Showing posts with label Airports Nov 2008. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Airports Nov 2008. Show all posts

Sunday, November 29, 2009

GMR Aviation Academy appointed as Airport Council International’s Global Training Hub for the Asia Pacific Region

Hyderabad: GMR Hyderabad International Airport Limited (GHIAL) and Airports Council International, (ACI World) Geneva, have signed an agreement for the appointment of the GMR Aviation Academy as a Global Training Hub for the Asia Pacific region.
The agreement was signed in Hyderabad today, by Mr. Kiran Kumar Grandhi, Business Chairman, Airports, GMR Group and Ms. Angela Gittens, Director General, ACI World.
Through this agreement, the GMR Aviation Academy will facilitate ACI’s training opportunities that help develop managerial and operational standards, and spread knowledge of best practices throughout the world’s airports.
Commenting on the occasion, Mr. P. Sripathy, CEO, GHIAL said, “Considering that the other such training hubs within Asia Pacific are located at Dubai in the UAE, Incheon in South Korea and Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia, the GMR Aviation Academy will provide an ideal training venue, not just for the professionals from within the airports in India, but also from those in the SAARC countries.
“And with twelve new greenfield airports that will be coming up, and a majority of the existing 126 airports that are operated by the Airports Authority of India which will be upgraded, there will be a substantial increase in the number of requirements of adequately trained staff that are employed by airports, their suppliers and the different service providers.
“The GMR Aviation Academy will be geared up to provide the best, professional training that the qualified instructors from ACI will impart here in Hyderabad”, Mr. Sripathy added.
Ms. Angela Gittens, Director General, ACI World, who made a presentation on “Forging a vision of sustainable aviation”, said that, “Simply put, airports are capital intensive businesses highly dependent on economies of scale. Even in a downturn airports have to invest to provide capacity for the future. And user charges may have to increase.
“I note that India has some of the lowest user charges in the world but India has also lagged behind in providing capacity. Now that India is indeed providing the capacity the airlines and the communities need, it is only natural that user charges will have to rise, at least in the short term”, she added.
Airports Council International (ACI), the voice of the world’s airports has 1700 member airports. ACI Global Training was established to make training opportunities more accessible, and help develop managerial and operational standards at its member airports worldwide.

28/11/09 PRESS RELEASE/GMR Hyderabad International Airport Ltd

Saturday, November 29, 2008

Airlines cut down flights to and from Mumbai

New Delhi: Domestic airlines have cut back flights to and from Mumbai in the wake of the recent terrorist attack. The government on its part has
put all airports in the western region of the country on high alert.
The UB Group owned Kingfisher Airlines has combined some of its flights operating out of Mumbai. “We have decided to operate some of the flights jointly as we did on Friday. Our Mumbai-Delhi flight IT 331 may be combined with another Delhi flight IT 312. Similarly some of our daily flights to Bangalore- Mumbai and Bangalore- Delhi will also be merged together,” the airlines spokesman said.
Other domestic carriers Jet Airways and Air India have re-scheduled few of their flights out of Mumbai. Domestic carriers have reported an average 20-30% less boarding from various destinations for Mumbai-bound flights. According to airlines officials, the passengers load for the Mumbai-bound flights was much below the average forcing them to combine some of their flights.
Meanwhile few international carriers have already re-scheduled and cancelled their flights. Most of these are the East Asian carriers — Thai Airways, Malaysian Airlines, Cathey Pacific, Singapore Airlines — which have cancelled their flights due to the closure of Suvarnabhumi airport at Bangkok.
29/11/09 Economic Times

Airports to invest more in security

New Delhi: Alarmed by the attacks, both airlines and airport managements will now be forced to invest more in security systems. The Centre on Friday declared a high alert at all international airports in the country, with a special emphasis on the western region. Airlines are also asking passengers to report at time to airports as the extra security measures could mean longer clearing times.
"There was a lot of talk of installing state of the art security systems at Indian airports about two years back following a spate of terror attacks across the world. Now that move will get the deserved priority," said an airline official. The industry knows it has to convince people of a safe flight to make them travel again in these unsafe times, he said.
Kingfisher chairman Vijay Mallya has told his employees that "safety and security are our most important parameters. Each one of you must take extreme care to ensure that both are strictly enforced." Despite their poor financial health, airlines will now have to invest more in ensuring that passengers have a safe flight.
The government has ordered thorough check of all vehicles going to airports as well as 100% checking of hand bags. "Airlines are now resorting to ladder-point security in which passengers are frisked at the aircraft ladder or place they board buses to reach the aircraft. The Bureau of Civil Aviation Security and CISF are reviewing overall security measures. All this may require acquisition of ultra modern equipment and hiring of specialised people to run them," said sources.
29/11/08 Times of India

Airports put on high alert, extra vigil mounted

New Delhi: All major airports across the country, especially those in the western region, have been put on high alert and extra vigil mounted following the terror strikes in Mumbai, official sources said today.
Extra surveillance has been mounted in most of the airports, with additional CISF and police personnel being deployed to keep an eye around the terminal as well as the perimeter, they said.
While sniffer dogs were being deployed in some airports to assist the checking of baggage, watchers in plainclothes were also being put on the job, they said, adding that sky-marshals were boarding planes flying on specifically identified routes on a regular basis.
The airlines, both domestic and international, have been asked to inform passengers to arrive at the airports at least an hour before the original check-in time for thorough inspection of their baggage and also the vehicles coming to drop them, they said.
The air travellers have also been asked by the airlines to carry valid identification documents.
While domestic carriers, barring Kingfisher Airlines, have maintained their normal schedules in and out of Mumbai, some foreign carriers had cancelled their flights to the western megapolis yesterday.
28/11/08 PTI/Press Trust of India

Flight ops in Mumbai hit

New Delhi: Flight operations in and out of Mumbai were marginally affected even as the city fought incessantly with terror throughout Friday. The Mumbai airport saw 13 cancellations by carriers like GoAir, Indigo and Kingfisher. However, international flights in and out of the airport remained normal. Yesterday, a total of 29 flights, including international and domestic, were cancelled. Around 500 aircraft fly in and out of Mumbai every day.
However, domestic flights to the city saw a decline in passenger load factor (PLF) as fewer people are making it to the city.
According to figures given by Mumbai International Airport Ltd (MIAL), GoAir cancelled four arrivals and four departures, Indigo one arrival and one departure while full-service carrier Kingfisher cancelled one arrival and two departures.
International flights, especially outbound, saw healthy occupancy, airport sources said, adding that domestic flights, especially bound to Mumbai, would have taken a hit on their passenger load factors.
The number of passengers arrived was much less than those who departed because a lot of passengers wanted to leave Mumbai, said an airport executive.
“We saw healthy loads of 75 per cent in our flights today. We are taking each day as it comes and may see an impact in the next few days,” said a Singapore Airlines spokesperson.
Both Jet Airways and Air India, however, said that the crisis in the wake of terror attacks in the city has not affected their loads to a large extent.
29/11/08 Business Standard

Crew held hostage, airlines cancel flights

Mumbai: Three international flights, Lufthansa, North-West and Air France, had to be cancelled because their crew were stuck in Hotel Taj and Hotel Trident. They were rescued on Friday.
On November 27, the 3.25am Mumbai-Frankfurt Lufthansa airlines flight LH 757 was cancelled. “The crew that were to take the flight to Frankfurt was held up as hostages in Hotel Trident where they stay officially,” said an airline source from Mumbai airport.
But by Thursday evening the 27 crew members were rescued by the armed forces and taken to the international airport in Sahar. “One of them was slightly injured. The airline had sent a special aircraft to take them back. But they could not go as their passports and other documents were at the hotel.”
The 2.40am Air France Mumbai-Paris flight AF 135 was cancelled as 15 crew members were in Hotel Taj. “The flight will leave on Friday morning along with the passengers of Thursday and Friday,” said an official from the airline’s counter.
29/11/08 Navita Singh/Daily News & Analysis

Plane carrying 77 European survivors leaves Mumbai: France

Paris: A French plane carrying 77 survivors of the Mumbai attacks that killed at least 155 people left India early Saturday, the French foreign ministry announced.
The Airbus A-310, equipped with full medical facilities, was transporting 29 French nationals, 19 Italians, 17 Spaniards, five Germans and one each from Algeria, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Greece, Kazakhstan, the Netherlands, Poland and Switzerland.
None of the passengers had been injured during the attacks or the ensuing hostage drama.
The plane left Mumbai at around 2200 GMT Friday, and was due to land at Paris Charles de Gaulle airport around midday (1100 GMT) Saturday, following a stopover in the Middle East.
As the plane took off, Indian commandos were still battling it out inside Mumbai's historic Taj Mahal hotel, where a tiny group of heavily armed gunmen were engaged in a fight to the death as the more than 52-hour-old battle entered its final stage.
29/11/08 AFP/Times of India

Modernisation of airport delayed

Kolkata: While the senior Airports Authority of India (AAI) officials remain hopeful about the airport modernisation project being completed by 2010, the organisation, which has bagged the tender, is yet to begin work on the project. AAI had completed the tendering process and issued work orders to the Thai-Indian consortium ITD-ITD CEM for modernisation of the airport earlier this year.
Whether or not the project will be completed within the stipulated period, the delay will certainly cause an estimated cost escalation of several hundred crores to the Rs 1,942.52 crore modernisation project. Incidentally, the first phase of the three-phased modernisation project of the NSC Bose Airport was scheduled to begin earlier this year.
Speaking at a programme organised by the Bharat Chamber of Commerce on “Modernisation of Kolkata Airport”, Mr SPS Bakshi, executive director (project), AAI, said: “We had floated a tender and issued work orders in October this year. Work was supposed to start in November but presently they are mobilising their resources.”
The civil aviation ministry had in August 2007 approved the detailed project report furnished by the AAI.
28/11/08 The Statesman

Friday, November 28, 2008

CISF intensifies airport patrolling

Bangalore: Bengaluru International Airport (BIA) has intensified its security measures. "BIA security and CISF are in a high state of alertness.
All visitors are being screened thoroughly. CISF patrolling has been intensified and the quick-reaction team of the CISF is also in a high state of readiness," said an official BIAL spokesperson.
Digvijay Singh, CISF head at BIA, told TOI, "Since Wednesday night, we have gone on high alert." A dozen more CISF personnel have been added to beef up security across the airport. Singh said two teams of CISF personnel armed with AK-47 rifles have been deployed to patrol the entry area. While one team is mobile, the other team have been positioned at strategic locations. A large number of similarly armed CISF personnel are also manning the airport in civilian clothes.
Some flights between Bangalore and Mumbai were cancelled on Thursday, primarily on account of large cancellations of passenger bookings. According to Jet Airways, which operates 7 daily flights connecting the IT capital to the financial capital of the country, some flights had to be merged as about 55% of bookings had been cancelled.
Bengaluru International Airport said that since Wednesday evening, one Kingfisher flight (BOM-BLR-BOM) scheduled to arrive at 8.20 am on Thursday was cancelled.
28/11/08 Times of India

Another security drill at airport as passengers cancel Mumbai tickets

New Delhi : Following the ongoing Terror strike in Mumbai, the Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport in Delhi has been put on high alert. The Delhi Police and the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) have increased deployment. “We held meetings with security agencies at the airport. Quick-reaction teams have been activated,” said a senior CISF official.
Many passengers did not take flights to Mumbai, disrupting flight schedules, as airlines had to cancel or reschedule flights. Kingfisher Airlines clubbed its flights — Delhi-Mumbai IT 306 and IT 308 on the same route.
Passengers who landed in Delhi were scared, while those who had gone to Mumbai decided to cancel engagements and returned by the morning flight.
“I was having dinner at a Mumbai hotel when I heard the news; I had four meetings scheduled, but cancelled them and took the first flight to Delhi this morning,” said Naresh Jain, a Delhi businessman, who reached Mumbai at 7.45 pm on Wednesday.
Sholay’s ‘Samba’ Mac Mohan, who landed in Delhi this afternoon for a stage show, said Mumbai would stay resilient as ever. “Mumbai is used to dealing with such situations, and I’m sure we will emerge stronger,” he said.
Sucheta Kaushik (28), who arrived with her four-month-old-son in a SpiceJet flight, said, “My family was very tense. The roads in Mumbai are deserted. I am happy to be back with my family; I feel safe.”
28/11/08 Geeta Gupta/Indian Express

Airports on high alert after Mumbai terror strike

New Delhi: Security at airports across the country has been beefed up following Wednesday night’s terror attack in Mumbai that claimed at least 101 lives, a government official said Thursday.A senior official of the Airports Authority of India (AAI) said security has been tightened at airports in Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata and Chennai besides 13 other airports across the country. These airports have been categorised as “hyper sensitive” by security agencies.
The Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) personnel at the Mumbai airport have erected additional barricades, the official said.
At Delhi airport, the CISF and the Delhi Police are monitoring vehicles approaching the airport. “This has delayed flights and also affected the air traffic movement,” said an airport official here.
A former official of the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) told IANS on condition of anonymity that if terror attacks in Mumbai were any indication, the threat to airports would rise further.“Airports are always the first choice for terrorist attacks,” he said.
He said Indian airports, even hyper-sensitive airports, do not have a foolproof security.
27/11/08 IANS/Thaindian.com, Thailand

WB airport project will block coal reserves

Kolkata: Reserves of about 1.4 billion tonnes of prime Ranigunj coal will get blocked if the project proposed by the West Bengal Government for setting up an airport and a mini-township in the Andal-Fardipur block in Burdwan is implemented, a study done by the Central Mine Planning and Design Institute (CMPDI) has revealed.
A report based on the study, has recommended that the project be shifted just 15 km south to save the coal reserves in the interest of the country’s energy security, while still implementing the airport project which was also a crucial infrastructure project. Copies of the report have been sent to the Union Civil Aviation Ministry, the Coal Ministry as also the West Bengal Government.
The CMPDI study revealed that of the 1.4 billion tonnes, about 350 million tonnes is under the licensed area of Eastern Coalfields, a subsidiary of Coal India Ltd. (CIL) and the airport project is within 240 metres of an underground working mine.
The commissioning of the CMPDI study came after CIL received the detailed map of the airport project which is proposed to be implemented as a private project assisted by the State’s apex industry promotion agency. While the airport would come up by developing an existing abandoned airstrip at Andal near Asansol, a mini-township was also proposed to be set up on 2,300 acres.
28/11/08 The Hindu

Security beefed up at Pune airport

Pune: Security was tightened at Pune's Lohegaon airport on Thursday in the wake of Wednesday night's terror attacks in Mumbai that left at least 101 people dead and several others injured.
But it was business as usual as all flights were operating on schedule with no delays or cancellations reported till Thursday noon.
Two flights (Kingfisher and Jet Airways) operate on the Pune-Mumbai route in the morning session. "So far, we are operating without any change. Even if there were to be any delays later, it will be more out of technical reasons rather than security issues," Pune airport director G Chandramouli told TOI.
The airport is part of the Indian Air Force's (IAF) Lohegaon air base and like most airports across the country, its security is being handled by the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF).
All movements around the airport premises were being closely monitored and an additional number of police personnel could be seen posted at key points along the approach route to the airport from the Weikfield square.
Additional security barricades were installed on the route so as to slow down the traffic movement near the airport entrance. Similarly, access to the main terminal building was restricted to only the ticket-holding air passengers.
Issuance of entry tickets to visitors was stopped "till further notice". Usually, the airport's visitors gallery attracts a fair number of people throughout the day. On Thursday, no casual visitor was being allowed.
A notice put up at the terminal manager's desk read, "Due to security reasons, sale of entry tickets to visitors has been stopped till further notice."
28/11/08 Times of India

Taxi was meant to blow up Mumbai airport

The flyover outside the domestic airport in Mumbai and a taxi driver’s unfamiliarity with the new slip route to the terminal perhaps went a long way in averting a major disaster that could have taken the toll into hundreds on Wednesday night itself.
Shortly before the terrorists moved into their targets in South Mumbai, a black and yellow taxi, with three passengers and enough ammunition to bring down a dome, sped in the direction of the airport. Instead of taking a slip road that would have taken the passengers straight to the airport, the driver took the flyover which bypassed the airport, only to get stuck at a red light.
At rush hour, the lights stayed red for long, at which the passengers berated the driver and asked him to cut the traffic lights. The driver moved on, but the wait turned out to be a minute or two too long. The car exploded. All that was found was a severed head and parts of three human legs. Had the terrorists' plans of coinciding a blast at the airport with the attacks on the Taj and Oberoi hotels succeeded, the death toll of 26/11 would have been much bigger than it already is.
28/11/08 Prabhu Chawla/India Today

Thursday, November 27, 2008

Mumbai Airport Operating Normally After Terror Attack

Mumbai International Airport Ltd., operator of India's busiest airfield, is functioning normally after terrorist attacks in the city's hotels last night killed 80 people in the country's first terrorist attack targeting foreigners.
``The situation is normal now, flights are operating normally,'' airport spokesman Manish Khalghatghi said in a phone interview today.
Deutsche Lufthansa AG, Air France-KLM and Northwest Airlines Corp. all canceled a flight each last night, Khalghatghi said. Singapore Airlines Ltd., Asia's most profitable airline, said it is operating flights as normal to India.
``Security in and around the international airport has been tightened,'' spokesman Stephen Forshaw said in an e-mail reply to Bloomberg queries.
Jet Airways (India) Ltd., the country's largest carrier, said flights from its home base of Mumbai are operating normally this morning, according to spokeswoman Srirupa Sen. Air India, the nation's largest overseas airline, also said its flights are on schedule from the city.
Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd., Hong Kong's largest carrier, is sticking to the normal schedule for flights to Mumbai, spokeswoman Carolyn Leung said by phone today. The airline flies 10 times to Mumbai from Hong Kong every week.
27/11/08 Vipin V. Nair/Bloomberg

Passengers fail to reach airport, three flights cancelled

Mumbai: Three international flights were cancelled and very few passengers were seen at the airport here this morning hours after the terror attack.
Three international flights of Lufthansa, Air France North West were cancelled last night as the crew failed to reach the airport following the terrorist strike.
Very few passengers arrived this morning at the airport, sources in Kingfisher airlines said. They said the passengers for three flights were adjusted on one flight.
27/11/08 PTI/Economic Times

Bangkok airport crisis to continue till next week

New Delhi: Travel agents are looking at cancellations of more than 60 per cent from passengers next week, even as all 40-odd daily flights between India and Bangkok were cancelled owing to the political turmoil in the country.
Travel agents have been told that the problems will last till the start of next week. The India-Bangkok sector is operated by carriers like Air India, Jet Airways, Thai Air, Cathay Pacific, Singapore Airlines and Malaysian Airlines amongst others and travel companies say it constitutes more than 40 per cent of their business in the south east Asian market.
Thousands of protestors have laid siege to Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi airport, the world's 18th largest in terms of passenger traffic, as their latest mark of protest against the elected government. This has caused a halt in all operations at the airport. Many flights are also being diverted to the old airport at Don Meung, sources said.
“People are now shifting to other places like Macau, Sri Lanka and so on. We have received a lot of complaints from passengers who have already paid for their excess baggage among other things,” said Tarun Yadav, owner of travel company Global Passages and director, IATA Agents Association of India (IAAI).
Singapore Airlines also cancelled its five India-Bangkok flights yesterday and today and will keep them cancelled indefinitely.
27/11/08 Anirban Chowdhury/Business Standard

DIAL seeks Rs2,000 cr in sops to fill gap in capital expenditure

New Delhi: The operator running New Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport, Delhi International Airport Pvt. Ltd (DIAL), has sought relaxations on taxes from the Union government and permission to levy a new airport development fee on passengers that will together amount to a potential benefit of around Rs2,000 crore.
This benefit, if it receives government approval, will help the GMR Infrastructure Ltd-led consortium to meet a gap it is facing in its capital expenditure plans for the airport.
DIAL is readying the Delhi airport at an estimated cost of Rs8,890 crore ahead of the Commonwealth Games in 2010 with the construction of a new passenger terminal, a new runway and hotels at the airport site, complemented by a metro rail link connecting the airport with Connaught Place, a central business district in the Capital, to be developed by Delhi Metro Railways Corp. Ltd (DMRC).
According to an estimate in 2006, when the airport was privatized, the development of the Delhi airport was to cost Rs7,961 crore. This however, has increased now by around Rs1,000 crore or nearly equal to the cost of creating three new airports such as the ones commissioned at Bangalore and Hyderabad this year.
DIAL also wants the government to pitch in funds for construction of the metro link to the airport, according to a senior government official familiar with the process, who did not want to be named.
It wants to levy Rs300 as a so-called airport development fee on each outbound domestic passenger from the Capital besides Rs1,000 each on those flying international routes for a period starting January 2009 until December 2011. Such a passenger fee alone will likely result in revenues of over Rs1,400 crore for the operator.
26/11/08 Tarun Shukla/Livemint

AI, Jet operate flights as per schedule to and from Mumbai

New Delhi: Air India (AI) and Jet Airways operated flights out of terror-struck Mumbai as per their normal schedules, but Kingfisher clubbed a few of its flights from and to the western megapolis.
“All Air India flights, both domestic and international, have operated normally as per schedule. Normal schedule of our flights will be maintained,” an Air India spokesperson said.
A Jet Airways spokesperson also said that their flights in and out of Mumbai would operate in accordance with their normal schedule.
However, their Kingfisher Airlines counterpart said that one flight each on Delhi-Mumbai, Bangalore-Mumbai, Hyderabad-Mumbai and Nashik-Mumbai sectors have been combined with other flights on the same routes.
27/11/08 Livemint

NACIL, SATS in JV to provide ground-handling services at four major airports

Mumbai : In a bid to consolidate its leadership position in the Rs 3,000-crore airport ground-handling services sector, the board of National Aviation Company of India Limited (NACIL) — which operates national carrier Air India — has approved a proposal to provide ground-handling at four major airports through a joint venture agreement with Singapore Airlines arm, Singapore Air Terminal Services (SATS). This JV will provide ground handling and cargo services at the country’s premier airports in Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai and Kolkata.
Speaking to The Indian Express, an Air India spokesperson said the idea behind the move is to exploit the company’s core competencies and explore business opportunities.
According to a senior NACIL official, the airline which earns over Rs 700 crore annually by providing ground-handling services to international carriers is all set to expand its base in the segment. NACIL has also been providing ground-handling services at the new Hyderabad and Bangalore airports under a joint venture agreement with SATS.
The new ground-handling regulations of the civil aviation ministry that will come into effect in January 2009 allow for only three service providers at the country’s six major international airports.
27/11/08 Shashank Shekhar/Indian Express

Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Parties seek air-strip removal from English Bazaar

Malda: When the Airports Authority of India is preparing to issue eviction notice to encroachers from the existing area of the Malda airstrip, political leaders here including that of the CPI-M, Congress and Trinamul Congress want the airport to shift from English Bazaar town altogether.
The AAI is currently constructing a boundary wall to protect its existing land. The district administration has also sent a proposal to the state government for acquisition of an additional 55 acres on the western side of the airport following the instruction of the state transport department and the Malda MP has been trying hard to obtain Central funds to revive the Malda airport.
But the political organisations, including the Congress, are not quite convinced with the idea. For instance, the English Bazaar Congress MLA, Mr Krishnendu Choudhury, reportedly does not want the airport in its present location. Earlier, when Mr Choudhury was the English Bazaar Municipality chairman, he had urged the district administration to earmark land outside the English Bazaar town to relocate the airport.
Although the former CPI-M MLA from English Bazaar, Mr Samar Roy, had urged the AAI and aviation minister to keep the airstrip in the existing position for the development of the district, the current CPI-M district secretary, Mr Jiban Moitra, want its relocation.
26/11/08 The Statesman

Two Bangkok-bound flights land at Kolkata airport

Kolkata: Two Bangkok-bound flights on Wednesday landed at Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose international airport on Wednesday morning and four more flights were cancelled as anti-government protesters raided the Bangkok international airport premises.
Airport sources said a Jet Airways Mumbai to Bangkok flight 9W62 with 62 passengers and crew members was diverted to Kolkata where it landed at 6 am. Another Jet Airways Delhi-Bangkok flight 9W64 with 128 passengers and crew followed suit at 7 am.
The airport authorities are assessing the situation at the Bangkok airport and accordingly will take a decision as to when they would be allowed to resume flights to Bangkok.
The airport authorities said all the stranded passengers were safe and arrangements were being made for their alternative accommodation.
The four flights cancelled were: Thai Airways DG 314, Jet Airways 9w66, Druk Air KB120 and last night's Thai Airways TG 314.
26/11/08 PTI/Sify

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Begumpet airport may host Indian grand prix

Hyderabad: After the air show, cars may zip across the runway at the Begumpet airport. Last month, representatives of Gurgaon-based racing
company A1 Team India visited the airport and expressed their desire to organise an international racing event at the venue.
A1 Team India is the Indian team of A1 Grand Prix, an international racing series.
In September, a five-member team led by A1 Team India director Anisa Singh visited the Begumpet airport and discussed the viability of conducting the car race with airport director R K Singla.
The delegation was impressed about the runway and expressed its willingness to conduct a car race. However, the delegation wanted a few modifications on the runway like curves and tilts for the racing event. "There are no curves on the runway except at one or two places," Begumpet airport director Singla told TOI.
The Begumpet airport, one of the oldest in the country, has 700 acres of land and a 3.2 km-long runway.
The team also inspected the airport from security point of view. The director said a formal letter would be sent shortly. But, there was no further communications from the company, the airport director said.
25/11/08 Times of India

PM to lay foundation for Tirupati international airport

Hyderabad: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will launch next month the work on development of an international airport at Renigunta near the temple town of Tirupati in Andhra Pradesh.
The union cabinet last month gave its approval for the existing domestic airport at Tirupati to be declared as an international airport. The move will allow foreign airlines to land in the town, famous for Lord Venkateshwara temple.
Tirupati MP Chinta Mohan told reporters in Tirupati Monday that the prime minister would lay the foundation stone for construction of an integrated terminal building next month.
The authorities will be acquiring 736 acres of land around the existing airport for expansion works. The MP said the new terminal building would be constructed in the shape of Garuda, the eagle associated with Hindu god vishnu.
Chinta Mohan said Air India has come forward to operate direct flights from New York, London and Dubai to Tirupati. This will improve connectivity to the temple town, which receives about 60,000 pilgrims every day.
Thousands of devotees from the US, Britain and other parts of the world visit this richest temple of the country.
In the absence of international flights, people from abroad have to reach Tirupati through various cities like Hyderabad, Chennai and Mumbai by domestic carriers.
24/11/08 IANS/Siliconindia.com

Runways to be maintained round-the-clock

New Delhi: With as many as nine diversions during the first fog of the season on Friday morning, due to a hitch with the taxiway lights of the main runway, a faulty localiser and a non-CAT-III compliant new runway, the civil aviation ministry took up the issue with all stakeholders on Monday.
The meeting, headed by secretary M Madhavan Nambiar instructed Delhi International Airport (P) Ltd (DIAL) and the Airports Authority of India to ensure that runways were maintained round the clock and the work on third runway to make it CAT-III compliant gets complete before December 10.
Soon after Times City reported that both runways were not available for CAT-III landing during the season's first fog on Friday, the secretary asked the airport management that in case of failure of any equipment or non-availability of runway, the senior officials of both DIAL and air traffic control (ATC) were required to be informed. This will help in chalking out alternatives that will not require such large scale diversions or delays.
"In Friday's case, there wasn't any need to not allow CAT-III landing on the main runway after some of the taxiway lights stopped working. The diversions could have been avoided. ATC and DIAL need to work out on options together instead of taking action alone,'' said a senior ministry official.
The ministry also asked AAI to ensure that the surface movement radar, essential for CAT-III movement, should be commissioned before December 10, the date by which the Met department is expecting fog season to begin officially.
25/11/08 Neha Lalchandani/Times of India

Delhi airport hit by winters, flight delays are expected

New Delhi: Winters have set in and so has fog. But with the changing weather is the Delhi International Airport and the new look IGI Airport in Delhi is drawing much admiration. ”Its very good,” says a passenger. ”But flight delays persist,” adds another. ”My flight was delayed fro 1 hr/ no reason given just delayed,” says another passenger.
As the winter sets in, passengers fear the situation will worsen. Like in the previous years, fog and low visibility is a matter of concern. The Delhi International Airport Limited claims its equipped to operate even in dense fog. But sources at the ATC say the brand new CAT3B compatible runway lighting failed on Friday... leading to delays. DIAL though isnt admitting it.
“Some flights were waiting for an hour due to low visibility that’s what happened,” says COO, DIAL, Andrew Harrison. While a single incident may not reflect the overall state of preparedness, it is a warning. But DIAL says a three-tier system is sufficient. This includes CAT IIIB Landing System enabled runways that allow aircraft to land even when visibility is down to 50 meters. 55 parking bays with CAT III compatible lighting to help smoothen aircraft movement and a centralised Emergency Response centre to co-ordinate operations during fog.The DIAL is confident that they will be able to deal with dense fog conditions given the CAT IIIB compatibility but whether or not the cat 3 system will work is yet to be ascertained. Till then inconvenience is regretted as per a sign board at the airport.
24/11/08 Priyanka Dube/CNN-IBN

Additional manpower for Coimbatore airport security

Coimbatore: Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) in charge of Coimbatore Airport security is getting additional manpower. The Government has also sanctioned a resurvey of the manpower needs of the security agency for the third shift, especially for the operations at night.
The induction of CISF to be in charge of airport security 2002 was part of a nationwide decision and it was done in phases. The sanctioned strength in 2002 was 130 when the airport had to handle traffic of about eight to 10 aircraft a day. But, today, the airport has an average of 22 aircraft movements a day and there has been a commensurate growth in passenger traffic. Commencement of international services resulted in operations at night overstretching the CISF personnel. The security level and needs were being revisited after six years.
According to the CISF sources, manpower increase for security had to be a co-ordinated exercise between CISF, Airport Authority of India (AAI) and Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS). Once the agencies come to a consensus, then the process of sanction had to go through Aviation, Home and Finance Ministries. The AAI had to provide the logistics for the security agency besides meeting the bill for hosting them.
Now there are proper guidelines and norms for fixing the scale of security on the basis of number of aircraft, hours of operation, passenger movement and number of buildings and the gates that need to be manned thus removing any mismatch between the availability and the need, the sources said.
25/11/08 V.S. Palaniappan/The Hindu

Gill committee meets Aviation secy over Amritsar airport issue

New Delhi: Youth Affairs and Sports Minister M S Gill, heading a committee to suggest steps to improve facilities at Amritsar airport and connectivity from there, today held discussions with Civil Aviation Secretary M Madhavan Nambiar.
The Gill Committee was set up by the Ministry after a delegation from Punjab, led by former cricketer and MP Navjot Singh Sidhu, asked the Centre to take steps to "save" the Raja Sansi Airport from "closure" in the wake some airlines withdrawing flights from there.
Official sources said Gill and Nambiar discussed the modalities relating to the functioning of the panel, which has been asked to submit its recommendations within a month.
Gill, the sources said, has invited suggestions from the industry, flyers and others concerned on ways to improve the functioning of the airport.
While some foreign carriers informed the government over a month ago about their withdrawal from Amritsar due to "purely commercial considerations", Air India and other Indian carriers are continuing their operations from there. The Punjab government had also asked the Centre to take urgent steps to ensure normal flow of air traffic, both domestic and internaional, to holy city of Amritsar, discontinuation of some international flights had hit hard hotel and tourism industry.
24/11/08 Press Trust of India

NAS wins ground handling operations contract at Mumbai International Airport

Kuwait: The region's fastest growing airline ground handling company, National Aviation Services (NAS)National Aviation Services (NAS) has a won a bid to handle passengers and cargo at the Mumbai International Airport in Mumbai, India along with a partner for 10 years concession.
The announcement was made at a press conference by the newly reorganized top management at NAS spearheaded by Mr. Naji Al-Ajmi, President & CEO of NAS Global, Mr. Adel Al-Askar; Senior Vice President of Governance & Strategic Planning and Mr. Hassan El-Houry, CEO of NAS MENA.
The Award of Concession for undertaking Ground Handling Operations at Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport, Mumbai (CSIA) to NAS was recently made by the top management of Mumbai International Airport and this means NAS India with the partner will provide Passenger Terminal Services & Ramp Handling Services to Mumbai International Airport.
NAS India currently provides passenger & ramp handling services to twelve airports in India and is looking towards expanding its presence in the sub-continent by providing new and innovative value added services at the airports it operates in.
24/11/08 Zawya, United Arab Emirates

Boarding pass swap raises safety concerns

Mumbai: Passport and visa forgery have become common crimes these days, but cases of boarding pass exchange have seldom been highlighted at airports.
In one such case recently, a Chennai-bound passenger swapped his boarding pass and passport with a Swiss national, who was apparently taking a flight to Paris.
While the Chennai-bound passenger, a Sri Lankan national, was intercepted at the airport on grounds of suspicious behaviour on November 1, the Swiss passenger managed to leave the city and had been absconding since then.
"The Swiss national cleared immigration saying he was headed for Paris, while the Sri Lankan pretended to be a domestic passenger,'' said senior police inspector Dilip Patil. "They met in the mezzanine-floor security hold after clearing all security checks and exchanged the passes and passports. In fact, the French passport the Swiss national had given to the Chennai-bound passenger also turned out to be bogus,'' he added.
The police said such ploys were generally used by Sri Lankan nationals__to go abroad illegally__who ask for refugee status if caught by immigration officials in foreign countries.
"If a Sri Lankan national gets caught, he/she surrenders and then asks for asylum and refugee status, citing the strife in their country as a reason for the illegal transit. They usually look to get into the US or European countries where human rights laws are more favourable,'' he added.
Unlike many international airports abroad, Mumbai does not have a biometric security system
, which checks a passenger on the basis of fingerprints or retinal scan. Though the installation of a biometric system has been on the cards for long, the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) is yet to recommend the technology that will be used in India. The agency conducted a meeting with representatives of all Indian airports last month to zero in on the requirements.
25/11/08 Chinmayi Shalya/Times of India

Monday, November 24, 2008

Airports, govt working on groundhandling formula

Mumbai: Private airport operators, along with the government, are working on an offer which they hope will end the opposition of airlines to outsourcing their groundhandling operations, as mandated by a new policy effective from January 1, 2009.
Currently, airlines, including Jet Airways and Kingfisher Airlines, undertake their own groundhandling. But under the new policy, they will not be permitted to do so.
Carriers have said that at least 8,000 employees working in these companies will need to be given the pink slip if the new policy is implemented. They have also argued that outsourcing will dramatically increase their overall costs, especially at a time when airlines are reeling under losses.
To get out of the impasse, airport operators of two of the biggest airports in the country — Mumbai International Airport Ltd (MIAL) and Delhi International Airport Ltd (DIAL) — have awarded groundhandling contracts to specialised groundhandling agencies, but have decided not to take any revenue share from them on domestic flights. In normal circumstances, they were looking at taking at least two-thirds of the revenue earned from carriers as their share.
Both the airports will have a revenue share in the earnings from international flight operations — 13 per cent for DIAL and 15 per cent for MIAL. The move, they hope, will help the groundhandling companies to pass on the benefit to domestic airlines in terms of cheaper groundhandling rates in the domestic skies — one of their main grouses.
This move is likely to be followed by the intervention of the civil aviation ministry, which is likely to direct the mandated groundhandling agencies to absorb a large part of the current groundhandling staff employed with private carriers into their fold, ministry sources said.

he new groundhandling policy mandates that groundhandling be serviced only by three agencies — National Aviation Company Ltd or its subsidiary company in a joint venture partnership, the airport operator (like GVK and GMR) and a third party that will be allowed to provide ramp as well as the passenger-handling services at the airports.
The airlines have reportedly been informed of the appointment of the new groundhandling companies. While most of the airlines, including Kingfisher, are willing to accept the new formula, it is understood that Jet Airways, which does its own groundhandling for both the terminal and the ramp sides, has reservations on outsourcing it to a third party.
“Jet Airways has always maintained that it would want to handle its flights as well as the passengers at the terminal,” said a Jet Airways spokesperson.

According to sources, Kingfisher Airlines, which recently announced an alliance with Jet Airways, in which one of the points was substantial cost savings on account of having common groundhandling, has decided to go with the commissioned agencies at these airports. “We were not able to work out sharing of groundhandling with Jet Airways and we have decided to go with the agencies at the Mumbai and Delhi airports. Moreover, the contractual parties have offered reasonable rates to the airlines,” said a Kingfisher executive, not wanting to be identified.

Some other airlines, like Jet, SpiceJet and GoAir, have maintained in the past that the implementation of the new groundhandling policy from January 1 next year will render at least 8,000 people jobless, a sticky issue in the current economic environment. Airlines earlier locked horns with Hyderabad International Airport operator GMR, citing steep charges as the reason for not cooperating with the commissioned parties at this airport.
24/11/08 Manisha Singhal/Business Standard

Sunday, November 23, 2008

Low cost airports may be way forward for Indian aviation

Low cost airports and non-operational airports may be the way forward for airport infrastructure in India, according to the latest KPMG report titled 'Indian Airports – Global Landing Ground'
The report points out that besides offering the advantage of enhancing connectivity across the country, these airports will help in rationalising costs incurred by the airlines and decongesting traffic at regular airports. The report suggests that these airports will also provide much-needed relief for Low Cost Carriers (LCC) whose financial position has been negatively impacted by rising aviation fuel prices and operational costs. These airports will further the 'no frills experience' being offered by the LCC currently.
The study has an optimistic outlook towards the future of airport retail as well. Its key findings suggest that the takers for airport retail are spread across industries and service providers.
A new urban infrastructure form is on the anvil is the 'Aerotropolis', a cluster of aviation-oriented businesses around airports and transportation corridors emerging from them.
The aviation space in India is witnessing one of the worst turmoil of recent times. The figures from the Airports Authority of India (AAI) in August 2008, indicate that aircraft movements and passenger traffic decreased by 1.5 per cent and 10.2 per cent respectively compared to traffic in August 2007. International passengers grew by 9.3 per cent while domestic traffic decreased by 17.1 per cent in the same period.
Smaller non-metro airports like Coimbatore in southern India, registered a three-fold increase in international traffic as Air Arabia, Silk Air and Sri Lankan airlines started operations to this industrial hub, from October 2007.
Passengers are key stakeholders in the entire process of airport development in India as they are the end users of the facilities and drivers of revenue growth. The report highlights the lack of representation for this set of stakeholders and brings out the challenge faced here.
23/11/08 Nina Varghese/Emirates Business 24/7, United Arab Emirates

AI's 'humanitarian gesture' raises security concerns

Mumbai: A day after Air India (AI) called back its Mumbai-Nagpur flight to accommodate a passenger on humanitarian grounds on Friday, questions were raised about how dilligent airline officials are while conducting checks on passengers boarding an aircraft.
The AI flight IC 629 took off from Mumbai without a checked-in passenger and had to return to take him back. According to AI claims, the flight was called back on humanitarian grounds as it was urgent for the passenger to reach Nagpur.
However, the fact that the passenger, who finally did take the Nagpur flight, had earlier boarded an Ahemdabad-bound flight by mistake, clearly indicated that neither the boarding passes were checked properly by airline employees nor was their head count accurate, a source said. Moreover, though the AI claimed to have turned the flight back to accommodate only one passenger, the load count their pilot gave to the Air Traffic Control (ATC) indicated an addition of seven more passengers.
All these things pointed at a skewed calculation on the part of AI employees, said security officials. These officials as well as traffic controllers said the incident showed that boarding passes were not properly checked while allowing passengers on board.
On Friday, Jitendra Bhargava, executive director, AI had told TOI that they did not conduct a head count of passengers on all flights. Security officials, said it wouldn't have been hard to spot a missing passenger if the count was conducted properly.
The passenger load figure provided by the Nagpur flight pilot raises further doubts. Usually, before a flight is given clearance for take-off, the pilot has to specify the number of passengers onboard. According to ATC sources in Mumbai, the flight took off with 91 passengers initially. The second take-off it made was with 97 passengers.
23/11/08 Chinmayi Shalya/Times of India

Over 400 brands may check in at Delhi's new airport

Retail may be feeling the slowdown heat but over 400 top global brands have shown interest in setting up retail shops at the newly refurbished Delhi International Airport.
Louis Vuitton group company DFS, Homeshore Airport (HMS), SSP, world-wide flight service, Nuance and Hugo Boss figure in the list of companies that may bid for opening stores in the airport, sources close to the development told SundayET.
The bidding process is expected to take place in March 2009, and the space will be leased for seven years. Interestingly, there will also be a mini Dilli Haat within the airport soon, which will cater to ethnic products from in and around Delhi.
These shops are expected to do a business of about Rs 6,000 cr to Rs 7,000 cr annually, of which DIAL is expected to receive about 20%.
When contacted, B S Shantharaju, CEO of Delhi International Airport Ltd (DIAL) refused to divulge any details, but confirmed that many of these companies would attend the market launch for terminal 3 concessions on December 16, 2008.
“Currently, there are only about 800 sq meters of retail space, but we hope to have approximately 20,000 sq meters in a few years’ time. In December, we are launching our marketing plan that will see all the top brands coming to India,” said Mr Shantharaju.
The marketing plan is to ensure that there will be shops catering to the mid and high-end segment. To gauge the profile of flyers, DIAL, with the help of Progma and Technopak, conducted a survey . So far, there are 5,500 samples that clearly specify the demographic profiles, helping in assessing their spending habit and their likes and dislikes. The retail design will be done by Robbie Gill.
23/11/08 Mansi Tiwari/Economic Times

Jaffna woman nabbed with gold bars at Chennai airport

A Jaffna Tamil woman who travelled from Colombo to Chennai by SriLankan Airlines was nabbed by the Indian Customs officials and detained on charges of smuggling gold bars valued at Indian Rs. 1.6 million.
The flight to Chennai took off on Saturday 9 pm from Colombo and landed at the international sector of the Chennai Meenambakkam airport at midnight. The Sri Lankan woman who carried only a suitcase, declared that she was not carrying any dutiable items and tried to pass through the green channel, but was stopped by the Customs officials.
When the Customs officials did a thorough search of her suitcase, they drew a blank, as they did not find anything inside incriminating in her suitcase other than her personal belongings. But sources revealed that the customs officials grew suspicious about the abnormal looking handle of the suitcase the woman was carrying.
They broke open the handle and found hidden two gold bars weighing 1,160 grams. On investigation, it was revealed that the woman named Mangaleswaet, 47, was from Jaffna.
24/11/08 Asian Tribune/Ceylon Daily News, Sri Lanka

Airport revamp puts fliers' lives at risk

Kolkata: For nearly a fortnight, the crew of international carriers are operating with guesstimates on regulated take-off weight (RTOW), an arithmetic that is crucial for safe takeoff. In the pre-flight schedule, pilots add cargo and passenger weights to the aircraft kerb weight to determine how much fuel it can take on board for a safe takeoff. All aircraft have specified ROTW that the airline needs to adhere to.
Since November 7, though, pilots of international flights have been operating on mere conjecture as the 10-tonne weigh bridge at the cargo terminal terminal is inaccessible to loaders. The road to the weigh bridge has been dug up by Airports Authority of India (AAI) to modernize the import storage space.
Tractors hauling containers and palettes can no longer reach the machine and get their weights checked. Airline officials said this exposed them to risk of overloading and jeopardising the lives of passengers and crew.
While AAI claims the modernisation project is very important and an alternative weighing system has been put in place, those in charge of loading have not been using it, claiming it is not feasible.
Unlike domestic operations, most international airlines carry cargo in regular passenger flights. Though Singapore Airlines has a separate Jumbo to be used as a freighter, the cargo hold in its passenger flights are full almost every day. Airline officials admit they make a visual estimate of the cargo, which is not reliable.
"Unless weighed, we cannot determine whether the cargo loaded exceeds the RTOW. Proper placement of the cargo in the aircraft belly is also hampered. There is a possibility of an aircraft being disbalanced with heavy cargo at either the front or rear end.
"A takeoff with load beyond RTOW is always risky. At present, the aircraft are being loaded on the basis of estimates and we are concerned," said Cargo Facilitation Committee chairman Louis Alphonso.
AAI officials maintained that airlines should use an Elevated Transfer Vehicle (ETV) that has been made available.
23/11/08 Arpit Basu/Times of India

Saturday, November 22, 2008

Scurry over air ambulance

A miscommunication between an airborne pilot and Calcutta airport’s air traffic control (ATC) resulted in the airport authorities rushing medical help to the tarmac for a non-existent “critical patient” on board a flight from Mumbai on Friday morning.
The pilot of an air ambulance requested the ATC for landing permission for “medical evacuation” of a critical patient on ventilator. The ATC personnel thought the patient was on board and pressed the alarm button.
The six-seater air ambulance of Deccan Aviation was given priority landing over three other flights and six aircraft were kept waiting for take-off.
A medical team of the Airports Authority of India rushed to the parking bay on an ambulance to “receive the patient” but found only doctors and paramedical staff on board. The air ambulance arrived at 10am to airlift an accident victim back to Mumbai. It was fourth in the queue for landing, airport sources said.
An ambulance with a doctor and nurses rushed to the parking bay along with a special jeep that guides an ambulance out of the parking bay when it is carrying a patient.
As the confusion continued, the departure of six aircraft, including a US Air Force aircraft, Air India’s Guwahati flight and the Calcutta-Dhaka flight of Biman Bangladesh, were put on hold.
The patient, Manoj Gupta, 35, was brought from a private hospital to the airport. The flight took off for Mumbai with doctors, nurses and two of Gupta’s family members at 3.10pm.
22/11/08 The Telegraph

Air India calls back flight to carry passenger

An Air India flight for Nagpur was called back to Mumbai, when it had gone half way, to accommodate a passenger, who was travelling to Nagpur to attend his ailing wife but missed it due to a goof-up at the Mumbai Airport on Friday .The flight was called back purely on humanitarian grounds as the passenger's wife was in a 'serious condition' and the flight was the last one in the day, an Air India official said. “We called back the flight, IC 629, only on humanitarian grounds as the passenger told our staff that his wife was seriously ill and it was important for him to reach Nagpur," the official said.
The passenger, whose identity has not been revealed, missed the flight after he mistakenly boarded the bus at the airport, meant for Ahmedabad flight. "When he reached the aircraft and displayed his boarding pass, staff told him it was for Nagpur flight and which had already left," the official said.
The flight which had originally taken off from Mumbai Airport at around 7 PM, left at 8.40 PM after picking up the passenger.
22/11/08 Times Now.tv

Eviction of encroachers from airstrip ordered

Malda: Airports Authority of India officials today met the Malda district magistrate seeking administrative help to evict encroachers from the land earmarked for Malda airstrip in English Bazaar town.
The district magistrate, Mr Sridhar Ghosh, asked the AAI officials to issue eviction notice to the encroachers mentioning a stipulated timeframe to vacate the land owned by the AAI.
The decision was taken today at an emergency meeting convened by the district magistrate with the concerned officials where political leaders and civic body representative were also present.
Mr Subhendu Choudhury, the CPI-M MLA from Old Malda, and English Bazaar Congress MLA Mr Krishnendu Choudhury were also present in the meeting to ascertain the modalities for the proposed eviction drive.
The DM is, however, against evicting some families who received ‘deed of right’ from the refuge rehabilitation department. The RR department had once officially ‘acquired’ the land from the AAI along the present railway tracks and distributed deeds of right to some displaced families. A few of the residents have valid papers from the English Bazaar Municipality including mutation papers.
“We are against the encroachers but in favour of those who got papers from the RR department,” said Mr Subhendu Choudhury, the CPI-M MLA.
21/11/08 The Statesman

NRI kid’s hand gets trapped in Delhi airport escalator

New Delhi: A three-year-old NRI girl was seriously injured after her hand got trapped in a moving escalator at the Indira Gandhi International airport early on Thursday.
The US-based girl, Shehsha, was visiting India with her mother on vacation. The incident brought back shocking memories of the painful death of seven-year-old Jyotsana Jethani , who too was caught in a moving escalator at IGI airport in 1999.
Airport sources said Shehsha was with her mother, Sreestha, who was at the immigration counter of the international terminal’s busy arrival wing. Seeing the nearby escalator, the girl climbed a few stairs. “But the escalator suddenly began moving downwards.
The girl lost balance and her hand got stuck,” said an airport official on condition of anonymity. Shehsha shrieked and cried for help, alerting her mother, who came running towards the moving escalator.
Without wasting any time, Sreestha switched off the emergency button bringing the escalator to stand still. But the girl’s hand was stuck.
The duty manager was informed and Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL) swung into action. Some airport officials rushed to the spot and immediately dismantled a portion of the escalator stair.
The girl’s hand was profusely bleeding and she was taken to the Indian Spinal Injury Centre for a medical-check before being transferred to another hospital.
22/11/08 Yogesh Kumar/Daily News & Analysis

Airport ground-handling staff fear job loss, approach MNS

Mumbai: Several ground-handling staff of 14 companies at the Mumbai airport on Friday approached the Raj Thackeray-led MNS, seeking help from the party leader to protect their jobs.
"Over 5,000 ground handling staff at the airport feel that they would be rendered jobless as a result of privatisation of the operations and they have come to us seeking intervention," MNS general secretary Nitin Sardesai said.
He said most workers have an apprehension that they will lose their jobs owing to the privatisation drive at airports across the country.
A delegation of the workers met MNS leaders today, Sardesai added.
21/11/08 PTI/Times of India

Bangalore airport chief executive Brunner quits

Bangalore: Bangalore International Airport Ltd (BIAL) chief executive officer (CEO) Albert Brunner is quitting the high-profile post and has decided not to renew his contract, the company said here Friday.
"Brunner, who has been associated with BIAL for seven challenging years, has decided to move on and not extend his contract. The promoters have appointed chief operating officer (COO) Marcel Hungerbuehler as the new CEO from February 1, 2009," the consortium said in a statement.
Swiss-born Brunner, who took over as CEO in 2002, steered the private-public consortium of BIAL through tough times to execute the Rs.26.4-billion greenfield project in a record 33 months after securing a plethora of clearances from the central and state governments.
"After seven years in this position, the time for a change has come. I came here on a three-year contract initially but ended up making Bangalore my home for seven years," the genteel Brunner said in the statement.
Hungerbuhler, who has been associated with BIAL since 2006, is a veteran in the aviation industry, having held top management positions with Swissair and Swissport previously.
On completion of five months of operations, Brunner admitted Nov 11 that the passenger traffic had hit an air pocket in the wake of global recession and turbulence in the Indian civil aviation sector, leading to drop in passenger traffic and pruning of flights by several carriers on the domestic and international routes.BIAL has also suffered Rs.1.91-billion loss due to default in payment by various airlines and non-levy of the user development fee (UDF) on domestic passengers.
21/10/08 IANS/Sindh Today

Dues issue between Kingfisher, AAI settled: Mallya

New Delhi: Having paid part of his airline's Rs 287-crore dues to the Airports Authority of India, liquor baron Vijay Mallya said on Friday Kingfisher Airlines and the state-owned airport body had worked out a “mutually satisfactory” arrangement on the i ssue.
“I do not run Kingfisher Airlines through media. We have bilateral arrangements with AAI and have come to a mutually satisfactory arrangement with them,” he said in a statement, days after submitting cheques to AAI.
Mr Mallya, who would participate in a conference here tomorrow, along with his Jet Airways counterpart Mr Naresh Goyal and Civil Aviation Minister Mr Praful Patel, has paid Rs 50 crore to AAI and promised to pay another Rs 150 crore over the next two mon ths to clear the dues worth Rs 286.62 crore. The payments were made in the face of AAI threats to encash its bank guarantee to recover the dues, which constitute charges for parking, landing, navigation, communication and various other services AAI provides to the airlines.
21/11/08 Business Line

SITA sets deadline for airports to register IATA airport codes with .aero domain

Mumbai: Societe Internationale Telecommunication De Aeronautique (SITA) recently issued a reminder call to all the global airports wanting to register their three letter IATA airport codes with .aero domain for which it has sponsored an internet domain. The airports can register on the website www.nic.aero till the 28th of this month. Once the id and password is received, the airport can register from the list placed on the website and submit an .aero domain name request. The selected domains will be activated within 48 hours of approval.
The domain will work to deliver innovative internet-based services built on aviation naming and coding structures. Business applications, such as VoIP, e-ticketing and baggage management can benefit from the DNS technology-driven structured domain names, where standard naming structures will provide predictability and ease of access. But from the 1st of next month, the unique IATA location identifiers will not be reserved only for the airports but also to any qualifying organisation or individual on a first-come-first basis through accredited registrars. Currently about 6,000 members of the aviation community and more than 210 airports have registered to use their three letter IATA code for the .aero domain.
In India, only Airport Authority of India (AAI) and Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport (CSIA) have registered so far under the three letter IATA airport code on the .aero domain, while Bangalore International Airport Limited (BIAL) and Rajiv Gandhi International Airport (RGIA) have registered themselves with the domain name www.bangaloreairport.aero and www.hyderabad.aero and www.hyderabadairport.aero respectively, but are yet to register the three letter IATA airport code on the .aero domain.
22/11/08 Anita Jain/TravelBizMonitor

IGI Airport to provide additional facilities to passengers

In view of the oncoming winter and possible disruption of flights due to fog and low visibility, IGI Airport is undertaking several proactive measures for the convenience and comfort of passengers. IG Airport, in consultation with Airlines, ATC, CISF, BCAS, Met Department, Delhi Police and the Civil Aviation Ministry has drawn up a strategy to provide additional facilities to passengers during the fog season.

City Side
The temporary kerbside extension of Terminal 1B has been replaced with a permanent structure and provided with heating. Additional seating has also been provided, along with food and beverage kiosks. An extensive flight information display system is being provided in the extension area to regularly update the passengers. An additional seating area is also being provided for those seeing off their friends and family.
A parallel wing now houses more space for check – in and baggage X-ray for passengers. This extension has been added to the Low Cost Carrier Wing of Terminal 1B and would benefit passengers traveling by Kingfisher Red, Spicejet, Indigo & Go Air.
DIAL has also deployed specially trained Customer Service Staff to provide assistance & information to passengers. A park and ride parking service has also been provided to ensure additional car parking availability at IGI the airport.
The domestic arrival terminal has also been renovated and expanded. A portion of the renovated area has already been opened along with a large canopy for friends and family. In addition separate exit routes have been provided for the benefit of passengers availing pre-paid taxis.

Passenger Terminals
A brand new wing in the Security Hold Area of Terminal 1B has been recently commissioned. The new seating area has 150 seats which are sufficient to cater to the load of one complete flight. In addition, an extra bus gate is being commissioned to facilitate direct access from the extension area to the aircraft.
Additional F&B outlets have opened across the passenger terminals. These outlets are operated by leading F&B brands such as Café Coffee Day, Costa Coffee, Café Ritazza, Nirula’s and Flavours.
An increased number of payphones and coin operated booths have been added at IGI Airport to help passengers stay in touch with their friends and relatives.

Airside
With the recent inauguration of the new runway 11-29, IGIA is equipped with two parallel runways with Category IIIB Instrument Landing System. IGIA is the only airport in the India to feature CAT IIIB ILS which allows compatible aircraft and trained pilots to land even when the runway visibility is up to 50 meters.
55 parking bays at the domestic aircraft apron have been provided with CAT III compatible lighting systems. Additions carried out over the last year have provided additional number taxi routings to smoothen aircraft movement and prioritize the movement of CAT III enabled aircraft.
A special leaflet is being distributed among airside drivers with tips on safe operations during low visibility conditions.
To co-ordinate the operations during the fog period, a centralised Emergency Response & Interactive Centre (ERIC) will be set up. The Meteorological Department of India will also be providing latest fog updates to the ERIC.

Other Initiatives
IGI Airport has augmented it’s call centre which will share the updated flight information and airlines’ contacts numbers.
A link of the FIDS (Flight Information Display System) has been provided on DIAL website (http://newdelhiairport.in) for the benefit of passengers. media centre will also be available to facilitate the media. Help is being sought from media to provide updates to public as well.
Special booklets with information on fog and do’s and don’ts for passengers and airline numbers are also being circulated.
21/11/08 Moneycontrol.com

Another fog of uncertainty covers Delhi airport this winter

New Delhi: Air travellers to Delhi airport, which handles over 35 per cent of the country’s air traffic, may expect the usual harrowing times this winter with a thicker fog expected. Yesterday, the airport witnessed five hours of fog, the first time in the last decade that fog conditions started in November.
An analysis of the last 24 years shows that the fog lasts from December 10 to January 31 for an average time period of 80 hours, he added. The worst case of fog at the airport was in January 2003 which saw 147 hours of fog.
“The fog may affect 60 per cent of the flights,” said Andrew Harrison, chief operating officer, Delhi International Airport Ltd.
On the positive side, the airport now has two runways that can operate under CAT III conditions (visibility below 350 metres) against only one runway last year. The new runway will be used for arrivals and the older one for departures. The secondary runway will remain unused.
Also, the airport has seven RVRs (instruments for measuring visibility ) this year instead of three last year, which will provide a better idea of the visbility.
However, the third runway has been facing problems with its instrument landing systems (ILS). It had closed within a week of starting operations earlier this year when the ILS collapsed. Also, according to sources, the surface movement control radar system, which monitors an aircraft after it lands or before it takes off, does not cover all three runways. The fact that the net increase in passenger traffic this winter will be a mere 8 per cent over last winter might actually be a blessing since it will mean fewer choke points at the airport.
Meanwhile, capacity on the terminal side has been increased to accommodate around 1,000 more people (including travellers and visitors), and apart from customer care executives who were positioned last year to help visitors, the airport will have valets to take care of the luggage and trolleys.
On the airline side, though carriers like SpiceJet continue to lag in terms of CAT III trained pilots, Jet Airways has geared up to add to its CAT III trained crew.
22/11/08 Business Standard

Growing pains on the ground

Mumbai: To be bigger, and better, airports need land-acres and acres of it. Given this non-negotiable factor, the future for slum-locked Mumbai airport looks bleak. "We are among the top 40 airports in the world in terms of passenger traffic. But for an airport of this size, we are the most constrained in terms of land availability,'' said a Mumbai International Airport Pvt Ltd (MIAL) spokesperson.
At just 7.48 sq km, the city's international airport is dwarfed by its national and international counterparts. At 209.78sq km, the King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, is one of the largest airports in the world.
"But Mumbai's airport fails even when compared to the other airports within India. The land it occupies is only 36% of total area of Delhi airport,'' said the official. It's no wonder, then, that passengers have little to `experience' when they find themselves at Mumbai airport.
The good news, however, is that by the end of next year, the international terminal will have food courts, entertainment zones, and a children's play area. More ambitious plans will need space.
"Land scarcity is one of the prime deterring factors for Mumbai airport's development as an international hub.
Apart from having enough space to accommodate airline offices, departure areas, etc, it has to increase its non-aeronautical revenue (money from shop rentals, parking charges, etc) so that aircraft landing/parking charges, route navigation charges, and so on, remain affordable for the airlines,'' says a top airline official. The official, who worked for a South-East Asian airline in his earlier posting, says that the "land availability can make or break an airport''.
22/11/08 Manju V/Times of India

Direct Haj flights from Aurangabad

Aurangabad: The 100-year-old Chikalthana aerodrome joined the category of international airports as the civil aviation minister Praful Patel flagged off the first direct flight — carrying a batch of 200 Haj pilgrims — to Jeddah from Aurangabad, on Friday.
When chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh inaugurated the sprawling terminal building armed with modern amenities he commented, this was perhaps the country’s first ultra-modern airport. Also present to grace the occasion were many state ministers, MPs, MLAs and prominent industrialists from the Marathwada region.
Deshmukh also said that the direct flights will not only benefit the Haj pilgrims but would also help in the development of the Marathwada region, particularly for industries and agriculture. Now the farmers of this region will be able to send their products directly to various destinations around the world.
Chikalthana airport controller, Vivek Upadhyay, said, that although the flights for Haj pilgrims to Jeddah had started operations in 2006, the flights were being operated via Nagpur or Mumbai. He also stated that flights to Singapore and Dubai would be operated from Aurangabad from February 2009.
22/11/08 Arif Shaikh/Daliy News & Analysis

Taking off at Navi Mumbai

Mumbai: The Greenfield Airport in Panvel, Navi Mumbai, could well be one of India's biggest airports, if one has to take into account the area
and traffic handling projections. Though the total project area will be 20.53sq km, the built-up area will be 11.4sq km.
Currently, CIDCO is in possession of 11.53 sq km of land -57 per cent of the total land required. "The remaining area will be used for access roads, channels, creek diversions, and other allied facilities for the airport. More than 2.5sq km of area will be claimed by removing hillocks, straightening two rivers, and replanting mangroves along the creek,'' a CIDCO official told TOI.
The cost of the project is pegged at Rs 4,056 but in all likelihood, it will go up to Rs 6,000 crore. The internal rate of return, calculated for the airport, is 16 per cent, said an official. The central government has estimated that since the year 2000, there has been a 20 per cent increase in Mumbai's air passenger and cargo traffic. The numbers are expected to rise with a passenger flow of 64 million by the year 2030-31.
Mumbai's current airport is expected to reach saturation point by 2012, and the new airport, say officials, should be operational by year 2015.
The Navi Mumbai airport will have two runways, along with two full-length taxi ways on either side. It will have the capacity to handle up to 50 aircrafts a day, and the aerodrome has been designed to accommodate large aircrafts like the Air Bus 380.
22/11/08 Chittaranjan Tembhekar/Times of India

SL on Cochin incident

Sri Lankan airlines in a statement over the emergency landing of one if its aircraft in India on Thursday said the incident was a result of the malfunction in one part in the nose landing gear, which has now been replaced.
A statement from the airline issued yesterday said UL 165 experienced a minor incident while preparing to land in Cochin and it occurred after pilots heard a slight noise while lowering the landing gear on the Airbus A320.
“Pilots declared an emergency in order to alert airport authorities of a possible problem. This is the standard procedure in such a situation. The aircraft then landed uneventfully at Cochin. As a further precaution, it was towed off the runway, which caused a minor delay to other aircraft. The aircraft was later flown back to Colombo without passengers. The problem had been caused by a malfunction in one part in the nose landing gear, which has now been replaced,” the airline said.
22/11/08 Daily Mirror, Sri Lanka

Himachal CM requested civil aviation minister to continue flights

Shimla: Prem Kumar Dhumal, Chief Minister has requested the Civil Aviation Ministry to continue the Delhi - Kullu flights and withdraw its decision to discontinue these flights.
Dhumal discussed the matter with Shri Raghu Menon, Air India Chief Managing Director at New Delhi and told him that while the private airlines are earning huge profits on this air route but on the other hand, the Air India is suspending its flights on the excuse of the losses. He said that the coming winter season is likely to witness a sharp increase in the high spending tourists visiting the State on this air route. He added that regular flights on this route can only win the confidence of the passengers.
He termed the decision of Air India as unfortunate and told that it does not behove the national carrier like Air India to suspend its flights merely finding the excuse of losses on particular route.
22/10/08 Bijender Sharma/PunjabNewsline.com

Friday, November 21, 2008

Srilankan A320 at Kochi on Nov 20th 2008, nose gear steering failed

The crew of a Srilankan Airlines Airbus A320-200, flight UL165 from Colombo (Sri Lanka) to Kochi (India) with 95 passengers and 7 crew, declared emergency due to a malfunction of the nose gear steering while on final approach to Kochi. The crew initiated a go-around and entered a holding in order to rectify the problem, but had to perform the landing with the fault. The airplane stopped safely on the runway and had to be towed off the runway after inspection by emergency services.
The runway was closed for about 45 minutes due to the emergency. Srilankan Airlines sent a replacement aircraft to perform the return flight UL166.
20/11/08 Simon Hradecky/The Aviation Herald, Austria

DHL inaugurates new facility at Bangalore airport

Logistics majors, DHL Express and Blue Dart Aviation inaugurated a $25 million integrated terminal at the Bangalore International Airport, a 2,20,757 sq. ft facility that would integrate the South Indian domestic and international businesses of both businesses.
The facility, which was expected to bring synergies in operations, was said to improve services by reducing throughput time by 60 minutes.
Malcolm Monteiro, senior vice president and area director South Asia, DHL Express Asia Pacific, said that the Bangalore facility, would be followed up by similar facilities in the near future.
“Every time we have an opportunity like this, we will use it. Hyderabad is the next one in line. We are also looking at Mumbai, Delhi and Kolkata within a short period of time. The kind of investments that will go into these facilities will depend on the airports and the throughput in these areas,” said Monteiro.
In reference to the market slowdown, Monteiro said, that the express industry, which had grown at the rate of 19% last year, was expecting a growth of 10% - 12% this fiscal. The company, however, he said, was growing above the market due to the choice of its investments.
21/11/08 Financial Express

Thursday, November 20, 2008

New ground handling policy postponed

New Delhi: Buckling under the pressure of civil aviation industry, the Centre is not likely to implement the new Ground Handling Policy from January 1 2009.
According to well informed sources in the Union Civil Aviation, the matter would be taken up by Union Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel.
"Civil Aviation Minister will take up deferment of new ground handling policy till 31 March," sources told to this website’s newspaper.
The implementation was postponed after the Federation of Indian Airlines (FIA) made a presentation to the Civil Aviation Ministry recently, arguing that it would be forced to retrench nearly 8,000 employees currently on the payrolls of Jet Airways, SpiceJet, Indigo, GoAir etc if the government implements the new ground handling policy. Besides these, there are also a few thousand people hired as contract labour who could be affected.
If the Cabinet defers it, then the New Ground Handling Policy was expected to be implemented from April 1, 2008. Ground handling activities broadly mean the handling of passengers and baggage at the airport, loading or unloading of aircraft, activities relating to the ramp, refuelling and cleaning of aircraft and push-back facilities.The annual revenue generated from ground handling operations is estimated at about Rs 10 billion currently.
20/11/08 Express Buzz

New navigation system not used

Mumbai: Mumbai airport has been witnessing smoother air traffic ever since the Performance Based Navigation System (PBNS) was launched two months ago.
However, this has not lead to a reduction in the Air Traffic Control (ATC) workload, as the system is yet to be utilised by all airlines. This has resulted in creating more stress among officials as they have to follow two different sets of procedures to control air traffic.
On August 28, Mumbai airport took the first step towards the concept of Future Air Navigation System (FANS) when it introduced the PBNS. Although the domestic airlines have endorsed the system, the National Aviation Company of India Ltd.
(NACIL) and GoAir are still waiting for approval from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA). According to sources, the lack of regulatory approval to use the PBNS for these two airlines as compared to the others is creating problems for the Air Traffic Control (ATC) at Mumbai.
“While airlines which have endorsed PBNS rely on satellite or the aircraft navigation facility, NACIL and GoAir need to be guided by the ATC with a different procedure,” said an airport official.
The system makes use of satellite navigation, and reduces the airlines’ dependency on ground-based navigation system. PBNS has brought Mumbai airport on par with several in Europe, Singapore, Japan, the US and the UK. Airports in West Asia, and those of countries around the Indian Ocean, are yet to be equipped with the system.
PBNS reduces congestion in the sky by creating new routes, thus enabling the ATC to handle more aircraft in a limited airspace.
20/11/08 Navita Singh/Daily News & Analysis

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

AI faces ground reality in US

New Delhi: With not many takers for the non-stop Mumbai- and Delhi-New York daily flights, Air India (AI) is parking its new Boeing 777 for over 12 hours at the US airport everyday.
“The airline’s decision to park the brand new aircraft, which arrives in New York early morning and takes off on return journey at 10pm the same day, for so many hours has stunned many,” a senior airline officer said.
“Keeping an aircraft idle for such a long time is considered suicidal in aviation industry,” an airline source said.
Air India spokesman Jitender Bhargava, however, reasoned, “There is no option (but to park the aircraft in the US). Parking and route navigation fees at Indian airports are much higher than anywhere in the world.”
Bhargava agreed that the airline had a poor load factor, but said, “The load factor in US-bound flights is around 160 passengers everyday, which is quite good considering the prevailing market situation,” he said.
To offset the high operational cost, Air India tried to launch a daytime Toronto flight sometime ago but manpower shortage forced it to shelve the plan. “Starting such a flight would require more manpower in New York, which is not possible,” another airline official said. Air India has already stopped its US-bound flights from Kolkata and Ahmedabad, which were launched with great fanfare three months ago, due to a steep hike in operational cost.
19/11/08 Yogesh Kumar/Daily News & Analysis

Mallya gives two undated cheques

New Delhi: The issue of Kingfisher settling its dues of well over Rs 250 crore with the Airports Authority of India has just got murkier. On Monday, Kingfisher chief Vijay Mallya met AAI chairman K Ramalingam and two cheques with a combined value of Rs 50 crore were given as part payment. However, top sources said the cheques don't have any date and can't be presented. Kingfisher did not give any comment on this and Ramalingam said the two parties are in talks to settle the issue of payment.
Last week, AAI had threatened to encash the airline's bank guarantee of Rs 60-70 crore if it failed to come up with some cash or a concrete plan to clear them by Monday. Incidentally, Kingfisher is the only private airline with massive dues to AAI as only national carrier AI has dues of over Rs 650 crore but that is being treated as an issue between two government agencies.
"What do we do with these cheques without any date? Kingfisher's dues remain as they were," said a senior official. Top ministry officials on Tuesday are learnt to have told Mallya to clear the AAI dues, something that did not go down well with the tycoon. Mallya had asked the aviation ministry to allow him to clear the dues in installments. While the ministry got installments from oil ministry as three biggest airlines AI, Jet and Kingfisher were involved, this time it says only one private airline Kingfisher cant be given this special facility as all others are paying almost on time.
19/11/08 Saurabh Sinha/Times of India

New navigation system soon at Chennai airport

Chennai: Flying into Chennai will no longer be expensive for airlines and time-consuming for passengers, as the Airports Authority of India
(AAI) is all set to make the airport one among the most fuel-efficient destinations in the country.
At a time when airlines and airports have started to feel the impact of economic slowdown, AAI has decided to tweak air traffic control procedures to cut down air traffic congestion and avoid delays in landing of aircraft at Chennai airport.
The airport will introduce Performance Based Navigation (PBN) procedure and upgrade from the existing system (RNAV 10) to a new system (RNAV 5 or 1) that specify lateral separation among aircraft, in six months. The new navigation procedure is already in place at three airports - Mumbai, Delhi and Ahmedabad.
Under the new system, pilots would be provided pre-determined arrival routes into an airport. It helps them to fly in without the aid of air traffic controllers and also learn about the air traffic density around an airport. The most sophisticated RNAV 1 reduces space between aircraft while approaching the runway for landing. This helps better use of airspace, allows airlines to cut down on fuel consumption and to cut down on flight delays.
"When the new system is in place, aircraft equipped with special navigation equipment can fly without ground support from the air traffic controllers while approaching the airport for landing," said a senior official.
At present, aircraft flying into the airport are guided by airtraffic controllers. This consumes an airline more fuel because air traffic controllers often manouvre approaching aircraft away from its path to manage congestion.
Jet Airways recently got approval to use RNAV 1, the system for all aircraft in its fleet.
19/11/08 V Ayyappan/Times of India

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

DGCA team begins probe into Goa airport's freak mishap

Panaji: A team from the Director General of Civil Aviation's (DGCA) has begun probing Sunday's freak mishap at Goa airport when two chartered flights brushed against each other. One of the aircraft was carrying 356 passengers on board.
"It's a two-member team. They are recording statements of flight technicians, engineers and other concerned personnel. The report will be dispatched to the DGCA headquarters in New Delhi," a senior official at the Airport Authority of India (AAI) told reporters here Monday afternoon.
A wing of the Airbus-330 belonging to the Iberia Spanish Airline had scratched the fuselage of a Russian Trans-Aero Boeing Sunday afternoon at the Dabolim airport. The fuselage was damaged to the extent that it was not possible for the aircraft to take off putting the lives of nearly 356 passengers on board at risk.
The mishap put the lives of 356 passengers on board the Trans-Aero flight at risk, and also threw air traffic at the airport out of gear. Several flights were forced to be rescheduled.
Hundreds of chartered flights from Germany, Russia and Britain use the paramilitary airport facility at Dabolim every year from October to March, Goa's tourist season.
18/11/08 IANS/Mangalorean.com

Mallya for use of old Hyd, B'lore airports for low-cost ops

New Delhi: Kingfisher Airlines' promoter Vijay Mallya on Monday favoured the use of the old airports at Hyderabad and Bangalore for low-cost operations.
If the government decided to keep the old airports at the two cities operational after the new ones became operational, "they could have been used as low-cost airports," Mallya said at the India Economic Summit here.
Replying to questions at the session on 'Travails of Travel and Tourism in India', he said the Airports Authority of India were developing and modernising about 50 airports.
"We do not need fancy terminals. We do not need all that razmatazz. What we need is a simple and safe runway and navigational aids that function. If these facilities are there, connectivity is no problem," the Kingfisher chief said.
Asserting that the "real question" was to make flying affordable, Mallya said "that's a question of taxation" and wanted the government to cut taxes on jet fuel as well as reduce various airport charges.
Regarding fuel surcharge, he accepted that the fuel surcharge component was many a time "higher than the basic airfare. And airfares are high because of high taxes.
17/11/08 PTI/Economic Times

Out-of-job Buta criticises airport privatisation

New Delhi: The Manmohan Singh government’s policy on privatisation of airports on
Monday encountered a voice of dissent from its own ranks, reminding the Congress of its erstwhile leaders championing the public sector.
Senior Congress leader Buta Singh criticised the decision to privatise Delhi and Mumbai airports and demanded that in future the task of modernisation of airports be given to the Airport Authority of India (AAI). Mr Singh, whose views were more in sync with those of the Left than the Congress, quoted Nehru saying he advocated making the public sector occupy commanding heights of economy. “I am with you,” he told the AAI employees and the Left leaders at the third annual All India Conference of the AAI union.
He also said that Indira Gandhi had nationalised banks and industries and now the government was privatising various sectors. But Mr Singh’s views will not have much backing in the Congress considering that the party has accepted a new economic paradigm.
Mr Buta Singh, who is the chairman of the national commission for Scheduled Castes, said the private sector did not have a reservation policy. “As chairman of the commission, I feel strongly that the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes should get reservation and that is possible only in the public sector,” Mr Singh said.
18/11/08 Economic Times

Night landing facility at Gujarat’s Surat airport from January 2009

Ahmedabad: The Surat airport will soon have a night landing facility. Rs 2 crore Instrument Landing System imported from Germany for making night landing facility possible at the Surat airport has been arrived. Setting up the system will take less than two months.
Once operational the night landing system will facilitate smooth operations during fog and rainy atmosphere too at the airport. Modern terminal building, Air Traffic Control tower, Fire station, DVAR systems are already activated at the airport. Runway of the Surat airport has been recently expanded to 2250 metre(7382 ft).
Surat is India’s official fastest growing city with an annualized GDP growth rate of 11.5 per cent over the past seven fiscal years. Surat is also India’s richest city with an average annual household income of Rs0.45 million or over $11,000. Between 2004-5 and 2007-8 Surat’s middle class doubled in size and its poor reduced by a third.
Eight out of ten diamonds sold in the world are polished in Surat. It is a major production centre for synthetic textiles in India. Neighboring Hazira boasts of an impressive list of corporate big-wigs such as Reliance, Essar, Larsen and Toubro, Shell, and Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Ltd, just to name a few.
18/11/08 DeshGujarat

Pantaloon Retail steps out of JV with Alpha group

Pantaloon Retail India, a part of Kishore Biyani led Future Group today, announced that it had sold its entire stake in Alpha Future Airport Retail to Alpha Overseas Holdings. Alpha Future Airport Retail was a 50:50 joint venture company between Pantaloon Retail India and the Alpha Group.
With this stake sale, Pantaloon proclaimed itself to be out of the said JV.
Alpha Group, is one of the world`s biggest aviation support companies and a wholly owned subsidiary of Autogrill SpA.
18/11/08 Myiris.com

Jet Airways gets regulatory approval for RNAV1 use

Mumbai: Jet Airways has become the first airline in India, to have obtained regulatory approval for the use of RNAV1 (Area Navigation) across its entire jet aircraft fleet. This is subsequent to the recently introduced Performance Based Navigation (PBN) procedures in India.
Additionally, Jet Airways has also become the first airline in India to have obtained regulatory approval for the conduct of RNP 0.3 approaches at applicable airfields.With this advanced technology, a very high level of navigational accuracy is achieved, thus enabling better airspace utilisation through stringent accuracy requirements. This method allows aircraft to operate on any station referenced navigation aids or self contained aids or both, thus enabling optimization of airspace, reducing dependency on routes based on ground navigation aids and permitting reduced separation between two airborne aircrafts, without compromising safety standards.
Accordingly, Jet Airways has trained its jet fleet pilots to operate these procedures.
Mr. Wolfgang Prock-Schauer, CEO, Jet Airways commented, “The continuing growth of aviation calls for efficient utilisation of available airspace to enhance operational efficiency. At Jet Airways we are proud that we have become the first airline in India to be approved by Regulatory authorities to use RNAV 1 Performance Based Navigation (PBN) and conduct RNP 0.3 approaches wherever appropriate. This is proof of our greater commitment to safety of operations “
17/11/08 PRESS RELEASE/Jet Airways