Alliance Air to start flights on Guwahati-Dimapur-Imphal sector

Guwahati: Coming as a huge relief to fliers in Northeast, Alliance Air has proposed to commence flight services on the Guwahati-Dimapur-Imphal-Dimapur-Guwahati sector with effect from December 7.

Alliance Air, a subsidiary of Air India, has been awarded the route under RCS-UDAN round 3, informed a letter from Vineet Bhalla, manager (marketing) for Airline Allied Services Ltd, to executive director (RCS), AAI, New Delhi.
The flights will be operated on every Wednesday, Friday and Sunday, and the frequency "shall be increased to daily in due course", informed the letter.
30/11/19 East Mojo

Read More

KIA's new runway gets an indigenous visibility system

The 50th Drishti Transmissometer was installed for India Meteorological Department (IMD) at Kempegowda International Airport (KIA), Bengaluru, on Friday.
Four Drishti systems are being installed for the new runway at KIA. Two sophisticated Aviation Weather Monitoring system will be installed next week and made available on a single computer for Air Traffic Control room and pilots, according to sources.
Drishti Transmissometer, the indigenous cost-effective visibility measuring system, has been developed at the workshop of National Aerospace Laboratories, Bengaluru. As the Drishti system is web-enabled, maintenance may be carried out from any location in the country. None of the Drishti systems, including the first one installed at Indira Gandhi International Airport, New Delhi, in 2011, has failed so far.
The Drishti Transmissometer won the first Make in India National Award in 2015.
30/11/19 Harsha/Deccan Herald

Read More

AAI proposes prepaid taxi service at Surat airport

Surat: Like airports in metro cities, Surat international airport too will have prepaid taxi service to facilitate travel of passengers shortly. Airports Authority of India (AAI) has written to city police to approve prepaid taxi service at the airport.
According to latest data of AAI, about 1.20 lakh passengers travelled to and from Surat airport to domestic and international destinations in October. The total number of aircraft movements recorded was 1,457 in October alone.
Sources said more than 4,000 passengers have been travelling to and from Surat airport to various destinations every day. Majority of outstation passengers arriving in the city are facing problems due to non-availability of taxi service.
Official sources said transportation is the biggest stumbling block at Surat airport. Recently, Surat Municipal Corporation (SMC) extended BRTS services to the airport, but increase in flight frequency is not matching with bus timings.
30/11/19 Times of India

Read More

Flyers forgot gold bars, jewellery at Ahmedabad airport

Ahmedabad: In the hurry and rush at the airport, forgetting personal belongings is common, but flyers forgetting gold bars certainly comes across as a shocker. Gold and other precious metal and jewellery are among the many items forgotten by passengers at the city airport. When unclaimed, precious metals are usually auctioned off by the Airports Authority of India (AAI), according to protocol.
Apart from jewellery, the list of unclaimed gold articles at the city airport in 2019 till June, also included three gold bars. Thanks to this, the volume of unclaimed gold items by passengers in 2019 (till June) was as high as 410 gram – a 141.8% spike against 169.5g gold last year. “This year, the unclaimed gold items include three gold bars that cumulatively weigh 300g and therefore, the volume of gold items that remained unclaimed is significantly higher,” said a source. Amid rising cases of gold smuggling owing to high gold prices, sources said that the bars could have remained unclaimed because they had been brought in through unofficial channels.
Gold price stood at Rs 39,180 per 10 gram on Friday. Accordingly, the gold articles that were unclaimed from January to June 2019 at Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International (SVPI) airport in Ahmedabad were worth Rs 16 lakh.
30/11/19 Niyati Parikh/Times of India

Read More

Jewar: Real estate players hope airport will get growth on track

Noida: Forward movement on the Jewar airport has given some impetus to the real estate industry, which hopes the project will spur demand.
“This will be a great boost for connectivity in the area, which will lead to a lot of potential for commerce, residential development and the hospitality sector. It can develop as a good residential option… and we can expect growth in population density,” Jaxay Shah, national chairman, Confederation of Real Estate Developers Association of India (CREDAI), said.
Jagannarayan Padmanabhan, practice leader at CRISIL, said in a statement: “It will be important that all external connectivity issues are addressed on a war footing and an unencumbered site for the development of the new airport is also given to the concessionaire at the earliest.”
Getamber Anand, MD, ATS Infrastructure, said it was clear that the “Noida story has arrived”.
“It will be an exciting time since an international company will be building it. Noida will be on the path to become a global town in the coming five years. With the airport, jobs will be created since the manufacturing sector will also kick off. All of these factors are positives for the region.”
30/11/19 Indian Express

Read More

Kolkata airport to crunch space in sky to pack in more landings

Kolkata: The air navigation team at Kolkata airport is set to compress the space between two incoming flights to pack in more arrivals and departures per hour.
At present, arriving flights are required to maintain a minimum distance of 13km from each other in the sky as they queue up for touchdown. Controllers are working on an SOP that will reduce the separation to 11km. This will enable successive flights to land at shorter intervals.

“A maximum of 35 flights can operate in an hour at Kolkata airport now. By tightening the space between successive flight arrivals, planes can land at an interval of 3 minutes instead of 4 minutes at present. This will help us increase the hourly flight count to 42, thereby improving the runway efficiency by 20%,” said regional executive director (east) S P Yadav.

With one departure between two arrivals, the airport will be able to handle 28 arrivals and 14 departures an hour once the new SOP kicks in.

Airport capacity enhancement to come in handy as flights get added at a rapid pace

Airports Authority of India general manager (air traffic control) R S Lahauria said while Kolkata airport is not stressed at present, the capacity enhancement will come in handy as flights get added at a rapid pace. “All airlines want more slots in peak hours. If we put in place the new SOP, we can pack in more fights and meet the demand,” he said.

The decrease in separation will, however, mean less time for both pilots and controllers to take a decision and react in a dynamic scenario. It will also mean clear and precise radio instructions from controllers that pilots can immediately understand. The training of controllers is already underway.

“We have started trials that will continue for at least a month and a half. We expect to put the new procedure in place early next year,” said Lahauria.

Work has also begun on extending taxiway F that will save departing flights both time and fuel. It will also be a huge relief when the secondary runway is in operation because restrictions on taxiway A during this period reduces the handling capacity of the airport to 15 flights an hour.
30/11/19 Subhro Niyogi/Times of India

Read More

Zurich Airports win bid to build, operate Jewar airport for 40 years

New Delhi: Zurich Airports has won the contract to build and operate Jewar Airport in Greater Noida, which will act as the second airport for Delhi, for a period of 40 years that includes construction period of four years in the first phase.
 “Under a 40-year concession, Flughafen Zürich AG will build and manage the new greenfield airport in Jewar. The capital investments associated with the first phase is expected to amount to roughly CHF 650 million (about Rs 4,670 crore) during the construction period of approximately four years in the first phase,” said a statement from Flughafen Zürich AG, which currently holds 100% of the project.
 The first phase will be able to accommodate around 12 million passengers per year. Besides the necessary capital investments in the infrastructure, Flughafen Zürich AG shall pay a fixed passenger fee to the state-owned authority starting on the sixth anniversary of commissioning of the new airport, read a statement from the airport operator.
 Sources said that the company defeated all the other three bidders by far by offering a revenue share of Rs 400.97 per passenger to the authority. The GMR group-led Delhi International Airport Ltd offered to pay Rs 351 per passenger to the authority. Among the other two, the Adani Group offered to pay Rs 360 and Anchorage I&I offered to pay Rs 205 per passenger.
30/11/19 Economic Times

Read More

Will Zurich's bid for Jewar airport challenge IGIA's monopoly?

New Delhi: Flughafen Zurich winning the bid for the proposed Jewar airport in Uttar Pradesh is likely to bring a paradigm change to India’s airport sector, threatening monopolies for the first time, said sector experts.

If the project is completed on time, Jewar airport — projected as the second such facility for the National Capital Region — will compete with GMR-owned Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) from 2023 to attract air traffic. This could be a threat to IGIA’s monopoly on air traffic in north India, which has made it the crown jewel in GMR Infrastructure’s airport portfolio.
Zurich Airport offered a revenue share of Rs 400.97 per passenger. GMR, which had the right of first refusal (RoFR), offered Rs 351 per passenger. It would have had the chance to match the highest bid only if its offer was within 10 per cent of it.

“GMR’s bid was aggressive and rightly so, as they were desperate to win it because of a lot of synergy it offers with IGIA. That Zurich was able to outbid GMR, which had a RoFR, is something extraordinary. It doesn’t happen every day,” said an executive of a financial institution which invests in infrastructure projects.
Jewar is about 80 km from IGIA.

A six-year-long moratorium over concession fees to be paid to the government may give a buffer to Zurich. But, in the long term, completion of the project on time will determine its ability to compete with Delhi, said experts.

“The winning bid marks the re-entry of Zurich Airport in India. What is defining is the entry of an experienced player in a market that has GMR, GVK, Fairfax, and Adani. Their bidding number underscores their understanding of the Indian market and how important they think it is,” said Sidharath Kapur, former executive director at GMR Airports.
Capacity crunch in Delhi and Zurich’s ability to offer better services may make Jewar airport popular among India’s airlines that are frantically expanding their fleets but facing infrastructure crunch at major airports.

Delhi Airport is currently undergoing a Rs 9,000-crore upgrade to increase its capacity from 70 million fliers per annum to 100 million by 2022.

“After 2022, when Delhi finishes its fourth runway and terminal expansion, it has limited capability to expand capacity. Naturally, airlines and customers will have no other option,” said an airline executive.
30/11/19 Arindam Majumder/Business Standard

Read More

Mohali businessmen raise concern over decrease in flights at Chandigarh airport

Mohali: With several domestic and international flights from Chandigarh International Airport getting cancelled, business fraternity in Mohali fears that poor connectivity will affect investments coming to the city.

The president of Mohali Industries Association (MIA) Yogesh Sagar, said that they had approached the Punjab and Haryana High Court for increasing the flights from the international airport following which more domestic and international flights were started.

“But now, with the decreasing number of flights, the connectivity will become poor and it stop the investors who are keen to come to Mohali. On the one hand, infrastructure is being developed in Mohali by claiming that the city has one of the best connectivity, but on the other hand there are negligible flights,” Yogesh Sagar told Chandigarh Newsline.

This year almost all the international flights from Chandigarh have stopped operations expect one flight to Dubai.

As many as 10 flights of Jet Airways were cancelled from April this year. The flights to Indore, Jaipur, Lucknow and the one to Hisar have also been cancelled.

Two flights to Mumbai, international flights to Dubai and Bangkok have also stalled operations.
30/11/19 Indian Express

Read More

Fog affects flights at Kempegowda airport

Bengaluru: Poor visibility conditions at the Kempegowda International Airport (KIA) played havoc with flight schedules on Sunday morning. Numerous flights were cancelled, with Indigo alone cancelling 44 flights, while six flights were diverted to neighbouring airports of Hyderabad and Chennai.  Schedule of all other flights were disrupted between 7.30 am and 10.30 am, with 16 arriving flights delayed while 15 departing flights suffered delays.

According to a statement from the airport operator, Bangalore International Airport Limited (BIAL), four of the diversions were to Hyderabad airport while two were to Chennai airport. Ramesh Babu, Director, Aviation Forecasting, KIA, said that poor weather conditions that began at 6.50 am hit a low at 7.35 am when the Runway visibility touched 425 metres as fog set in. “Flights can land only when the runway visibility is atleast 550 metres and so flights could not do so for nearly 50 minutes in the morning. This dim visibility continued upto 8.15 am. Similar conditions are expected to prevail upto January end.”
30/11/19 New Indian Express

Read More

Pilot did grass-landing at Bengaluru airport at 155m visibility

Bengaluru: On November 11, when a GoAir flight veered off the runway and landed on grass at Bengaluru airport, the visibility was only 155 metres. However, as per norms, it should be at least 550 metres for the Air Traffic Control to give a go-ahead for landing, airport sources said.
It was a scary experience for 180 passengers on board G8 811 from Nagpur to Bengaluru at 7.30am. Sources said “as the pilot was approaching the runway, visibility dropped to around 155 metres, which is not suitable for landing a plane”.
After veering off the runway at Kempegowda International Airport, it took off and landed at Hyderabad, allegedly without keeping ATC in the loop immediately. On November 11, operations of 56 other flights were disrupted due to dense fog and low visibility at the airport.
An inquiry ordered by aviation regulatory authority Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) into the incident is still under progress.
30/11/19 Swathy R Iyer/Times of India

Read More

Bihar govt to provide land near Patna airport for parallel bay

Patna: The state government has agreed to hand over around 20 acres of land near Patna airport to Airports Authority of India (AAI) for development of a bay parallel to the runway. It was decided at the meeting held between AAI chairman Arvind Singh and chief secretary Deepak Kumar here on Friday.
Also, the AAI committed to the state government that bidding process to rope in a firm for construction of civil enclave at Bihta airbase will commence in January. The state government has already given 108 acres of land near the existing Air Force airbase at Bihta for a civil enclave to pave way for commencement of commercial flight operations from there.

Also, the AAI told the state government that private airlines have decided to operate low-cost flights from Darbhanga airbase by January 15. Besides, the state government has agreed to transfer land at Purnea airstrip for required infrastructure and amenities to start flight operations under the Udaan scheme.

“The AAI wants to develop a bay parallel to the existing runway to provide additional space for taxiway of aircraft at the time of landing and take-off. This will help in decongesting the runway and saving time during landing and take-off. The AAI sought around 20 acres of land towards the existing terminal building for this purpose and we agreed. While majority of the land belongs to the state government, a part of it is owned by ICAR. We will request ICAR to cooperate for the same,” Deepak told TOI.
He said the AAI has also committed to make a part of the upcoming state-of-the-art new terminal building at the city airport ready in a year. “We have been told that work is progressing in time-bound manner,” Deepak said.
30/11/19 Piyush Tripathi/Times of India

Read More

3rd aerobridge at Raja Bhoj airport to start by next month

Bhopal: After a gap of almost five years, Bhopal is set to witness installation of yet another aerobridge at the Raja Bhoj airport. The third aerobridge will be functional by the end of next month.

Notably, two aerobridges were installed at Bhopal airport in 2014. The need of yet another aerobridge was felt after the number of flights and passenger footfall increased manifold this year.


The Airports Authority of India (AAI) has already floated tenders for the fourth aerobridge to be installed at Raja Bhoj airport. The airport had received the AAI nod for installation of the fourth aerobridge in May, earlier this year.

"When passengers' strength increases, it becomes imperative to have more aerobridges. At present, we have two operational aerobridges at the airport. The third aerobridge is under construction which will be functional by next month," said airport director, Anil Vikram.

Airport officials said the third aerobridge was imported at a cost of around Rs 8 crore. The two operational aerobridges were installed by an Indonesian firm in 2014. T he traffic movement at Bhopal airport witnessed a sharp increase after two more airlines began operations from here in January, earlier this year. According to official information, there are about 35-40 daily flights to and from the Bhopal airport being operated by Air India, IndiGo and SpiceJet airlines.

The number of flights is expected to increase further in the next month and the airport requires one more aerobridge to handle the passenger rush.

Bhopal airport officials said that the airport is presently handling passengers that are around one-third of its passenger capacity, which is 8.1 lakh passengers annually. The airport can handle up to 2.5 million passengers per year.
30/11/19 Ramendra Singh/Times of India

Read More

Air connectivity boosts tourism in Mysuru

Mysuru: Augmentation of flights from Mysuru, up from one to seven, in the last six months, has shored up air connectivity to the City of Palaces, surrounding tourist spots and it is expected to give further boost to tourism sector and industries to come up in the region.
 TruJet introduced the Chennai-Mysuru-Chennai flight which is the second flight to Chennai in view of the high originating air passenger traffic to that sector.
With this, Mysuru has two flights to Chennai – a morning and an evening flight – apart from air services to Goa, Hyderabad, Kochi and Bengaluru. Stakeholders are of the opinion that UDAN’s regional connectivity scheme has helped put Mysuru on the air map of India and bring out the latent potential of the air passenger traffic.
The introduction of the first non-UDAN flight is a reinforcement of the confidence of the latent air passenger traffic load which is now being tapped and the air services are here to stay for the long term, according to officials.
 “There is no looking back now as flight operations have gained tremendous traction since last few months and airline operators are convinced of the passenger potential’’, said R Manjunath, Director, Mysuru Airport. He pointed out that the passenger load factor was consistently high, which gave confidence to the airline operators.
30/11/19 UNI

Read More

DIAL paid Rs 16,700 crore leasing fees to AAI between FY07 and FY19: Govt

The GMR Group-led Delhi Airport International Limited (DIAL) has paid total leasing fees of Rs 16,700 crore to the Airports Authority of India (AAI) between 2006-07 and 2018-19, Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri told Parliament on Thursday.
Since April 2006, GMR Group owns 64 per cent, AAI 26 per cent and Fraport AG owns 10 per cent of DIAL, which operates and manages the Delhi airport.
DIAL has to pay the AAI an annual fee at the rate of 45.99 per cent of projected revenue for each year, and therefore, it has paid Rs 16,700.11 crore to AAI during the period of 2006-07 to 2018-19, Puri said in written reply to a question.
28/11/19 Business Standard

Read More

Airport Carbon Accreditation programme rates three Indian airports carbon neutral

At least 288 airports have joined the global carbon accreditation programme and registered a collective CO2 reduction of over 320,000 tonnes or 4.9 per cent in 2018. Of these, 61 airports are carbon neutral, says the latest annual results published by Airport Carbon Accreditation, a body launched by ACI Europe in 2009 and now global in membership. Three airports in India—Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi, Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport in Mumbai and Rajiv Gandhi International Airport in Hyderabad—are rated carbon neutral

The past reporting year, running from May 2018 to May 2019, ended with 274 accredited airports worldwide, an increase of 16% over the previous year. Since May this year, 14 more airports have joined the programme and became certified at one of its four levels of accreditation (mapping, reduction, optimisation and neutrality). Out of the 288 member airports, 147 are in Europe, 53 in Asia-Pacific, 47 in North America, 27 in Latin America and the Caribbean, and 14 in Africa.

 “It has been a decade since the launch of the programme and it keeps on growing – both in the number of airports coming on board and in the level of ambition for carbon management. In its tenth year, 49 participating airports upgraded to a more demanding level of accreditation, the highest ever reported,” said ACI World director general Angela Gittens in a media release ahead of the 13th edition of ACI Airport Exchange in Abu Dhabi.
29/11/19 DownToEarth

Read More

UP In Discussion With Centre For Airport In Ayodhya: Hardeep Singh Puri

New Delhi: Union Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri on Thursday said that Uttar Pradesh government is in discussion with the centre for the development of an airport in Ayodhya.
"The Uttar Pradesh government has initiated discussions with the Government of India for the development of an airport at Ayodhya," Mr Puri said.

The Union Minister said that the state government had shown interest in developing an airport in Ayodhya.

The demand for an airport to be constructed at Ayodhya has been raised quite a few times in the past.
29/11/19 ANI/NDTV

Read More

Indigo Airlines Willing To Operate Mysuru-Mangaluru Flight

Mysuru: Very soon, flights from Mysuru to Coastal City of Mangaluru will be a reality and this flight will boost business in the region. Indigo Airlines has expressed interest in operating flight on this sector.

A meeting in this regard was held yesterday evening between FKCCI (Federation of Karnataka Chambers of Commerce and Industry) former President Sudhakar S. Shetty and Indigo Airlines Director Giridhar at Mysore Airport in Mandakalli where Shetty requested Giridhar to operate flights as the route has good potential. 

Sudhakar Shetty told Giridhar that Mysuru is home for more than 65,000 people who are natives of Dakshina Kannada region and every day, more than 20 Volvo buses travel from Mysuru and Mangaluru. Added, there are many private bus and taxi operators ferrying passengers between the two cities. For these, a regular flight service will be a boon as it saves a lot of time, he opined.

Also, there are many farmers and businessmen in Mysuru and Mangaluru regions who have business interests in Kuwait and other Arab Nations and a flight to Mangaluru will help them. It will help people to reach Kasargod from Mangaluru as it takes just one hour to reach Kasargod from Mangaluru in a bus.
28/11/19 Star of Mysore

Read More

Flights galore but not enough facilities at Aurangabad airport

Aurangabad: While the flight operations to and from Aurangabad airport have received a shot in the arm with a number of air service providers connecting the city to other metropolitans in the last six months, there is still room for improvement in terms of the facilities at the airport.
Tasvvar Ali, coordinator for GIZ in Aurangabad and a regular flier, feels that the number of security checking gates at the airport should be increased.
Giving an account of his experience at the airport last week, Ali said that the long queues of passengers at the airport was a major disappointment. “I had to take a flight to Hyderabad, which was scheduled at 5.15 pm, and had reached the airport at 3.30 pm. However, I had to stand for an hour for the security check-in. Though the number of flights has increased, the ground facilities are same as before,” he said.

Other passengers complained that besides improving other facilities like the lounge and the waiting room, the airport needed to up its game in terms of food and beverage facilities.

Notably, after the grounding of Jet Airways flights to Mumbai in March, the city was only connected to Delhi, Mumbai and Hyderabad with one Delhi-Aurangabad-Mumbai flight (operated by Air India) and a Trujet flight to Hyderabad.
29/11/19 Arpita Sharad/Times of India

Read More

JPNI airport: 9 flights to be withdrawn from December 1

Patna: Altogether nine flights will be withdrawn from the Jayaprakash Narayan International (JPNI) Airport, owing to poor visibility conditions during the winter season. A revised winter schedule, which was approved by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation and released by the airport on Tuesday, will be made effective from December 1.
According to airport officials, IndiGo, GoAir and SpiceJet have proposed to withdraw three, four and two flights, respectively, on different routes because of the onset of winter conditions. Flights will operate only between 9am and 9pm.

GoAir executives claimed that altogether eight of their flights would operate in the winter season.

“The withdrawn flights have temporarily been suspended till March-end. These include G8-143/273 (Delhi-Patna-Bengaluru route), G8-135/136 and G8-147/150 (Patna-Delhi route) and G8-274/144 (Bengaluru-Patna-Delhi route),” an executive said.

As per the winter schedule, IndiGo’s 6E-494/6367 and 6E-2039/2041 (Patna-Delhi route) and 6E-688/689 (Kolkata-Patna-Kolkata route) and SpiceJet’s SG-6425 (Patna-Mumbai route) and SG-6425 (Patna-Kolkata route) will remain suspended in the winter season. The city airport will now handle 42 arrivals and 42 departures every day.
28/11/19 Faryal Rumi/Times of India

Read More

Bengaluru to be 2nd busiest airport, Mumbai to slip to 3rd position

New Delhi: Bengaluru’s Kempegowda International Airport (KIA), whose second runway will be operational from December 5, is set to handle more flights per day than Mumbai by next winter, pushing Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport to the third position.
Delhi’s IGI Airport, which overtook Mumbai in 2009 to become India’s busiest, will retain the top slot for several years — possibly, decades — to come.
With its two cross runways, Mumbai is handling its peak capacity of 960 flights a day — a figure that has touched the 1,000-mark on a few occasions.
In winter, Bengaluru to handle 731 flights daily
But it has no capacity to handle more flights with its air traffic controllers putting in efforts to make it the world’s busiest single-runway airport.
In the current winter schedule, Bengaluru will be handling 731 flights per day. “Once the second runway becomes operational on December 5, KIA will see its flight handling capacity rise significantly. While Mumbai can’t go beyond the 970-mark, KIA will overtake this figure by next winter,” said a senior ATC official.
Bengaluru airport did not give projections on how it expects daily aircraft movement to rise once the second runway gets operational.
Delhi airport, on the other hand, is going to get its fourth runway by summer of 2021. Next summer, it will be handling 1,515 daily flights with three runways.
28/11/19 Saurabh Sinha/Times of India

Read More

DIAL, Adani Enterprises, 2 others clear technical criteria for Jewar airport; decision on Friday

Noida: All four bidders for the Jewar airport have qualified technical criteria and the concessionaire for the Rs 29,560-crore project would be finalised on Friday, officials said on Wednesday.
The Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL), the Zurich Airport International AG, the Adani Enterprises Limited and the Anchorage Infrastructure Investments Holdings Limited are the four bidders who have expressed interest to develop the international airport, a senior official said.
"A technical evaluation of the bidders was done during a meeting of the Project Monitoring and Implementation Committee (PMIC) held under the chairmanship of the chief secretary to the Uttar Pradesh government in Lucknow today and all four bidders have qualified the criteria," Nodal Officer, Noida International Airport Limited (NIAL), Shailendra Bhatia said.
He said the financial bid will be opened on November 29 at 3 pm at NIAL's office in Greater Noida and the concessionaire for the airport finalised.
A global tender was floated to hire a developer for the proposed airport on May 30 by the NIAL, an agency floated by the Uttar Pradesh government for managing the mega project in Gautam Buddh Nagar district.
27/11/19 PTI/Economic Times

Read More

Airport scrambles to maintain international tag

Chandigarh: With only one flight connecting it to a foreign destination, the Chandigarh international airport is scrambling to keep up with its international tag.

Sharjah is now the only international destination connected to Chandigarh as IndiGo Airlines has suspended its flight to Dubai for two months, beginning December 14. Last week, Air India also suspended a morning flight between Chandigarh and Delhi till January.

In fact, in the past, several flights from the airport have been cancelled.
In 2018, an Air India flight to Bangkok was cancelled. In 2019, connectivity to several domestic destinations — Jaipur, Lucknow and Indore — was lost as Jet Airways shut down operations.
IndiGo Airlines is also set to discontinue its Kolkata-Chandigarh-Srinagar flight, cutting off direct air connectivity between Kolkata and Chandigarh completely.
Another flight — between Hisar and Chandigarh — launched on September 3 under the Civil Aviation Ministry’s ambitious UDAN scheme, operated for just two weeks.
“Why this happened, we can’t say, it is up to the Haryana Government,” said airport spokesperson Prince Dildar. According to sources, IndiGo and Air India flights have been cancelled due to frequent disruptions during winter.
“The Air India flight to Delhi served as a connecting flight to other destinations. If the flight from Chandigarh is four hours late, then the passengers will miss the connecting flight. So this was done to facilitate the passengers who can now use other modes of transport,” said a source.
26/11/19 Kaveesha Kohli/Tribune

Read More

Kalaburagi-Mysuru flight from December

Travelling to Mysuru from Kalaburagi will become easier from next month as Air India’s subsidiary Alliance Air will operate flights under the Ude Desh Ka Aam Naagrik (UDAN) scheme from the airport.
Operations at the Kalaburagi Airport commenced on November 22. Alliance Air Flight AI 9893, which used to operate on the Mysuru-Kochi route, will now be deployed on the Kalaburagi-Mysuru route.
Earlier this week, Flight AI 9893 was cancelled on the Mysuru-Kochi route due to the re-carpeting work on the runway at Kochi airport. There will be no flights between the two cities till March of next year.
Though the daytime flights at Kochi airport have been rescheduled to night hours, operators could not
accommodate the Mysuru-Kochi flight on its schedule.
27/11/19 Bangalore Mirror

Read More

CAG flags loopholes in airport security

Chandigarh: Even as airports in most parts of the country are facing a high level of threat perception, the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has flagged several loopholes in the aviation security establishment.

The situation at two hyper-sensitive airports, two sensitive airports and one airport where only chartered flights and helicopters were operating, all under the jurisdiction of the Airports Authority of India (AAI), was scrutinised by the CAG. The report, tabled this week, did not identify the airports.

“The AAI has been slow in procuring and installing security equipment and technology as mandated by the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) for enhancing the efficiency of security personnel in responding to security breaches and also provide a high level of protection to persons and property at the airport,” the CAG observed.
“Delays were noticed in assessment and procurement of major security equipment required for security check. Despite lapse of considerable time, some of the security equipment and technology is yet to be procured or installed at selected airports,” the report said.
27/11/19 Vijay Mohan/Tribune

Read More

Six experts to study Jewar airport impact on wildlife for green plan

Jewar: Over the next six months, six experts from the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) in Dehradun will fan out across a 25km radius from Jewar, where NCR’s second airport is coming up, to study the environmental impact of the project on the biodiversity-rich area. A conservation plan for the area should be ready by June next year.
“Our team is stationed in Jewar. We’ll be studying the area to come up with a conservation plan for the blackbuck and the sarus crane, a vulnerable species, in the region. We will not, however, limit our study to these but branch out to every endangered species we come across during our study… We are meticulously sampling of flora and fauna – what type, how many varieties, what kind and the total numbers,” said Dr Bilal Habib, who is heading the study.
In August this year, the WII and the airport project’s nodal agency, Noida International Airport Limited (NIAL), had signed a 10-month memorandum of understanding to conduct the study. An interim report on the project, with preliminary observations on ways to protect of the region’s biodiversity, was submitted on October 30 and an inception report may be submitted by the end of this month.
27/11/19 Meenakshi Sinha/Times of India

Read More

Union Cabinet allots land for ceremonial lounge at Tirupati airport in Andhra Pradesh

New Delhi:  The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved the allotment of 1800 square metres of land belonging to the Airport Authority of India (AAI) for the construction of a ceremonial lounge at Tirupati airport.

The land will be given to the Andhra Pradesh Education and Welfare Infrastructure Development Corporation (APEWIDC) for a period of 15 years at a licence fee of Rs 1 per annum.

"Tirupati being abode of Lord Shri Venkateswara is frequently visited by VVIPs/VIPs. Construction of a ceremonial lounge will offer better amenities to the visitors. The ceremonial lounge will be maintained by APEWIDC," said the government press release.
27/11/19 PTI/New Indian Express

Read More

AAI unions to stage protest against airports privatisation

Mumbai: The joint forum of AAI unions and associations will take out a protest march at New Delhi's Jantar Mantar on Thursday against airports privatisation.
Last year, the government had decided to privatise airports in Lucknow, Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Mangaluru, Thiruvananthapuram, and Guwahati for operation, management and development through public-private partnership (PPP) model.
The forum alleges that the government has "unilaterally" decided to privatise dozens of profit-making airports, which is neither in public interest nor for better management of these aerodromes.
The AAI manages around 120 airports in the country with a workforce of around 17,000. The AAI unions/associations recently formed the forum to protect and safeguard the AAI and interests of its employees besides explaining the impact of the privatisation.
The forum comprises the Airports Authority of India (AAI) employees union, Airports Authority Officers Association and Indian Airports Kamgar Union.
The joint forum of unions and associations of AAI has written letter to you urging to review the decision of AAI Board to recommend dozen of airports to privatise as the recommendation of the board is not in public interest or in the interest of better management of airports.
"The forum has (therefore) decided to march to Parliament from Jantar Mantar on November 28 and on December 5 (against privatisation)," the forum said in a notice to AAI chairman Arvind Singh last week.
27/11/19 PTI/Economic Times

Read More

Mock drill conducted at city airport

Amritsar: A mock drill to check the efficacy and preparedness of the airport fire service and other coordinating agencies to handle ‘aircraft crash in airport’ was conducted at the Sri Guru Ram Dass Jee International Airport here on Tuesday.

Officials from airlines, ground handling agencies, state administration, police department, BCAS, CISF and the Airports Authority of India participated in the mock drill. The stake holders conducted an exercise by creating an imaginary scenario of ‘aircraft crash’ at 5 pm and successfully ended at 5.45 pm. Observers from various organisations provided their valuable feedback which was welcomed by the Airports Authority of India for better mitigation of emergency. The exercise ended with vote of thanks from Manoj Chansoria, Airport Director, Airports Authority of India with the message that we hope these incidents may never happen, however, we need to be prepared if and when it happens with close coordination of all the stakeholders.
26/11/19 Tribune

Read More

Lower fares & more flights for Delhiites next summer

New Delhi: Delhiites will have a much larger choice of flights next summer. That will also mean significantly low airfares. The capital will see 1,515 daily flights in the coming summer — up from 1,400 in the ongoing season, Delhi International Airport Pvt Ltd (DIAL) CEO Videh Kumar Jaipuriar told TOI.
“Last winter, we handled 1,314 daily flights at IGIA — 657 arrivals and 657 departures. In the ongoing winter season, we have a schedule of 1,400 daily flights, including 700 arrivals and 700 departures. Coming summer we will see this number rise to 1,515. So in 1.5 years, we will see daily flight schedule rising by over 200 (15%) from 1,314 to 1,515,” said Jaipuriar.
This summer went awry across airports in India with Jet Airways’ closure.
India’s second busiest airport, Mumbai, handles about 960 flights a day. However, Mumbai’s existing airport has no scope for handling more flights.
A top airline official said: “Delhi airport has been constrained, like almost all other big airports in India, for past few years. But IGIA has scope to grow. The almost 10% increase in flight handling capacity will mean airlines adding flights and the increased capacity will lead to lower fares.”
A senior air traffic controller said the new ATC tower and improved processes will bring in more efficiency in aircraft handling.
An airport has to synchronise its flight handling capacity with terminals’ passenger handling capacity as a mismatch will mean either overcrowded terminals or huge delays in flight movement.
While the bigger Terminal 1 will be ready only by June 2022, DIAL is enhancing capacity at T2 and T3 by adding seating capacity (T2) and a check-in island and installing high-speed hand bag scanners (T3). The increased capacity, along with more flights, is expected to bring some respite to Delhiites from airport logjam.
27/11/19 Saurabh Sinha/Times of India

Read More

DGCA conducts breath analyser test at Mumbai airport

Pune: The Directorate General Civil Aviation (DGCA) conducted a surprise breath analyser (BA) examination at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (CSMIA) recently and all personnel tested negative.
Passengers’ safety is the highest priority and is more than just a necessity for GVK-led Mumbai International Airport Ltd (MIAL).
The negative result exhibits the airport’s commitment towards passenger safety measures in compliance with DGCA’s directive.
Without prior notice, DGCA randomly selected on-ground staff for the test; around 17 personnel were tested and were cleared.
In alignment with the latest edict by DGCA, any and every person performing safety-sensitive activities at the airside would be subjected to the breath analyser examination which included personnel from aerodrome operations, aerodrome rescue and fire fighting, ground handling, aircraft maintenance, and ATC.
Breath analyzer examination is a mandatory test to examine the intoxication rate of the airport personnel as a precautionary method towards passenger safety across India.
27/11/19 Vishwas Kothari/Times of India

Read More

Gau-Dmu flight services from Dec 7

Dimapur: In a boost to state and regional air connectivity under UDAN scheme, Civil Aviation ministry has announced flight services from Guwahati to Dimapur and Imphal from December 7, 2019.

Sources informed Nagaland Post that Air India will be operating in these three sectors.

In August last, Union Civil Aviation minister, Hardeep Singh Puri had assured to look into Nagaland Governor, R.N. Ravi’s request to operationalize air services in these sectors, keeping in mind the regional connectivity of North Eastern states.

Ravi had also requested the minister to help early operationalization of Dimapur–Guwahati, Dimapur-Imphal and Dimapur-Dibrugarh air services under Ude Desh ka Aam Nagrik (UDAN) scheme.

Accordingly, the minister directed the concerned officials of the ministry and airlines and assured the Governor to begin flight services in these sectors.

As published in the August 30, 2019 editorial column of this newspaper, it was pointed out that Dimapur airport is among the oldest in the region though civil air services started operation since the mid-seventies when certain states in the region such as Mizoram, Manipur and Meghalaya were not air-linked by regular Indian Airlines service.
27/11/19 Nagaland Post

Read More

Explained: Why the flight service from Imphal to Mandalay is important

Guwahati: Last week, Myanmar’s private airlines Air KBZ kicked off a chartered flight service from Manipur’s state capital Imphal to Myanmar’s second-largest city Mandalay.
On the inaugural flight that flew in on Saturday, officials said, 72 passengers from Myanmar came to Manipur while it departed from Imphal with 48 passengers, including five officials. The maiden flight was welcomed with the traditional water cannon salute, with its photos and videos shared widely on social media.
Manipur education minister Thokchom Radheshyam has said that the chartered flight will be operational thrice a month. He added that the state government is persuading the Ministry of Civil Aviation for granting regular Imphal-Mandalay flight service.
The service is expected to transform the transportation network through Northeast India and boost the regional economy. Mandalay is an important economic centre of Myanmar and the flight service is said to be benefiting both traders and tourists.
“Right now, the service is a chartered flight service. Once it is regularised, then pricing and ticketing will become standardised. It will really help people. Imphal will become an important part of the international travel route,” a top Manipur government official told indianexpress.com over the phone.
26/11/19 Abhishek Saha/Indian Express

Read More

Bengaluru airport ships 41,444 kg marigolds to Dubai

Bengaluru: The Bengaluru airport shipped 41,444 kg of marigold flowers to Dubai, enabling creation of the world's largest flower carpet, an airport official said on Monday. "The flowers were laid out at 'Flowers of Tolerance' at the Dubai Festival City. It has entered the Guinness Book of World Records as the largest natural flower carpet," read a statement by the Kempegowda International Airport.
Sourced from several places in the state capital and adjacent districts, Devanahalli and Chikaballapur, flowers were loaded into a chartered Boeing 777 freighter by DHL Global Forwarding on Friday.
Air India SATS CoolPort kept the flowers fresh and fragrance intact, through temperature monitoring. The airport services company offers integrated perishable cargo handling centre at the airport, providing unbroken modern cold chain infrastructure.
26/11/19 IANS/India TV

Read More

Chd-Dubai flight to be suspended from mid-December

Mohali: The Chandigarh-Dubai-Chandigarh flight from Chandigarh International Airport at Mohali is going to be discontinued temporarily for two months from December 14 onwards.
“The flight operated by Indigo Airlines will remain suspended till February 15, 2020,” said sources.
Frequent disruptions in flight operations during winters is said to be the reason behind the decision of temporarily suspension of the Indigo flight. The airlines had discontinued the international flight for sometime in September 2018 too.
As per the sources, “Frequent delays and diversion of flight to Delhi during foggy days cause losses to the airlines due to which the decision of temporarily suspension of the flight has been taken.”
25/11/19 Tribune

Read More

Tourist arrivals to take a hit as AI refuses charters

Panaji: With the peak tourism season only a couple of weeks away, it looks like the state government has failed to persuade Air India (AI) to operate direct charter flights from United Kingdom (UK) to Goa to offset the loss in foreign footfalls arising from the collapse of UK travel company Thomas Cook.

Local tour operators, when contacted, said that they are ignorant of any direct flights planned by the national carrier to ferry British tourists to the state and there is no talk of Air India stepping in to take the place of Thomas Cook charters.

Responding to queries from this daily, government sources said that although Air India was willing to operate direct flights from London Heathrow airport to Dabolim, it changed its mind.

“AI was willing and ready to support us but it lacked suitable aircrafts and could not deploy commercial flights on the route. The airline perhaps did not find it financially viable to start direct flights on the London-Goa route which is why the plan did not take off,” said the senior source.

The request to AI to start direct charter flights was routed through the Ministry of Tourism.
Hospitality industry stakeholders are taking an intolerant view of the government’s failure.
26/11/19 NavHind Times

Read More

Ten months after announcement, flight services yet to take off from Pantnagar to Kanpur, Lucknow, & Chandigarh

Rudrapur: Almost ten months have gone by since the Airports Authority of India (AAI) announced to launch flight services from Pantnagar airport to three destinations — Lucknow, Chandigarh, and Kanpur. However, operations on none of these routes have begun so far.
In January this year, Pantnagar airport director SK Singh had said that the flight operations to the aforementioned destinations will start within three months. He went on to add that two companies have also been awarded the contract for the same. "SpiceJet has been given the contract to operate flights between Pantnagar and Kanpur, and Heritage Aviation has bagged the contract for flight operations on Pantnagar-Chandigarh and Pantnagar-Lucknow route", Singh had then said.
However, the deadlines were never met. Due to the delays, locals feel that AAI makes tall promises but doesn't deliver on them. "AAI announced that they will upgrade and expand the Pantnagar airport but nothing of that sort was done in last three years. Pantnagar-Pithoragarh-Dehradun flight service has also been irregular. Also, they announced to expand the runway for big aircrafts to land here but that too didn't happen," said Gaurav Arora, an entrepreneur who lives in Pantnagar industrial area.
Sanjay Juneja, president of the traders' union of the city, said, "The aircraft coming to Pantnagar do not even have transponders (device which enables mapping and tracking runway even in foggy conditions) for air navigation and that is the reason why flights are either cancelled or flown back to Delhi during winter season. The passengers to Pantnagar are forced to land in Dehradun and reach here via taxi."
26/11/19 Aakash Ahuja/Times of India

Read More

CAG flags discrepancies leading to damages worth ₹2,507.66 crore in various CPSEs

New Delhi: The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India has flagged discrepancies that had financial implications worth ₹2,507.6 crore across 37 Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSEs).

These CPSEs fall under 11 Ministries/Departments and the 54 individual observations have been highlighted in the CAG report on Union Government (Commercial)-Compliance Audit Observations.

A CAG statement said that the audit reviewed revenue generation and realisation activities in Airports Authority of India (AAI) over a period from 2013-2014 to 2017-2018.

“The Audit noticed deficiencies in internal control mechanism in revenue management, namely, non-compliance of credit policy and provisions of Finance Manual, which resulted in short collection of Security Deposit of ₹152.37 crore, non-charging of interest from defaulting parties of ₹78.24 crore and non-realisation of dues of ₹11.95 crore from airlines ceased operations,” the CAG said.

The CAG said that Passenger Service Fee (Security Component) recovery had not kept pace with the mounting expenditure as a result AAI had a deficit of ₹702.88 crore for the period 2013-2014 to 2017-2018 which was met by AAI from its own sources of revenue. The Non-recovery of dues of ₹2,411.73 crore from Air India Group and non-claiming of interest of ₹624.87 crore as agreed in the Memorandum of Understanding were also flagged by the CAG.
25/11/19 Business Line

Read More

Surtis’ dream to fly in foreign airlines may not take off

Surat: The dream of Surtis to fly in foreign airlines from the Surat international airport may not take off.
The ministry of civil aviation has clearly stated that Surat airport is not included as a point of call for international carriers under the bilateral air service agreement (ASA).

In a letter issued to the We Work for Working Airport at Surat (WWWAS), the ministry of civil aviation has stated that the Indian designated carriers are free to operate to the agreed foreign destinations from any point in India including Surat. However, operations by foreign airlines are governed by the ASA and that Surat is not available as the point of call to international carriers.

WWWAS member Sanjay Jain told TOI: “There has to be a level playing field for Surat airport. The ministry should give equal opportunity to all international airports as per their size, GDP, population and other futuristic potentials.”

At present, Air India Express is operating Surat-Sharjah flight thrice a week and that no other Indian airlines are interested in carrying out international operations from the Surat airport.

Another WWWAS member Linesh Shah said, “Surat airport has a great potential, but it is getting step-motherly treatment. There are many small international airports where the foreign airlines operate.”
26/11/19 Times of India

Read More

BJP MLA flies high

Bokaro MLA Biranchi Narayan, who filed his nomination from Bokaro Assembly seat on Monday, promised a thumping majority for the BJP based on “the work that has been done to develop infrastructure”.

Narayan, who filed his nomination accompanied by party colleague and sports and youth affairs minister Amar Bauri, MP of Maharajganj (Bihar), Janardan Singh Sigriwal and Dhanbad MP P.N. Singh at the Chas subdivisional officer’s office, said the airport in Bokaro during his tenure was his biggest achievement for Bokaro.

“It will not only benefit Bokaro residents but also those of adjoining Dhanbad and Giridih,” he said.

Bauri praised Narayan too. “The all-round development of Bokaro being carried out during the tenure of Narayan, be it infrastructure or implementation of central or state government welfare schemes, will help the MLA clinch the seat again,” he said.
26/11/19 Telegraph

Read More

Farmers oppose proposed airport in Mandi

Mandi: The Balh Bachao Kisan Sangharsh Samiti, Mandi, is opposing the proposed airport in the Balh valley of Mandi district. They said it would destroy the 3,500 bigha agriculture land, which is their sole source of livelihood. A large number of people would be displaced from the area.
Joginder Walia, president of the samiti, said the government should construct the airport at some other place in the district, where the destruction of agriculture land is less. “The government should talk to farmers because they are apprehensive of their future,” he added.
26/11/19 Tribune

Read More

Airport capability may be enhanced to Category-III

Mohali: After having recently upgraded the Instrument Landing System (ILS) at the Chandigarh international airport to Category-II, the Airports Authority of India (AAI) has initiated the process to further enhance its capability to Category-III, which will permit aircraft operations in zero visibility.
The Category-II ILS at the airport, at present, permits operations in a visibility of 800 metres. The Category-III system will be able to guide an aircraft to within 50 metres of the touchdown point on the runway.

The ILS helps aircraft land safely in adverse weather conditions. It beams signals to an approaching aircraft that are readable by pilots, which help them align the aircraft with the runway’s centreline and also maintain the correct angle of decent.
“We have sent the proposal for upgrading the ILS to Category-III to the AAI headquarters and if things work out, the upgrade will be done in around eight months,” Suneel Dutt, Chief Executive Officer of Chandigarh International Airport Limited (CHIAL) said.

“The Category-III ILS is a sensitive equipment and requires various sensors and radio beacons. There are some structures and obstructions, both within the airfield and outside the perimetre fence, that need to be removed for the upgraded ILS to function effectively,” Dutt said. CHAIL is attached to the Chandigarh Air Force Station and the runway as well as air traffic control services belong to the Air Force. “We have also taken up the issue of removal of certain structures within the airfield with the Air Force authorities so that they do not interfere with the ILS,” Dutt said.
The Chandigarh airport is now capable of operating 24x7 after the installation of advanced equipment such as Runway Visibility Range (RVR). This has also brought down the possibility of flight cancellation due to fog or low visibility in the coming winters to virtually zero.
25/11/19 Akash Ghai/Tribune

Read More

DigiYatras set to take off from Chennai airport by 2021

Chennai:  Passengers travelling from Chennai airport may not 'face' the need for boarding passes, flight tickets or other papers as the Airport Authority of India is likely to implement a facial recognition verification system by 2021, according to Chennai Airport Director S Sreekumar.
The move will be part of the nation-wide DigiYatra initiative of the Central government. Sreekumar told TNIE that DigiYatra is being rolled out as pilots in Vijaywada, Varanasi, Kolkata and Pune by the Airport Authority of India.
"In the south, once it is implemented in Vijaywada, we will be studying how successful the model is and tweak it if required and then implement it in Chennai Airport. Positively by 2021," he said.
Digi Yatra is a government initiative for digital processing of passengers at airports. Passengers will be automatically processed based on facial recognition systems at checkpoints.
The entry-point check, the Security Check, aircraft boarding check and also self-bag drop and check-in will all be based on facial recognition.
Under the Digi Yatra initiative, a passenger will first have to get a unique ID by registering on the Digi Yatra portal using an approved ID proof document such as the Aadhaar, PAN or driving licence.
25/11/12 C Shivakumar/New Indian Express

Read More

Assam woman claims immigration official at Mumbai airport asked her if she made it to NRC

Guwahati: A woman from Assam claimed an immigration official at the Mumbai airport asked her if she had made it to the National Register of Citizens (NRC).

The woman, Archismita Choudhury, said she had suffered the ignominy on Sunday at around 6:30 am upon landing from Bangkok.

“#PSA #NRC #RT Something really disturbing happened today as I was landed in #India, coming back into #immigration. The official made small talk with me, as usual. Asked me, ‘So you’re from #Guwahati?’ I said yes. He asked me if my name had come in the #NRClist,” the woman tweeted on Sunday.

She further wrote: “He said, ‘Oh, good. We have orders from the government to not let any people whose names are not in the #NRC to leave/come back into the country’. #India which is really scary to me, we have now effectively stripped citizenship from a section of society”.

Choudhury, who has not yet lodged any complaint, told this newspaper she had no idea if the immigration official had said it in a lighter vein.

“He did not show any order nor did I ask for it,” she said.

She also said that given the situation she was faced with, people were worried and they wanted the government to clarify if there was indeed an order which the immigration official spoke about.
25/11/19 Prasanta Mazumdar/New Indian Express

Read More

Kolkata airport to get new ATC by 2020

Kolkata: Construction of the new technical block at Kolkata airport will be over this December and the air traffic control tower will be completed a year later. However, it will take another year to procure and install the communication, surveillance and navigation equipment, thus pushing the commissioning of the air traffic services (ATS) complex to December 2021.

“Except for the initial delay of six months owing to factors like stabilising the soil and reworking the pile design, the project is on track. Around 40% of the civil work is over, including the basement and three levels of the technical block. Part of the fourth level is currently under way. The fifth level of the L-shaped block will be completed by December. Thereafter, the tower will take another 12 months to be ready,” said regional executive director (east) of Airports Authority of India (AAI), S P Yadav.

Work on the 51.4m-high ATC tower and 33.2-m high ground plus five-level technical block began in July 2017. But it took nearly a year and a half to complete the piling work, the most critical phase during construction of any tall structure. Some 798 piles were driven into the earth at depths ranging from 14m to 30m to ensure that the building and the tower’s stability.

The Rs 458-crore ATS complex will be a 4-star Griha rated green building right from the construction phase. In addition to green practices like rainwater harvesting and reduction in power load from 9,200 kw to 4,800 kw, the building will also have 31,000sqft green area. While the tower height will increase from 34m to 51.4m, the floor area of the complex will go up from 75,500sqm to 2,84,000sqm. The technical block will house around 750 people, mostly controllers and engineers. Also, there will be facility to park 200 cars and 100 two-wheelers.
26/11/12 Times of India

Read More

Delhi Airport To Get 'Air Train' Connecting All It's Terminals By 2022

It is a task juggling between terminals at Delhi airports. All the three terminals don't have any direct mode of transport causing much unease to travellers. Passengers have also missed their flights given the lack of connectivity between terminals.
This is going to be the thing of the past as the Delhi airport is likely to get an 'air train' by 2022 for seamless movement of passengers between terminals, a source privy to the development said.
 "By the time the current phase of expansion is over by 2022, Delhi airport will become quite big with annual passenger handling capacity reaching 10 crore. Therefore, an air train is being considered right now to be built by 2022," said a source privy to the development.
 Currently, passengers at Delhi airport move from one terminal to another using shuttle bus service.
 26/11/19 Sylvester Tamang/India Times

Read More

More facilities at Jaipur airport for passengers

Jaipur: In a move to decongest passengers’ arrival and departure area at Jaipur airport, the authorities are planning additional arrival and departure gates at Terminal 2. As the number of passengers is increasing every year with availability of affordable flights to various destinations, the authorities are attempting to bring new amenities for smooth travel. Even number of boarding gates for different flights has increased from five to seven and the airport now has five conveyor belts for luggage.
As per the data available with the Jaipur airport authorities, in 2018-19 nearly 55,00,000 passengers travelled from the airport (domestic and foreign travellers). “This year, from April 1 to October 30, at least 28,00,000 passengers have travelled. Thus, we have decided to increase the arrival and departure gates to facilitate passengers,” said Jaideep Singh Balhara, director, Jaipur airport.
He added that with the continous increase in the number of passengers there is a need to enhance facilities and utilize the area in a manner that passenger don’t get stuck up in delays during their departures and arrivals.
He said the authorities are working on modalities to provide extra room at departure and arrival areas. “Earlier we had five boarding gates which included international and domestic flights. Now we have increased them to seven,” he added.
25/11/19 Ashish Mehta/Times of India

Read More

Winter blackout: No flight from Chandigarh to Dubai from next month

Chandigarh: City airport is on the brink of losing its international status as now Indigo has also announced to discontinue its Dubai flight from December 14. This leaves the airport with lone Sharjah flight as the international connection.

It is bad news for tourists planning to fly to Dubai as Indigo will stop the flight from December 14 to February 15, 2020. The previous year, Air India Express had pulled out of Bangkok sector due to poor flight occupancy rate. Earlier, Indigo had discontinued its Dubai flight in September last year.


Sources in Indigo said the reason for discontinuation was non-viability due to frequent disruptions in winter and the decision was taken in November 13 review meeting held in Delhi. The Indigo airport manager said, “The orders have been received for flight discontinuation and I do not know the reasons.”

Sources in Indigo, New Delhi, said there were frequent suspensions and delays due to bad weather conditions at Chandigarh airport during winter months and the flights had to be diverted to Delhi, which caused huge loses.

The airport handles nearly 32 commercial flights daily. It is now left with a single international connectivity to Sharjah by Air India Express, a subsidiary of Air India.
25/11/19 Barinderjit Saluja/Times of India

Read More

Direct flights planned from Goa to Lakshadweep isles

Panaji: Direct flights from Goa to the Union territory (UT) of Lakshadweep may soon be revived. Officials from the island territory are in talks with the Goa Tourism Development Corporation (GTDC) to restart the direct commute between the two coastal regions, Mihir Vardhan, chief secretary, UT of Lakshadweep said. He was speaking at the Film Bazaar on Sunday.
“We had discussed this with GTDC because we want to have some connection from Goa to Lakshadweep. If we can revive this connection, then the tourists who come to Goa can also travel to Lakshadweep for a different experience,” he told TOI.
“We can offer an exclusive package for tourists who visit Goa, wherein they can come to Lakshadweep for scuba diving alone. If we have proper connectivity between the two coastal regions, we could work out this partnership,” Vardhan who earlier served in Goa, said.
He further said that they are in discussions with the Union ministry of civil aviation and airline companies as well.
25/11/19 Nida Sayed/Times of India

Read More

Airports Authority of India (AAI) launches first-of-its-kind Airport Kitchen in Chennai

Airports Authority of India (AAI) has recently launched a first of its kind Airport Kitchen equipped with state-of-the-art-facilities at the Chennai International Airport. This unique and mammoth kitchen is fully equipped with the latest applications, high-end equipment, and cutting-edge technology. Spread across approximately 15000 sq. ft., it will be operated and managed by Travel Food Services (TFS).

The kitchen brings international standards to India, whilst completely adhering to FSSAI norms. It also boasts of VRV for air-conditioning, hydro pneumatic systems for domestic water supply, and fire suppression systems. The modern and expansive kitchen houses thirteen cold storage facilities, with the total capacity of over 20,000 liters, food automation machines for frying, grilling, roasting and so on; high capacity ventilation equipment, and elevators to name a few. Furthermore, it is equipped with appliances that include — cooking centers to conduct various cooking jobs such as stewing, braising, deep-frying and boiling, along with blast-chillers to get the temperature of hot food from over 75 degrees to below 5 degrees (danger zone) within 2 hours. In order to significantly improve the efficiency and output, it also has automated LPG-operated cook-woks with a capacity of 80kgs, vegetable cutters, rice washers, coconut scrappers, high-pressure jet washers, and refrigerated vehicles for dispatch.
AAI and TFS are extremely particular about consistently maintaining high quality and hygiene standards, thus, the kitchen also includes key processes like — segregation of dairy, fruits and vegetables, and butchery post receiving them, vegetable washing and sanitisation of fruits and vegetables (especially perishable ones), and all quality checks, stringently conducted by various departments at various stages of food production.
25/11/19 Everything Experiential/Business World

Read More

Manipur: Imphal-Mandalay flight service commences

Imphal: Myanmar’s private carrier Air KBZ landed at the Birtikendrajit International Airport Saturday marking the commencement of the Imphal-Mandalay flight service.

The chartered flight, which departed from Mandalay, landed at the Imphal Airport around 11:30 am and was welcomed with the traditional water cannon salute.

As many as 72 passengers from Myanmar made the trip and the plane departed Imphal with 48 passengers, including 5 officials.

Minister for Health and Family Welfare L. Jayantakumar Singh, Minister for CAF&PD Karam Shyam, Minister for Education Th. Radheshyam, Chairman of Tourism Corporation Manipur Limited Dr. Sapam Ranjan, Manipur’s Chief Secretary Dr. J. Suresh Babu, Principal Secretary P. Vaiphei, Director of Transport Department Mercina Panmei and others received the passengers with traditional shawl called lengyan phi.
Informing that the chartered flight will be operational thrice a week, Radheshyam maintained that Manipur government is persuading the Ministry of Civil Aviation for regular Imphal-Mandalay flight service.
23/11/19 Jimmy Leivon/Indian Express

Read More

Govt's hidden agenda is to close down Dabolim airport: Congress

Panaji: The Congress in Goa on Saturday alleged that hidden agenda of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in the state was close down the Dabolim Airport in South Goa.
Addressing a press conference at party state headquarters in the city, Goa Pradesh Congress Committee (GPCC) Spokesperson Trajano D'Mello said the hidden agenda of the government closing  own the Dabolim airport was becoming clear.
''God forbid a disaster to a passenger aircraft can happen. One day we will find the Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) in all probabilities will step in and declare that the airport with such onstructions which are hazardous for flying aircrafts and it will be a risk to operate passenger aircrafts and since there exists an airport in very close vicinity may direct to close down passenger aircraft from Dabolim and Mopa could be activated,'' he said.
He alleged that according to Navy sources, MiG-29K Fighter Jet of Indian Navy that crashed recently was due to a bird hit and the government has remained a mute spectator and insensitive to this grave incident.
23/11/19 UNI

Read More

Helpdesk at Indore airport to assist deaf and mute

Indore: Deaf and mute people visiting Devi Ahilyabai Holkar Airport would no longer have to face difficulty in getting information about flight operations or other services or facilities. Such a facility airport officials claim is first in the country.
Indore airport authorities are planning to set up ‘May I Help You’ counters on airport premises for convenience of such visitors and passengers. These counters would be started within a week, said officials.

Airport director Aryama Sanyal said that two such counters would be set up on airport premises including one at arrival hall and the other at departure hall of terminal building.

“This helpdesk service will be all visitors and passengers, but it will also have employees trained in sign language to communicate properly with deaf and mute passengers and visitors,” said Sanyal.
24/11/19 Times of India

Read More

Spice jet tyre burst while landing at Tirupati airport

Tirupati: A major mishap averted for the passengers of Spice jet at Tirupati airport. The plane, which reached Tirupati from Mumbai via Hyderabad, while landing on the runway, the flight tyre got burst. The pilot who noticed the tyre explosion has controlled the flight and saved the lives of the passengers. The Spice jet flight was immediately repaired at Renigunta airport. The worried passengers breathed easy after the safe landing. This Spice jet flight was supposed to arrive at 5:10 pm in Tirupati but got delayed due to technical problems while taking off in Mumbai. With this delay, nearly 170 passengers were remained to wait till 10 pm in Tirupati.
23/11/19 Yadedya Talari/Hans India

Read More

Mysuru-Kochi flight services suspended till March 2020

Mysuru: The Mysuru-Kochi flight service offered by Alliance Air, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Air India, has been suspended till March 2020 due to runway re-carpeting work at the Cochin International Airport, Mysore Airport Director R Manjunath said on Saturday.
''There will be no daytime flight service for four months due to runway re-carpeting works at Cochin International Airport Limited (CIAL). CIAL has instructed all the operating airlines to re-schedule their daytime flight services for four months from Nov. 20, 2019 to March 28, 2020'', he further said.
The suspension of Kochi service would be in place till the work at Cochin Airport was completed, he stated.
The re-carpeting would considerably improve the operational efficiency and aerodrome safety, specially during low visibility and adverse weather conditions, Mr Manjunath further stated.
Mr Manjunath asserted that instead of Kochi, the Air Alliance was looking at the possibility of operating flights to the newly-inaugurated Kalaburagi Airport or Mysuru-Bengaluru-Kolhapur sector.
''The Airlines is looking into the possibility to help businessmen travelling to Bengaluru, Belagavi and Uttara Kannada to places Ankola, Tirupati and Belagavi. The new route would be known either by this weekend or early next week, he disclosed.
23/11/19 UNI

Read More

AAI organizes mega wall painting at Chennai Airport as part of Swachhta Abhiyan

Chennai: Airports Authority of India (AAI) on Saturday organised a 'Mega Wall Painting' activity as part of 'Swachhta Abhiyan' in which artists and students painted walls at Chennai Airport.

"Today, we are doing mega wall painting at Chennai airport. The theme is the environment and 'Swachhta'. This month, Civil Aviation is planning Swachhta month and there are various other programmes planned for the same. The Airport Authority had planned this programme one with the support of Tamil Nadu tourism and India tourism," Sree Kumar, the Airport Director said.

"The reason we are doing it here is because this is an international airport, so lots of foreigners come. We are giving the message to keep not only the inner area of the airport but also its surroundings," the Director added.
24/11/19 ANI/Yahoo!

Read More

Kial will not get ‘point of call’ status

Kannur: The clarification made by the civil aviation minister Hardeep Singh Puri that there is no plan to grant ‘point of call’ status to Kannur international airport (Kial) now has come as a shock, because it has dampened the possibility of foreign carriers getting permission to operate from Kannur.
In reply to a question by MP K Sudhakaran, last day, the minister made it clear that there is no plan for a ‘point of call’ status to the airport or railway line to Mattannur, citing that the facility is in an interior area.
Only those airports which have this status can get the permission to have the operations of foreign carriers. The reply comes at a time when the lobbying to get a nod for international carriers to operate from here is getting stronger and there is concern that the decision might affect the future of the airport.
The MP said that it is not right to consider Kannur, which has the greatest number of Indians working abroad, as an interior place and this approach should be corrected. He also said that a railway line is important for the development of the facility.
23/11/19 Times of India

Read More

Kalaburagi comes closer to Bengaluru

Air connectivity between Bengaluru and the North Eastern region of Karnataka is all set to take off with the launch of two flights in a span of ten days.
 The launch of Star Air commercial operations between Bengaluru and Kalaburagi on Friday and Trujet’s flight Bengaluru-Bidar flight starting December 1 apart from connecting the state capital with these two Tier II cities is also expected to spur economic growth in the region.
 Star Air will be operating three times a week (Sunday, Monday and Friday) connecting the two cities with fares starting at Rs 2,850. The airline which will be operating the Embraer 145 on the route will depart from Bengaluru at 12.30 pm and arrive at Kalburgi at 1.35 pm. From Kalburagi the flight will depart at 1.55pm and arrive in Bengaluru at 2.55 pm.
Star Air said that as it operates under the UDAN scheme 50% of the seats will be available at very reasonable rates.
 “This service will further cement our position in the aviation industry and help us to move at a much greater pace to further our aim to connect the unconnected with affordable and qualitative aviation services,” Shrenik Ghodawat, MD, Star Air said.
 23/11/19 Bangalore Mirror

Read More

Aviation Regulator Conducts Surprise Alcohol Check On Staff At Mumbai Airport

Mumbai: Aviation safety regulator DGCA last week conducted surprise alcohol tests on some of the personnel as part of its recently introduced breath analyser (BA) test norms for airside staff, Mumbai International Airport Limited said on Friday.
From last month, the directorate general of civil aviation (DGCA) has made the alcohol testing mandatory for all airside workers as well.

Earlier, only pilots and cabin crew were subjected to BA test.

"Without prior notice, DGCA randomly selected on-ground staff for the alcohol test on November 15. It was conducted on 17 personnel and all of them were tested negative," Mumbai International Airport Limited (MIAL) said in a release.

The BA examination has been put in place for ATCs, CNS personnel, aircraft maintenance, aerodrome operation people, fire and rescue personnel, and vehicle drivers, including those of catering and refuelling vehicles.

Besides, it is applicable for ground equipment operators, ground handling personnel and flight dispachers.

At present, the breath analyser test for these personnel is carried out at Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Cochin, Lucknow and Guwahati airports.
23/11/19 PTI/NDTV

Read More

Blackbucks at airport site, greens call for protection

Greater Noida: Environmental activists have recorded fresh sightings of blackbucks at the land demarcated for Jewar airport and have demanded that a plan be chalked out urgently for the conservation of the animals.
A group of local residents who visited the area in the second week of November spotted two adult male and two female blackbucks in Rohi, one of the six villages from which land has been acquired for the airport.

“We saw blackbucks in the vacant land that has been acquired by the administration. We also saw a considerable number of birds in the area and there is no doubt that the area is rich in biodiversity. The airport project is important for the local economy. But the authorities should also survey the area intensively and identify the key species that need to be protected on a priority basis,” said Vikrant Tongad, an environmental activist.

According to the latest census conducted in May this year, 248 blackbucks have been spotted in the district.

Tongad added that it is important to speed up the conservation efforts, as coming up with a plan and protecting the species would take a long time and the plans have to be implemented before the construction work for the airport starts.

Birds like Asian openbill stork, Sarus crane, white-breasted waterhen, Purple heron, black-winged stilt, purple moorhen and red-wattled lapwing have been spotted recently.

Officials said that the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) is conducting a study on the locality to assess the likely impact of the proposed airport on birds and animals in the area and will submit an interim conservation report by the end of the month.
23/11/19 Times of India

Read More

Gold smuggling continues unabated via Kannur airport

Kannur: The incidents of gold smuggling through Kannur International Airport (Kial) is continuing unabated despite the efforts by the Customs and Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) officials to prevent it by strengthening the preventive measures.

On the evening of November 21, day they seized five kilograms of gold worth around Rs 2.04 crore from six passengers, said the officials. They said the passengers were coming from different Gulf countries and are from Kozhikode, Mallapuram, and Kasaragod districts.

In one case, around 729 grams of gold in paste form was concealed inside his body of one passenger from Beypore in Kozhikode, and he was coming from Muscat by GoAir flight. This seizure was made by the Customs unit while other five were by the DRI.

The gold was extracted from 894 grams of Gold paste and the smuggler was doing rectum concealment, said Sumit Kumar, commissioner of customs, Kochi. In all the six cases, the concealment was in the same manner.

From April to November 21, the customs unit alone have made 37 gold seizures, to the tune of 27.17 kilogram, and the value would be around Rs 9.3 crore, said the official.
23/11/19 P Sudhakaran/Times of India

Read More

Delhi smog delays seven flights to city

Mohali: Due to smog in the Delhi region, seven flights of different operators arrived late at Chandigarh international airport here today.

The Air India Delhi flight arrived late by around 4 hours. The Air India flight AI-463, which has the scheduled departure of 11:15 am at Delhi took off at 2:50 pm to arrive at local airport at 4:37 pm against the scheduled arrival of 12:50 pm.

The Alliance Air flight to Dharamsala with the scheduled departure of 9:55 am left the Delhi airport at 11 am and reached here late by around an hour. The flight was recently introduced to cater to the tourist rush from Chandigarh to the Himachal Pradesh city.
Air India airport manager MR Jindal said the flights departure at Delhi was hit due to smog and hence, the schedule was delayed from the city as well.
23/11/19 Tribune

Read More

Technical fault delays Mumbai flight by two hours

Ahmedabad: Passengers travelling from Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International airport in the city to Mumbai by Air India fight AI-030 early on Friday were forced to wait in the aircraft for two hours, as a technical fault was detected in the aircraft, just ahead of its scheduled departure.

The flight was to depart SVPI at 4.00am and reach Mumbai at 5.15am. It ended up departing at 6am and reached Mumbai at 7am. “Engineers did not clear the aircraft for take-off as a technical fault was detected. Boarding had already taken place and the aircraft left after the fault was repaired,” a well-placed source said.

Another Air India flight to Mumbai was also delayed by three hours. Sources said this flight was delayed due to operational issues and passengers were informed of the delay well in advance.
23/11/19 Times of India

Read More

Kalaburagi airport inaugurated by Karnataka CM Yediyurappa

Kalaburagi: Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa inaugurated the newly-constructed Kalaburagi airport Friday which will now connect Bengaluru with the Hyderabad-Karnataka region.
Yediyurappa arrived from Bengaluru by Star airlines to Kalaburagi on the first flight which landed at around 1.45 pm. The 3.25 km runway laid at Kalaburagi Airport is the second-longest in Karnataka after Bengaluru Airport.
With Kalaburagi airport beginning its operations, northeast Karnataka region is set to have air connectivity to Bengaluru and the rest of India under the UDAN (Ude Desh ka Aam Naagrik)-Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS).
Speaking to media, Yediyurappa said, “The people of the Kalaburagi was waiting for this day for many years, now under the UDAN scheme the airport has become reality. We hope the industrialization in this region will have good growth because of the airport.”
The airport was constructed under public-private partnership at a cost of Rs 175.5 crore. In August 2018, a trial landing was successfully conducted on the Kalaburagi airport runway. On August 24, the Kalaburagi airport was formally handed over to the Airports Authority of India (AAI) for commercial operations under the UDAN Regional Connectivity Scheme.
Earlier, the state government was trying to get Prime Minister Narendra Modi to inaugurate the airport, even BS Yediyurappa tried to get Modi for the inauguration. “Yesterday(Thursday) I spoke to Modi about the inauguration of the airport, he was happy to know about the inauguration. Due to the busy schedule of Prime Minister, he is not able to attend the program,” added Yediyurappa.
The Karnataka government cleared the Kalaburagi greenfield airport project in March 2007. The work started on the public-private partnership by Gulbarga Airport Developers Limited (GADL), a consortium of Maytas Infra Ltd, NCC Infra Holdings & VIE India. The airport was scheduled to be completed in 2012.
22/11/19 Darshan Devaiah BP/Indian Express

Read More

Prompt action of Mumbai airport staff saves life of 62-year-old heart patient

New Delhi: The quick thinking and prompt action of the staff at the Mumbai airport saved the life of a 62-year-old man. The man, Madhav Dongare, suffered a cardiac arrest at Terminal 2 of the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport. Dongare was at the airport with his daughter to receive his wife who was returning from UK to India no November 20.

The staff jumped into action along with a doctor and paramedics and attended to the patient. He was found breathless and drowsy at the parking lot of the airport. The doctors quickly diagnosed him with acute congestive cardiac failure. They also diagnosed that Dongare had a history of diabetes, hypertension and ischemic heart disease. He was promptly taken to Nanavati hospital through airport ambulance and hospitalised.
The Mumbai airport is fully equipped with medical centres and is the only Indian airport with the largest number of automated external defibrillators (AED). It is also one of the few airports in the world with more than a hundred AED at its premises. The airport is also equipped with the highest number of ambulances on site in the country including four advanced life support ambulances and three basic ambulances.
21/11/19 Business Today

Read More

Parents find toddler dead after arriving at Chennai airport from Australia

Chennai: It was sheer shock and tragedy for a young couple, when they realised that their six-month-old baby had died, at Chennai Airport, after their flight from Victoria in Australia to Chennai on Wednesday night.

Sakthi Murugan and his wife Geetha, both techies, were returning from Australia to Chennai with their six-month-old son, Hrithik.

It was Hrithik’s maiden trip to Chennai.

Police said after their flight landed at Kuala Lumpur, the baby was fed and the couple boarded the flight.

However, it was in Chennai airport after clearing immigration that the parents noticed no movement from the baby and his feet had turned blue, police said.

He was rushed to Apollo Hospital where he was pronounced dead. A case has been registered.
22/11/19 New Indian Express

Read More

Fear of arrest stops airport taxi strike

Vasco: Members of the taxi union of Dabolim International Airport backed out of their plans to block the exit outside the terminal building after Dabolim PI Sagar Ekoskar warned them of arrest. Ekoskar told them not to take the law into their hands, especially at a time when delegates are arriving for the International Film Festival of India (Iffi).
Union members started assembling outside the terminal building from 11am on Thursday. At 12.30pm, they decided to go to the terminal building to pick up passengers and park their vehicle in protest when they are asked for Rs 50 by the contractor on exit. The taximen were supported by Curtorim MLA Aleixo Reginaldo Lourenco .
When the police learnt of their plan, Ekoskar warned Lourenco that if they try to disrupt traffic, he would arrest them. The taximen were then reluctant to carry on with their strike.
22/11/19 Times of India

Read More

AAI likely to lease out 6 more airports, including Varanasi, Amritsar, Bhubaneswar, Trichy under PPP model

The Airport Authority of India (AAI) is likely to lease out six more airports under the public private partnership (PPP) model in the coming months.

“AAI Board in its meeting has recommended for leasing out 6 airports namely Varanasi, Amritsar, Bhubaneswar, Trichy, Indore and Raipur for operation, management and development under PPP,” the ministry of civil aviation told Parliament on Wednesday.

These facilities are managed by state-owned AAI and witnessed traffic between 1.57-4.15 million passengers in FY19.

The ministry had bid out profit-making airports at Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Lucknow, Trivandrum, Guwahati and Mangalore in February 2019 on the basis of highest per-passenger fee (PPF) offered to the AAI.
21/11/19 Financial Express

Read More

Bhubaneswar-Surat Direct Air India Flight Services From Jan 20

Bhubaneswar: The much awaited direct flight services between Surat, home to lakhs of Odia residents and Bhubaneswar will commence from January 20, 2020. While congratulating the residents on Twitter, Bhubaneswar MP Aparajita Sarangi posted the confirmation from Air India.

Hailing the decision, Sarangi wrote, “Congratulations to all our Odia friends in Bhubaneswar and Surat. Finally, we have Bhubaneswar- Surat flight w.e.f. 20th January, 2020.”
As per tentative timings released by the Air India authorities, the direct flight services will be available for fliers from both directions on Bangalore-Surat-Bhubaneswar route twice a week.

The Air India flight will start from Bangalore airport at 6.10 AM and reach Biju Patnaik International Airport in Bhubaneswar at 8.10 AM on every Monday and Thursday. After a halt for half-an-hour, the flight will take off from Bhubaneswar airport at 8.40 AM and reach Surat at 10.40 AM. From there, the flight will depart for Bangalore at 11.10 AM.

The return flight will depart from Bangalore airport at 6.10 AM and reach Surat at 8 AM every Friday and Sunday. From there, it will leave for Bhubaneswar at 8.30 AM and reach the Biju Patnaik International Airport at 10.30 AM.
22/11/19 Odishatv

Read More

No More Lines: Bengaluru Airport To Introduce Biometric Technology For Immigration

Airports and international travel have mostly been synonymous with long hours of waiting and even longer queues. Well, all your travel woes will be put to rest with the new biometric technology that most airports will be adopting, hopefully in the near future. The BIAL (Bangalore International Airport Pvt. Ltd.) has proposed to install biometric technology for immigration clearance at the Bengaluru airport.

Indian citizens may not have to wait in queues anymore to get their passports stamped for immigration. Biometric technology will be installed for immigration for Indian citizens flying back to the country. Under a unified immigration database, the passport will get stamped digitally and will contain all the information that a physical stamp does. An iris scan or a finger scan may be used to register arrival in the country. 

Pre-exiting biometric technology at the Kempegowda International Airport for paperless self-boarding has been largely successful. With its Digi Yatra project, the airport introduced the biometric system for boarding in order to avoid long queues, enable seamless boarding and for conservation of time. For the same, passengers have to log on to the Digi Yatra website, put in their government approved identification documents and record their biometrics, which will enable them to travel without any documents. Various countries including Britain, China, Japan, Singapore and America have adopted the biometric technology for the convenience of the passengers.
22/11/19 Outlook Traveller

Read More

Toddler found dead on arrival at Chennai airport

Chennai: In a very sad incident, a six-month-old infant, born to an Indian software couple based in Melbourne, Australia, was found dead on landing at the airport in Chennai in the small hours of Thursday, police said.

According to the airport police, the couple Shakthi Murugan (32) and Deepa (29) from Vengaivasal in Selaiyur and Deepa’s mother Britto Queen were travelling from Melbourne to Chennai to spend their vacation along with baby Hrithik, via Kuala Lumpur in an Air Asia flight when the tragedy occurred.
On landing at the Chennai International Airport at 12.50 a.m. they completed the immigration formalities while Deepa was holding the infant. When they entered the customs area after immigration clearance,  Deepa noticed that the toddler was unconscious and showed no signs of movement.

The couple tried to wake the child up thinking he was still asleep, however, his body had become cold by then. The shocked parents immediately alerted airport officials who rushed Hrithik to a private clinic within the international terminal, where doctors declared the infant had died two hours ago. The inconsolably weeping parents said the child was healthy and had been playing on the flight.
22/11/19 Deccan Chronicle

Read More

Spicejet to connect Shirdi via Aurangabad as airport remains shut

Budget carrier Spicejet on Thursday relocated its operations from the Shirdi airport to Aurangabad till next Tuesday even as the operations from the facility remained suspended for the eight consecutive day due to bad weather and poor visibility.
Spicejet connects Shirdi with Delhi, Chennai, Hyderabad and Bengaluru and since November 14 its operations had been suspended when the airport also was shuttered due to low visibility.
Besides SpiceJet, Air India's regional arm Alliance Air and Indigo also operate to Shirdi.
"Due to bad weather conditions resulting in low visibility in Shirdi, we have decided to shift our operations to the nearby Aurangabad airport till next Tuesday," Spicejet said in a statement.
Meanwhile, Shirdi airport director Deepak Shastri said the airport is unlikely to resume operations any soon as the weather continues to be bad.
21/11/19 PTI/Economic Times

Read More

Delhi airport: Four morning flights to be shifted to avoid early rush

New Delhi: Four domestic departures scheduled to operate between 6am and 8am from Indira Gandhi International Airport’s terminal 3 (T3) will be shifted to other terminals to ease peak hour security queues.
The move will mean 600 fewer passengers during morning peak hours at T3. Some other steps are also being taken to speed up the process for domestic outbound flyers at T3, as Christmas travel season is less than a month away.

While these are the immediate steps, India’s busiest airport has also decided to take some medium term measures to handle air traffic — which is now again showing green shoots of growth after a decline following Jet’s demise earlier this year — at T1, T2 and T3 till the expanded T1 is ready by June 2022 and fourth runway by June 2021.

“Fifty-eight airlines operate from T3. We are going to add another check-in island at T3 and have seven check-in islands in all. We will have all automatic tray retrieval system (ATRS) handbag X-ray counters (where bags with suspicious contents automatically go for physical checks and not for collection by passenger) at T2 and T3 to speed up hand bag clearance process,” DIAL CEO Videh Kumar Jaipuriar told TOI.
22/11/19 Saurabh Sinha/Times of India

Read More

Aviation Regulator Makes Surprise Alcohol Checks On Mumbai Airport Staff

Mumbai: Aviation safety regulator DGCA last week conducted surprise alcohol tests on some of the personnel as part of its recently introduced breath analyser (BA) test norms for airside staff, Mumbai International Airport Limited said on Friday.

From last month, the directorate general of civil aviation (DGCA) has made the alcohol testing mandatory for all airside workers as well.

Earlier, only pilots and cabin crew were subjected to BA test.

“Without prior notice, DGCA randomly selected on-ground staff for the alcohol test on November 15. It was conducted on 17 personnel and all of them were tested negative,” Mumbai International Airport Limited (MIAL) said in a release.

The BA examination has been put in place for ATCs, CNS personnel, aircraft maintenance, aerodrome operation people, fire and rescue personnel, and vehicle drivers, including those of catering and refuelling vehicles.
22/11/19 Sky Statement

Read More

Low visibility hits ops at Shirdi airport

Flight operations have stopped at Shirdi international airport due to inclement weather and low visibility, prompting SpiceJet to announce that it is temporarily moving its operations to Aurangabad airport till November 26.
IndiGo and other airlines have allowed passengers to change the date of their flight as an alternative or offered refunds for the cancelled flights.
The situation is expected to improve in a couple of days. “Flight operations have been impacted from
November 14 due to winter weather conditions and low visibility,” said Maharashtra Airport Development Corporation vice chairman and managing director Suresh Kakani. “A minimum visibility of up to 5 km is required for normal flight operations, but it has been dropping to 1.5 km to 2 km. We are monitoring the weather on a daily basis.”
The Shirdi airport handles the movement of 22 aircraft daily and airlines including IndiGo, SpiceJet, Alliance Air and Trujet operate daily flights to the temple town.
22/11/19 Satish Nandgaonkar/Mumbai Mirror

Read More

Airport celebrating 15-day Swachh Bharat Pakhwada

Shamshabad: In line with the objectives of Prime Minister's flagship campaign of Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, GMR-led Hyderabad International Airport has been celebrating 'Swachh Bharat Pakhwada,' a 15-day cleanliness and sanitation drive from November 15 to 30. As part of this initiative, the airport on Thursday organised a 'Swachhta March' on the airport premises, followed by a clean-up drive of the environs in which the management, staff and all other stakeholders of the airport including airlines officials, CISF, customs officials, Concessionaires, ground handlers and the entire airport community participated.
Addressing the gathering, Deputy CEO of GHIAL, Pradeeep Panicker, highlighted the importance of cleanliness, sanitation and hygiene for an airport. He thanked all the stakeholders for their support and cooperation in lending a helping hand in maintaining clean surroundings on par with global standards at the airport.
22/11/19 Hans India

Read More

SpiceJet bags 100 of Jet’s slots in Mumbai and Delhi airports, Air India settles for 12

New Delhi: National carrier Air India was given least preference in allocating slots vacated by Jet Airways at busiest airports of Delhi and Mumbai.

While SpiceJet got maximum 100 slots at these two airports, cash-strapped Air India got just 12.

Private airlines including SpiceJet and Indigo got a maximum chunk of the slots vacated by Jet Airways which had suspended all domestic and international flights after failing to secure emergency funds from its lenders in April this year.

Jet’s exit left various national and international slots vacant and sources said that various airlines approached the Ministry of civil aviation to get Jet Airways’ slots and gave their choices.
If sources are to be believed, Mumbai and Delhi, the two busiest airports, were the top choices opted by leading airlines in the country. According to an estimate, Delhi and Mumbai together comprise of nearly 60% of the air traffic in the country.
21/11/19 Kumar Vikram/New Indian Express

Read More