennai to Bengaluru with two stopping at Puducherry and Salem.

Reaching Chennai from Salem after a stopover at Puducherry will be a roundabout route and will prove wastage of time, the local people feel.

K. Mariappan, president, Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Salem), is of the view that the airline will not be able attract much patronage if it is operated via Puducherry. Only a direct flight from Salem to Chennai will prove a viable one in attracting more passengers, he says. Mr. Mariappan said he has already taken up the matter with the Ministry of Civil Aviation in this regard.
23/05/17 The Hindu

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You’ll miss your flight buying a ticket

The Airport Express station at New Delhi Railway Station has only one token dispensing counter, regardless of the footfall it gets. Two token vending machines are broken for the past few months. The one that works accepts notes only of certain denominations. It takes about 15 minutes to buy a token. The customer care personnel at the station calmly tell you to go to the vending machine if you complain about having to queue up for long.
23/05/17 Akash Roy/Times of India

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Laser lights a major concern for safety at IGI Airport

New Delhi: It’s an alarming situation for Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGI), Delhi, flights as the laser lights which are flashed during night in marriage and other parties hosted by people in the vicinity is bothering the pilots and could cause a major accident if it is not stopped at once, said an airport official.
As during flying and landing it falls directly on the pilots’ eyes, which causes problem in aircrafts operation. And there is always a probability of major accident.
In spite of ban, for the past four months, pilots of different aircrafts reported, at least, half a dozen of such incidents to the Air traffic control (ATC). Despite the direction from the Ministry of Civil Aviation, no control has been coming up on this, according to senior ATC official D K Bhera.
During night hours, for right direction and landing on proper place signals are given through light to the pilots.
21/05/17 Prateek Chauhan/Tribune

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No end to dilly-dallying approach towards Rs 200 cr Leh airport up-gradation project

Jammu:  The much-needed up-gradation of strategically important Leh airport, one of the world’s highest airfields, has remained victim of lack of coordination between all the concerned agencies and despite lapse of several years nobody is in a position to specify time-frame for start of work on this Rs 200 crore worth project.
Due to non-seriousness on the part of all the stakeholders towards this ambitious project, passengers handling capacity has remained grossly inadequate despite the fact that air travel is the only mode of transport to the region during winter months when Leh remains cut-off from rest of the world due to closure of the highway.
Official sources told EXCELSIOR that the plan about expansion and up-gradation of Leh airport, located at 10,683 feet above the sea level and is considered as one of the world’s highest airfields, was mooted over four years back as the existing passengers handling capacity is grossly inadequate.
It was officially stated at that time that with the expansion/up-gradation project which involves construction of new terminal building and new parking bays at the airport the peak hour passenger capacity will go up to 800 from the current capacity of 250 passengers.
21/05/17 Mohinder Verma/Daily Excelsior.com

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In India, it is more of waiting than flying

New Delhi: Have you ever had to wait endlessly at an airport for a connecting flight? You may not be alone in suffering the predicament in India. A study by the School of Planning and Architecture shows that an Indian air traveller on an average only spends around 24.68% of the total travel time, in a one-stopover flight, flying. The rest of the time is spent waiting at the airports.

The research, carried out by Amal Jose, a postgraduate student of the institute, under guidance of Sewa Ram, Senior Professor of Transport Planning, is a comprehensive study of over 60 airports in India. It has analysed major and minor airports of various countries on parameters such as air, network and land accessibility.

The study shows that in India if a passenger takes a flight with one stopover, on an average she spends 75.32% of the total travel time only waiting at airports. This waiting time increases when the passenger has two or more stopovers, where the average waiting time becomes 83.55% and the flight time is the remaining 16.45%.
21/05/17 Soumya Pillai/The Hindu

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Loader scales IGIA wall near runway, triggers panic

The Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) at the Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) was thrown into a tizzy late on Friday night after a man was spotted trying to scale the perimeter wall in a sensitive area of the airport, not far from an active runway. He later turned out to be a loader working with the Lion Manpower Indigo loading company, who had not reported to work for the last two days.

On the day of the incident, alarms at the Perimeter Intrusion Detection System (PIDS) went off around 11pm. The CISF personnel on the watchtowers then saw a person trying to scale the perimeter wall. A CISF commando, deployed on an overnight vigil at the domestic terminal of the airport, said his team got an alert message that there was some suspicious movement at the 'nakka entry' near T1D.

A team of Quick Reaction Team (QRT) commandos was immediately rushed to the spot.

The team found a man stuck in the wall fence.

"When the armed CISF commandos told the man to come down, he jumped inside the airport. The commandos followed and overpowered him before he could go too far. He was later identified as Manoj Kumar Siddharth, a loader working with a firm. He was thoroughly frisked and the Delhi Police and intelligence agencies were alerted about the incident. The suspect was then taken into custody and handed over to the Delhi Police for further interrogation," a senior CISF officer told DNA.

The supervisor of the loading company told the police that Siddharth lived in the Mehram Nagar Colony near the airport and had not been reporting on duty for the last two days. "The man was jointly interrogated and nothing suspicious was found from his possession," the police said.
22/05/17 Anvit Srivastava/DNA

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Soaring high, aiming higher

Bengaluru:  In its ninth year of operation, the Kempegowda International Airport is the third busiest airport in the country. To accommodate the increase in passengers, it is busy laying out a new terminal and another runway

Kempegowda International Airport (KIA) has come a long way from handling around 8.7 million passengers in its first year of operation in 2008 to 22.18 million passengers in 2016, making it the busiest airport in South India and the third in the country after New Delhi and Mumbai.

To provide a hassle-free experience for passengers at the airport, various new initiatives are being undertaken at the airport and currently trials are on for the same. Bangalore Mirror takes a look at some of the initiatives.

Smart security lane

The Smart Security Lane is an integrated system that combines cabin baggage X-ray machines, an automated tray return system and an advanced image management platform to provide a seamless, more efficient, and less intrusive experience for passengers.

Waiting time to come down

It will considerably reduce waiting times at baggage screening, and mitigate the ‘clutter’ at the Security Check Area. The system has the potential to increase the number of bags processed per hour by nearly 60-100%.

Second runway

In its first year, 31 airlines operated from the airport, but now there are 45 airlines and several new routes will get added later this year. Work on the second runway has already commenced and it is expected to be completed by September 2019. It can cater to all types of aircraft, including A380 irrespective of weather conditions. Some airlines (for instance, wide-bodied) offer no services to and from Bengaluru and its operations were largely restricted to New Delhi and Mumbai. Come 2019, Big Birds can land at KIA and Bengaluru will become the second South Indian city to have a second runway.

No more for disruptions

Once the second runway comes up flight delays due to fog and other weather conditions will also cease. The second runway will be CAT III B ILS compliant CAT-III B which means flights can operate in visibility up to 50 m.
21/05/17 Hemanth C S/Bangalore Mirror

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Land unavailability delays upgrading of Srinagar airport

Srinagar: The Airport Authority of India is struggling to identify land for upgrading the facilities at the Srinagar International Airport (SIA).
Officials at the SIA told The Kashmir Monitor that they don’t have adequate land for installing the Approach Lighting System (ALS) to make the runway fit to allow landing and takeoff in poor visibility.
“The ALS is an integral part of Instrumental Landing System. The entire process is halted due to the delay in acquiring around 900 meters of land required for the purpose. We only have 300 meters available,” an official said.
In the winter, the SIA witnessed repeated cancellation of flights due to its poor infrastructure.
As per the records, the airport saw cancellation of about 200 flights during a fortnight in January, when smog had engulfed the valley for several weeks.
The existing ILS at the airport allows landing and takeoff only in 200 or 300-meter visibility.
Director Airport Authority of India (AAI) in Srinagar, Sharad Kumar, told The Kashmir Monitor that they have asked the Deputy Commissioner Budgam to file a report about land acquisition in the High Court, which is hearing the case.
“Currently, the case is in the court,” he said.
The High Court had earlier raised concern over the frequent cancellation of flights at the airport.
On Thursday, the court sought details from the Airport Authority about the upgrading of the ILS.
22/05/17 Firdous Hassan/Kashmir Mirror

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At Pune airport, war of words takes off after passengers grounded

Pune: Five persons who had booked tickets for Pune-Nagpur GoAir flight have submitted a complaint with Pune Police, alleging that the airline refused them boarding passe “because the flight was overbooked and that it also didn’t make any alternative arrangements for them”. They claimed they had reached the airport on time.
Airline staffers although conceded that the flight was overbooked which, they said, is a usual and legal practice. They said the six passengers were not given the boarding passes simply because they reported late.
In their complaint submitted with the Airport Police Station, the passengers asked police to check the details of the flight to verify if it was overbooked or not and asked why the passengers who were left out were not accommodated by the airline in another flight as would be required. They also asked the police to check their reporting time.
22/05/17 Indian Express

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GMR Hyderabad airport to see Rs 2,500-cr capacity expansion

Hyderabad: GMR Hyderabad International Airport Ltd is poised for a capital expenditure of about Rs 2,500 crore towards expansion of the greenfiled airport from the present capacity to handle 12 million passengers per annum to 20 mppa.
The airport is already functioning at more than its capacity to handle about a million passengers a month with 2016 witness to over 15 million passengers, registering a growth of over 20 per cent in a calendar year.
The Hyderabad airport is in the process of finalising its expansion project that would enhance the capacity to 20 million passengers a year.
According to India Ratings & Research, a Fitch group company, to expand the capacity to 20 mppa, the airport will require an outlay of Rs 2,500 crore, of which 70 per cent will be through debt and the balance through internal accruals and equity.
The airport has been witness to a strong traffic volume growth of 22 per cent. There is also the possibility of the Airports Economic Regulatory Authority enforcing the new aero charges from October 2017. This will possibly mean higher revenues.
22/05/17 Business Line

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Security upgradation for city airport soon

Bhubaneswar: The Biju Patnaik International Airport (BPIA) here would get a security boost with the Airports Authority of India (AAI) planning to upgrade the control tower and Category-IX fire station apart from having a technical block.

The upgradation work involving a cost of about Rs 34.18 crore is likely to be completed by April 2019.

“The height of the current control tower is 30 metres while the new tower would be of 44.2 metres which would enhance the surveillance capacity of the airport,” said BPIA director Suresh Chandra Hota.

The security upgradation will increase the efficiency and handling capacity of the airport apart from attracting more airlines and facilities for the airport.

Similarly, the airport is now having Category-VII fire station, but now it would be upgraded to Category-IX which would help in handling wide body aircraft.

“Category-IX will help us handle wide body aircraft. We need to upgrade the security features to facilitate expansion of the airport,” added Hota.
22/05/17 Orisaa Post

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Domestic cargo terminal at airport by next month

Thiruvananthapuram: The Trivandrum International Airport will have a common user domestic cargo terminal (CUDCT) by the end of next month. The facility will come up at the domestic terminal of the airport.
The airport authorities have completed the groundwork for the cargo terminal at the old domestic building at the terminal. Now they are awaiting the arrival of an X-ray machine to complete the installation work. The X-ray machine worth Rs 45 lakh for the CUDCT is being brought from Mumbai.
It was following the directives of the central government that Airport Authority of India (AAI) instructed to provide CUDCT at all airports.
At present, two airlines - Indigo and Jet Airways - operate their flights from the domestic terminal. Air India and Jet Airways have their own terminal for domestic cargo service adjacent to the domestic terminal. At the international terminal, the air cargo operations are entrusted with the operating agency Kerala State Industrial Enterprises (KSIE).
According to an official, though the operations of the CUDCT have not been reviewed, the airport expected good revenue.
"We tried to outsource the X-ray machine, but did not get any response. So the AAI arranged the machine for cargo. Since space is available at the old domestic building, only the X-ray machine is required for CUDCT. We have informed the airliners about the CUDCT at domestic terminal and asked them to join the service. Presently, there is not much cargo service from the airport. But, we expect growth in air cargo after the completion of Vizhinjam seaport project," said George G Tharakan, airport director.
21/05/17 Times of India

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Mumbai now has the world’s busiest single runway airport

New Delhi: With its operations of 837 flights in a day or one every 65 seconds on an average, the airport at Mumbai is now the world’s busiest amongst the single-runway facilities.
With one flight every 65 seconds to and from the financial capital of India, the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport in Mumbai has become the world’s busiest single-runway airport. Operating 837 flights a day in fiscal 2017, the GVK conglomerate-run airport has left behind London’s Gatwick, which operates 757 flights a day on its single-runway.
The airport has also ruled out the London airport in terms of handling number of passengers with 45.2 million people flying in and out in fiscal 2017 as opposed to the Gatwick’s 44 million. Of the total number of passengers that flew at Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport, 12.4 million were international travellers.
The Air Traffic Controller (ATC) manages two arrivals every 130 seconds and one departure in between these two arrivals. That means the land-starved airport handles a whopping 837 flight movements a day, which on an average is 80 flights more than Gatwick handling 757 movements in a day, a spokesperson said to Indian press. There are days when the number crosses even 900 movements a day, she added.
20/05/17 Surbhi Kapila/Media India

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Govt wages linguistic war in air, wants Hindi newspapers on board

New Delhi: After making Hindi compulsory for CBSE till class X, the BJP-led Centre has asked all airlines and airports across the country to make available Hindi newspaper and magazines on board and at all airports. While the move is in line with the NDA government’s Hindi policy, airports in the south are skeptical of the same.
Minister of External Affairs Sushma Swaraj held a meeting with Hindi Salahkar Samiti (HSS) recently and wrote to Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju in Hindi asking him to provide Hindi newspapers. After which, the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) has asked all airports and airlines to implement it. At present, no airline provides Hindi newspapers on board.
MoCA officials said the minister’s letter has been sent to all airlines and airports and the aviation ministry has asked them to submit the action taken report soon.
21/05/17 Ankur Sharma/New Indian Express

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Metro ride to airport smooth, but walk to terminal tiresome

Chennai: For commuters taking the metro train to the airport, heading to the terminal may not be as easy as boarding the air-conditioned coach.
Air passengers alighting at the airport station have to exit the facility and walk for 15 minutes to the terminal. While passengers complain that the shuttle service introduced by for air passengers from the metro station to the airport is erratic, promised facilities like walkalator and web check-in for easy access to the airport and hassle-free travel are yet to be in place.
The much-anticipated elevated line between Little Mount and Airport was launched in September 2016. Metro rail officials had said commuters would soon be get several new facilities at the airport station including the walkalator, to be built by Airport Authority of India, which will connect both the metro station with the airport terminal. A tube was constructed linking both the platform level of the metro station with the entry of the airport. But since there is no walkalator that would enable passengers, carrying heavy luggage, easily move between the two facilities, the tube has been cordoned off.
In October 2016, metro rail launched shuttle services to improve commuter mobility. Four battery operated cars have been shuttling air passengers between the metro station and airport, and back. But commuters complain that they had to wait for more than 15 minutes to catch a shuttle service. Hence, many of the air passengers end up walking to the terminal from the station.
21/05/17 U Tejonmayam/Times of India

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Huge python at Rajiv Gandhi International Airport causes scare

Hyderabad: A 10-foot python created a scare after it slithered its way into the premises of Rajiv Gandhi International Airport on Saturday.
The anti-poaching squad rescued the snake without any harm. The incident occurred on Friday afternoon, but news spread only after pictures of the rescue went viral on Net.
Airport officials said that on Friday around 2.30 pm, engineers of TrueJet airlines were doing routine checks on aircraft parked in Bay 7. The flight was scheduled to take off for Aurangabad in the evening. An engineer suddenly saw the snake a few metres away from the aircraft. He alerted the Airport Operations wing and the airport swiftly went to emergency mode. The anti-poaching squad rescued the snake. Airport sources said that if the snake was not spotted it may have entered the landing gear of the aircraft.
21/05/17 Deccan Chronicle

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Airlines to start operations at Ludhiana airport from June

Ludhiana: Flights from Sahnewal airport here under the regional connectivity scheme will start from the next month, local MP Ravneet Singh Bittu said today.
He said that the Punjab government will help the airlines under the scheme, also known as Ude Desh ka Aam Naagrik (UDAN).
“The state government and the Centre will provide financial aid to the airlines if they suffer loss,” the parliamentarian said.
Industrial potential of Ludhiana has suffered due to lack of regular air connectivity, he said.
“Despite structural bottleneck of short length of the air strip, the scheme will ensure regular and reliable air connectivity,” he said.
Increasing the length of the air strip is also being considered to help make optimal use of the Ludhiana airport, he said.
The Ludhiana airport will first handle flights to Delhi and thereafter to Mumbai and other important cities, he said.
19/05/17 PTI/India.com

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Delhi airport handling lesser flights than capacity: Government

New Delhi: Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport, the biggest and busiest in the country, is handling fewer flights than it can, government data revealed.

The data, accessed by ET, shows that Delhi airport currently operates a maximum of 67 flights every hour when it can handle up to 75 flights an hour. Yet, the airport is unable to add flights during the peak period.

“The airport, despite three runways, is not able to utilise its capacity fully. It is also the only Indian airport among the big ones not to do so,” said an airline executive, who did not want to be identified.
“There are no peak-time slots available at Delhi airport.” During the slot allocation meeting for the winter schedule held in March, airlines had complained about capacity constraints at airports.
A Delhi airport official had also said the airfield in the national capital is full during that period.
19/05/17 Mihir Mishra/Economic Times

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When Air India itself was ' illegally' made to pay Rs 2 cr by airport parking lot contractor

Mumbai: Not just the public, even Air India has been illegally charged vehicle entry fees at the Mumbai International Airport. It has emerged that the national carrier, over a period of four years, was made to pay Rs 2 crore towards ‘entry charges’ when such fees don’t even exist.

The matter came to light, ironically, when the airport parking lot contractor moved court seeking his ‘dues’ from the firm roped in by Air India to ferry its employees to and from the airport.
The Dindoshi sessions court, while ruling in favour of the transporter contracted by Air India, said the airport parking lot contractor was supposed to charge vehicles only for parking, and not for entering the premises. The Air India contracted transporter, Buthello Travels, has now issued the parking lot contractor, Mahesh Sunny Enterprises Ltd, a legal notice claiming Rs 2.2 crore with 18% interest per annum.

According to the case details, Buthello, which made at least 14 trips to the airport every day on behalf of Air India, paid a fixed amount of Rs 3.55 lakh a month to Mahesh Sunny Enterprises towards entry fees, and claimed this amount from Air India.

However, after the inauguration of Terminal 2 (T2) in January 2014, Air India stopped paying entry fees to Buthello saying it was a public road. All these years, before T2 was inaugurated, the entry to the airport was through a small bridge, where staff of Mahesh Sunny Enterprises would be stationed to collect entry fees.

When Buthello stopped paying entry fees, Mahesh Sunny management filed a complaint alleging cheating with the local court, which was dismissed. The contractor then approached the sessions court to review the order.
20/05/17 Sunil Baghel & Sharmeen Hakim/Mumbai Mirror

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Direct flights from Mohali and Amritsar to Nanded to start from July: Chandumajra

Chandigarh: Anandpur Sahib MP and Shiromani Akali Dal General Secretary Prof Prem Singh Chandumajra today announced that direct flights from Mohali and Amritsar international airports to Nanded would commence from July next.
He said the assurance to this effect was given to him by Union Aviation Minister P Gajapathi Raju at a meeting in New Delhi today afternoon. The flights would be started by Air India for which all arrangements were being put in place.
19/05/17 Punjab News Express

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CISF bans phones, use of toilets for its jawans at airports

New Delhi: The CISF has banned non-uniformed entry and use of mobile phones and toilets by its personnel inside the core security area of airports in the backdrop of alleged involvement of some of them in drugs and gold smuggling rackets.
The aviation security headquarters of the paramilitary force here has issued a set of guidelines for its on-duty jawans and officers who guard 59 civil airports in the country, many of which are categorised as ‘sensitive’ and ‘hyper-sensitive’ from the security point of view.
Central Industrial Security Force chief O P Singh confirmed that the force has issued some special directives for its staff working at airports, keeping in mind the overall security concerns of these facilities thronged by lakhs of passengers to fly to their destinations within the country and abroad, every day.
“There has been a ban for the past several years that no CISF personnel on airport security duty shifts will carry his or her mobile phone. These measures will now be enforced very strictly,” the CISF Director General told PTI.
The DG said the new measures were taken keeping in mind few past incidents where CISF personnel were found involved in alleged illegal activities.
19/05/17 PTI/India.com

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Shiv Sena demands withdrawal of toll at Mumbai airport

Shiv Sena legislator Anil Parab has asked the Mumbai International Airport Limited (MIAL) to withdraw “illegal toll” being levied on vehicles entering the airport premises. If MIAL didn’t withdraw the toll of Rs 130 per vehicle, it would face Sena-style agitation, Parab, a member of state Legislative Council, said in a letter. Parab also objected to collection of parking fee from vehicles entering the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport. “Not all vehicles coming to the Airport stop there. This (toll) is causing great distress to the people,” he said. “If the toll is not withdrawn, the Sena will launch an agitation in its own style,” the letter said.
20/05/17 PTI/Indian Express

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Dog menace at airport raises passengers’ hackles

Pune: Middle-aged Pursharth Kadam, returning from a business trip to Bengaluru, had just landed in Pune and made his way out of the arrivals gate when a stray dog suddenly snarled at him.
So startled was Kadam that he panicked and almost lost his balance after getting tangled up in his luggage.
"This had happened to a friend of mine too a month ago, in the same spot," Kadam said, "How can there be stray dogs in the airport area? This may seem trivial, but it is not. It affects passengers, especially those coming from abroad. Moreover, this is a defence airport," Kadam added.
For regular passengers, the issue of stray dogs having the run of the place has become a cause for concern. Senior officials from Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) said the buck stops with Airports Authorities of India (AAI), who they said must ensure people living in the vicinity of the airport adopt scientific methods of garbage disposal.
20/05/17 Joy Sengupta/Times of India

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Bengaluru airport sets up solar farms

Bengaluru: The Bangalore International Airport Limited (BIAL) inaugurated solar farms at the Kempegowda International Airport premises on Thursday.
The first project of 440kW has been installed in the car park area in front of the BIAL corporate office, and the second project of 2.5MW solar panels at the airside. Both projects - jointly - will reduce carbon emission by 3125 tonnes per annum (3075 tonnes of carbon dioxide emission per annum at the airside and 550 tonnes at the car park area). The project implemented by Bosch Limited, a leading supplier of technology and services and executed by the Bosch Energy and Building Solutions (BEBS) team in India, will generate approximately 4.4 Mio units of electricity, annually.
Hari Marar, President - Airport Operations BIAL, said, "BIAL has constantly endeavored to create an enabling environment through its various green initiatives. We have focused on sustainability and embarked on adopting renewable energy as part of our overall green vision. We aim to achieve 50% of our energy needs through renewable power in the next three years. We will continue our effort to look at newer methods to operate our business in an ecologically sustainable environment."
19/05/17 Aparajita Ray/Times of India

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Get flyers to airports 2 hours before flight: CISF to airlines

New Delhi: The CISF has asked airlines to request domestic flyers to reach airports, especially those in the metros, two hours before flight departure time due to massive rush expected this summer. Check-in for domestic flights closes 45 minutes before departure and most flyers currently reach an hour in advance.
The security agency has also told airlines to enforce the one handbag rule (in addition to a laptop bag or a ladies handbag) to cut down waiting time at security check areas. The peak holiday travel rush will begin from Saturday and airlines are warning of long queues at security and immigration checks.
20/05/17 Times of India

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Trolley trouble to plague fliers for next few months

Kolkata: Flying through Kolkata airport? Travel light and carry a strolley. If you have multiple luggage without wheels, be prepared to lug them till the terminal building because baggage trolleys will remain in short supply for another four to six months.
Kolkata airport director Atul Dikshit on Friday said the city's tryst with trolley trouble will persist for months following the suspension of a tender to procure 3,000 trolleys after it encountered a legal complication. "We were about to award the contract when a legal issue cropped up. The matter is being scrutinized by the legal department in Delhi. Once we get the nod, a fresh tender may have to be floated. That will take at least four months," he said.
On Thursday, fliers arriving from Bangkok were unable to find trolleys. Airport officials blamed the contractor appointed to run the service of mismanagement, but the latter argued it was impossible to make do with the 1,500-odd trolleys in service when 700-800 passengers were transiting the airport every hour.
20/05/17 Times of India

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Chakeri airport to remain closed for 2 months from May 26

Kanpur: The Chakeri airport will remain closed for two months for re-carpeting of the runway, Air India will not shut its office located here. The last flight will arrive at Chakeri on May 25 and the airport will close from May 26 onwards for two months. Air India authorities have decided to retain its office and staff and the passengers can book their tickets for different locations.
Air India official Devendra Singh confirmed that its office will continue to function at the airport as usual. AI has its office at Chakeri airport from where passengers would be able to book tickets for flying to location of their choice.
He said that Delhi-Kanpur flight will continue to arrive and land at Chakeri airport till May 25. Passengers who had booked their tickets in advance after May 26 would be dropped to Amausi Airport from where the flight would take them to Delhi.
20/05/17 Times of India

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Mock exercise at airport

Guwahati: An anti-hijacking mock exercise was conducted at the LGBI Airport today at 11 am to check and enhance the efficiency of the airport’s contingency plan.
Hemanta Narzary, Principal Secretary, Home & Political, was present during the exercise. BK Tailong, Airport Director, LGBI Airport is the convenor of Aerodrome Committee.

An assumed mock aircraft having 127 passengers was treated as the hijacked aircraft. The duration of the exercise was 55 minute
19/05/17 Assam Tribune

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Dagadarthi airport remains a dream

Nellore: Ajay Jain, Principal Secretary, Infrastructure and Investments Department, on Thursday said that the government has dropped the proposal to build a domestic airport at Dagadarthi in Nellore district. Jain stated this close on the heels of a report published in The Hans India on April 7 with the headline, “Domestic airport at Dagadarthi shelved?”
He told The Hans India after an interaction with Collector Mutyala Raju and Joint Collector Imtiyaz that the government is considering other places out of the district for developing the airport. People from the district have been hoping to have an airport to boost growth and industrial progress. He cited ‘local issues’ as the reason for shifting of the airport project.
“The government has decided to shift the project as there was no cooperation from the local farmers whose lands were notified for acquisition for the airport,” he said.
19/05/17 Hans India

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