Hoax call holds up IndiGo flight at airport

Security agencies and airport officials at the Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) on Sunday had a tough time after a threat call was made about a bomb on an Indigo Airlines flight. Intensive checking of the flight was conducted by the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), the Delhi Police and airport officials.
The flight, IndiGo 307, was to leave for Hyderabad from Delhi at 8.55 pm and it had 164 passengers on board when the call was made.
The caller informed that a few men in the flight were equipped with arms and ammunition, said the official. The flight was taken to the airport’s isolation bay and a Bomb Threat Assessment Committee conducted a security analysis. Officials at the airport said the call seems to be a hoax since nothing was found on the flight till late in the evening.
30/11/09 Indian Express

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Man Arrested for Holding up IndiGo Flight with Hoax Call

New Delhi: A man, who is suspected to have made the hoax call at the IndiGo call centre late Sunday claiming that there was ammunition in the plane, was arrested in the wee hours Monday, police said.
The Hyderabad-bound IndiGo flight, which was carrying 164 passengers, was grounded and a security drill was carried out amid security threat at the Delhi airport.
30/11/09 IANS/Daijiworld.com

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DIAL may get more from land than expected

New Delhi: The Ltd-led Delhi International Airport Pvt. Ltd (DIAL), which is modernizing the Indira Gandhi International Airport, may raise Rs1,300 crore from the sale of 45 acres to developers, a jump of 42% from the Rs912 crore it had expected from the same parcels in January.
The proceeds from the prime real estate south of Delhi are key to the funding of the project and a greater-than-expected amount from the sale could reduce the burden on passengers. Travellers are now paying Rs1,827 crore directly to fund the project by way of a so-called airport development fee levied on each ticket.
“There is an improvement. We expect, because the market has picked up slightly, 10-20% better realization than what we achieved in the first eight (parcels),” said Sidharth Kapur, chief financial officer (airports), GMR Group, the majority stakeholder in both Delhi and Hyderabad airports.
The 45 acres have been divided into 13 parcels, of which the first eight have fetched Rs865 crore. The remaining five are near finalization and are likely to be sold over the next two months. In January, DIAL sought to levy a development fee on passengers to bridge the funding gap in the at least $2 billion (Rs9,360 crore) project that is scheduled to be completed in March. The assessment had shown a realization of Rs912 crore from the sale to hotels and commercial developers.
29/11/09 Tarun Shukla/Live Mint

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DGCA pulls up airport panel for ‘incomplete’ meetings on delays

Mumbai: Director General of Civil Aviation Nasim Zaidi has pulled up airline and airport officials for the airport local committee’s failure to maintain the full quorum at daily discussions on on-time performance of airlines, aimed at solving issues related to delays if any.
A senior airport official said the DG pulled up the officials when he was in Mumbai on November 20 for the OMDA review meeting.
The committee to examine on-time performance of airlines was formed in July, after the Civil Aviation Ministry decided on such local panels for Delhi and Mumbai airports. A full meeting of the committee would ideally consist of a minimum of eight representatives of Indian carriers and one official each from Air Traffic Control (ATC) and the Mumbai International Airport Limited (MIAL), with the latter responsible for convening the meetings. The meetings are held daily.
“It becomes difficult to spare manpower daily for an hour or two for the performance meeting,” said an airport official. “These meetings do take place and are being chaired by MIAL. There were quorum issues but the meetings are going on and we are filing daily reports with the attendance to the DGCA,” said an MIAL official.
30/11/09 Shashank Shekhar/Indian Express

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Availability of 3 runways with ILS at IGI could reduce flight delays

New Delhi: Flyers may expect less number of flight delays during the fog this winter with all the three runways of the Indira Gandhi International airport here being equipped with the Instrumental Landing System.
"The second runway (27/09), after the recarpeting work and installation of Category I ILS, is ready and in operation from November 18. We will now have all three runways for operations during this fog season," an IGI Airport spokesperson said.
After the recarpeting and installation of CAT-I ILS, which cost around Rs 30 crore and was not part of Operation, Management and Development Agreement (OMDA), the runway would be available for landing of CAT-I compliant aircraft when the visibility is up to 550 metres.
In order to make the main runway (28/10) available for operations under the Category III-B fog, when the visibility drops up to 50 metres, airport operator, Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL), will undertake photometric test of the runway lightings.
29/11/09 PTI/Economic Times

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ACI defends user development fee collected by airports

Hyderabad: The Airports Council International, (ACI), voice of the world's 1,700 airports, defended the increase of User Development Fee (UDF), being collected by airports all over the world.
Angela Gittens, director general, ACI World, today here said that airports are capital intensive businesses. Even in a downturn airports have to invest to provide capacity for the future and user charges may have to increase.
I think that India has some of the lowest user charges in the world but India has also lagged behind in providing capacity, she said.
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, Gittens said.
She was in the city as a signatory for the appointment of GMR Aviation Academy as a Global Training Hub by the ACI.
28/11/09 PTI/Daily News & Analysis

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Airports handle more passengers in H1 than last year but same as 2007-08

New Delhi: The 46 operational airports in the country handled 4.2 crore domestic passengers during April-September 2009-10, which is about the same as the numbers handled in 2007.
This is in sharp contrast to the situation in 2008 when the number of domestic passengers handled by the airports touched 3.94 crore, registering a decline of 6.7 per cent over the previous year.
The latest data collated by the Airports Authority of India (AAI) show that only nine domestic airports including Chennai, Nagpur, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Tirupati and Vadodara handled lesser number of domestic passengers during April-September 2009-10 compared with the same period in the previous year.
There was a marginal decline in Chennai with the airport handling 3.19 million domestic passengers during April-September this year compared with 3.24 million previously.
On the other hand, Hyderabad witnessed a decline of 8.1 per cent handling 2.29 million domestic passengers compared with 2.49 million handled during April-September 2008-09.
29/11/09 Ashwini Phadnis/Business Line

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AI flight lands one day late

Thiruvananthapuram: An Air India flight arrived here a whole day late from Riyadh, sparking off protests at the International Airport on Saturday.
Flight 928 should have landed here at 9.15 a.m. on Friday, but it was delayed and landed on Saturday morning. Angry passengers were seen sporting notes on their chest saying `We are proud of India. Air India is an insult to India.’ They told reporters at the airport that the airlines had neglected them at the Riyadh airport. They were not provided food or accommodation.
29/11/09 ExpressBuzz

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`Sushasan' effect: Flyers' flow up for Patna

Patna: Economic slowdown notwithstanding, the number of air passengers flying out of and into Bihar has been increasing constantly with Patna's Jayaprakash Narain International Airport receiving and seeing off as many as 56,049 air travellers in October this year as against 27,711 air travellers during the same month last year.
That's a growth of well above 100%! And this is not a one-off growth. Even in the preceding five months from May to September of the current year, the flow of passengers to and from Patna has been up.
There are some who attribute it to the Nitish Kumar-led NDA government's "sushasan" or good governance. "I think improved law and order and overall positive environment for development have attracted many people who earlier hesitated visiting the state," Airports Authority of India (AAI)'s Patna director Arvind Dubey told TOI on Saturday.
Dubey, however, added the number of flights connecting the state capital to other parts of the country has also gone up, of late.
Low-cost carriers like Kingfisher Red, JetLite, Jet Konnect and IndiGo fly to and from Patna. Aviation industry sources say more such flights are in the pipeline.
29/11/09 Sanjeev Kumar Verma/Times of India

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Airlines cry foul as AAI races to meet ground handling policy deadline

New Delhi: Even as private airlines are united in their opposition to the implementation of the new ground handling policy from January 1, 2010, the Airport Authority of India (AAI) and other private airports are gearing up to meet the deadline.
The AAI has already awarded the ground handling contract to Novia International, a joint venture led by a Denmark-based company, to undertake ground handling at Kolkatta and Chennai airports. “For other airports, the authority is tendering the contract region-wise,” said a senior AAI official. The official admitted that the authority is in no hurry to do so, as traffic at these airports has taken a beating. Aso, with airlines reducing capacity, there will be a smaller ground handling pie to share with others. Similarly, private airport operators like those in Delhi and Mumbai have also selected ground handlers based on lowest bids and tough quality standards.
However, some sticky issues remain. Airlines contend that they should be allowed to undertake self-handling at these metropolitan airports as it works out to be more economical.
A senior executive of a leading low-cost carrier told The Indian Express that the turnaround cost of a single aircraft costs the company around Rs 4,000-Rs 5,000. “This cost will significantly go up if the company were to engage any of the mandatory ground handlers at the airport,” said the executive.
28/11/09 Smita Aggarwal/Indian Express

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Chennai airport expansion, Sriperumbudur greenfield to be delayed

Chennai: The ongoing expansion of existing airport and the proposed second airport at Sriperumbudur may get delayed if Airports Authority of India (AAI) is not able to eliminate the bottlenecks the projects face.
The existing airport's development will be hit if defence authorities did not vacate the 19-acre land adjacent to the international terminal immediately while tardiness of International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) in completing a techno-economic feasibity study is delaying the Sriperumbudur airport.
Confirming the fears, AAI chairman VP Agrawal said that AAI may not be able to complete the project on time if the defence land is not held up. "We are planning to take up the issue with the defence secretary," he said.
Though the land was formally handed over to AAI in July, defence authorities are refusing to vacate a transmitter building located in it. AAI has also built a RS 3-crore transmitter station at an alternative site.
"The ongoing expansion works (building two new passenger terminals, a flyover in front of the terminals, extending the secondary runway and building a bridge across Adyar river to extend the runway) are progressing at a rapid pace and could be completed next year. But, delay in getting the defence land will impact the expansion works," said Agrawal after inaugurating a 303-metre walkalator that connects domestic and international terminals at Chennai airport on Friday. The walkalator built at a cost of Rs 12 crore helps passengers to access aero bridges of both the terminals.
Agrawal said that the financial condition of AAI would not impact the ongoing airport expansion works at Kolkata and Chennai.
28/11/09 Times of India

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CBI revives probe against AAI officials

Chennai: Airports Authority of India (AAI) Chairman V P Agrawal has acknowledged that a CBI enquiry has been revived against some of the top AAI officials here.
The enquiry revolves around a certain contract for airport parking, which was awarded to a private agency flouting the norms of tender processes etc.
“The enquiry was closed three years ago. The CBI has now submitted a report to us again.
We have responded to them asking why they have initiated the report after closing it. We have given our opinion stating that it demoralises people. However, a final decision is in their (CBI) hands,” Agrawal said.
28/11/09 Mamta Todi/ExpressBuzz

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GMR in talks with 3i, Macquarie-SBI Infra to raise $450 mn

Infrastructure conglomerate GMR Group is in talks with private equity funds 3i Investments and Macquarie-SBI Infrastructure to raise $450 million in GMR Airport Holdings, a person familiar with the company’s plans told ET NOW.
GMR wants to sell a minority stake in the airport subsidiary to raise cash for investments in infrastructure and power. The airports business, which includes the Hyderabad and Delhi airports, account for 45% of the group’s revenues.
A spokesperson for GMR said in an emailed statement to ET NOW that as a corporation they pursue various options for raising funds and cannot comment on this specific query. Fiona McDonald, a spokesperson for Macquarie Group in Singapore, termed the queries from ET NOW as market speculation. Emailed queries to Jennifer Letki, a spokesperson for 3i Investments in London, elicited a similar response.
GMR’s group chief financial officer A Subbarao said in a media statement two days ago that the company plans to invest $650 million in its various businesses over the next two years. He also said the company was talking to various private equity investors for buying stake sales in its infrastructure and power businesses.
28/11/09 Mohit Bhalla/Economic Times

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Mock hijack drill held at Patna airport

Patna: The concluding day of the Aviation Safety Week witnessed some hectic activities at city's Jayaprakash Narayan International Airport on Friday where a mock drill with regard to plane hijacking was conducted.
Senior state government officials, including principal home secretary Aamir Subhani, ADG (special branch) P K Thakur, Patna zonal IG P N Rai and additional director of Union home ministry Arvind Kumar, reached the airport in the afternoon to take part in the drill which had everything which one comes across in situations emerging out in incidents of hijacking.
Subhani exhibited his negotiation skills and was seen talking to the four hijackers. While negotiations were on, the routine precautionary step like blocking the runway with the fire brigade vehicle was done.
CISF personnel, who were in the role of NSG commandos, ambushed the plane and killed all the four hijackers, of course no blood was shed. The mock drill lasted for about 45 minutes.
28/11/09 Times of India

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Red alert to ensure Heum doesn't flee

Immigration officers issue a red alert against Dutch paedophile Will Heum to ensure he doesn't flee the country. Police sources say immigration officers in airports across India have been alerted in case Dutch paedophile Will Heum tries to escape the country if he comes out on bail after the alleged paedophile had expressed his desire to go back to the Netherlands.
TIMES NOW has obtained a copy of the ration card seized from Will Heum's house. This comes after the police had seized a number of documents from Heum including a voters ID card and a Pan card.
The question to the Chennai police is how Heum managed to get official government documents despite living in the country illegally and facing trial for child pornography.
The Chennai police had written to the departments in question for an explanation as to how Heum got these documents. The police are awaiting forensic lab reports for the final chargesheet against Will Heum.
27/11/09 Times Now.tv

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International drug racket busted, three nabbed at IG airport with 15 kg heroin

Delhi Police said Friday they have busted an international drug racket with the arrest of three people, including two Afghan nationals, and seized 15 kg heroin worth Rs.15 crore (Rs.150 million) in the international market.
The Afghan nationals - Mohammed Masoom, 45, and Mohammed, 30 - had brought the heroin from Kandahar in Afghanistan. Masoom and his Indian link Raju Dawar, 23, were arrested from the Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport Thursday evening on the basis of a tip-off.
'They came to Delhi by Ariana Airlines flight from Kabul. We had a tip-off about them,' Delhi Police Commissioner Y.S. Dadwal told reporters here.
'Dawar's activities were being monitored. He reached airport before the arrival of the flight. Around 7.30 p.m. he was spotted coming out with a big suitcase in his hand. Another man was accompanying him,' the police said.
Police intercepted the duo and searched them. They found 7.1 kg of high quality heroin concealed in a cavity in the suitcase. Masoom, who was accompanying Dawar, was found carrying 500 grams of heroin in a polythene packet in his jacket.
According to police, the two revealed the consignment was sent from Kabul by an Afghan smuggler, Dawood, who earlier stayed in Lajpat Nagar area of south Delhi.
27/11/09 IANS/Sify.com

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Bangalore airport user fee may go up

Bangalore: The BIA is considering increasing the user development fee (UDF) for domestic air passengers, BIAL CEOMarcel Hungerbeuhler said on Thursday.
BIAL started collecting Rs260 as UDF from domestic passengers in January this year, against Rs675 it had earlier sought from the ministry of civil aviation.
Hungerbeuhler said the UDF for domestic passengers at BIA is the lowest among greenfield airports in India. The Hyderabad airport collects Rs375 as UDF from domestic passengers.
27/11/09 Daily News & Analysis

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Govt collects Rs 443 cr as airport development fee

New Delhi: Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel on Thursday said that Rs 443 crore has been collected as development fees by Delhi and Mumbai airports till October.
International passengers flying out of Delhi are charged Rs 1,300 as airport development fee, while the corresponding fee for domestic departures is Rs 200. In Mumbai, an international passenger pays Rs 600, while a domestic flier pays Rs 100.
The levy, which came into effect on March 1, is expected to be in place for three years, until the developers of the two airports recover enough money to bridge their combined funding shortfall of about Rs 4,700 crore.
"The amount collected as development fee by Delhi International Airport and by Mumbai International Airport up to October 2009 has been Rs 323.11 crore and Rs 119.75 crore respectively," said Patel in a written reply to a question in Lok Sabha.
26/11/09 IANS/Economic Times

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'Delhi, Mumbai airports got over 4 points in service quality'

New Delhi: Government today said the Delhi and Mumbai airports achieved service quality ratings of 4.24 and 4.05 respectively on a scale of five in third quarter of the current fiscal and were aiming at reaching 3.75 at the end of stage II of their development.
"Indira Gandhi International Airport, Delhi and Chhatrapati Shivaji Airport, Mumbai had achieved Airport Service Quality rating of 4.24 and 4.05 on scale of 0-5 for July-September in 2009," Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel said in reply to a Lok Sabha query.
The Minister said under the agreement between the Airports Authority of India (AAI) and the joint venture companies-- Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL) and Mumbai International Airport Limited (MIAL) -- "the target rating after completion of the stage 2 shall be 3.75 on the scale of five."
The stage II of development of the Delhi airport is expected to be completed by 2016.
26/11/09 Press Trust of India/Business Standard

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32 unused airports in the country

There are 32 airports belonging to Airports Authority of India (AAI) which are non-operational (Unused). They are Cuddapah, Donakonda and Warangal in Andhra Pradesh; Passighat in Arunachal Pradesh; Rupsi in Assam; Jogbani, Muzaffarpur and Raxaul in Bihar; Bilaspur in Chhattisgarh; Deesa in Gujarat; Chakulia in Jharkhand; Mysore in Karnataka; Khandwa, Panna and Satna in Madhya Pradesh; Akola, Solapur and Jalgaon in Mahrashtra; Shella in Meghalaya; Aizwal in Mizoram; Jharsuguda in Orissa; Kishangarh in Rajasthan; Vellore in Tamil Nadu; Kailashahar, Kamalpur and Khowai in Tripura; Asansol, Balurghat, Behala and Malda in West Bengal & Jhansi and Lalitpur in Uttar Pradesh.
Expenditure incurred on the maintenance of some of these 32 non-operational airports during the last 3 years as well as the loss incurred at these airports are as under. The expenditure made and loss occurred (Rs. In lakhs) are in bracket:-
For the year 2006-07 – Cuddapah (10.51,10.47), Jogbani (0.50, 0.50), Jharsuguda (78.77, 78.11), Kailshahar (1.24, 1.24), Vellore (6.95, 6.93), Balurghat (4.81, 4.51), Behala (24.88, 24.88) and Malda (23.07, 22.76); for 2007-08 – Cuddapah (14.50, 14.48), Jharsuguda (83.73, 83.37), Vellore (11.12, 10.81), Balurghat (10.48, 10.48), Behala (51.36, 43.64) and Malda (36.48, 36.48), and for 2008-09 – Cuddapah (42.33, 41.86), Mysore (13.88, 13.88), Jharsuguda (154.79, 154.79), Vellore (18.78, 18.79), Balurghat (10.76, 10.76), Behala (112.59, 112.59) and Malda (56.41, 56.41).
Cooch Behar in West Bengal and Akola and Solapur in Maharashtra were made operational in the last three years. Mysore Airport in Karnataka will be made operational in 2009-10.
This information was given by Shri Praful Patel, Minister of Civil Aviation in Lok Sabha today.
26/11/09 PRESS RELEASE/Press Information Bureau

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Flights delayed as fog envelops Bengaluru airport

Bangalore: Bengaluru International Airport was virtually shut down on Thursday morning as a thick blanket of fog enveloped it for more than two hours, reducing the visibility to less than 50 metres.
This is the first fog-related delay reported this winter, and the first flight took off only after 8.45 a.m., according to passengers. A BIA spokesperson said the fog was reported between 5.30 a.m. and 8.41 a.m. With drastically reduced visibility, nine arrivals and 22 departures were delayed. But within minutes of the fog lifting at 8.41 a.m., the first flight took off and operations returned to normal.
“The weather was clear till 6 a.m. after which the fog enveloped the airport,” said Pradeep Ghorpade, a media communication executive who had turned up to receive his colleague, who eventually landed at 10.30 a.m.
One Jet Airways and Kingfisher Airlines flight from Chennai; two of Air India and one each of Indigo and GoAir from Mumbai; one of Air India from Kochi; one each of Air India and Kingfisher from Hyderabad and a SpiceJet flight from Pune that were supposed to land between 6.45 a.m. and 8.15 p.m. were delayed for over two hours.
27/11/09 The Hindu

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Adnan's mother stopped from boarding flight to Pak

Mumbai: Singer Adnan Sami's mother, Naureen Sami Khan, 61, on Thursday was stopped from boading a Pakistan-bound flight at Mumbai airport for leaving the country without the session court's permission. However, Sami's lawyer said that she has a valid visa and will move the court on Friday regarding this.
When Naureen reached the international terminal 2C, Sahar of Mumbai airport around noon to board her Mumbai-Karachi flight PK-275, the immigration officials did not give her permission to board the flight. "Since she is one of the co-accused in a criminal case, her name is in the lookout circular (LOC). If she has to leave the country she needs the court's permission. But she did not have the permission. So we have to stop her," said an immigration official from Mumbai airport.
Adnan Sami's wife Sabah Galadari had filed an FIR against the singer and her in-laws at Oshiwara police station on May 6, 2009. She alleged that she was subjected to mental harassment and verbal abuse at the instance of her husband. She also claimed that a fraud has been perpetrated on her by Adnan and his parents by fraudulently misappropriating her property.
27/11/09 Naveeta Singh/Daily News & Analysis

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Airlines irked by new rules on delayed flights

New Delhi: The domestic airline industry is not too happy with the proposed new Civil Aviation Requirement (CAR) on delayed flights and implementation of the new ground handling policy and will make a presentation to the Director-General of Civil Aviation and Airports Economic Regulatory Authority (AREA) listing out their objections.
At a meeting of the Federation of Indian Airlines (FIA) here on Wednesday, airlines felt that they alone were not responsible for delays in flights pointing out that several times the delays were caused by airports.
The new CAR being proposed by the aviation regulator will make it mandatory for airlines to pay passengers if the flight is delayed beyond a stipulated period of time.
Besides from January 1, the Government plans to implement a new ground handling policy which will restrict the number of agencies which will be allowed to provide the services. Airlines point out that doing their own ground handling activity allows them to better manage their flight operations.
26/11/09 Business Line

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Multi-level parking planned at IGI

New Delhi: The parking nightmare at IGI airport will soon be a thing of the past.
The new integrated terminal at the IGI Airport which will become operational before next year's Commonwealth Games, will also boast of India's largest multi-level car parking with a capacity of over 4,300 vehicles, taking the total parking capacity of the airport to about 6,500 vehicles.
At present, the domestic and international terminals have a combined capacity of 2,200 vehicles. With traffic expected to grow as the Games nears, and the new terminal catering to both domestic and international operations, the airport will have a capacity of 60 million passengers per year.
The five-storeyed building is being built on a 19.263 sq m area and is expected to be complete by March 31. Each subsequent floor will be 19,155 sq m. Its terrace will be used for parking and will be connected to terminal T3 with an air conditioned skywalk with travelators and through a corridor on the ground floor.
Delhi International Airport (P) Ltd is yet to finalize an agency to which it will outsource the management of the lot but officials say that payment for parking will be done both through cash and cards.
26/11/09 Neha Lalchandani/Times of India

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Civilian flight schedules reworked at Pune

Pune: In a bid to make things easy for President Pratibha Patil’s Sukhoi sortie, a number of civilian flights at the Lohegaon International Airport were rescheduled in the morning. While many flights could take off later than usual, some others left earlier.
The Air Force authorities had not just cordoned off the roads leading to the air base, but had also intimated the civil airport authorities to keep air traffic off during the time slot.
“Much before the visit, the Air Force had informed us about the event. They had requested us to intimate all the airlines not to fly any aircraft during the time slot, in which the Sukhoi flight was scheduled to take off,” Airport director Capt Deepak Shastri said.
et Airways scheduled its flight earlier than the regular time. Instead of 11.10 am, the Mumbai flight was scheduled at 10.20 am. SpiceJet’s SG 212 Pune-Delhi flight, which leaves Pune at 11.35, left at 12.25 pm. Indigo rescheduled its 11.50 Delhi flight to 1 pm.
26/11/09 Indian Express

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CBI officials close down unaccompanied baggage counter

Chennai: Following the arrest of nine customs officials from the unaccompanied baggage counter at the airport cargo complex on Tuesday, Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) officials have closed down the counter for revaluation of the imported consignments and unaccompanied baggage to find out the extent of tax evasion allowed by the errant customs officials.
According to highly placed sources in the CBI, the counter has been closed down and the revaluation exercise may take two days to complete. CBI had found out that most of the imported consignments and unaccompanied baggage, courtesy NRIs arriving on transfer, had been under-valued or exempt from paying duty. The customs officials had accepted illegal gratification to make this possible. It had caused a loss of several crores of rupees to the government exchequer.
On Wednesday, CBI officials continued search and seizure operations based on information passed on to them by the three of the accused who are in police custody. "We have raided a few other places today based on details provided by the accused. We are in the process of recording the seizures. There are chances for registering a disproportionate assets case against the officials as the money involved is huge," a senior CBI official told The Times Of India.
26/11/09 K Praveen Kumar/Times of India

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Bomb scare at airport

Kolkata: A CISF jawan summoned the bomb squad without preliminary checks after spotting an unattended bag at Kolkata airport in the arrival area.
Santosh Ghosh, who had arrived on a Jet Airways flight from Bangkok, had stepped into the booth for the mandatory health check and had left the bag at the doorstep.
26/11/09 Times of India

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CBI arrests 9 customs officials at Chennai air cargo complex

Chennai: In a massive raid on Monday night, sleuths of the anti-corruption wing of the CBI raided the baggage unit at the air cargo complex in Chennai airport and arrested nine customs officials eight of them middle-level officials and a couple of touts who were striking deals on their behalf. The suspects were allegedly involved in a duty evasion racket which involved undervaluing imported items and unaccompanied baggage.
In subsequent raids carried out on the office premises and the residences of the accused, CBI recovered Rs 17 lakh in unaccounted cash and Rs 25 lakh worth jewellery. The action coincided with raids carried out on government departments in other cities including Delhi and Kolkata.
The CBI arrested superintendents, K Baskar, R Arivudai Nambi, A Nageswari, M Palaniappan, preventive officers, Jagmohan Meena, V Asaithambi, T Manjula, B F Benjamin, senior tax assistant, K Kannan and two touts, G Kumar and S Rajkumar. The air cargo complex has 11 customs officials in all, of which only two were not involved in this racket, CBI officials said.
The CBI officials had to put up with protests from fellow customs officials, some even seniors, while making the arrests. The sleuths recovered Rs 59,000 from the office premises.
None of the officials could provide convincing answers about the source of the seized money. Finally, Kumar, an outsider, who works as an agent of the accused customs officials, admitted that he had collected the money from the clients on behalf of the officials," a senior CBI official told The Times of India.
25/11/09 K Praveen Kumar/Times of India

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Mysterious toilet blockages force Cathay Pacific airbus to divert to Mumbai

Hongkong: Airbus said Wednesday it was investigating a series of mystery toilet blockages on Cathay Pacific planes which forced one passenger jet to make an unscheduled landing in India.
Toilets on the Hongkong-based airline's A330 and A340 Airbuses have become blocked three times in the space of 11 days, with one flight diverted and two others forced to reduce passenger numbers.
In the worst case, a flight from Riyadh to Hongkong on Nov 17 with 278 passengers on board had to divert to Mumbai when flight attendants discovered none of the 10 toilets on board were working.
The diversion resulted in an 18-hour delay for repairs and a crew change for what should have been a routine eight-hour flight. Passengers received an apology and vouchers as compensation.
Two other Hongkong-bound flights - one from Rome on Nov 9 and another from Dubai on Nov 19 - had to cut passenger numbers when crew found before take-off all toilets on one side of the plane blocked.
Cathay Pacific and Airbus both said they were unsure about the exact cause of the blockages but an airline spokeswoman said the problem was being tackled with a cross-fleet maintenance operation.
Passengers might be partly to blame, she suggested. "You would be amazed at what we find in the pipes when we clean the system - not just face towels but medicine bottles, socks and even children's stuffed toys," the spokeswoman said.
25/11/09 Sun2Surf, Malaysia

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AAI may halve borrowing plan, roots for bonds

The Airports Authority of India (AAI) is likely to trim its borrowing plan, picking up debt to the tune of only Rs 600 crore in the next four months as compared to the Rs 1,200 crore approved by the authority’s board recently.
AAI is also making another bid to win approval from the finance ministry for floating tax-free bonds to the tune of Rs 5,500 crore. According to highly-placed civil aviation ministry sources who do not wish to be identified, the Authority is keen to drop its current borrowing plan if North Block approves issue of tax-free bonds.
The civil aviation ministry is backing AAI’s proposal for tax-free bonds and it is expected that the finance ministry will have a fresh look at it, the sources said. In the meanwhile, the Authority will borrow only the minimum quantum of funds required, spreading even the trimmed-down target of Rs.600 crore to several installments.
Last Wednesday, the AAI board approved borrowing of Rs.1200 crore for the remaining months of the current financial year. The funds are for investment in modernization and up-gradation of Chennai, Kolkata and a number of non-metro airports.
Since AAI is keen to meet most of the investments through internal resources, the actual borrowing would be only Rs 600 crore, the sources said. AAI has to keep its board updated on the actual borrowings and its deployment.
According to industry sources, AAI would be able to borrow at rates not higher than 8% for a three-year tenure since it has AAA rating.
25/11/09 Faizan Khan/Economic Times

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Pilots of Rajnath Singh’s take-off in darkness grounded

New Delhi: Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel Tuesday said the two pilots of the chartered plane that took off with BJP president Rajnath Singh from Jharkhand’s Dumka airstrip in darkness last month, were reprimanded and grounded for 15 days.
‘Investigation revealed that the aircraft took off after sunset, in violation of safety guidelines and Visual Flight Rules. Based on the investigation, both pilots were grounded for 15 days and were given a warning,’ Patel said in a written reply during the question hour in the Rajya Sabha.
Patel said the Dumka airstrip was an unregulated facility and investigations had revealed that though vehicles’ lights were on at the time of the take-off, they were not used for lighting runway for departure of the aircraft.
24/11/09 IANS/Trak.in

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After DIAL, Mumbai airport now asks carriers for bank guarantees

New Delhi: To guard against defaults by airlines, the operator of India’s busiest airport at Mumbai has asked all carriers to provide bank guarantees to cover payments by the end of this month.
The move, already enforced by Delhi International Airport Pvt. Ltd (DIAL), comes after some domestic carriers defaulted on payments to vendors since last year, when losses jumped 44%.
Local airline firms lost Rs8,557.37 crore in the fiscal year ended 31 March, making it the worst year on record for an industry beset by high costs, excess capacity and a slump in passenger traffic.
A GVK Power and Infrastructure Ltd-led consortium, which runs the Mumbai International Airport Pvt. Ltd (Mial), has asked the airlines in a letter to increase their bank guarantees. Mint has reviewed a copy of the letter issued on 20 October.
The carriers are now required to maintain a security deposit with Mial via bank guarantees equal to two months of aeronautical billing and six months of non-aeronautical billing, the letter said.
The airlines typically provide a two-month security deposit for aeronautical charges such as landing, parking and navigation fees. After the new directive, they will be required to also provide bank guarantees for all non-aeronautical charges such as rentals for airlines counters, hangars, etc.
The local and international airline firms together owe Mial around Rs180-190 crore, a Mumbai airport official said. He spoke on condition of anonymity, citing the sensitive nature of the matter.
24/11/09 Tarun Shukla/Live Mint

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Aviation biz to contribute 5% to rev in 3-5 years: Wipro

IT major Wipro is expecting business from its aviation vertical to take off, reports CNBC-TV18's Sunanda Jayaseelan. Last month, Wipro signed a 10-year agreement with GMR to provide it infrastructure and services for the Indira Gandhi International Airport at New Delhi. Now, it anticipates aviation to contribute over 5% of the group's overall revenues in the next 3-5y years.
Suresh Senapaty, CFO, Wipro, says, "IT spends maybe slow in coming in but our aviation business will ramp up over the next 3-5 years. They will be very substantial. We will see this business grow very large for us."
A large part of those revenues, Wipro says, will come from modernisation of 35 non-metro airports across the country.
GMR, while refusing to comment on the specifics of its partnership, says bidding opportunities will only pick up.
24/11/09 News Center

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Indo-EU Symposium on Air Traffic Management

India and the European Commission organised on the 23rd-24th of November 2009 in New Delhi a symposium on Air Traffic Management.
The symposium aimed at:
· presenting and exchanging views on India and European initiatives such as regulatory frameworks and modernisation programmes.
· exploring together fields of cooperation on how to deliver a safe, efficient and effective ATM service for both domestic and inter-regional traffic.
From the Indian side, participants from the Ministry of Civil Aviation, the DGCA, Airports Authority of India, airlines and airport operators were present. From the EU side, the European Commission, the SESAR Joint Undertaking, Eurocontrol, FAB Europe Central, Member States and industry were present.
The participants identified the following topics as areas for further cooperation:
* Capacity building on performance evaluation and review, notably in the fields of safety and quality of Air Navigation services (capacity, flight efficiency, delays, predictability and cost).
* Validation methodologies and infrastructure to ensure implementation of new technologies, including satellite based capacities (GNSS, SATCOM).
* Building an India-EU partnership in the field of operators training in order to meet safety obligations.
* Explore short term actions which can result in quick wins for EU and Indian airlines (e.g. AIRE or Oceanic operations) .
* Collaboration and cooperation in rule making in areas such as Air Traffic Flow Management, Flexible use of airspace, flight plan etc.
24/11/09 PRESS RELEASE/Press Information Bureau

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Kingfisher to launch new flight on Kolkata-Patna route

Patna: Private operator Kingfisher airlines is likely to introduce a morning flight on Kolkata-Patna-Kolkata route from the first week of December. The said flight would cover the distance between Patna and Kolkata in one hour 10 minutes.
"Things have almost been finalized and a formal announcement in this regard will be made very soon," a Kingfisher official, requesting anonymity, told TOI on Tuesday.
He said that the 66-seater ATR-72-500 would operate on this route and the lowest rate for a Patna-Kolkata ticket would be around Rs 1,900.
City fliers may get one more option to fly to Mumbai. Jet Airways recently took a feedback of major travel agencies to assess the availability of passengers on this route. This was done with a view to introducing airlines’ Jet Konnect services on the Mumbai-Bhubaneshwar-Patna-Mumbai route.
"The feedback has been sent to the airlines head office, but due to unavailability of aircraft, the decision to introduce the flight has been kept pending," aviation industry sources said.
Incidentally, Patna got Jet Airways’ low cost Jet Konnect services for the first time this month only with the introduction of a new flight on Delhi-Patna-Delhi route.
25/11/09 Sanjeev Kumar Verma/Times of India

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'In principle' approval for 12 greenfield airports: Patel

New Delhi: Government has given "in principle" approval for the establishment of 12 greenfield airports for public use in various parts of the country, the Rajya Sabha was informed today.
The Airports Authority of India is constructing a new greenfield airport in Pakyong in Sikkim at an estimated cost of Rs 309 crores of which government is financing 90 per cent and rest 10 per cent is being funded through AAI's internal resources.The scheduled completion date of this project is January 2012, Patel said.
The other greenfield airports, which have got 'in principle' approval from the Steering committee, set up as per the new greenfield airport policy, are Mopa in Goa; Navi Mumbai and Sindhudurg in Maharashtra; Kunnur in Kerala; Bijapur, Shimoga, Hassan and Gulbarga in Karnataka; Dabra Airport in Gwalior and Durgapur in West Bengal.
Apart from these, the government has also decided to construct two other greenfield airports in Cheithu in Nagaland and Itanagar in Arunachal Pradesh.
24/11/09 Press Trust of India/Business Standard

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Airports at Nizamabad, Ramagundam unlikely

Hyderabad: The Indian Air Force (IAF) has objected to two proposed regional airports at Nizamabad and Ramagundam, saying commercial planes may disturb the movements of fighter jets.
“We received a letter from the IAF that the proposed airports may disturb their plane movements at Bidar and Hakimpet airfields,” a senior official of state infrastructure and investments department said.
Rajasekhara Reddy-led government in 2008 had proposed to set up regional greenfield airports at Orvakal in Kurnool, Jakranpalli in Nizamabad, Ramagundam in Karimnagar and Tadepalligudem in West Godavari.According to the senior official, the government had to cancel the expression of interest (EOI) called last year due to the poor response from bidders.
As per the new terms, the lease period for land will be for 30 years. It also offered VAT exemption and discount in land registration fee with an offer to lease 1500 acres of land to each airport.
24/11/09 Times of India

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Curious monk sparks flight alarm

Kolkata: For Waza Thunga, it was just about a breath of fresh air.
The 45-year-old Buddhist monk from Myanmar started feeling claustrophobic moments after taking his seat on the Kolkata-Gaya-Yangon Air India flight on Monday morning.
Fidgeting with discomfort, the monk leafed through the safety manual and promptly opened the emergency exit above the left wing seconds before the pilot was about to pull out of the parking bay.
As the crew and other passengers watched in horror, the emergency chute rolled out.
The crew rushed to his seat. An unfazed Thunga who understands little Hindi or English told them that he was feeling "suffocated". As a result, the plane was delayed by over seven hours.
Everything prior to this from the check-in counters to the immigration desks and finally boarding had progressed smoothly. All 139 passengers, mostly pilgrims, had taken their seats before Thunga on seat 11A decided he needed to breathe free.
Both the commander and co-pilot rushed out of the cockpit to check on the passenger. Outside though, things were in a flux. Panic-stricken securitymen and airline officials had cordoned off the aircraft.
An air safety officer of the DGCA said, "Though it is a minor incident, it posed a safety hazard. The passenger acted out of curiosity."
Following procedure, all passengers were asked to deplane. The window was brought back and attached to its frame. The air pressure inside the cabin was then checked before seeking clearance from the Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA). The over-wing emergency exit of the aircraft is used to deplane passengers in case of an emergency.
24/11/09 Times of India

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Monk who grounded a flight

A Myanmarese monk grounded an Air India plane taxiing for take-off at Calcutta airport on Monday morning by “unintentionally” opening the emergency exit next to his seat.
Waza Thunga, allotted seat 11A on the Airbus 320 bound for Yangon, set off an alarm in the cockpit the moment he pulled the lever of the emergency exit to his left “out of curiosity”, airport officials said.
The alarm prompted the pilot to immediately abort the scheduled take-off at 10.10am and take the plane back to the parking bay, where all 139 passengers were asked to disembark. A befuddled Thunga and the rest of the passengers were escorted back to the transit lounge, where they were stranded for seven hours as the emergency door was put back in place and the plane put through safety checks. “Once an emergency door accidentally opens, the flight is said to be in a no-go situation. The plane cannot take off without a thorough check, and that takes time,” an air traffic control (ATC) official said.
The aircraft finally took off at 5.05pm, after Air India engineers ran a thorough check and gave the green signal.
A source said Thunga, who doesn’t know English and was travelling by air for only the second time, had difficulty explaining how the emergency exit opened. “But he managed to convince the airline staff that his was an unintentional act. So no action was taken against him,” he added.
Air India officials denied that the emergency door opened when Thunga pulled the lever. “He did trigger an alarm in the cockpit when the aircraft was in the parking bay but the door didn’t open and the flight was never in any kind of danger,” a spokesperson for the airline said.
The chute attached to the emergency exit was activated when the aircraft was taken for repairs, which added to the turnaround time. Once the lever is pulled, a cartridge is punctured and the escape chute is inflated with nitrogen gas. For the emergency exit to be used again, a refill of nitrogen is required.
24/11/09 The Telegraph

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Goa airport contract to Chinese firm cancelled

New Delhi: A Chinese connection may mean that passengers flying in and out of Goa’s tiny Dabolim airport may have to wait longer for a world-class terminal.
The Airports Authority of India (AAI) first awarded the Rs 320-crore contract for building the integrated international-cumdomestic airport to an Indian company that had tied up with a Chinese firm to show the experience to bag this prestigious contract.
However, as per government unstated policy, work on sensitive sites should not be awarded to a Chinese company. The Dabolim airport is a naval airfield whose civil enclave is used by passengers to fly in and out of Goa. Given the sensitivity of this defence site, the AAI realised this ‘oversight’ , it recalled the contract and is going to start the process afresh.
On its part, the navy is learnt to be in favour of Dabolim’s expansion. The existing Dabolim passenger terminal is unable to meet the traffic growth that Goa has witnessed over the past few years and on holidays the security check queue for passengers flying out begins near the arrival area itself. The issue of Goa’s new airport has been caught in a massive political crossfire.
Interestingly, the Chinese connection is also learnt to have come to light when local Congress MP Francisco Sardinha raised the issue with the AAI.
24/11/09 Economic Times

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`Shortlisting of contractors proves AAI unready'

Panaji: Opposition leader Manohar Parrikar on Monday said that the Airport Authority of India's (AAI) recent advertisement for shortlisting contractors for the Dabolim airport expansion project proved that it was not ready to float a tender for the purpose.
"The people of the state have been taken for a ride. The AAI is not ready to receive quotations. If the government and the AAI were prepared, they would have floated a tender for the airport's expansion," Parrikar said.
"They are not prepared. They are yet to get land from the navy and the technicalities have not been completed. You need not call for shortlisting of contractors if you are ready. However, by going through this process, they have proved that they are not," the opposition leader said.
When contacted, AAI director Paul Manickam said that calling for shortlisting of contractors was a normal process. "It was also done when the first tender was issued," he said.
The scrapping of the first tender had kicked off a row with Parrikar blaming the government for its failure to monitor the project and letting it slip through its hands.
24/11/09 Times of India

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AAI raised Rs 380 cr this year; fares unchanged

New Delhi: Airports Authority of India raised Rs 380 crores till September this year through short loans for funding various development projects but the borrowings will not lead to increase in passenger fares, the Rajya Sabha was informed today.
"The Airports Authority of India has proposed to raise Rs 2,000 crore in the budget estimate for the current financial year to meet its requirement of funds for development of airport infrastructure in the country," Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel said in a written reply.
24/11/09 Press Trust of India

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Singer serves airline notice for off-loading her

Mumbai: Singer Shibani Kashyap has sent a legal notice to the Jet Airways. The airline allegedly off-loaded her from a flight to Ahmedabad on November 6. DNA is in possession of the legal notice. Kashyap has claimed Rs1 crore in damages for defamation, financial loss and mental agony.
Kashyap, a platinum card member of the Jet Airways, was booked on the business class of the 9W 327 Mumbai-Ahmedabad flight on November 6. The plane was to depart at 10.30am. She was going there for a concert. Prior to that, she was to attend a press conference at 12 noon.
"I am a platinum card holder, and was travelling business class," Kashyap told DNA on Monday. "After checking in at 9.30am, I went to the lounge and waited for the boarding announcement. After a while, I asked the lounge manager about the status of the flight, but he said he had no clue about it.
"Around 10:25am, I myself went to check whether boarding had started. The airline executive at the gate told me that I have been off-loaded. I was shocked. I had reached the airport well on time, had my boarding card, and was waiting in the lounge. Yet, I never came to know that the flight was boarding."
The singer further alleged that the airline staff behaved rudely when she pleaded with them. "One of them said, 'Yes, we know you are Shibani Kashyap. But we do not care. It is for you to ensure that you board your flight'." The airline said that it would try to accommodate her on its next flight to Ahmedabad, but made no commitment as it was overbooked. "You may have to manage on your own," said a staff. However, she was aboard the 1.30pm flight when it left Mumbai.
24/11/09 Daily News & Analysis

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Repairs at Mumbai hurting our figures, AI tells DGHC

Mumbai Air-India’s CMD Arvind Jadhav has written to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), saying ground congestion at the Mumbai airport is affecting the carrier’s overall on-time performance (OTP) figures. Air India operates the highest number of flights from Mumbai.
Since October 5, the airport’s secondary runway has been shut for four months to help complete reconstruction. Since October 27, the intersection of the cross-runways too has been closed for six hours every Tuesday for re-carpeting work. Half the primary runway too is shut; as a result, the airport sees 80-100 fewer aircraft movements.
“We had asked the DGCA that when they announce the airlines’ OTP figures, they should mention this particular information about the Mumbai airport so that passengers will understand and won’t blame the airline for the delays,” said a senior Air India official. The official said the top management is trying to improve Air India’s OTP. “Had there not been any ground congestion at the Mumbai airport, our October figures would have been better,” he said.
The DGCA’s October OTP figures places Paramount Airlines, Kingfisher, IndiGo, SpiceJet and Go Air ahead of Air India. Air India’s OTP is 69.8 per cent, just ahead of Jet Airways’ 68.1 per cent. The DGCA chart does mention the fact that the repair work at the Mumbai airport has affected the OTP of some airlines.
24/11/09 Shashank Shekhar/Express India

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Lamborghini catches fire at Chennai airport, engine damaged

Chennai: Tense moments prevailed at the airport's cargo complex on Monday when a Lamborghini car, kept ready for loading on to an Emirates cargo.
Sources said the Lamborghini Gallardo car was on a trolley when the mishap occurred around 6.30am. The engine was gutted.
Airport officials said the car (EX 431 GK), which was brought from Milan, Italy, for a demonstration at the Madras Motor Sports Club's track at Irungattukottai last month, was worth around Rs 2 crore. Five such cars had been brought for the show.
While the Airports Authority of India and the airline claimed that a little smoke had emerged from the car and that it had not caught fire, the police said that the engine of the car had been completely destroyed in the fire.
Sources said that two Lamborghini cars had been brought to the airport on Sunday evening to be taken to Milan on an Emirates cargo flight.
One of the cars had half a tank of fuel. Staff at the air cargo complex allegedly kept the vehicle idling throughout the night to burn the fuel as cars can be loaded on to aircraft only with an empty fuel tank.
A senior AAI official said: "The smoke activated fire sprinklers inside the cargo complex. AAI had handed over the car to the airline for loading and it was in the air cargo complex when the accident happened."
However, the reason for the fire is not known.
24/11/09 V Ayyappan/Times of India

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Landing a tall order at airport?

New Delhi Descending on Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport would now be a multi-religious sight for air travellers, as well as for other commuters passing the airport on National Highway-8. The Birla Kanan, which sports a massive 80-foot-tall statue of Shiva on NH-8, will soon have another structure: a 54-feet statue of Buddha.
The venue of the two giant statues is just over a kilometre from the tip of the IGI Airport’s newest runway, 29-11.
The Shiva statue was considered a hazard to flights only after the third runway — touted as India’s longest — became operational last year.
The location of the statues, present and upcoming, is in the funnel area of landing: the point from where an aircraft begins to descend. The result? Of what is touted as the longest runway, only 2,443 metres out of the 4,430 metres can actually be used.
In effect, this makes it the shortest runway: 133 metres shorter than the shortest runway, 27-09, which stands at 2,310 metres.
The Shiva statue is a total of 80 feet above the ground — 65 metres of actual statue plus the 15-foot pedestal — and has been an obstruction for pilots approaching to land on the runway from the east. Pilots say they have to keep the statue in mind before beginning the final descent for touchdown.
But even as another statue waits to make its place near the runway, pilots insist there is nothing to worry till electronic devices installed on the runway are working fine.
“The statue needs us to maintain a certain vertical distance as a mandatory requirement,” a senior pilot said. “But so long as the instrument landing system works fine, there is no problem. The only issue is, a major portion of the runway remains under-utilised.
24/11/09 Geeta Gupta/Express India

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Airport's neighbours vow not to let garbage fly

Ahmedabad: Finally, there is some hope of finding cleanliness in the airport area and other nearby areas.The Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) and Airport Authority of India (AAI) together had organised a meeting on Monday to discuss with residents of the area of how to maintain cleanliness in the area.
The AMC officials, say residents have agreed not to dump their kitchen waste in open ground and follow the AMC's door to door garbage collection facility. AMC officials say, around 50 representatives of the residential colonies had attended meeting on Monday afternoon.
"We explained residents of the consequences of throwing garbage dumps in the open. The dump attracts birds leading to bird hits during take off of aircrafts from the airport. The residents understand the problem and have agreed to maintain cleaner surroundings. This will help in keeping the birds and other stray animals away," said a senior AMC official.
24/11/09 Daily News & Analysis

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Delhi beats Mumbai in flier figures

New Delhi: A new runway, increased slots for airlines and future growth potential seem to have worked in favour of Delhi International Airport (Dial). After a gap of three years, it has surpassed Mumbai International Airport (Mial) to become the busiest airport in the country.
The total number of assengers carried by Dial between April and October this year stood at 14.51 million, compared with 14.33 million by Mial.
Delhi was able to run past Mumbai on the basis of good showing, which began in July and continued through October, carrying more passengers than Mumbai in each month.
On a standalone basis, 1.89 million passengers used Mumbai in September and another 2.23 million in October this year. For Delhi, the figures stood at 2.05 million and 2.25 million, respectively.
A spokesperson for Mial said that the Mumbai airport was witnessing 20% passenger growth month-on-month for the last three months and expected to close 2009-10 with 24 million passengers against 23.4 million in the previous fiscal. The airport is expected to reach its peak capacity of 40 million passengers by 2014-15.
According to Satyam Agarwal and Nalin Bhatt of Motilal Oswal, passenger traffic grew 21% for Delhi and 15% for Mumbai in September. For the September quarter, Mial recorded growth of 10%, while Delhi recorded a 20% increase.
23/11/09 Sindhu Bhattacharya/Daily News & Analysis

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DIAL raises Rs 1,630 crore at higher rate from local banks

New Delhi: Despite low lending rates and easy liquidity conditions prevailing in global financial markets, Delhi International Airport (DIAL) has raised $350 million (Rs 1,630 crore) from three domestic banks at around 500 basis points over six-month LIBOR.
LIBOR, or London Interbank Offered Rate, currently rules around 0.5%. Last week, ICICI Bank raised $750 million, equivalent to Rs 3,500 core through dollar-denominated debt. The 64-month fixed rate instruments carry a coupon rate of 5.5%.
Axis Bank has committed $150 million and Union Bank $75 million while Rs 125 crore will be drawn from ICICI Bank that has sanctioned $200 million, said an executive with one of the banks. The 10-year loans, raised in the form of dollar-denominated external commercial borrowing (ECB), will be utilised within the next 2-3 months, said Sidharath Kapur, chief financial officer of DIAL.
Seven foreign banks including Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank, Calyon and KFW and domestic banks including ICICI, which had committed to lend the amount in 2007 at 185 basis points over LIBOR, backed out in early 2009 due to a sharp increase in interest rates triggered by the global financial crisis.
DIAL, a consortium between GMR Infrastructure, Airport Authority of India, Fraport of Germany and Malaysian Airport, is developing the Delhi airport.
23/11/09 Arun Kumar/Economic Times

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Afghan aircraft lands at Thiruvananthapuram after running short of fuel

Thiruvananthapuram: An aircraft of Afghanistan's Pamir Airways carrying five crew members including the pilot and bound for Indonesia, landed at the airport here today 4.30 pm after running short of fuel.
According to airport security sources, the A 320 aircraft was on its way for maintenance to Indonesia.
The security and customs authorities immediately conducted a thorough check of the aircraft and found that it did not pose any security concern. The aircraf would leave for its destination after refuelling.
22/11/09 Press Trust of India

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GVK Power: Raising stake in Bial is a well-timed move

The intent behind GVK Power and Infrastructure Ltd’s (GVKPIL) plan to buy out Larsen and Toubro Ltd’s (L&T) 17% stake in the Bengaluru International Airport Ltd (Bial) is to gain a controlling stake in the airport management.
GVKPIL is just completing the formalities on the 12% stake in Bial that it recently bought from Zurich Airport at Rs485 crore. For this, it paid a premium of Rs95 per share. This is not without reason. Bial holds great potential for future growth, given that it already handles more cargo and passengers than its southern counterpart in Hyderabad. According to Isaac George, chief financial officer, GVKPIL, “the quality of passengers is good, with a high average spend per passenger, due to the IT/BPO (information technology/ business process outsourcing) crowd.” This would only improve as the economic recovery gains momentum.
Also, stakeholders in Bial have a revenue sharing agreement of only 4% with the government (Airports Authority of India), unlike Mumbai where it is around 39%. The buzz in industry circles is that GVKPIL is also interested in increasing its stake from the present 37% in Mumbai International Airport Ltd, or Mial. South African company Bidvest Group Ltd holds 27% of Mial.
GVKPIL’s intent to increase stakes in both Mumbai and Bangalore is well timed as air traffic in the second quarter of fiscal 2010 rose 3% over the year-ago period, with passenger traffic rising by 10%. In fact, this was after a contraction during the last four quarters.
Another positive in the airport business is the monetization of real estate in the airport entity.
Even before this monetization, fiscal 2010 will see stronger revenue growth and profit before tax as airports ride the economic recovery and benefit from higher tourist traffic.
22/11/09 Manas Chakravarty, Mobis Philipose, Ravi Ananthanarayanan and Vatsala Kamat/Live Mint

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MIAL’s added levy could leave passengers hungry

A dispute between Mumbai International Airport Limited and two airline caterers could leave airlines red-faced and passengers hungry.
MIAL has proposed about 15 per cent levy on the gross annual turnover of airline caterers. However, Taj Sats and SkyGourmet, which service several domestic and international carriers, including Air India, Jet Airways and Kingfisher, are upset with the charges and are resisting its imposition.
However, MIAL has told the two catering companies that it will not allow its vehicles inside the airport after November 30, if they refuse to pay the levy. Both the sides are presently trying to resolve the contentious issue through discussion.
A senior officer from Taj Sats said, “We have set up kitchen facilities on our own land, and pay a licence fee to MIAL. An additional levy will affect us adversely, as the profit margin in the catering business is low. We are able to sustain only because of high volumes. If an additional levy is imposed, we may have to pass on the burden to the airlines. All our vehicles have valid permits. So, how can MIAL stop our vehicles from plying inside the airport?”
A spokesperson for SkyGourmet said, “We did receive a letter stating there would be an imposition of the levy, and are in discussions with MIAL about the same. MIAL has not threatened to stop our vehicles from entering the airport.”
23/11/09 Aneesh Phadnis/Mumbai Mirror.com

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Private airline misplaces widow’s bag having marriage memoirs

An Amdavadi widow had a bitter flying experience last Friday. She could not find her baggage having marriage memoirs after landing at Ahmedabad airport.
The unfortunate incident happened with Savitri Agarwal on November 20. She took a JetLite flight from Delhi to reach the city. All was well till she reached the luggage conveyor belt. She was shocked to not to find her bag in which she stacked the jewellery of her marriage, some cash and a few saris, worth around Rs 3 lakh.
Two days on, the diabetic woman is hopeful of getting back her marriage memoirs. The airline’s officials are still clueless about her baggage, though.
According to Akshat Agarwal, grandson of Savitri, the airline officials initially refused to acknowledge that Savitri’s baggage was misplaced.
When Akshat went to the airline’s office in the airport on Sunday, he was told that the bag was still untraceable. The officials on duty told him that the airline’s offices at all airports in India had been apprised off the lost bag through e-mails.
“The airline’s officials also told me that in case they fail to locate my grandmother’s bag by November 26, they will compensate me. But I found their compensation policy on the basis of weight of the bag ridiculous. I was told I will be paid Rs 450 per kg. Are they kidding? I don’t want that money,” said Akshat.

23/11/09 Akshay Kaushal/Ahmedabad Mirror.com

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Birdbrains beat Ahmedabad airport

Ahmedabad: The matter of keeping the area surrounding the Sardar Patel International Airport in Ahmedabad garbage-free -- to avoid drawing birds which pose an airborne threat to flights taking off and landing -- has been on the authorities' radar for at least a decade.
However, a solution for this is yet to be found, even after a series of meetings between officials of the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) and the Airports Authority of India (AAI).
It is believed that the increasing number of birds in the vicinity of the airport can be attributed to the absence of an effective solid-waste management system, as the waste, which is consequently thrown in open grounds, lures the birds to the area.
Now, with the aim of finding a solution for the problem, and also to understand the residents' grievances, the AMC has planned to hold discussions with those living along the periphery of the airport. On Monday, officials of the civic body will meet the residents of these areas, specifically to enquire into the reason for them not dumping their garbage in the bins provided.
The official said that the meeting is being conducted to hear out the citizens' complaints, so as to fashion a solution for their problems.
The AMC has, meanwhile, begun cleaning the areas around the airport and has sealed two butcher shops. "There are around 10 such shops selling meat in the areas, and we have sealed two of these," an official of the municipal corporation said. It is pertinent to note that it is illegal to run butcher shops within 15 km of an airport, yet these shops are operational in the surrounding areas.
22/11/09 Niyati Rana/Daily News & Analysis

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Saudia, Gulf Air jets avert midair collision

Mumbai: Alert Air Traffic Controllers (ATC) at the Mumbai airport averted a major mid-air collision between two aircraft that came within a vertical separation height of 800 feet, 200 feet less than what it should have been.
An ATC official told Arab News that the incident occurred on Thursday night about 120 nautical miles west of Mumbai, and was noticed when the Traffic Collision Avoidance System (TCAS) of the Gulf Air flight GF 064 heading toward Mumbai alerted the pilot of an intruding aircraft — Saudi Arabian Airlines SV 601.
The Gulf Air flight, which had taken off from Bahrain, was descending to land in Mumbai with 180 passengers on board. The Saudia flight, a Boeing 747, was flying over the Mumbai airspace on way to Jeddah from Dhaka and had 377 passengers on board. The Saudia aircraft, the ATC official said, had deviated from its flight path and had climbed 200 feet without permission from the ATC. The pilot of the Gulf Air aircraft spotted the Saudi aircraft climbing into its airspace on his warning system.
The ATC intervened at this stage and asked the Saudia pilot to maintain its given altitude.
The vertical separation minima between two aircraft are 1,000 feet. The Saudia pilot informed the ATC that probably due to passenger movement in the aircraft, the center of gravity on the plane was disturbed and he had to climb 200 feet, reducing the vertical minima between him and the Gulf Air aircraft, and at that time, the Saudia aircraft was at 34,000 feet.
22/11/09 Shahid Raza Burney/Arab News, Saudi Arabia

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Safety pledge as airline denies midair near-miss

Gulf Air yesterday insisted that no passengers were in danger after one of its aircraft came within 800 vertical feet of another plane during a flight to Mumbai.
GF064, with 180 people on board, was travelling towards the Indian city when the pilot was warned by an on board Traffic Collision Avoidance System (TCAS) about the proximity of an "intruding" Saudi Airlines plane.
It happened around 100 nautical miles west of Mumbai on Thursday and meant the distance between the aircraft was 200ft less than the specified industry guidelines.
"The Saudi aircraft had climbed 200 feet without permission from the Air Traffic Control (ATC)," said an airport official quoted on the Indian Express newspaper website.
"The pilot of the Gulf Air aircraft had spotted another aircraft climbing into its airspace on his warning system."
The Saudi Airlines flight, with 377 passengers on board, was flying over Mumbai to Riyadh from Dhaka.
However, ATC officials intervened and asked the pilot to maintain its altitude.
A Gulf Air spokeswoman yesterday confirmed the incident, but played down safety fears.
22/11/09 Gulf Daily News, Bahrain

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AAI re-issues Dabolim tender

Panaji: Airport Authority of India has re-issued the tender for construction of an integrated terminal at the civil enclave, Dabolim, at an estimated cost of Rs 197.53 crore barely four days after a controversy broke out over the "scrapping" of the original tender.
"The tender has been released by our Delhi office and the job has been re-tendered without any change in the size and scope of the terminal building and other infrastructure being undertaken for upgradation of Dabolim airport, Goa," an AAI official said.
Meanwhile, Goa airport director Paul Manickam again clarified on the tender process.
22/11/09 Times of India

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The making of India’s biggest airport

Away from some of the more visible projects in Delhi, one of the biggest construction efforts in the country is about four months away from completion. Over 20,000 workers are working round the clock everyday—among them 100 foreign nationals working in the planning and construction effort—to give wings to one of India’s most ambitious projects: Delhi’s new airport terminal, T3, that will cater to both international and domestic flights.
Work is on at a frantic pace to meet the March 2010 deadline. About 82 per cent work is over and its developers—the GMR group and Fraport (Frankfurt Airport)—are confident the airport will be ready in the next four months and ready to handle 27 million passengers a year.
With 78 aerobridges, of which 71 are already installed, the new terminal will be one of the few in the world to service all aircraft through aerobridges. Changi airport in Singapore has 64 aerobridges. The terminal building covers an area of about 5 million square feet—just the area of its roof accounts for 20 acres. While the developers have to get the terminal ready by March 2010, it may get operational only by July after all the certifications are in place.
With its scale and size, the new terminal is set to change the traveller’s perception. For instance, the forecourt where vehicles line up to drop passengers, will have 10 lanes with dedicated lanes for buses and cabs.
Once inside the departure hall, there will be six check-in islands with 168 check-in counters. This will be an integrated terminal for both domestic and international flights, which will make it easier for transit passengers. However, the plan is to allow only those domestic airlines which fly international to start operations from here.
22/11/09 Indian Express

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GVK keen to hike stake in Bangalore, Mumbai airport cos

Bangalore/Hyderabad/Mumbai: Upbeat from its Rs 485-crore acquisition of 12 per cent stake in Bangalore International Airport Ltd (BIAL), GVK Power & Infrastructure Ltd today expressed its intent to further hike its holdings in Bangalore and Mumbai airports.
The GVK Infra Chairman, Mr G. V. K. Reddy, today said that, “we are keen on gaining a controlling stake in BIAL.”
The company had acquired the 12 per cent through its arm, GVK Airport Developers, earlier this month.
Mr Reddy, who was in Bangalore to attend the Forbes India Rich List function, told reporters that the company was also in talks with its South African partner, Bidvest Group, for acquiring additional stake in the Mumbai International Airport Ltd (MIAL).
In BIAL, GVK Power, Zurich International, Siemens (AG) and Larsen & Toubro own 74 per cent stake and the rest is with the Airports Authority of India and the Karnataka Government.
GVK’s interest now centres around picking up 17 per cent stake from L&T in BIAL. The company has partnered with Zurich Airport and sees a bigger role for the two in various Indian airport projects.
Sources said that L&T could potentially get a 10-fold return on its original investment for 17 per cent stake if it were to exit now.
Since Zurich International has the first right of refusal for the L&T pie, its decision is important. Either way, whether Zurich picks up that stake or not, GVK believes that they can have an arrangement to secure the rest of the stake ‘at an appropriate time’.
In the case of MIAL, GVK holds 37 per cent and Bidvest 27 per cent, the Airport Authority 26 per cent and Airport Company South Africa 10 per cent. Bidvest needs to hold up to 10 per cent for at least seven years and for the rest it has the right to exit.
21/11/09 Business Line

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GVK to acquire L&T stake in Bial

Mumbai: GVK Airport Developers Pvt Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of GVK Power and Infrastructure Ltd, is in the process of acquiring the 17% stake of Larsen & Toubro (L&T) in Bengaluru International Airport Ltd (Bial).
GVK Airport Developers had earlier this month acquired Zurich Airport’s 12% stake in Bial.
The GVK group, which is looking for a larger role in India’s airport business, holds nearly 37% stake in Mumbai International Airport Limited (Mial)—the consortium that runs the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport. There were unconfirmed media reports earlier this month that the group was in talks for acquiring 13.5% more stake in Mial, from its South African consortium partner, Bidvest group.
It could not be ascertained whether L&T would sell its entire stake at one go. A spokesperson of the company declined to comment. The deal size could be in the region of Rs 500 crore, considering that GVK had bought the Zurich Airport stake for Rs 484.60 crore.
The existing large stakeholders in Bial have the right of first refusal for picking up the stake, but that expires Friday night. Siemens holds 40% stake in Bial, L&T 17%, GVK 12% and Zurich 5% in Bial, while the remaining 26% is with the government. Of this, 13% is with the Karnataka government and 13% with the Airports Authority.
21/11/09 Financial Express

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AAI puts airlines on cash ‘n’ carry mode

New Delhi: With FM Pranab Mukherjee refusing Airports Authority of India (AAI) the permission to issue tax free bonds for raising Rs 5,000 crore, the PSU has decided to get tough with airlines on payment part. The authority has dues of Rs 900 crore from airlines, of which Rs 620 crore and Rs 195 crore are owed by Air India and Kingfisher, respectively.
Now the airport operator has asked airlines , which are getting cash flow with traffic reviving , to either have dues within bank guarantees or else be on cashand-carry . While it can’t touch sister public sector AI, AAI on Thursday wrote to Kingfisher to clear its dues by December 10. “Kingfisher has dues of Rs 195 crore while its bank guarantee is Rs 100 crore. We have repeatedly asked the airline to pay up. We will wait till December 10 before putting them on cash and carry.
Dues of other airlines, except AI, are within bank guarantees or only marginally higher,” said a top AAI official. The Kingfisher spokesperson did not comment on the issue.
However, other airlines complain that AAI will go after them but not touch AI whom the authority counts as its biggest debtor. “We frequently hear that comment from airlines. We have raised the issue of AI dues at several fora but to no avail,” the official said.
21/11/09 Saurabh Sinha/Economic Times

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Ahmedabad airport in 'critical' danger

Ahmedabad: The rise in the incidence of bird hits at the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport (SVP) in Ahmedabad has forced the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) to declare it a 'critical airport'. Though this raises fresh worries about the safety of flights at SVP, sources said the DGCA announcement may lead to supply of much needed equipment to the airport to prevent bird hits.
Airport Authority of India (AAI) sources in the city said that laser guns and pyrotechnic pistols may finally be approved for SVP. Some days back, a technical team from Delhi had arrived here to give a demonstration of the equipment before AAI officials, the sources added.
AAI officials here do not deny that the number of bird hits at the Ahmedabad airport is unacceptably high but they are surprised at the DGCA data on bird hits for the city airport.
According to the DGCA data, there were 34 bird hits at SVP between January and October this year, which is a record for the airport. Data with the AAI, on the other hand, says there were only 16 bird hits at the airport during this period.
The AAI officials do not dispute the DGCA data, but they said the airlines using the airport reported all bird hits to the DGCA but they did not report them to the authorities at SVP.
The Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport (SVP) in Ahmedabad, which has been declared by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA)as a 'critical airport' in relation to bird-hit risk.
Sources said that as the DGCA has declared the Ahmedabad airport a 'critical' case, the authorities concerned will now do something to end the menace.
21/11/09 Satish Jha/Daily News & Analysis

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Congress criticises navy for delaying Goa airport expansion

Panaji: The Congress Friday criticised the Indian Navy for its delay in parting with 2.5 acres of land sought by government agencies for the expansion of Goa’s only airport at Dabolim.
Mauvin Godinho, Congress legislator and deputy speaker of the Goa assembly, told IANS that that the Congress Legislative Party had asked Chief Minister Digambar Kamat to take up the matter with the party’s central leadership.
The Congress Legislative Party held a meet at the chief minister’s residence here and expressed its unhappiness with the attitude of the Indian Navy.
“The members were disappointed with the Indian Navy’s failure to hand over the land for the Dabolim airport expansion. We have asked the chief minister to take up the matter with the central leadership,” Godinho said.
He added that Kamat assured the Congress Legislative Party that the issue would be taken up with Defence Minister A.K. Antony.
The Dabolim airport is predominantly a naval facility used for civil aviation purposes and the Indian Navy has been the target of several state Congress leaders who have accused the defence force of undermining the interest of Goa.
20/11/09 IANS/Thaindian.com, Thailand

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This year, more planes get fog-fit

New Delhi: This winter, interminable waits at the airport for fog to lift may be a thing of the past. With more and more airlines coming around to training pilots in CAT-III operations, which equips them to fly in visibility as low as 50m, passengers will not have to depend solely on Air India, what with its staff threatening to go on strike from next week.
Since last year, the number of CAT III-compatible aircraft has gone up from 162 to 206. Airlines for long have been reluctant to train pilots in CAT-III operations citing costs. The DGCA and the civil aviation ministry, however, made it clear in January that airlines which did not have a trained fleet would not be given slots in the fog schedule.
This year, with the exception of Jet and JetLite, all have converted their entire fleet to CAT-III. SpiceJet and JetLite, which till last year had no CAT-III jets, have added to the numbers with the former converting its entire fleet to CAT-III.
21/11/09 Neha Lalchandani/Times of India

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AirAsia launches new flights to three Indian cities

Sepang: AirAsia is set to be the most connected non-local airline in India with nine new destinations.
Three new flights to the Indian cities of Kochi, Kolkata and Trivandrum were launched in Kolkata yesterday, adding to AirAsia’s existing destination of Tiruchirappalli, which was launched last year.
The low-cost airline also operates flights to China, Indonesia, the Philippines, Myanmar, Vietnam, Thailand, Laos, Singapore, Taiwan, Cambodia, Brunei, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Australia, United Kingdom and the Middle-East.
Flights to Kochi and Kolkata will operate daily while there will be two flights to Trivandrum operating two or five times weekly.
AirAsia CEO Datuk Seri Tony Fernandes also announced three more flights to Chennai, Bangalore and Hyderabad starting from April next year.
The three cities would be connected to Kuala Lumpur, with an extra flight to Chennai from Penang.
Fernandes also said that there would be flights to Mumbai and Delhi towards the end of the year by AirAsia X.
21/11/09 Shaun Ho/The Star online

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Dues: AAI gets tough on airlines

New Delhi: With FM Pranab Mukherjee refusing Airports Authority of India (AAI) the permission to issue tax free bonds for raising Rs 5,000 core, the PSU has decided to get tough with airlines on payment part. The authority has dues of Rs 900 crore from airlines, of which Rs 620 crore and Rs 195 crore are owed by Air India and Kingfisher, respectively.
AAI has asked airlines, which are getting cash flow with traffic reviving, to either have dues within bank guarantees or else be on cash and carry. While it can't touch sister public sector AI, AAI on Thursday wrote to Kingfisher to clear its dues by December 10. "Kingfisher has dues of Rs 195 crore while its bank guarantee is Rs 100 crore. We have repeatedly asked the airline to pay up. We will wait till December 10 before putting them on cash and carry. Dues of other airlines, except AI, are within bank guarantees or only marginally higher," said a top AAI official.
20/11/09 Saurabh Sinha/Times of India

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Medical emergency: Jet Airways Brussels flight diverted to Moscow

A Jet Airways Airbus A330-200, registration VT-JWN performing flight 9W-230 from Delhi (India) to Brussels (Belgium), diverted to Moscow Sheremetyevo (Russia) due to a medical emergency on board. The airplane landed safely.
Jet Airways said, that a passenger needed immediate hospitalization prompting the crew to divert to the nearest suitable airport.
19/11/09 Simon Hradecky/The Aviation Herald

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Former gangster Abdul Wahab gives cops the slip

Even as a team of crime branch and special operation group officers spent the entire day at city airport, waiting for don Abdul Latif’s aide to turn up, the former gangster managed to leave the city.
The crime branch had received a tip-off that Abdul Wahab Sheikh would board an afternoon flight to Mumbai from Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport on Thursday. Wahab was booked on 7.30 pm Haj flight from Mumbai the same day.
Wahab was expected to board a domestic flight to Mumbai at 12.30 pm, as international flights would be under strict vigilance by immigration authorities and airline staff.
The Special Operation Group (SOG) led by DYSP Tarun Barot, a crime branch team lead by Police Inspector Bharat Patel and a group of lady constables positioned themselves at the airport at 7 am on Thursday.
The team scanned the entire domestic terminal building and waited for Wahab to turn up, but in vain. When the counters of the last domestic flight to Mumbai scheduled at 6.15 pm were closed, the police team abandoned the watch, concluding that there was no way Wahab could reach Mumbai in time to board his Haj flight.
According to airport sources, officials and staff of Air India, the ground Haj handling agency of Saudi Arabian Airlines were also directed by the intelligence department to immediately inform officials if Abdul Wahab turned up for check-in.
However, sources confirmed that while police kept watch at the airport all day, Wahab boarded a flight 7 pm flight to Jeddah in Saudi Arabia from Mumbai airport on Thursday. The gangster had left by road for Mumbai on Wednesday night itself, sources said.
20/11/09 Vijay Zala and Akshay Kaushal/Ahmedabad Mirror.com

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Next generation of airport security to take off soon

Mumbai: Airport security in India will go beyond X-ray machines, CCTVs, perimeter patrolling and sniffer dogs. Liquid screeners and radiation detection devices will be part of the security infrastructure in major airports of the country.
“The International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) has already identified some of the new and emerging threats as attacks with biological, chemical and nuclear material weapons (BCN) and our airports should be ready to meet such threats," said P Mohanan, former ICAO aviation security auditor.
He will deliver a lecture on the evolving threats in civil aviation and latest technology in the Third Annual World Class Airports Conference to be held in Dubai later this month.
The significant addition to airport security in the near future would be equipment based on Liquid Screening Technology (LST) which could change the way air passengers pack their handbags.
While using a Liquid Explosive Detector, the suspected liquid item needs to be removed from the bag for inspection. But an LST works on the agnetic resonance imaging principle, and can detect an explosive liquid inside the bag.
29/11/09 Manju V/Economic Times

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Foreign airlines in Kolkata look to middle east, SE for traffic

Kolkata: At a time when several foreign airlines have closed shop in Kolkata, Air Asia has announced that it's starting a daily flight to Kuala Lumpur from Thursday. This comes on the heels of UAE's national carrier Emirates increasing its number of flights from Kolkata to Dubai from seven to 12 from December 3.
But Kolkata has lost many other airlines, and the city has lost its link with many international destinations. British Airways flew for the last time from Kolkata to London in March, after 80 years of service. In April, Gulf Air too left the city after operating for three years. The city no longer has a direct flight to London, which has brought down passenger traffic at an already low-profile Netaji Subash Chandra Bose International Airport. On an average, there are 3,000 international passengers entering and exiting Kolkata on a daily basis.
Air India's flight to London goes via Delhi as the airline too discontinued its direct flight in October 2008.
"British Airways was facing a dip in traffic, which could have been the reason behind their decision to leave the city," said FC Oraon, deputy general manager (APT), Airports Authority of India.
One reason why Emirates has increased its flights could be that Dawoodi Bohra community's 99-year-old spiritual leader, Syedna Mohammed Burhanuddin Saheb, may visit the city in the middle of December to inaugurate a mosque at Topsia.
International traffic is getting heavily tilted towards
20/11/09 Lavina Mangat/Financial Express

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Jaipur sees 81.5% flyer growth

New Delhi: Small town India has grown wings again. With the Indian economy improving, latest city-wise air traffic figures collected by the Airports Authority of India (AAI) show that the metros reported a maximum of 33.4% growth this August over last August. But small town flyers—who had almost vanished in the slowdown—are now back with a vengeance and reporting huge growth numbers.
For instance, Jaipur saw over a lakh flyers this August while the figure was just 56,738 last August, a growth of 81.5%. Port Blair saw the number jump by 74% from 17,754 to almost 31,000 this August. Patna saw a jump of 79%. The highest growth was reported in sun city Jodhpur with a huge 522% with the number going from just 1,583 to 9,847. The second highest jump was 198%. The revived growth saw airlines reintroducing flights which were cancelled during the slowdown.
Metros, on the other hand, had a higher base and so the growth was limited to about 30%. With a new runway and enhanced aircraft handling capacity, Delhi saw a jump of 28% while Kolkata led the metro pack at 34.3%.
Clearly the authorities are heaving a sigh of relief as the slump had led to growth plans of the entire Indian aviation industry going awry.
20/11/09 Saurabh Sinha/Times of India

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Amritsar NGO peaved at indifference to Vancouver–Amritsar flights

Amritsar: Amritsar Vikas Manch has gratitude to the Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and other dignitaries for visiting the Golden Temple Amritsar but wondered at the chosen silence of the SGPC and the ruling SAD-BJP leadership over the high-pitch demand for Air Canada Vancouver–Amritsar–Vancouver Flights before the visiting Prime Minister.
In a joint statement AVM Patrons Prof. Mohan Singh and Dr. Charanjit Singh Gumtala has expressed wonderment at the lamented over Air India’s curtailment of Amritsar – London – Toronto existing daily flights to only four a week in spite of heavy bookings and absence of any protest from the Punjab Govt.
They added that demand for flights from Amritsar - Vancouver, Singapore, Melbourne, Milan and Birmingham was also raised by them in the committee meeting headed by Dr. M.S. Gill to promote development of the Amritsar Airport last year by the central government where assurance was given by then Air India executive director D.S. Kohli that such fights would be introduced after new carriers, in the pipe line, were added to their fleet. It is amazing that the assurance has not been executed although new planes have now been added to Air India.
19/11/09 Punjab Newsline

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AAI to raise Rs 1,200 cr for airport upgradation

Airports Authority of India (AAI) will borrow Rs 1,200 crore in the next four months to fund expansion and upgradation of airports across the country. A decision to this effect was finalised by the AAI board on Wednesday.
The move comes close on the heels of the Finance Ministry rejecting a proposal from AAI to raise Rs 5,500 crore through tax-free bonds.
The debt will be raised in several tranches. It is understood that ICICI Bank and Axis Bank will be part of the team of lead arrangers helping AAI raise debt. AK Capital will act as advisor for the borrowing plan. The funds are required for investment in expansion of Chennai, Kolkata and 35 non-metro airports.
AAI chairman VP Agarwal confirmed that the borrowing plan was cleared by the board, but did not divulge further details. The board meeting was attended by representatives of the civil aviation ministry and director general of civil aviation SNA Zaidi.
AAI might have to bear higher cost of funds now as compared to the earlier proposal of tax-free bonds. AAI has already been rated and there are no difficulties in raising debt, highly-placed civil aviation ministry sources said.
“This was the only option left since the Finance Ministry did not clear the tax-free bonds proposal,” they added. AK Capital was shortlisted last year to assist AAI in its borrowing plan, but the final decision got delayed since the authority was waiting for the finance ministry’s decision.
AAI had urged the Civil Aviation Ministry to allow borrowing through tax-free bonds, since the money was being invested in airport infrastructure. This facility was being allowed for other organisations dealing with infrastructure, was AAI’s argument.
19/11/09 Faizan Khan/Economic Times

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241 bird hits reported so far this year

Despite safety measures in place, airports continue to be vulnerable to bird hits, with 241 such incidents occurring till date this year causing financial losses of at least Rs.7 crore to airline operators, the government said Wednesday.
The National Bird Control Committee (NBCC), a body to address the serious safety issues of bird hits resulting in aircraft accidents, has said such incidents have been increasing over the years.
'In 2006, 167 bird strikes were reported, in 2007, 217 and in 2008, 304. This year till October, 241 bird strikes have been reported to the DGCA (Directorate General of Civil Aviation),' the civil aviation ministry said in a statement.
In 2008, till October, there were 277 bird hits.
This year, Air India has reported 24 bird hits, Jet Airways 49, Kingfisher Airlines 60, Indigo 27, SpiceJet 30, Paramount one, GoAir seven, various international carriers 34, and other aircraft six, the aviation ministry said.
SpiceJet has suffered financial losses of Rs.5.57 crore on account of bird hits, while Jet Airways has lost Rs.8.91 lakh, Indigo Rs.87 lakh, and GoAir Rs.45.6 lakh.
'Figures from Air India and Kingfisher Airlines are not currently available,' the statement said.
18/11/09 IANS/Sify

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Fine for slaughtering in open near airport hiked to prevent bird hits

New Delhi: Slaughtering in the open or leaving carcasses exposed within a 15 km radius of an airport will now attract a hefty fine along with imprisonment of up to three months. Since these activities attract birds and have made bird hits quite common endangering lives of lakhs of air travellers the government has hiked the fine for the offence to Rs 1 lakh. The aviation ministry and the DGCA have amended the Aircraft Act to provide for this penalty, which will have to be implemented by the airport operator and local civic agencies.
The airport environment management committees at three critical places Delhi, Mumbai and Nagpur will meet soon to focus on the growing menace of bird hits and animal incursions. Ahmedabad has been rated to be the worst affected airport.
In 2006, one hundred and sixty seven incidents were reported. This went up to 217 and 304 in 2007 and 2008, respectively. This year till October, 241 bird strikes have been reported.
19/11/09 Times of India

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