Bengal Aerotropolis airport project hits fresh land hurdle

Kolkata: As per records available with the bankers, the private airport near Durgapur was declared ready for commercial operations in April 2013.

But not many have a clue when the airport will be ready to operate flights.

A high tension transmission wire of State electricity distribution utility is still cross-crossing the run way, blocking scope for regulatory approval. It could not be shifted in time due to Trinamool Congress sponsored protests against land acquisition since 2008. The land tangle was solved by the government early this year. But the solution did not come cheap. The final pay out towards shifting of transmission line is nearly a quarter of the cost of building the airport.

However, even such high pay out brought little respite to the promoters as the State utility has missed the revised timelines of shifting the transmission line by September 2014. It means the regulatory approval for operating commercial flights is unlikely to come before March 2015.
30/10/14 Pratim Ranjan Bose/Business Line

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GMR takes control of airport in Philippines

Bangalore: GMR-Megawide Cebu Airport Corporation (GMCAC) a joint venture between GMR Group and Megawide Construction Corporation, a construction firm in Philippines, has taken full operational control of the Mactan Cebu International Airport (MCIA) in Cebu, Philippines.

MCIA is the country's first airport to be privatised under the administration's ambitious PPP programme aimed at modernising key infrastructure assets.

GMR-Megawide Consortium had emerged as the highest bidder in the international competitive bidding process after offering a bid premium of 14.4 billion Philippine Pesos. The formal award of the project in April was followed by a six-month transition period to complete project formalities leading to the transfer of operations to GMCAC.

As part of the overall master plan, GMCAC will build a brand new terminal building within three years to cater to the growing traffic. At the same time, the immediate priority will be to upgrade the existing terminal and enhance operating systems and processes to improve service quality and efficiency.
31/10/14 Business Standard

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Air Arabia flight suffers bird hit at Coimbatore airport

Coimbatore: An Air Arabia flight from Sharjah suffered a bird hit when it was landing at the Coimbatore international airport in the wee hours of Friday.

The Air Arabia flight carrying 171 passengers landed safely at the airport at 3.40am. No one was injured in the incident.

"On inspections done later, they realized that one of the wings of the aircraft suffered a damage as a result of the bird hit," said D Paul Manickam, director, Coimbatore airport.
31/10/14 Times of India

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IGI Airport gets bomb threat fax

New Delhi: Few days after Kochi, Ahmedabad and Mumbai airports were put on high alert following a bomb threat, a threatening fax was received at IGI airport.

Sources in CISF and Delhi Police said security at the airport was beefed up after a two-line fax threatening to 'boooomb boooomb' it was received last weekend.

Sources said that while threats and hoaxes are common, this particular one was treated with importance. One reason for this was that the message came at a time when threats had been made to blow up flights to Kochi, Ahmedabad and Mumbai. "An investigation has been launched to find out where the fax was sent from," said a senior police official.
31/10/14 Suhas Munshi/Times of India

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RFQ deadline for Navi Mumbai airport extended

Mumbai: Bidders for the construction of the Navi Mumbai International Airport (NMIA) have been given an extension period of six weeks to submit their Requests for Qualification (RFQ) application after they sought more time from the City and Industrial Development Corporation (Cidco), the nodal implementing agency for the project, to form joint ventures to bid for the R14,574-crore airport project.
The concerned parties will now have to submit the RFQ by December 10 from the earlier planned date of October 30.
This is the third time Cidco has extended the RFQ submission date after the civil aviation ministry approved the revised tender document for the proposed Navi Mumbai airport in July. “This is the final time that the RFQ submission time has been extended on the request of bidders who have asked for more time to form joint ventures to bid for the airport project,” a senior Cidco official said.
30/10/14 Finacial Express

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Carriers ready to operate flights, submit EoI

Andal: Three regional airlines have submitted Expression of Interest (EoI) to operate flights from Durgapur to cities like Ranchi, Patna, Jamshedpur, Bokaro, Kolkata, Bagdogra and Cooch Behar from the Andal airport near Durgapur.

On October 15, the three non-scheduled opertors — Pinnacle Air, Spirit Air and North-East Shuttle — have submitted EoI to the state transport department after the progress review meeting of Durgapur Aerotropolis at Kolkata a few days ago. Pinnacle Air has a Falcon 2000 LX and Cessna CJ2+. Spirit Air has a Cessna Sky Hawk and Cessna Sky Caravan while North-East Shuttle operates Dornier aircraft.

At the progress review meeting, transport principal secretary Alapan Bandyopadhyay had hinted at the government's keenness to get the airport operation, at least for a test flight, during the investor meet — Bishwa Banga — scheduled in Kolkata from January 7 to January 9, 2015. Though the airport is unlikely to get an operator's license till next March, the test flight with a sub-20 seater plane will serve as a symbolic take-off that chief minister Mamata Banerjee is keen to showcase at the meet.
30//10/14 Debajyoti Chakraborty/Times of India

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Changi raises stake in BAPL to 32.2 %, to run the airport for 15 years

Kolkata: Within two months of West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee visiting Singapore to seek investments, Singapore-based Changi Airports International has raised its stake in the upcoming airport city project at Durgapur to 32.2 per cent.

Changi Airport India, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Changi Airports International, had earlier picked up a 26 per cent stake in Bengal Aerotropolis Projects (BAPL), which is executing the airport city project at Andal near Durgapur in Barddhaman district in West Bengal.

“This was discussed during the chief minister’s Singapore visit in August. This certainly means reposing faith in the project as well as in the state. There is infusion of fresh capital. It was in the form of a rights issue to the tune of Rs 50 crore,” Partha Ghosh, promoter and managing director of BAPL, told Business Standard.
30/10/14 Business Standard

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Government’s plan has an air of hope

Puducherry: Almost nine months after the sole airline to operate flights out of the city wound up services, the territorial administration has dangled out a hard-to-resist incentive to attract private operators to the sector.

Under the new scheme launched under the umbrella of tourism promotional initiatives, the Puducherry government will offer Rs. 1,000 each for an aggregate of 200 seats on a daily basis, subject to a cap of 50 seats or a sum of Rs. 50,000 per fixed wing or rotary aircraft.

The incentive is valid for a period of six months and its subsequent renewal would be decided by the government.

The incentive applies to flights and chopper services from “Pondicherry/Karaikal to other destinations and from other destinations to Pondicherry/Karaikal. It shall be only in the form of Rs. 1,000 per seat per carrier per day from Puducherry and from Karaikal.’’

“The incentive will apply irrespective of the occupancy level on the flight,” a top-ranking government official said.
30/10/14 M. Dinesh Varma/R Sivaraman/The Hindu

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Etihad Boosts India Network With Additional Flights To Mumbai, Delhi

Abu Dhabi carrier Etihad Airways announced that it is launching triple daily services to the Indian cities of Mumbai and New Delhi, to keep up with increased demand.

Both cities will be upgraded from their current double-daily frequencies, with the third daily flight to Mumbai starting on February 15, 2015 and to New Delhi on May 1, 2015, a statement said.

The airline said that the move will provide business and leisure travellers with more options between the UAE and India.

James Hogan, president and CEO of Etihad said: “India is expected to become the world’s third largest air passenger market within the next 20 years, and we are focused on providing travellers with the best possible offering into and out of the country.

“Already in the first half of 2014, more than 620,000 passengers flew on our India services, a substantial increase of 51 per cent year-on-year. The launch of triple-daily services to Mumbai and New Delhi, our most popular routes in India, will allow us to meet growing market demand.”
30/10/14 Gulf Business

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80% occupancy on Mumbai-bound flights

Aurangabad: The combination of leisure travellers and political workers heading to Mumbai for the oath-taking ceremony has pushed up air ticket sales for the two airlines offering connectivity between Aurangabad and the state capital.

The airlines, which usually report about 50% sales, have recorded over 80% bookings for next couple of days for the Aurangabad-Mumbai flights. Three flights take off from Aurangabad to Mumbai daily. Jet Airways flights are scheduled at 6.50 am and 8 pm, while Air India flies at 5.20 pm daily.

Ajay Deshpande, an executive with a private tour operator, said, "As of now, there is good occupancy for the Mumbai-bound flights. The combination of vacation travellers and political workers is well for the airlines. On other days, the average occupancy for the Mumbai-bound flights remains comparatively less."
30/10/14 Times of India

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More Air India flights from Mangalore likely

Mangalore: Air India may introduce flight services between Mangalore and Pune, Delhi and Hubli via Bangalore, according to Nalin Kumar Kateel, MP.

He told presspersons here on Thursday that the proposed Mangalore-Bangalore-Delhi and Mangalore-Bangalore-Pune flights were likely to start soon. The new sectors have been chosen as they were found viable in view of the significant passenger traffic between Mangalore and Bangalore; Bangalore and Pune and Bangalore and Delhi.
30/101/4 The Hindu

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Car catches fire at airport parking lot - no casualties

Mangalore: In a shocking incident, a car which was on the move near the parking lot outside the Mangalore International airport caught fire which was later put off by airport fire personnel, here on Thursday, October 30.
The car was severely damaged in the fire. KA 03 ME 6237, belonging to Sri Ventures caught fire in the evening hours of Thursday outside the Mangalore International airport.
It is learnt that the driver, Raja Sheik had come to collect the daughter of the car owner and about to park the car in the parking lot. The driver was alone in the car during the incident. He saw the smoke being emitted from the car first and then the car catching fire.
30/10/14 daijiworld.com

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Dabolim needs coordinated policy: Group tells CM

Margao: Goans for Dabolim Only (GFDO) urged the state government to formulate an "all-encompassing coordinated policy" for development of Dabolim airport to its full potential.

GFDO wished chief minister Manohar Parrikar good luck in his initiative to petition the central government to make more land available at Dabolim airport from the Navy for parking of aircraft. The group said that "it would be in the interest of proper professional planning, if the CM would hand over a long-term master plan for Dabolim airport to the defence ministry, requesting the total amount of land it would require, rather than approaching it with piecemeal and short -term requirements".
30/10/14 Times of India

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Jackal comes calling at Kochi airport

The airport here today received an unusual visitor when a jackal sauntered into the operational area, taking everyone by surprise.

The animal was noticed by bird watchers at the airport.

Immediately a trap was laid and the animal caught and handed over to the forest officials, Airport Director A C K Nair told PTI.
30/10/14 Daily News & Analysis

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Mumbai International Airport Bags the Prestigious Golden Peacock Award 2014 for Sustainability

GVK Mumbai International Airport Private Limited (MIAL) has bagged the prestigious ‘Golden Peacock Award for Sustainability’ for the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport (CSIA). The award was presented at a specially organized “Golden Peacock Awards Ceremony”, on Wednesday, October 29 2014 at House of Lords- UK Parliament, Westminster in London.
Considered the greatest recognition of corporate excellence in areas of innovation, quality, sustainability, training, governance, environment management and corporate social responsibility the Golden Peacock Awards assessed the applicants on the basis of an exhaustive set of parameters covering a wide range of issues  and programs concerned with the Triple Bottom Line of the Business, also called the ‘TBL’ or ‘3BL’. Key to Sustainability the concept of ‘TBL’ means that the business success is defined not only by monetary gains but also by its environmental and social performances. In the current scenario, transparency about sustainability of organizational activities is of prime interest to a diverse range of stakeholders that include business, labor, non-governmental organizations, investors, accountants, and others. The idea of “Award for Sustainability” encourages initiatives in promoting sustainable development amongst organizations and rapidly accelerates the pace of stakeholder oriented improvement process.
30/10/14 moneylife.com

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Passengers miss flight after arguments with AI officials at Chennai airport

Bangalore: A group of passengers at the Chennai airport on Thursday had a harrowing experience and missed their flight to Bangalore following an argument with the officials.
Madhan Ramakrishnan, Delivery Manager with an MNC, along with other passengers who were to board an Air India flight to Bangalore today morning missed their flight after they had an arguement with the AI officials.
It all began when Ramakrishnan along with other passengers were at the AI ticketing counter waiting to check in. "We were asked to go from the domestic terminal to the international terminal to board our flight. They told us that the flight would take off from the international terminal.
Since the distance from the domestic to the international terminal was about 5-10 minutes walk, we all walked to the other terminal. Upon reaching the international terminal we were told that the gate had closed and we couldn't board the flight," Ramakrishnan told OneIndia.
What followed next was a series of arguments between the passengers and the AI officials. The passengers tried to reason with the officials saying that they were asked to come to the international terminal.
30/10/14 Sandra Marina Fernandes/One India

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Delhi ATC to provide real-time weather to pilots by next year

New Delhi: To better prepare pilots for bad weather conditions, the Airports Authority of India (AAI) is planning to provide real-time weather data to airborne aircraft. For this, the AAI will integrate weather radar data of the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) with Air Traffic Control (ATC)’s radar system. Currently, the IMD provides weather data to ATC through phone call, message or fax. Air traffic controllers then relay it to pilots. Currently, aircraft use primary radar data, which provide weather data with some useful snapshots only up to 60 miles. By next year, however, weather data will be transferred via software by means of a new integrated weather system (IWS) platform. This would be available in all ATC towers, allowing pilots to get real-time weather for all phases of a flight.
30/10/14 Geeta Gupta/Indian Express

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Goa to seek more parking space at Dabolim airport

Panaji: Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar will take up with the Ministry of Defence and Ministry of Civil Aviation(MoCA) in New Delhi, a proposal seeking more space for parking at the Dabolim international airport which comes under Naval jurisdiction.

Mr. Parrikar, who is scheduled to fly to New Delhi for this purpose on Wednesday, said in Panaji on Tuesday that this aspect of additional space at the already saturated Dabolim airport assumes significance as his government has received a proposal for a hub from Air Asia.
28/10/14 Prakash Kamat/The Hindu

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Indian national dies at Bandaranaike International Airport

A 51-year-old Indian national died while being admitted to the Negombo Hospital after he collapsed due to a sudden illness at the Bandaranaike International Airport today.
Police said the deceased was on his way to Trichy, India from Dammam, Saudi Arabia.
 “The deceased had fell on the airport corridor and died while being admitted to the Negombo Hospital,” the Police said.
29/10/14 Daily Mirror

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Tigerair increases connectivity on Chennai-Singapore route

Chennai: Singapore-based budget air carrier Tigerair has announced two more weekly flights between Chennai and the city state from December.

"The airline has added two additional weekly flights on this route that will ensure more convenience for travellers from and to the city", a company statement said today.

Tigerair currently operates seven weekly flights between Chennai and Singapore. The two additional weekly flights will come into effect from December 4, 2014, it added.

"The decision to increase frequencies to Chennai is in line with the upsurge in travel demand. The increased flights will give travellers from India a greater option and opportunity to visit Singapore," said Robert Yang, Commercial Director, Tigerair.
29/10/14 PTI/Business Standard

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1,000 stranded for hours as Air India flights delayed

Mumbai: About a thousand Air India passengers booked on flights to Delhi, Ahmedabad and Goa were stranded at Mumbai airport for hours after their flights were delayed on Monday evening.

With festive season travel still on, all flights were fully booked. To cater to the crowd and to combine certain flights, since October 26, the airline has been deploying wide-bodied aircraft like the 330-seater Boeing 777s instead of the 180-seater A320s. An Air India flight to Delhi, which was to depart at 7pm, left around 10.15pm, another to Ahmedabad, also operated with a Boeing 777, took off around 9pm, over an hour-and-a-half late. The flight to Goa was more than two hours late. "The Delhi flight had many passengers who had connecting flights to Hong Kong and Singapore. The airline was trying to accommodate them on other flights but most did not make it," said a media professional, a passenger on board AI's Mumbai-Delhi delayed flight.

An Air India spokesperson attributed the delays to various factors. "When a flight gets delayed due to an engineering problem or other issues, the schedule gets disrupted. The aircraft arrives late to operate other flights too."
27/10/14 Times of India

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Soon, boarding gate details on flight tickets

Ahmedabad: Like Delhi and Mumbai, soon people booking flights from Ahmedabad airport will have their boarding gate numbers printed on their tickets. The air traffic controller (ATC) at Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport is planning to start parking allocation system for regular flights operating out of the city airport.

The new system will not only save time of passengers but will also help airlines to station their flights according to the assigned gate numbers and fasten the ground operations.

"When someone books a ticket from Delhi, he is assigned terminal and gate number on the ticket itself at the time of booking whereas in case of Ahmedabad, gate numbers are assigned sometime before departure. The allocation system will help us manage the movement of flights more regularly in addition to saving time," said an ATC official.
28/10/14 Piyush Mishra/Times of India

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CPM chief whip demands more flights for Tripura

Agartala:  Protesting against Jet Airways' withdrawal of its last flight from Agartala airport on Sunday, CPM's chief whip in the Lok Sabha, Jitendra Choudhury, sought more flights for Tripura and inclusion of Agartala in Alliance Air's northeastern cities circuit.

Under the viability gap funding (VGF) arrangement, North Eastern Council (NEC) has signed an agreement with the ministry of civil aviation recently to help Alliance Air run ATR flights in five northeastern cities. Agartala, however, does not feature on the list.

Before leaving for South America as part of the Indian Goodwill Delegation of Parliamentarians, Choudhury said private airlines, though not directly regulated by the ministry of civil aviation, should look beyond profits. The Agartala airport is estimated to generate the second-largest air traffic in the northeast after Guwahati's Lokpriya Gopinath Bordoloi International Airport, he said.
28/10/14 Times of India

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Goa govt to seek more space for aircraft parking at Dabolim

Panaji: Facing shortage of parking space for aircraft at the Dabolim airport, Goa government will seek the Centre's help to get additional space at the Navy-operated facility in the state.

Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar, who will be in Delhi tomorrow, said he would meet the officials of Civil Aviation and Defence ministries to demand more space at the Dabolim airport for parking of aircraft.

"We need more parking space as airline companies, like Air Asia, want to convert Goa into their hub. They are ready to start two flights from Goa in the morning," Parrikar said, adding that their plans have been halted because of inadequate parking space for aircraft.

"They need space for their aircraft for night halt. Right now we have a problem in providing the space to them," he said.

The Dabolim airport is a part of Indian Navy's base INS Hansa.
28/10/14 Business Standard

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HAL seeks initiative to upgrade Jeypore airstrip

Bhubaneswar: The Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) at Sunabeda in Koraput district has requested Biju Patnaik Airport director to expedite upgrading of the airstrip at Jeypore into a full-fledged airport to facilitate transportation of aircraft engines by air.

The engines are currently being sent to Visakhapatnam by road and from there flown to different defence air bases.

"It is a cumbersome process and takes up a lot of time. The nearest airport is at Visakhapatnam and military transport aircrafts fly the engines to their destinations," said HAL additional general manager (helicopters and services) S Pandit.

This has been the practice since HAL was set up here for manufacturing turbo jet, other aircrafts and helicopter engines. The HAL has manufactured more than 1,000 aero engines till now.
28/10/14 Times of India

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Meghalaya Govt scouting land near airport for Piskot export

Kolkata: The Meghalaya government will write to the West Bengal government requesting for land near the Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport to build a integrated packhouse with storage capacity for the export of Piskot, a vegetable highly nutritious and rich in minerals.

Principal Secretary, Community and Rural Development Department, Government of Meghalaya K N Kumar said here today that the NSCBI airprot served the purpose being the only international airport close to Meghalaya.
28/10/14 Press Trust of India/The Sangai Express/E-Pao

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Biju Patnaik International Airport organizing the Vigilance Awareness Week

Bhubaneswar: Biju Patnaik International Airport, Airports Authority of India, Bhubaneswar is organizing the Vigilance Awareness Week from 27.10.2014 to 01.11.2014. The theme this year, as decided by Vigilance Directorate, is “Combating Corruption- Technology as an Enabler”. The day began with the ceremonial lighting of the lamp, followed by the Oath Taking Ceremony, in which all the employees pledged to contribute their sincerity, honesty and loyalty in providing world-class services to the countrymen.
28/10/14 Odisha Diary

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Now, airport trash bags too under 'gold' scanner

Kozhikode:  Customs officials at Karipur Airport, which has emerged as one of the top four hotspots for gold smuggling into the country, now have a new headache in the form garbage gold.

With smugglers depositing contraband gold in garbage bags inside flights and retrieving them later, possibly with the help of garbage clearing staff, customs have been forced to take the unprecedented step of conducting x-ray scans on trash bags in flights arriving from the Gulf.

Customs officials said Karipur airport could possibly be the only airport in the country where garbage bags and even food trolleys have to be scanned through the x-ray machine for hidden gold.

The decision was taken following intelligence inputs, which proved right as officials seized 2 kg of gold from one such bags from an Air Arabia flight last week.

"Smugglers had recently tried abandoning gold inside aircraft toilets and other places. To make our system foolproof, we now scan trash bags coming from flights," said customs assistant commissioner Lokesh Damor.
28/10/14 Times of India

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Fund Crunch Hits Karaikal Greenfield Airport Project

Karaikal: The Karaikal Airport Private Limited project is now lying dormant for more than three years owing to severe fund crunch.
The Union government had rendered the in-principle approval for the Karaikal private airport limited on February, 2011. Likewise other formalities such as the No Objection Certificate (NOC) from Puducherry government and clearance from Airport Authority of India (AAI) except for the environmental clearances were obtained by the Coimbatore-based Super Airport Infrastructure company.
Though Super Airport Infrastructure asserted that the airport construction works at Karaikal would commence by the first quarter of 2014, even after half the calendar years have passed, not even a rubble has moved in the vast 350 acres of land acquired towards the construction of Karaikal Greenfield Airport at Nedungadu commune of Karaikal enclave.
Severe fund crunch for raising a minimum of Rs 100 crores to commence the construction works including a shorter runway of 1.2 kilometre stretch was noted as the reason and options for the private firm to generate fund through private investors from Puducherry, TN and even from France has failed to yield positive results so far. Karaikal airport private limited was vowed to be the first of its kind airport to handle the entire operations except for security arrangements which would be manned by the UT government, and for the air traffic control tower which would be operated by AAI.
27/10/14 S Deepak Karthik/New Indian Express

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New guidelines soon for privatisation of airport operations

Hyderabad:  The Centre is in the process of finalising guidelines for bringing operations and management of some airports under the Public-Private-Partnership model, Civil Aviation Secretary V Somasundaram has said.

These operations are currently under control of Airports Authority of India.

Somasundaram also said that the five airports selected to be developed under "no-frills airports" category would be operational in the next two years.
"That model (under PPP) is mainly developed for the metro cities. The remaining airports are not in metro area. These are in medium cities. For these airports we may need a revised model because we will not have the kind of volume which Mumbai, Delhi or Bangalore have. So we are working on that," Somasundaram said.
26/10/14 PTI/Economic Times

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GoAir launched its daily flights from Bhubaneswar airport

Bhubaneswar: The GoAir, a low-fare airline, launched its daily flights from the Biju Patnaik domestic airport here on Sunday. The GoAir’s maiden flight from Bhubaneswar to New Delhi took off at 8.45 am while its second flight for New Delhi is scheduled to depart from here at 7.25 pm to reach its destination at 9.50 pm. While another flight of the company left for Mumbai at 11 am from here, one more flight of the airline departed for Kolkata at 6.30 pm on Sunday. The airline’s operation was formally inaugurated by Bhubaneswar Airport Director Sharad Kumar. Kumar said that with the launching of the GoAir’s operations, the domestic flight operations at the Bhubaneswar Airport have increased to 40 flights daily which include up and down flights.
27/10/14 Odisha Diary

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Finally, Mangalore-Kuwait flight takes to skies again

Mangalore: Bringing much joy and relief to scores of Mangaloreans, the Mangalore-Kuwait Air India operations finally resumed on Monday October 27, with the first flight of the season taking off from Mangalore International Airport at 7.30 am.
Mangalore South MLA J R Lobo, Karnataka minister Roshan Baig, MLC Ivan D'Souza and MP Nalin Kumar Kateel along with several organizations and individuals had put in continuous efforts to reintroduce the Mangalore-Kuwait flight service which had been stalled for almost a year.

Speaking to media persons, Lobo, who boarded the flight to Kuwait along with his wife, said, "Mangalore-Kuwait flight service had been stopped for almost for a year. Eight months back when we raised this issue in the Vidhana Sabha, our state government held talks with the central government and the answer we got was that Mangalore was very poor in financial investments and there were not many flight services and therefore reintroduction of the Mangalore-Kuwait flight service was not possible.
27/10/14 Daijiworld.com

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High alert at Bhopal airport

Bhopal: Bhopal's Raja Bhoj airport has also been put on a high alert along with other major airports in the country following an anonymous letter to Airports Authority of India that warned Air India flights would be targeted.

Station manager, Raja Bhoj airport Rakesh Bahri said, "We are always on toes. Still, after the alert, security has further been beefed up."

Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), police and other security agencies are keeping a constant vigil at the airport premises. Security at Bhopal airport perimeter entrance has also been tightened.
27/10/14 Times of India

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Hyderabad intl airport on social media

Rajiv Gandhi International Airport (RGIA) has started windows on social media. It is now accessible on Facebook along with Twitter and YouTube.
“Passengers and other stakeholders will now get updated information on new services. Passengers can now remain connected and have access at all time to information on special offerings, retail options and duty free shopping at the airport,” a press release said here on Sunday, quoting S G K Kishore, Chief Executive Officer of GMR Hyderabad International Airport Limited.
26/10/14 Business Line

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Gold worth 3.55cr seized at airport

Mumbai: About 14kg of gold worth Rs 3.55 crore was recovered over the weekend, said Air Intelligence Unit officials of the Customs department, adding that many had tried new, ingenious means to smuggle the precious metal, said .

On Friday, a six-month pregnant woman, with infant in tow, was arrested at the international airport for smuggling gold concealed in her undergarments, said Customs officials.

A senior Customs officer said that the recent seizures were remarkable in terms of quality and quantity of gold .
27/10/14 Vijay V Singh/Times of India

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Gold in CPU seized from Gulf expat

Yet another Indian national was arrested upon arrival from the Gulf at an airport in India for trying to smuggle gold, even as officials in India have raised alarm bells.

Smuggled gold worth more than Dh3 million was seized from various airports across the country in the past three days.

In the latest incident, an Indian was arrested at Thiruvananthapuram airport on Sunday morning (October 26) carrying 3.5kg of gold hidden inside a desktop CPU.

This was the second such arrest at the airport within a week. According to customs officials, this year alone about 56kg of smuggled gold has been seized from travellers, mainly from the Gulf.

Gold smuggling has been on the rise in India during recent months. Indian officials have directed all customs staff operating at both airports and sea ports to be vigilant against gold smuggling. A total of 1,780 cases of smuggling gold valued at around Dh281.7 million have been registered across the country by the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) and customs department between April and August 2014.
26/10/14  Joseph George/Emirates 24|7

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Gold worth 3.55cr seized at airport

Mumbai: About 14kg of gold worth Rs 3.55 crore was recovered over the weekend, said Air Intelligence Unit officials of the Customs department, adding that many had tried new, ingenious means to smuggle the precious metal, said .

On Friday, a six-month pregnant woman, with infant in tow, was arrested at the international airport for smuggling gold concealed in her undergarments, said Customs officials.

A senior Customs officer said that the recent seizures were remarkable in terms of quality and quantity of gold .
27/10/14 Vijay V Singh/Times of India

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High security at Kochi airport to continue till Monday

Kochi: Marking the culmination of a bomb-scare drama that lasted about two days, the Mumbai-Kochi flight of Air India flew into the Cochin International Airport amid high security arrangements on Saturday.

The flight AI054 touched down at the airport here at 7.40 a.m. with 123 passengers and six crew members on board. The passengers and their luggage were cleared after detailed examinations and the threat was later declared unfounded.

“All is clear and the bomb threat now appears to be a hoax,” said an airport official, adding that the aircraft was ready for its return trip to Mumbai later in the day.

Security at the airport had been beefed up since Friday on the direction of the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) in the wake of a suicide bomb threat on a couple of Air India flights. An anonymous call, received at the regional office of the Airports Authority of India at Kolkata, threatened suicide bomb blasts on the Ahmedabad-Mumbai flight scheduled for Friday midnight and the Mumbai-Kochi flight scheduled early Saturday.
26/10/14 The Hindu

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BMC asks airport authorities for machines to screen passengers for Ebola virus

With the spread of Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) alarming the whole world, the Maharashtra state government had asked the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) last week to request airport authorities to install more screening machines at Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport and carry out accurate tests on passengers. At a meeting of top government officials last week, the chief secretary asked the BMC to write to the airport authorities about the same, after the media reported the deaths of Ebola-stricken patients in foreign countries. When the Ebola scare first hit the city around three months ago, the airport authorities allotted a room in JJ Hospital to isolate a passenger suspected of suffering from the symptoms of EVD. The screening machines will help check the body temperature of an individual. Further medical checks will be conducted on those with a high temperature. “The airport will soon carry out the measures suggested by us,” said a senior BMC official, on condition of anonymity. Sanjay Deshmukh, the additional municipal commissioner (Health), said, “In a recent meeting, the chief secretary ordered an increase in the number of screening machines, which will check the body temperatures of passengers. We have written to them.”
26/10/14 Chetna Yerunkar/Mid Day

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SIA-Airbus JV gets Competition Commission's approval

New Delhi: Singapore Airlines' proposed joint venture with Airbus Services Asia Pacific to provide flight pilot training services, has received green signal from fair trade watchdog CCI.

The proposed combination involves formation of a joint venture company, Airbus Asia Training Centre (AATC), to provide flight pilot training services.

In AATC, Airbus Services Asia, part of French major Airbus, would have 55 per cent stake while 45 per cent would be with Singapore Airlines.

Clearing the deal, the Competition Commission of India (CCI) said there is no horizontal overlap or vertical relationship between the parties with respect to provision of flight pilot training activities.

The deal is "not likely to have an appreciable adverse effect on competition in India," CCI said in a recent order.
26/10/14 PTI/Business Standard

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Another glass pane falls off roof at Chennai airport

Chennai: Passengers had a narrow escape today when a glass pane fell from the roof close to them at the arrival enclave of international terminal in yet another such incident at the airport here.

Luckily, the five-feet pane did not fall on the passengers present in the immigration area, airport sources said.

This was the 28th such incident of glass panes, false ceiling and granite slabs falling off at the terminals built last year, they added.
24/10/14 PTI/Business Standard

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Gulf Air restarts Hyderabad route

Gulf Air, the national carrier of the Kingdom of Bahrain, announced that it will be recommencing flights to Hyderabad, the fourth most populous city in India, with 5 weekly flights, starting from 15 December 2014.
The airline’s Acting Chief Executive Officer Mr. Maher Salman Al Musallam commented on the airline’s latest development: “We are further strengthening our Indian operations after the successful launch of flights to Thiruvananthapuram in December 2013. Now with the addition of Hyderabad, our sixth Indian destination, we are connecting south-central India to the Middle East – and we hope this route will appeal to travellers and be just as successful as our existing India operations.”
25/10/14 Aviation Tribune

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Confusion at airport

Visakhapatnam: Utter chaos prevailed at the Visakhapatnam International Airport on Friday due to lack of communication to individual passengers on the change of timings by an airline operator. Failure of the public address systems added to the confusion.

“Air India Dubai flight arrived here from New Delhi and left around 4 p.m., two hours ahead of its normal schedule. I did not receive any communication from AI on the change of schedule and when I approached the AI authorities, they threatened to deduct a penalty of Rs.2,000. They agreed to accommodate me on Saturday’s flight but only after a lot of discussion,” said a passenger from Srikakulam. Another passenger from Vizianagaram also missed the flight due to non-intimation of the change in schedule.
25/10/14 B Madhu Gopal/The Hindu

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Five arrested for smuggling gold

Mumbai: A wheelchair-bound six-month-pregnant woman carrying an infant was caught with gold bars worth Rs 27.56 lakh hidden inside the sanitary napkin she was wearing while another burqa-clad woman also carrying an infant was held with gold bars worth Rs 78.33 lakh at Mumbai airport on the intervening night between Friday and Saturday. The two were part of five separate gold seizures which led to a total recovery of Rs 3.55 crore, the second biggest in a single night.
Both women flew in from Dammam by Jet Airways flight number 9W563, according to officials of the Air Intelligence Unit of Customs. Fazlatunissa Mohammed Saleem Abdul Rehman, a resident of Mira Road, had reached arrivals along with an infant when a personal check led to the recovery of 27 gold bars, each weighing 10 tola and collectively worth Rs 78.33 lakh from her jeans. Ms Fazlatunissa was followed by the six-month-pregnant and wheelchair-bound Tajwar Harim, who too was holding an infant. Nine gold bars, each weighing 10 tola, and one bar weighing 5 tola, together valued at Rs 27.56 lakh were recovered, with the yellow metal hidden inside the sanitary napkin Ms Tajwar was wearing. “Both said they were promised hefty monetary compensation for transporting the gold,” said an officer.
26/10/14 Parth Satam/Asian Age

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Two held at airport for smuggling gold

Pune: Sleuths of the air intelligence unit (AIU) of the Pune Customs commissionerate on Friday nabbed two persons, including a staff of the Airports Authority of India (AAI), at the Pune International Airport at Lohegaon, and seized 2.116-kg gold bars, worth Rs 58.71 lakhs, which was smuggled in from Dubai.

The arrested have been identified as Mohammed Mohsin Mobin Shaikh of Mumbai and AAI's senior attendant (housekeeping) Basheer Shaikh. Officials are now investigating Basheer's suspected involvment in other cases in the past as it has a nexus between smugglers and airport staff has often been suspected. Pune is thought to be an important transit point for smugglers following tightening of security at the Mumbai airport, which was traditionally preferred by smugglers flying in from Dubai.

According to the Customs department, Mohsin reached Pune via an Air India Express flight on Friday. "Based on intelligence input, sleuths intercepted Basheer while he was having a suspicious conversation with Mohsin. Subsequent investigation resulted in the seizure of three gold bars, two weighing one kg each and another 10-tola bar. Mohsin had handed over these gold bars to Basheer, who was supposed give them to someone, who would approach him at the washroom near the immigration counter.
26/10/14 Mubarak Ansari/Pune Mirror 

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Suicide bombers may board 2 AI flights; Ahmedabad, Mumbai, Kochi airports on high alert

Ahmedabad:  If you are boarding a flight from the city airport on Friday or Saturday be prepared for increased security checks. Ahmedabad and Mumbai airports have been put on a high alert following an intelligence input which states that suicide bombers will try to board two Air India flights in the wee hours on Saturday. As per the letter from Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) headquarters in New Delhi, a copy of which Ahmedabad Mirror has access to, suicide bombers could board Air India's Ahmedabad-Mumbai and Mumbai-Kochi flights scheduled for early morning departure on Saturday.

"An input received says: Air India flight on the midnight of October 24 (early morning of October 25) from Ahmedabad to Mumbai and early morning flight from Mumbai to Kochi on 25th morning at 0500 hrs. Suicide bomber in each flight separately. Please check thoroughly," reads the letter. "Secondary security checks may be carried out at Ahmedabad and Mumbai airports for all flights around the concerned dates," adds the letter forwarded to concerned officials on October 22 by regional deputy commissioner of security
(Civil Aviation), Ahmedabad.
24/10/14 Ahmedabad Mirror/Times of India

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In absence of screening, 3 Ebola patients a month may fly out: Study

If health checks at airports were not to happen, a Lancet study brings out a chilling fact which states that close to three Ebola-infected passengers could fly out of countries affected by the epidemic every month. The study conducted by Canadian health research institutes has therefore asked that more robust exit screening mechanisms be put in place.
What is screening at exit and entry?
While exit screening is analysing passengers at risk before they fly out of countries at risk – in this case, Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone – entry screening implies checking passengers entering foreign airports from affected countries. Exit screening would help identify travellers with symptoms consistent with Ebola virus disease at an earlier stage than entry screening, said the study. The exit screening already exists in these countries, but the study calls for more robust mechanisms on ground.
Why is screening at exit better than entry screening?
"Our analysis shows that exit screening at international points of departure would offer greater efficiency, and might be simpler to operationalise, as compared to screening all flights arriving directly from affected countries," said the study. On Aug 8, 2014, the WHO proposed the use of exit screening. However, since exit screening is likely to further draw on valuable health and human resources from resource-poor countries in the midst of an emergency, support from the international community will be necessary to effectively implement these recommendations, observes the study.
24/10/14 Maitri Porecha/Daily News & Analysis

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City airport to get more Zon guns to combat bird hits

Coimbatore: In order to minimise bird-hit incidents and ensure passenger safety, the airport authorities have decided to acquire more Zon guns, a popular bird scaring equipment, to keep birds away from the runway and its vicinity.

The airport authorities had released tenders on September 26 for the supply of three Zon guns. It's a LPG-operated bird-scaring device which produces a loud noise periodically. "We bought three Zon guns last December and the number of bird-hits came down drastically. So, we have decided to order a few more to improve our vigil," said D Paul Manickam, director, Coimbatore International Airport.

Recently, a SpiceJet flight that flew in from Hyderabad, was hit by a bird, suspected to be a vulture, just as it was landing on Saturday. The flight was later grounded for almost 24 hours because its propellers were damaged. This incident comes just three months after a Mumbai-Coimbatore-Chennai Jetlite flight suffered a bird-hit on the cockpit damaging a panel. Five incidents of bird hits have already been reported this year.
25/10/14 Pratiksha Ramkumar/Times of India

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Security beefed up at Kovai airport

Coimbatore: Security check was intensifed at the Coimbatore airport on Saturday following an intelligence alert that suicide bombers may board two Air India flights in the small hours of Saturday.

A letter from the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) headquarters in New Delhi said suicide bombers could board from any airport in the country.

Coimbatore city police commissioner A.K. Viswanathan said the airport road is being monitored. Police security has been strengthened in and around the airport complex, he added. Every passenger entering the airport is being frisked and his/her baggage screened at the entrance.
26/10/14 Deccan Chronicle

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Weekly aircraft movement to go up to 1,078 at Kochi Airport

Kochi: The weekly aircraft movement at the city airport during the winter will go up to 1,078, including 479 in the International sector.

While the domestic sector will see 599 operations a week at the Kochi Airport, in the International sector it would be 479 during the winter schedule, effective from October 25 to March 28, next year.
Apart from this, CIAL has started discussions with the newly introduced Air Pegasus to operate services to Chennai and Bangalore. The company is also in dialogue with Air India and Air Asia India to commence direct flight services to Goa, a Cochin International Airport Ltd (CIAL) press release said.

As many as 23 airlines are now operating services in Kochi. Many of them have increased the frequency the effect of which is more visible in domestic sector, wherein the total aircraft movement will be raised from 533 to 599. This will still get going with the commencement of operations of Air Pegasus to Bangalore, Chennai routes and the introduction of new sectors by Air India and Air Asia India.

The new schedule indicates that Bangalore is the most frequented city to which there will be 89 aircraft movements from Kochi. Mondays and Wednesdays will have 14 operations each.
23/10/14 PTI/Economic Times

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Chennai airport arrival hall to get bigger

Chennai: In an ad hoc measure intended to give passengers arriving at the Chennai international airport more space, authorities are planning to expand the arrival hall by removing the partition between the now-decommissioned Kamaraj domestic terminal and the Anna international terminal, a part of which is still being used.

Chennai, the country’s third busiest international airport, handles about 17 international flights during the day and more than 25 in the night. Though new terminal buildings were inaugurated way back in January 2013, the commissioning of the international arrival hall has been delayed ever since. Instead, passengers are made to exit through the arrival section of the old Anna international terminal (AIT).

Airport officials attribute the delay to various reasons including shortage of customs as well as immigration staff.
24/10/14 Venkatesan Parthasarathy/Deccan Chronicle

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Modest growth in passenger volume at Mangalore airport

Mangalore: Mangalore International Airport saw an increase of 3.88 per cent in the number of passengers during the first six months of the current financial year.

The airport handled 6,56,841 passengers from April-September of 2014-15 as against 6,32,261 passengers in the corresponding period of the previous financial year.

JT Radhakrishna, Director of Mangalore International Airport, said that though there was growth in the handling of international passengers, there was decline in the handling of domestic passengers during the period.

The number of international passengers stood at 2,37,789 during the first six months of 2014-15 as against 1,91,952 in the April-September of 2013-14, recording a growth of 23.87 per cent.

However, the number of domestic passengers came down to 4,19,052 during the first half of the current fiscal as against 4,40,309 in the corresponding period of 2013-14, recording a decline of 5 per cent in the passenger handling.
23/10/14 Business Line

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Civil aviation ministry mulls to use Swachh Bharat Abhiyan for cleaner airports

New Delhi: Smelly airport bathrooms could soon be a thing of the past. The civil aviation ministry is planning to use the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on October 2 to ensure a future in which people don't have to hold their noses while using the facilities at airports.
Cleanliness at various airports managed by the state-run Airports Authority of India became a concern for the ministry, after several members of Parliament raised a stink about deplorable hygiene.
The civil aviation ministry then conducted surprise checks across airports in the country to see if service standards were being followed. The inspection kicked off with Chennai airport where hygiene was found to be less than desirable. Civil aviation minister Ashok Gajapati Pusapati Raju gave the airport authority a month to clean up its act.
25/10/14 Economic Times

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Airlines reduce flight frequency to Kashmir

Srinagar: Owing to the mass cancellation holiday plans of visitors to Kashmir due to recent floods, the airlines have reduced the number of flights operation on Kashmir route.
Airport Director Rajesh Shinde told Rising Kashmir that due to decrease in tourist influx to Valley, operation of seven flights has been reduced.
“Due to the floods many airlines have reduced the number of flights for Srinagar airport. Earlier, 32 flights used to fly to Kashmir which has reduced to 27 flights now days. Very less people were travelling to valley for past two months,” said Shinde.
The travel companies have also reduced the cost of tickets that normally cost high at the start of the tourist season. The tickets from New Delhi to Srinagar which used to cost Rs 13,823 in the month of March has come down to Rs 4,572 only.
The tour operators have seen massive cancellations since floods hit the Valley.
President Travel Agents Association of Kashmir (TAAK) Peerzada Fayaz said all the bookings for the month of September and October were cancelled after the floods struck valley.
25/10/14 Junaid Kathju/Rising Kashmir

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Gold seized at Karipur airport

Malappuram: The Air Customs Intelligence wing at Karipur seized smuggled-in gold valued at Rs.1 crore on Friday.

The seizure was made in two instances related to the Air Arabia flight G9-454 which arrived from Sharjah at 3.30 a.m. Gold bars weighing 1.597 kg were seized from a passenger and two kilograms of gold was recovered from the toilet waste of the flight.

Siddik Vellarakunnummel, 29, from Vavad, near Koduvally, was arrested by the Customs authorities. The gold was found hidden inside an LED emergency lamp and an SJ power bank (mobile battery recharger). While a gold bar weighing 1 kg was found hidden in the emergency lamp, three pieces weighing 597 gm were recovered from the power bank.
25/10/14 The Hindu

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Car thief held at Chennai airport

Chennai: Chennai: On Friday, the airport police arrested a 28-year-old man for stealing a car from the parking lot of Chennai airport a week ago. The accused, Michael (28), landed in the police net after he was planning a similar attempt at the airport on Friday. Michael was initially picked up when he was seen threatening a vendor on G.S.T. road, near the airport. During investigations, the police found that he was a car thief.

A native of Krishnamalai in Tiruvannamalai district, Michael was arrested by the Villupuram police for his suspected involvement in a double-murder in the district a year ago, the police added.He was let out on bail recently and was staying in Chennai when he got in touch with an acquaintance, Venkatesan (30), who owns and drives a cab.
25/10/14 Deccan Chronicle

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Airport staffer among 2 held for smuggling

Pune:  The customs authorities arrested two persons, including a housekeeping attendant with the Airports Authority of India (AAI), at the city's Lohegaon airport for allegedly trying to smuggle over 2 kg foreign gold worth Rs 58.71 lakh.

The seized gold was brought in by Mohammad Mohsin Mobin Shaikh (24), a resident of Hamidiya building, Dongri in Mumbai, who travelled from Dubai to Pune on an Air India flight on Thursday afternoon.

On his arrival, Mohsin allegedly handed over a black-coloured pack, containing the gold, to housekeeping staffer Basheer Mohammad Shaikh (47) in the gents washroom located within the immigration area, in an attempt to clear the customs channel without declaring any dutiable items. However, an alert customs official noticed their suspicious activities and detained them for questioning.
25/10/14 Vishwas Kothari/Times of India

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Till Oct 22 this year, customs seized 815 kg gold

Mumbai: With two months left for the year to end, the Mumbai Airport Customs is confident of setting a record this year by seizing one ton of gold in its interceptions at the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport.
Having already surpassed last year’s figure of 346 kilograms several months ago, Customs has increased its surveillance at both the international and domestic terminals of the airport.
Over the past three years, gold seizures have risen steadily, said a Customs officer. The figures stood at 63 kg in 2012 and 346 kg in 2013. This year, Customs crossed 346 kg in July itself.
In the entire 2013 financial years, we had seized 340 kilos of gold. In the first half of this financial year however, we have already seized 633.2 kilogram, said the officer.
24/10/14 Indian Express

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Govt frames stringent rules for airlines to check Ebola spread

New Delhi:  After prolonged laxity, India has finally made stringent rules for airlines to prevent the spread of Ebola virus disease (EVD) here. Now, both Indian and foreign carriers flying into the country will have to limit contact of passengers showing symptoms of this disease and earmark a toilet on the aircraft for their exclusive use.

Also, airline crew has been directed to use surgical face masks to cover nose and mouth of flyers showing symptoms "compatible with Ebola" like fever, weakness, sore throat, bleeding and vomiting. "Airlines must not allow other passengers to share a toilet with unwell flyers showing symptoms of Ebola. The virus mainly spreads through body fluids. Supposing an undetected Ebola patient showing the symptoms touches the toilet tap and then other flyers also do the same, the disease may spread," said a Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) official.
23/10/14 Saurabh Sinha/Times of India

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Passenger held for assaulting immigration officials at airport

New Delhi: A passenger was arrested on Tuesday from Terminal III of the Indira Gandhi International airport for allegedly assaulting two immigration officials.
The accused, Joginder Singh, had been deported from England to Delhi for overstaying his visa.
He reportedly slapped the officials who were delaying his immigration clearance, police said.
23/10/14 Indian Express

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Flyer hides Rs 2 crore gold in pants, held

Mumbai: : A passenger, who flew into the city from Dubai, was arrested for allegedly smuggling gold worth Rs1.86 crore, on Wednesday. The accused, Ghariwal Jashvantlal, had tucked the gold into specially tailormade pockets of a belt strapped to the waist and worn under the trousers.
Jashvantlal, who reached the international airport by an early morning flight, had stashed four gold biscuits of 1kg each, pieces of gold and 12 biscuits each weighing 100gm, said officials of the air intelligence unit of the Customs department.
After disembarking, Jashvantlal headed straight to the washroom at the airport and concealed the gold in the pockets of his special belt.
23/10/14 Times of India

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Gold worth Rs 6.14 lakh seized from Mangalore airport

Mangalore: Customs officials at the international airport here have seized 224.75 gms of gold, valued at Rs 6.14 lakh from a passenger who arrived here from Dubai.

Airport officials said the gold, in the form of silver paint-coated wires, was found hidden in the beading portion around the borders and edges of a laptop bag the passenger was carrying.

The passenger hailing from Mogralputhur in Kasaragod district of Kerala reached here by a flight yesterday, they said.
23/10/14 Business Standard

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MoEF gives nod for expansion, development of Hubli airport

Hyderabad: An Expert Appraisal Committee under the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) has accorded green signal to the expansion and development of an airport at Hubli in Karnataka.

However, the committee has sought additional details to give environmental clearance for development of airport at Belgaum. Both the airports are run by Airports Authority of India (AAI).

"After deliberation, EAC recommended the proposal (for environmental clearance) with the following conditions in the EC letter for strict compliance by the proponent (AAI)," the EAC said in the minutes of the meeting.

The EAC in its meeting held in August 2014 noted that the existing and predicted noise levels presented by the AAI appeared to be 'unrealistic' and hence wanted them to be re-examined  during the aircraft 'landing and takeoff' and 'compare and validate' the values with the predicted noise levels by appropriate modelling.
22/10/14 PTI/Deecan Herald

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Passengers stage dharna at airport after GoAir cancels two flights at the last minute due to technical snag

Mumbai: Over 90 passengers of a New Delhi-bound GO Air G8-337 flight protested at the domestic terminal of Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus on Wednesday afternoon, after their flight got cancelled at the last minute due to a technical snag and left them stranded for over five hours. Disheartened and angry, passengers who were eager to reach their destinations on time for Diwali celebrations staged a dharna in protest. A harried passenger exclaimed, “They were not at all concerned about what we were going through. After giving us our boarding passes, they announced that the flight has been cancelled. Initially, they refused to accommodate us in some other flight. How can they leave us stranded like this for hours and expect us to leave with the refund?” Most of the 90 passengers had a connecting flight to Patna and Ranchi at 5.10 from New Delhi.
“When we asked them to give us an alternate flight as soon as possible, they refused and said that no arrangement could be made before Thursday and that too for just ten passengers, said Amit Sinha, a bank employee.
22/10/14 Indian Express

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Mysore set to fall off the air map again

Mysore: Mysore city is set to fall off the air map of the country again. The sole commercial operator from the city, SpiceJet, is withdrawing operations after Saturday, following which Mysore airport will face redundancy, though it will continue to serve chartered flights.

Officer in charge of Mysore airport C.N. Manjunath told The Hindu that talks with other airlines such as Air Costa had not yielded any results though proposals and details about the facilities at the airport and the air passenger traffic potential of the city were explained. “As on Tuesday, there is no indication from SpiceJet of continuing the services,” said Mr. Manjunath.

SpiceJet operated its penultimate flight from here on Tuesday. Flight service to Mysore is also off the winter schedule released by the airline.

The airline has cited poor load factor as one of the reasons though airport representatives have said that the passenger load from Mysore was high and the 78-seater Bombardier aircraft used to have 40 to 45 outbound passengers from here.
22/10/14 The Hindu

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GoAir to start operations from Odisha capital to Delhi, Kolkata, Bangalore, Mumbai from 26th of October

Bhubaneswar: This year on Diwali, AAI, Biju Patnaik International Airport, Bhubaneswar is proud to inform that GoAir will be starting its operations from the 26th of October, 2014, from Bhubaneswar to Delhi/Kolkata/Bangalore/Mumbai. Sharad Kumar, Airport Director, said “It is a proud and joyous moment for the state as a fourth airline operator is about to start its operations. This will give a varied plate of options to all the commuters, between lowest fares, suitable timings, etc.
22/10/14 Odisha Diary

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Chennai is on Asia’s ‘worst airports’ list, yet again

Chennai: Infrastructural issues have once again pushed Chennai airport to the list of worst airports in Asia in a survey conducted by a website.

This is the third year in a row that the city’s facility has appeared on the list of “Worst airports of Asia”, in the online survey conducted by the travel website The Guide to Sleeping in Airports.

The only solace is in the fact that from the fourth worst spot last year, the airport has advanced to the tenth worst this year.

In 2012, along with Chennai, New Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata too had been rated poorly. But this year, no other airport from India has featured on this list.
22/10/14 Sunitha Sekar/The Hindu

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Airport storage charge hike will increase cost of imported goods

Mumbai: After a proposed shortage in demurrage-free period from 72 hours to 48 hours, the prices of imported items like food, electronics, machinery and pharma drugs, are expected to rise, according to custom clearance agents.

The agents allege that airport operator Mumbai International Airport Limited (MIAL) has been slacking in developing infrastructure at cargo terminals, as its 'slow pace' helps it in recovering higher revenues from demurrage charges.

Last week, the trade bodies of cargo agents held a meeting with senior officials from the civil aviation ministry to discuss their apprehension in this regard. One of the largest cargo dealers operating out of the city airport sarcastically opines, "While our PM says Make in India, the MIAL's motto seems to be Quit India."
22/10/14 Shahkar Abidi/Daily News & Analysis

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India to step up travel surveillance to stop any Ebola outbreak

New Delhi: India stepped up its efforts on Tuesday to prevent an outbreak of the deadly Ebola virus, conducting mock drills at its airports and installing surveillance systems.
Global health authorities are struggling to contain the world's worst Ebola epidemic since the disease was identified in 1976. The virus has killed more than 4,500 people across the three most-affected countries, Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone.
All international airports and sea ports in India will soon be equipped with thermal scanners -- similar to Nigeria, which has been declared Ebola-free -- and other detection equipment, the Health Ministry said in a statement.
"We have removed all stops to constantly upgrade equipment and retrain staff," Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said. "There is need for constant maintenance, frequent calibration."
While more than 22,000 passengers have been screened, India has so far not reported any cases of Ebola. The WHO, that has warned of 5,000-10,000 new cases globally every week by December, is supporting India's preparations.
22/10/14 Reuters/Deccan Chronicle

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Second AI flight delayed in four days at Pune airport leaves passengers irked

Yet another Air India flight was delayed on Monday evening, putting Diwali holiday plans on hold for several of the airlines’ disgruntled passengers. This is the second AI flight to be delayed at the Pune airport in four days, after passengers of a delayed Delhi-bound flight were put through a 24-hour ordeal on Thursday.
On Monday as well, it was a Delhi-bound flight, AI850, which was delayed by two hours and twenty minutes, after some technical problems were reported in the aircraft. The flight, originally scheduled to depart at 6.40 pm, eventually took off at 9 pm from the airport.
It didn’t help of course, that the AI had already set a bad example just four days earlier, when flight AI854 was grounded due to a technical snag, and passengers had to wait for 24 hours before the airlines could arrange for an alternate aircraft.
The flight was supposed to take off at 9 pm on Thursday, but the passengers eventually flew out of the airport the next day, at 8.30 pm. Enraged by the long wait, several passengers even protested by blocking the airport’s apron (area where aircraft are parked, boarded, refuelled, etc.), until they were cleared out by security.
22/10/14 Anuj Ismail/Mid Day

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Centre moots plan to spur air connectivity to smaller cities

 Dharwad : In an effort to give a fillip to the development of smaller airports in the country, the Union ministry of civil aviation has mooted the concept of 'Incentive DEstinations' .

Under the concept, it proposes to encourage airlines to operate flights to Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities in the country. In Karnataka, the ministry has proposed to include Hubli, Belgaum and Mysore under the plan given their potential for growth.

Under the plan, flight service providers would be offered subsidies that would bring down the operational costs and other expenses, making the services affordable for passengers and viable to service providers. The minister said he was keen on having an airport in his home district of Davanagere. But, acquiring land was the problem. If the state government provides the land, then I can take up the proposals, he said.
20/10/14 BUsiness Standard

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Navigation System to Track Flights Implemented: AAI

New Delhi: ADS-B, a satellite-based navigation system to track and guide flights over vast oceanic area, has been implemented to meet the challenge of a burgeoning air traffic in the region around the Indian coastline, a top AAI official said today.

"We have been consistently upgrading the systems and procedures. We have accomplished implementation of ADS-B (Automatic Dependent Surveillance–Broadcast) in Chennai, Mumbai and Kolkata flight information regions with overlapping coverage," Airports Authority of India's Air Navigation System chief V Somasundaram said here.

ADS-B is a cooperative surveillance technology in which an aircraft determines its position via satellite navigation and periodically broadcasts it, enabling it to be tracked. The technology was implemented months after the Malaysian flight MH-370 went missing on March 8 with 239 people on board.

Somasundaram was speaking at a seminar on Indian air traffic management, organised by Air Traffic Controllers Guild (India), which was inaugurated by Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju.
20/10/14 Outlook India

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AAI scrambles to secure radar link

Kolkata: The last-mile cable disruption that severed critical radar feed to Kolkata airport for 13 hours on Saturday has forced Airports Authority of India (AAI) to scramble for new measures to secure the vulnerable point that can ground a hi-tech air traffic service and compromise flight safety.

Feed from radars is a crucial tool for traffic controllers to monitor aircraft and direct them safely. If the feed is cut off, as it did on Saturday, controllers virtually turn blind as dots representing planes in a defined section of the sky disappear from the monitor screen.

According to the top man at the communication, navigation and surveillance (CNS) wing of AAI in Kolkata, three specific measures have been proposed to secure the vital final leg of cable network that carries feeds from nine radars and eight associated aircraft positioning equipment situated across east and north-east India to Kolkata airport.
21/10/14 Subhro Niyogi/Times of India

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Star Alliance to develop Delhi and Mumbai airports as its hubs

Frankfurt: Airports at Delhi and Mumbai would be developed as 'seamless hubs' by the 27-member airline grouping Star Alliance and work on it may start next year itself, a top alliance official has said.

"We are looking at developing Delhi and Mumbai as our seamless hubs for transfering passengers with ease from international to domestic flights, domestic to international and international to international," Star Alliance Vice President (Customer Experience and IT) Justin Erbacci told reporters here.

Noting that the Alliance partner Air India's support would be required for establishing a hub at its home country, Erbacci said a decision on whether Delhi or Mumbai airport would be developed first was expected to be taken by the year end. He said the seamless hub project would normally take 6-8 months to be completed.
21/10/14 Economic Times

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Air France to launch personalised 1st class service for Bangalore

Bangalore: Air France today said it would introduce La Premiere - an exclusive and personalised first class service during the coming winter schedule on its Bangalore route.

As an ongoing effort to raise the standards in luxury travel, from October 27 to March 2015, the first class service will be available on Bengaluru-Paris-Bengaluru route, Air France said in a release. A state-of-the-art Boeing 777-200 would be operated on this route.

Additionally, with the help of the revised flight timings Air France brings the west coast closer to Bengaluru, which means customers can enjoy the shortest flying hours to return home for travel from San Francisco to Bengaluru, it said.
21/10/14 PTI/Economic Times

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Adil Hussain denied boarding pass on a flight

Mumbai: Adil Hussain went through a harrowing time at the city airport on Monday morning as he was turned down by Air India despite having booked his ticket in advance. The actor was supposed to jet off to Delhi and had reported at the city airport 90 minutes prior to his 7am flight. His ordeal began when he asked for his boarding pass at the airline’s counter.
Adil says, “I reported at the airport at 5.20am and stood in the queue for my boarding pass. My ticket was confirmed but I was told that my luggage weighed more than the permissible limit. I told them that I was willing to pay for the extra kilos and was asked to wait. But they did not give me my boarding pass. After having waited a long time, I asked them for my pass but to my shock, they informed me that the flight was full.” The actor says he was not the only one to have been kept waiting. “I heard a commotion at another corner of the airport and found out that a family of three had been given the same excuse. The supervisor of the ground staff had no explanation to our problem and even lacked the courtesy to apologise,” he adds.
21/10/14 Sonali Joshi Pitale/Mid Day

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Forwarders and airlines up in arms as Mumbai Airport plans levy on e-AWBs

Forwarders and airlines are becoming increasingly concerned about a proposal by Mumbai International Airport (MIAL) to charge them a fee for e-AWBs.

Forwarders are claiming that MIAL is planning to make using its community portal, GMAX-GVK MIAL Air Exchange, mandatory, and charge a fee of about $6 per e-AWB.

“There is going to be a levy on the forwarder, who will pass it on to the customer, but forwarders are not sure that the levy is justified,” said Hemant Bhatia, director, Tulsidas Khimji, and vice-president of Indian forwarders’ association ACAAI.

“Forwarders have invested in various software systems for the airlines, and they now have to get this through different agencies – in effect, they may have to do it twice. And airlines have all the data, so why does the airport community system need it? We are still in doubt as to the need and the benefit.”
20/10/14 The Loadstar

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Ebola effect: Thermal scanners to be installed at Ahmedabad airport

Gandhinagar: Aiming to isolate Ebola patients and to pre-empt spreading of the virus in Gujarat, the state Health Department has procured a thermal body scanner from the Central government which is likely to be installed at the Ahmedabad International Airport by Tuesday. The scanner will help health officials identify any international flier with high fever — a basic symptom of Ebola — at the airport so that proper health check up of that person could be done to ascertain if the person is suffering from Ebola or not.
Government sources said that apart from this, the Health Department has also sent a team to Delhi to train them to handle the Ebola patients. This team will, subsequently, impart training to the health staff in Gujarat. The Health Department has also set up a special Isolation Ward at Ahmedabad Civil Hospital to quarantine any patient suspected to be suffering from Ebola.
21/10/14 Parimal A Dabhi/Indian Express

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Gold seized at airport

Mangalore: Customs officials at the international airport here have seized 384 gms of gold worth Rs 10.46 lakh from a passenger who arrived here from Dubai, airport officials said.
The gold was found concealed in the form of 10-tola bars inside a motor toy-jeep and a toy-dog and the remaining in the form of paint-coated cylindrical objects hidden in the wheels of a stroller-suitcase the passenger was carrying, the officials said.
21/10/14 PTI/Business Standard

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Thermal scanner to boost airport’s defence against Ebola, MERS threats

Ahmedabad: With Ebola threat rising by each passing day, the expected arrival of Haj pilgrims from October 22 and NRI season beginning October 23, officials at city airport have stepped up preparedness to scan and detect passengers for Ebola or middle-east respiratory syndrome (MERS) virus.

A thermal scanner is expected to be installed at the international terminal by Monday to scan the passengers while protective gears will also be arriving from the Centre.

More than 5,000 people had gone for Haj from Ahmedabad last month and with MERS virus threat looming large, each pilgrim will be checked thoroughly. "In case of Ebola threat, arrangements are already in place to check the passengers arriving from West African countries manually since August. From now on, almost all the international passengers suspected with any symptoms will be scanned. The thermal scanner arrived at airport by Sunday evening," said an airport official.
20/10/14 Times of India

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Air India flight develops technical snag; leaves passengers stranded for two days

New Delhi: Over 150 passengers of an Air India Express flight from Dammam to Kozhikode, scheduled on Saturday night, were stranded almost two days as the Boeing 737 aircraft developed a major technical fault.

A special aircraft has been arranged to fly the passengers from Dammam to Kozhikode via Mangalore tonight to reach India by tomorrow morning, officials of the Air India subsidiary told PTI from Kozhikode, adding that this plane would operate the scheduled flight IX-386.
They said men and materials have been flown to repair the hydraulic brake system of the Boeing plane which was grounded in Dammam.
20/10/14 PTI/Economic Times

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AERA extends date for charging of tariff for Delhi airport

Mumbai:  The Airports Economic Regulatory Authority (AERA) in an order dated October 14, 2014 has extended the date for charging of tariff for Delhi International Airport Pvt Ltd (as per its order dated April 20, 2012) till the earlier of January 31, 2015 or the determination of tariff for the second five-year control period (which started on April 1, 2014).

The revenue collected by Delhi International Airport Pvt Ltd (DIAL) during such period would be adjusted for the aggregate revenue requirement for the second control period.

AERA had earlier permitted extension of charging of tariffs fixed for DIAL till October 31, 2014, pending tariff determination, said an exchange filing from GMR Infrastructure.
20/10/14 Business Line

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Passengers stranded at Saudi airport as Air India flight gets delayed by over 40 hours

New Delhi: Over 200 passengers were left stranded at the Dammam airport in Saudi Arabia after an Air India flight was delayed by over 40 hours.
The Air India flight slated to take off on October 18 was grounded due to technical snag. A part had to be sent from Tiruvananthapuram to be replaced.
The national carrier did not inform the passengers as of when the flight will take off. Angry passengers complained of having a harrowing time at the airport without any food or water.
20/10/14 Priyanka Dube/CNN-IBN

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Muslim Bizman Alleges Harassment by Customs

Chennai:  A 65-year-old Muslim businessman, who flew in from Bangkok on Saturday night, alleged that he was strip-searched and harassed by a customs official at the airport. Jamal S, who hails from Mannady, said he had declared the flat-screen TV that he had brought from Bangkok and was past the customs counter when he was accosted by an assistant commissioner. “He was very curt and asked me to accompany him for a strip search. All the people who flew with me looked at me as if I was a smuggler,” said the elderly man. Enraged by what he believed is a gross violation of human rights, Jamal placed a complaint with the Airport Police.

Jamal is no stranger to run-in with enforcement agencies like customs. He has written several complaints to the authorities and says that he has pursued legal action against them, when he has found them errant in the past. “That is the reason why they targeted me this time,” he alleged. He had returned on a Sri Lankan Airlines flight UL 123, which had brought him from Bangkok to Colombo and then to Chennai.
20/10/14 New Indian Express

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Air Passengers Get ‘Wet’ Welcome

Chennai: When the rain pounded the city over the weekend, passengers who arrived by air didn’t have to wait to exit the airport to be accorded a ‘wet’ welcome; they got that while pulling their bags off the conveyor belt. Several pieces of baggage that were taken from planes, tugged to the terminal and put on to the conveyor belts arrived soaked — testing the waterproof guarantee that most suitcase salesmen swear by.

“I was hoping to get to the parking lot and convince the prepaid taxi driver to swing close to the lane, so that the bag that had packets of expensive cashew nuts was safe,” explains T S Priyamvadha, a mother of a 23-year-old techie who currently works in Hyderabad. “But when the bag came off the conveyor belt, it was soaked almost like it had been sitting in the rain,” she adds disconsolately. Her cashew stash was safe thanks to the plastic casing it was in, but her laptop is acting up after being wet ‘in transit’. She placed a complaint with the airline counter, but doesn’t believe there will be any response.

Several others have been puzzled by this phenomenon of bags being wet, despite being carted in covered baggage trolleys. Producer Mukesh Mehta, who had faced a similar issue tweeted, “Chennai Airport has no facility to ensure that passenger bags Do Not get wet during rains when sent to and brought from aircrafts be careful.”
20/10/14 New Indian Express

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Travelator at Chennai airport at least a year away

Chennai: At a time when international airlines are increasing their flights out of the city, and given Chennai airport’s reputation for being the third busiest in the country, it is still found wanting when it comes to passenger amenities.

A case in point is the travelator — a moving walkway — to connect the domestic and international terminals.

In a day, the airport hosts 30,000 passengers, and a good number of them move from the domestic to international terminals, carrying heavy luggage. Under the circumstances, the travelator could ease the strain on passengers.

Despite the idea being mooted as early as in 2009, and repeated assurances from officials, the facility has been a non-starter after two years of commissioning the new terminals. At present, a travelator of 150 metres connects the domestic and international terminals on the airside of the airport, past security check. But where the travelator could really help is at the point where passengers move between the terminals carrying heavy luggage.
20/10/14 Sunitha Sekar/The Hindu

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Gold valued Rs 10.4 lakh seized at Mangalore International airport

Mangalore: The officers of Customs at Mangalore International Airport seized 384 grams of gold valued at Rs.10.46 lakh on Monday.

The gold was in the form of cut pieces of ten tolas gold bar concealed in the motor of a toy jeep and a toy dog, and in the form of silver colour paint coated cylindrical objects concealed in the wheels of a stroller suitcase.

The contraband was carried by the passenger, who arrived from Dubai.
20/10/14 Stanley Pinto/Times of India

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Chartered flight security manager nabbed for Rs 3.5 crore gold smuggling

Mumbai: The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) has unearthed a gold smuggling racket thriving with the connivance of staff of service providers at Mumbai airport. Officials seized 13kg gold worth Rs3.5 crore from two passengers in two instances on Sunday.

Raids at the residence of Vikas Ambokar, security manager of a Mumbai-based real estate major having its chartered flight services, led to the recovery of Rs1 crore cash besides 20 pieces of gold jewellery. Officials said Ambokar, who has smuggled 200 kg of gold into the country on 15 occasions, is the kingpin of the racket operating since December.

Besides Ambokar, DRI has arrested security agent with a private airline Mahesh Mahadik, driver of a ground-handling agency Manish Jagtap and passengers Abdul Rahman and Ahmed Kunhi .
20/10/14 C Unnikrishnan/Times of India

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AI fliers stranded by snag, engine trouble

Pune: As many as 183 Air India passengers had a harrowing time after a technical snag delayed their flight for around 16 hours and then faced another shock after take-off when engine trouble grounded the plane again. The flight, delayed by a day, was yet to take off late on Friday evening.
Airports Authority of India (AAI) officials said they were contemplating action against the national carrier.
According to Air India authorities, the Pune-Delhi (AI 854) flight was supposed to depart from Lohegaon airport at 9 pm on Thursday. Passengers were told the flight was delayed by an hour as the Delhi-Pune flight had been delayed due to a technical snag. At 10 pm, they were told the flight will take off only at 12.30 am.
“At 12.30 am, we observed that pilots and the flight crew were leaving the premises. There was no announcement on part of the airline. When we inquired, we got to know unofficially that the flight will only take off on Friday as the defect could not be resolved. It was horrible on part of the authorities to keep us in the dark. Most of us were still at the airport till 3.30 am as there was no proper communication from the airlines,” said Anand Rekhi, a Delhi businessman visiting his home in Pune for polls.
17/10/14 Atikh Rashid/Indian Express

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Emergency at Mumbai airport after AI flight develops wheel failure

Mumbai: Passengers on an Air India flight were shocked to learn that they were back in the city from where they had boarded the flight. The aircraft had to return to Mumbai airport after its pilot found out, 30 minutes before the scheduled landing at the destination, that the plane’s wheels were not functioning. The incident occurred on October 15 in Air India flight 657, which took off at the scheduled departure time of 10 am and was supposed to reach Coimbatore at 11.50 am. Around 11.20 am, the pilot tried testing the landing equipment, and to his shock, found that the wheels weren’t unfolding and coming out. He immediately informed the Air Traffic Control (ATC). Full emergency was declared for the flight, but it couldn’t land at Coimbatore, since the airport didn’t have the necessary systems to deal with a full emergency. “Chennai airport was one of the options for the aircraft to land, but due to congestion, Chennai had to be dropped and Mumbai airport was alerted for full emergency,” said a crew member on the flight. Ground staff at the airport attributed the incident to hydraulic failure. When full emergency is declared at an airport, fire brigades, ambulances, the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), and airport as well as airline staff ready themselves for the landing of the aircraft.
17/10/14 Neha LM Tripathi/Mid Day

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Azam denies carrying bullets, calls it conspiracy

Lucknow: Uttar Pradesh minister Azam Khan on Friday refuted reports that prohibited cartridges were recovered from his hand bag at the Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi on Thursday.

He termed it a conspiracy to malign his image. "I only had a mobile phone and my reading glasses in my hand. I was not carrying any hand bag so where is the scope of bullets being recovered from my cabin luggage," Azam told reporters here.

In fact minister of state Sarfaraz Khan, who was travelling with Azam Khan, was intercepted at the airport after cartridges were found from his bag. The bag and the bullets belonged to Sarfaraz, who was questioned about it by the airport security.
Azam said he feared attack on his life after the TV channels flashed the news.
17/10/14 Times of India

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Doppler weather radar impaired for over a year

Nagpur: The Doppler Weather Radar (DWR) at Regional Meteorological Centre (RMC) here has been non functional for over a year due to non availability of certain spare parts like the integrated circuits and electronic boards. The chances of it becoming functional soon are negligible as these parts cannot be purchased directly by RMC and there is no annual maintenance contract (AMC).

DWRs can very efficiently predict fast evolving weather systems like thunderstorms, cyclones, cloudbursts etc. It is used both for aviation as well as non-aviation weather predictions. The radar made in China and procured from the SGS Weather and Environment Systems uses American technology and can generate information from 1 to 8km height from the earth surface in a radius of 500km. The Met Star model of the DWR was installed in February 2011 and it became non functional on September 2, 2013 and has since not been repaired for want of parts not available in the country as the equipment was imported from China.
RMC deputy director general PN Nandankar told TOI that the centre didn't have the power to purchase the parts directly. "We have sent many requisitions to the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) over past 8-10 months but didn't get the parts," he said.
17/10/14 Snehlata Shrivastav/Times of India

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Manglore airport to be shut at night for six months

Mangalore: The night flight operations at the Mangalore International Airport (MIA) would be suspended for six months from November 1 to take up works on the runway end safety area and parallel taxiway.

"There will be no flight operations at MIA between 11.30 PM and 7.30 AM for six months from November 1. Runways and its operations will be closed till April 30 next year. Airlines have rescheduled the flights accordingly," airport director J T Radhakrishna said.

The night operations would be closed down to take up works on the runway end safety area and parallel taxi way, he said in a release.
18/10/14 ZeeNews

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AAI partners with SITA to upgrade airport services in India

Mumbai: More than 50 million passengers at 25 airports across India can now use SITA’s common-use self-service technology to check in at the airport. The Airports Authority of India (AAI) has collaborated with the air transport IT specialist to deploy this new technology as part of its ongoing airport modernisation programme.
The AAI has also selected SITA to provide the baggage reconciliation system for 38 airports across India. The seven-year, multi-million dollar contract was announced at SITA’s India Aviation ICT Forum in Jaipur, India. SITA’s BagManager will deliver real-time information on baggage status, helping to resolve baggage issues quickly and efficiently. The comprehensive baggage management technology has been proven to reduce the number of mishandled bags by 10 to 20 per cent.
Sudhir Raheja, chairman, AAI, said, “Our airport modernisation programme is designed to provide better service both for passengers and airlines alike as air travel in India continues to grow. With passenger numbers expected to reach 450 million by 2020, we need to ensure we are operating as efficiently as possible. SITA’s baggage systems, common use technology, and self-service check in kiosks are flexible, convenient and will help establish a firm foundation for future growth.”
17/10/14 Financial Express

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Cargo hub at airport soon

Bhubaneswar:  The civil aviation ministry is keen on setting up a modern cargo terminal at the Biju Patnaik International Airport here. If the hub is created, the airport will be able to handle 3,500 metric tonne (MT) incoming and 7,500 MT outgoing cargo per annum.

The airport authorities have submitted a proposal, mentioning the volume of cargo handled by two carriers - Air India and Indigo Airlines. "We are looking for a suitable site to set up of the hub. " airport director Sharad Kumar told TOI. The cargo centre might have a cold storage in future considering that certain cargo might need such facility, he added.

Assistant manager (technical) of the airport Pandurang Hari Bhangale said the Airports Authority of India will conduct a pre-feasibility study. "The officials will take note of present volume of cargo and see whether it can be increased substantially. With Go Air, another domestic carrier, starting operations from October 26, cargo volume will go up," said Bhangale.
17/10/19 Riyan Ramanath V/Times of India

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Vizag airport becomes operational, Air India resumes flights

New Delhi: With cyclone Hudhud causing extensive damage to the Vishakhapatnam airport, the Airports Authority of India (AAI) restored all major navigational and technical services as Air India resumed flights from there today.

Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju met Minister of State for Commerce and Industry Nirmala Sitharaman and discussed the relief, rehabilitation measures and the restoration work at the airport.

AAI officials, assisted by navy and NDRF personnel, carried out restoration work of all essential navigational aids and the runway on a war-footing through last night, enabling Air India's Delhi-Hyderabad-Vizag flight to land and take off this afternoon.
17/10/14 PTI/Economic Times

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Ex-rulers of Kalyan win battle for Navi Mumbai intl airport land

Mumbai: The Bombay High Court on Tuesday dismissed the state's acquisition of 157 acres of land for the Navi Mumbai International Airport as "totally incorrect and baseless" and directed the City & Industrial Development Corporation Ltd. (CIDCO) to recompense the owners of the parcel. As per prevalent rates, the land is worth in the vicinity of Rs 1,500 crore.

The judges, A A Sayed and Anoop Mehta, held that the plot was transferred to CIDCO without the knowledge of the owners, the Bivalkars of Pune, from whom it was acquired in 1970. "The Collector was not empowered to handover possession to CIDCO without acquiring rights," the court observed.

The contentious plot, in Ulwe village near Panvel, was awarded to the Bivalkars, rulers of Kalyan in the nineteenth century, by the British East India Company. Since that time, several alterations were made to the nature of ownership of the plot.
17/10/14 Mubarak Ansari/Mumbai Mirror

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Mysore airport stares at bleak future yet again

Mysore: While SpiceJet made Sankranti memorable a year ago by launching its flight services between Mysore and?Bangalore on the festival day on January 14, 2013, for the coming Deepavali, it has thrown in a wet blanket.

On October 25, when a flight takes off to Bangalore from?Mysore Airport at?Mandakalli on Mysore-Nanjangud Road, it would be the last commercial flight from Mysore. SpiceJet, the current service provider, has decided to withdraw the services from Mysore to Bangalore for a period of one year from October 26 to October 24 next year. With this, the airport is staring at a similar situation that had cropped up when Kingfisher abruptly suspended its services at the fag end of 2012.

“I received an email from the local authorities of SpiceJet on October 11, announcing the withdrawal of services between Mysore and?Bangalore, after the conclusion of its ongoing schedule on October 25. However, in the interest of the dedicated passengers, I have written to the operator to reconsider its decision,” Airport Director?C?Manjunath told Deccan?Herald on Friday.
17/10/14 Sreekantswamy B/Deccan Herald

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All airports have equipment to detect Ebola: Govt tells HC

Mumbai: The Union government has informed the Bombay high court that all international airports in the country have been provided with thermal image scanners to detect the presence of 'Ebola' virus among passengers coming from African countries.

All the airports, including Pune and Nagpur airports where international flights land, have been provided with scanners to screen passengers for a possible Ebola infection, government counsel Rui Rodriges told the court on October 14. Taking his statement on record, a bench headed by Justice Abhay Oka disposed of a Public Interest Litigation filed by activist Ketan Tirodkar alleging that India was not fully equipped to prevent the spread of the dreaded Ebola.
16/10/14 PTI/Times of India

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Vizag airport becomes operational, Air India resumes flights

New Delhi/Visakhapatnam: Air India resumed flights from the port city on Friday as the Airports Authority of India restored all major navigational and technical services at Vishakhapatnam airport, which was badly hit by cyclone Hudhud.

AAI officials, assisted by navy and NDRF personnel, carried out restoration work of all essential navigational aids and the runway on a war-footing through last night, enabling Air India's Delhi-Hyderabad-Vizag flight to land and take off this afternoon.

An AAI official said vital navigational aids like the Instrument Landing System and Doppler Very High Frequency Radars were restored within 48 hours of the weakening of the cyclone.
17/10/14 PTI/Times of India

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Lack of discipline and mass dumping leaves GVK-run Mumbai Airport's cargo terminal in shambles

Mumbai: Thursday, October 9, 3.30 PM. The narrow, dusty road to Mumbai airport's cargo terminal is lined with trucks as far as the eyes can see. Amol, a scraggly teenager, is asleep in a tempo he has been driving. Awakened, he says he has been in the queue since 4 in the morning. In almost 12 hours — that is, more than the time it takes to fly to any European destination — his cargo has barely moved one kilometre, and is still two trucks away from the entrance. Inside the gate, the queue scatters into several smaller lines, crawling to facilities that handle different kinds of cargo: general exports, perishable exports, imports, etc.
About 1,200 trucks come into the airport every day. But there is no order. Several trucks carrying light cargo sneak into a shorter queue actually meant exclusively for heavy vehicles carrying over 300 tonnes of freight. Some export cargo vehicles divert into the line of empty trucks waiting for import consignments. Many trucks are parked in a space not meant for parking.
17/10/14 Anirban Chowdhury/Economic Times

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‘Double standards on dual airport issue’

Murgao: United Goans Democratic Party vice-president Radharao Gracias criticized the new Congress state president Luizinho Faleiro for displaying double standards on the dual airport issue. He also called for the resignation of environment minister Alina Saldanha.

While addressing mediapersons on Friday, Gracias said that it was Faleiro who had supported the Mopa airport during the former Congress government's tenure, and that the project was ushered in with their efforts.

Gracias said that he did not know whether Faleiro had changed his mind now, but demanded that the latter, as the state Congress president, should make his stand clear and publicly oppose Mopa.

He added that the Congress partymen should also take to the streets if they really oppose the airport.
18/10/14 Times of India

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