Kannur airport to get licence soon: Pinarayi Vijayan

Thiruvananthapuram: Work to the tune of Rs 113 crore --- including air cargo complex, four-storied airport office complex, CISF housing complex, 23-km-long road along the outer wall, lighting and landscaping --- has been entrusted with Monte Carlo company. It is expected to get over within one-and-a-half-year.
Of the 180 employees required for operations, 134 posts have been filled and recruitment is on for the rest. A decision has already been taken to give jobs to one member each from all families who gave their land for constructing the airport. Of this, 29 people have already been appointed. The remaining will be appointed through Air India ATSL, the ground/cargo handling agency.
The navigation system and information landing system have already been set up by the Airport Authority of India. As directed by it, the flight trial was successfully completed on September 20 and 21. Based on these verifications and flight trials, KIAL will soon get the airport licence, said Pinarayi.Ministers E Chandrasekharan, Ramachandran Kadannappally, A K Saseendran, KIAL Managing Director V Thulasidas and director board member Yusuff Ali M A were also present.
30/09/18 New Indian Express

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11 international airlines ready to fly in and out of Kannur airport

Thiruvananthapuram:  The Kannur Airport will be ready for commercial operations this year, with as many as 17 airlines, including 11 international ones, coming forward to fly in and out of it.
Chairing the Kannur International Airport Limited's (KIAL) annual general body meeting here on Saturday, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, who is also the KIAL chairman, gave the details.
The CM said there has been a major progress in its construction. Work on the runway and airside worth Rs 694 crore and on the terminal building, along with metal detectors, baggage handling system, check-in counters, emigration check points, lifts, escalators and passenger boarding bridge, worth Rs 498 crore have been completed.
The ground-handling work is being carried out by Air India Air Transport Services Ltd, a subsidiary of Air India and Celebi Ground Handling Delhi Pvt Ltd.
Services on offer:
INTERNATIONAL: Emirates, Etihad, Fly Dubai, Air Arabia, Oman Air, Qatar Airways, Gulf Air, Saudia, Silk Air, Air Asia, Malindo Air
DOMESTIC: Air India, Air India Express, Jet Airways, Indigo, Spice Jet, GoAir
30/09/18 New Indian Express

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Hope lands in Sikkim with new airport: Tourism, agriculture likely to get boost

Kolkata: In June last year, when the movement for a separate state of Gorkhaland reached its peak in North Bengal hills, tourism in neighbouring Sikkim took a hit. The all-important National Highway-10 (NH-10) was shut for several days virtually cutting off the hill state from the rest of the country.

But that is not all. At other times, like in 2015, it could be landslides that shut the arterial road for days.

The new airport in Gangtok that is set to begin operations on October 4 is expected to bridge a wide gap in the state’s tourism and infrastructure.

Pakyong Airport was inaugurated on September 24 by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Spread over 990 acres, the airport is located 35 km south of Gangtok. At 4,500 feet above sea level, it is among the five highest airports in the country.
30/09/18 Santanu Chowdhury/Indian Express

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APATA seeks Udaan to save Colombo flight

Visakhapatnam: The AP Air Travellers Association (APATA) has appealed to Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu and the Minister for IT Nara Lokesh to initiate urgent measures to prevent withdrawal of the Vizag – Colombo SriLankan flight.

“We have represented the matter to the Chief Minister and the IT Minister seeking bailing out of the international service by bringing it under the International Udaan scheme, launched by the Government of India, recently,” APATA representative O. Naresh Kumar toldThe Hinduon Saturday.

The Government of AP has already launched the International Udaan schemes to introduce two new routes from Vijayawada to Singapore. We have requested the Chief Minister to extend the same benefit to SriLankan airlines to prevent withdrawal of the service and the Chief Minister’s Office responded positively to our demand, Mr. Kumar said.
30/09/18 The Hindu

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AAI starts shuttle service at Srinagar airport

Srinagar: The Airports Authority of India (AAI) ON Saturday started a shuttle service from the drop gate of the airport here to its terminal building for the convenience of passengers, an official said.

“Taking note of the inconvenience faced by air travellers at the Srinagar International airport, the AAI has, on the instructions of K Vijay Kumar, advisor to the Jammu and Kashmir governor, started a ferry service from the drop gate to the terminal building,” an official spokesman said here.

Kumar has hailed AAI authorities for launching the shuttle service which, he said, would be of immense use to passengers, the spokesman said.
29/09/18 Financial Express

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Airlines tell flyers to reach Pune airport early

Pune:  The burden of the chaos at the overcrowded Pune airport, in the early morning and late evening hours, has been passed on to the passengers. Airlines are asking flyers to come to the airport early.

“We are facing high passenger traffic near the security hold area at the Pune airport. We advise you to report at the airport at least 2 hours prior to departure,” said a travel advisory issued by IndiGo late on Thursday evening. GoAir too came up with a similar alert. “Due to heavy security hold congestion at the Pune airport, passengers are requested to reach the airport in advance to avoid delays,” the airline wrote on its Twitter page.

Recently, the two security hold areas were merged to create a common security check facility. This led to long security check-in queues at the airport. Frustrated, passengers started posting stinging messages on social media.

On Thursday, passenger K. Singh wrote: “Today again I realized that common man’s life is not easy... 1+ hours taken for 1km line for security check at Pune airport. Only two counter open for men (sic).”
30/09/18 Joy Sengupta/Times of India

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Direct haj flights from Ozar airport on the cards

Nashik: The private airline, Jet Airways, has firmed up its plans to start special flights from to for the Haj pilgrims of Nashik and its adjoining districts.

The airline is in touch with Union external affairs ministry to provide immigration facilities for Haj pilgrims at Ozar Airport in Nashik.

A senior functionary of the airline confirmed to TOI that that plans are afoot to stat special flights from Nashik for the benefit of the Haj pilgrims of the region.

“We are already in talks with the members of the Haj committee and also some travel agents. We are also working on getting approval for providing immigration facilities at Ozar airport,” added that Jet Airways functionary.
29/09/18 Stuart Journal

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Ahmedabad and Indore Airports awarded National Tourism Awards as Best Airports

New Delhi: Airports Authority of India’s Devi Ahilya Bai Holkar Airport, Indore and Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport, Ahmedabad conferred with theNational Tourism Awards 2016-17 at a glittering award function held at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi on World Tourism Day.

Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport, Ahmedabad received the Best Airport Award in Major Cities category and Devi Ahilya Bai Holkar Airport, Indore received the Best Airport Award in ‘Rest of India’ category for the promotion of Tourism at these airports. This award was presented by Shri K.J. Alphons, Union Minister of State for Tourism.Sh. Manoj Gangal, Airport Director, SardarVallabhbhai Patel International Airport, Ahmedabad and Smt. Aryama Sanyal, Airport Director, Devi Ahilya Bai Holkar Airport, Indore along with Sh. Keshava Sharma, Regional Executive Director (WR) AAI, received the award from the Minister and Smt. Rashmi Verma, Secretary, Tourism,
30/09/18 PSU Connect

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Airlines set to connect Mumbai with 6 new global destinations

Mumbai: Air passengers from the city are set get a seamless connectivity to at least six new global destinations in the US, Europe and the UK starting next month, an airport official said.

Besides, America's third largest carrier United Airlines will be offering the US-bound passengers from the city more seats as it plans to deploy a bigger aircraft as part of the airline's winter schedule in India.

Airlines' winter schedule in the country begins from the last Saturday of October and goes on till last Friday of March every year.

"In addition to Air Italy and Uzbekistan Airways, which are entering in Mumbai market for the first time, national carrier Air India and private jetliners Jet Airways and GoAir will be launching new flights to international destinations from the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport from October onwards," the airport official said.
28/09/18 PTI/Economic Times

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SriLankan airlines to withdraw services

Visakhapatnam: The SriLankan airlines, which is presently operating flights from the city to Colombo, has announced to withdraw the services, with effect from October 27.

“They have written a letter to me announcing to withdraw the service due to low occupancy. They had reduced the frequency from four days to thrice a week following a drop in occupancy in the past,” airport director G. Prakash Reddy told The Hindu.

Asked about the announcement by the SpiceJet withdrawing its evening flight to Chennai, Mr. Prakash Reddy said that it was a temporary measure which could be due to shortage of aircraft.
29/09/18 The Hindu

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Air passengers from Mumbai set to get a seamless connectivity to at least six new global destinations

Mumbai: Air passengers from the city are set get a seamless connectivity to at least six new global destinations in the US, Europe and the UK starting next month, an airport official said. Besides, America’s third largest carrier United Airlines will be offering the US-bound passengers from the city more seats as it plans to deploy a bigger aircraft as part of the airline’s winter schedule in India. Airlines’ winter schedule in the country begins from the last Saturday of October and goes on till last Friday of March every year.
“In addition to Air Italy and Uzbekistan Airways, which are entering in Mumbai market for the first time, national carrier Air India and private jetliners Jet Airways and GoAir will be launching new flights to international destinations from the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport from October onwards,” the airport official said. While Air Italy will operate five times-a-week non-stop service to Mumbai from Milan with an Airbus A330-200 aircraft from October 31, Uzbekistan Airways will have three direct flights in a week between capital city Tashkent and Mumbai with an Airbus A 320 from October 30, the official said.
Air India, which is the only Indian carrier flying directly to the US, will commence its direct flight services from Mumbai to the German city Frankfurt and New York’s JFK Airport from October 1 and October 4, respectively, the official added. Mumbai will also get direct connectivity to Phuket in Thailand and Male in Maldives with budget carrier set to fly to these destinations from October 12 and October 14.
28/09/18 PTI/Financial Express

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Haryana’s First Civil Airport At Hisar Gets DGCA Authorisation, Flights To Soon Start For Delhi And Chandigarh

The civil airport at Hisar, Haryana has got the authorisation from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) to operate airlines on Delhi-Hisar and Hisar-Chandigarh routes, Financial Express has reported. Airlines selected for these routes will start their operations from November 2018 onwards. Hisar is Haryana’s first civil airport.
“The Hisar Civil Airport has now the authorisation to operate scheduled airline operations as it has been accorded Aerodrome Licence today by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation, Government of India. This licence authorises the Airport to operate scheduled airline operations,” a spokesman of the civil aviation department said.
The official said that the Hisar airport has been selected by the Union Ministry of Civil Aviation under the regional connectivity Ude Desh ka Aam Nagrik (UDAN) scheme to operate flights on Delhi-Hisar and Hisar-Chandigarh routes.
Narnaul Airport, another airport in Haryana, is also going to be open for aero sports activities like power gliding, skydiving and hot air ballooning, said the official.
29/09/18 Swarajya

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UP set to invite bids in November for Jewar airport developer

Noida:  The UP government will invite bids in November to pick the developer of the international airport that is to come up at Jewar, the CEO of the nodal agency for the project has said.
Arunvir Singh, who heads the Yamuna Expressway Industrial Development Authority (YEIDA), told TOI the airport schedule is on track, and the process to award the contract to a concessionaire — the company that will build and operate the airport, like GMR does for IGI — is likely to be completed in January 2019. A senior official said the district administration was hopeful of completing land acquisition by then as well.

If the government sticks to this timeline, the airport’s first phase, with two runways, is likely to be operational in 2022-23.The state government is preparing the bid document in consultation with PricewaterhouseCoopers.

The state government is preparing to issue a notification under Section 11 of the land acquisition law to acquire around 3,400 acres for the international airport.
29/09/18 Prabhakar Sinha/Times of India

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GMR, GVK bid for Nagpur airport

Nagpur: Two private infrastructure players — GMR and GVK — have tendered bids for investing in the Nagpur airport. The bids were opened by Mihan India Limited (MIL) on Friday and it has been reliability learnt that GMR has quoted a higher amount than the other.
Six players were qualified to take part in the airport privatization process. These include GVK, GMR, Ideal Road Builders (IRB), Tata Group, PNC Infrastructure and Essel Group. Out of these, IRB had backed off at the initial stage itself. Other companies, except Tatas, took part in most of the pre-bid talks. Finally, only two companies have bid now.
The companies had to quote a percentage of revenue to be shared with MIL, the current operator. It has been learnt that both the participants have quoted a single digit percentage share, even as a higher share was expected to be quoted. Sources said if it is to be compared with the larger airports, the private parties have quoted revenue share ranging from 30% to 35%. A number of conditions were eased at the insistence of the private players.
29/09/18 Shishir Arya/Times of India

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Rs 2,500 crore terminal to come up at Chennai airport: AAI official

Chennai: A new terminal with a parking bay for aircraft and a multi-level car parking facility would be set up at a cost of Rs 2,500 crore under phase II of the Chennai airport modernisation programme, an AAI official said Friday.

"We are going to develop a new terminal at a cost of Rs 2,500 crore and it will be ready in 42-45 months. That is our anticipation," airport director, Airports Authority of India (Chennai), G Chandramouli, told reporters.

He said passenger traffic has witnessed a 20 per cent growth in the last three months and if this trend continued, the existing terminal would not be able to handle it.

The new terminal, coming up under the Phase II modernisation programme, would be able to handle the increase in arrivals and departures, he said.
28/09/18 PTI/Times of India

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Kannur airport may miss October 29 opening

Thiruvananthapuram: Commissioning of the Kannur international airport will be further delayed over the publication of details of regulations, procedures, and other information pertinent to the operation of aircraft as mandated by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) in Aeronautical Information Publication (AIP).

With this, commercial flight operations from the fourth international airport in the State will not materialise on October 29 as planned when the winter schedule for airlines will kick in.

“The Kannur airport is technically ready and the aerodrome licence to commence flight operations is expected before October 4. But, the Airports Authority of India (AAI) in consultation with the Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) will have to publish the AIP after issuing the licence,” official sources told The Hindu.

Airlines can finalise the flight plan only after the AIP is published. The AIP, to be published by the Air Traffic Management wing of the AAI, contains details of regulations, procedures, and other information pertinent to the operation of aircraft.
Establishment of the Kannur control area will be effective from November 8 and the aerodrome data from December 6, indicating that commercial flight operations, domestic and international, are unlikely before December.
28/09/18 S Anil Radhakrishnan/The Hindu

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Remove cargo unit, Kerala State Industrial Enterprises told

Thiruvananthapuram: In a cause for concern for the cargo operations of Thiruvananthapuram international airport, the Airport Authority of India (AAI) has asked the Kerala State Industrial Enterprises (KSIE) to vacate the cargo handling facility near the international terminal building.

The AAI has raised the demand citing that the space was required for the expansion of the airport terminal as well as setting up of remote parking bays.
While the AAI suggested that the international cargo handling could be also done from the cargo complex at Shanghumugham side of the airport, sources said that it would have practical problems especially with regard to handling of perishable export cargo.
If AAI insists on shifting the cargo handling facility, KSIE may suggest another alternative space near the international terminal building for relocating the facility.
The state public sector undertaking KSIE has been running the cargo complex at the Thiruvananthapuram airport over the last many years.
29/09/18 Arjun Raghunath/Deccan Chronicle

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SilkAir may scrap services to Vizag

Visakhapatnam: After Sri Lankan Airlines confirmed that it would be scrapping its direct flight from Colombo to Visakhapatnam from October 27, there are chances that SilkAir, which operates a direct flight from Visakhapatnam to Singapore, might also follow suit.
SilkAir, the regional wing of Singapore Airlines, launched its services from Visakhapatnam to Singapore in October 2012 and was the first non-stop international flight that was launched thrice a week from the city. However, according to reliable sources, SilkAir would be soon merged with Singapore Airlines.

Speaking to TOI, K Vijay Mohan, president of Tours and Travels Association of Andhra (TTAA), said, “Singapore Airlines might not be interested in operating its services from Visakhapatnam as the city airport lacks a business lounge. While initiating SilkAir, the criteria of having a business lounge was sidelined to give a push to start the operations. Visakhapatnam has been doing well in terms of connectivity to Singapore.”
29/09/18 Times of India

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LTTE planned air strike on Sri Lankan from Chennai: Maithripala Sirisena in US

Colombo/Chennai:  Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena on Friday said that the LTTE had planned to attack Colombo with an aircraft flying from Chennai in 2009, but strategic analysts and politicians in Chennai dismissed his claim as far-fetched.

“The Tamil Tigers were going to operate an aircraft from Chennai or some other jungle area to bomb and destroy targets in Colombo,” the President said.

Col R Hariharan, a retired military intelligence officer, however, said “Such fiction of LTTE attacking Colombo from Chennai was going around within the Sinhala community then and probably it has resurfaced.”
“Chennai airport was fully secured and the Q branch of the Tamil Nadu police was on high alert. They would have known had the LTTE hatched such a plan,” said Hariharan, now associated with the Chennai centre for China studies and the international law and strategic analysis institute.
Sri Lanka expert Prof P S Suryanarayana said, “India was determined not to allow LTTE into our territory. They did not have any aircraft, let alone using Chennai to attack targets in Colombo. Our airport was under high level precaution. It is wild imagination that the LTTE had plans to attack Colombo from Chennai.”
29/09/18 Times of India

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One year of Shirdi airport: SpiceJet plans flights on Boeing 737, first to fly from airport

Mumbai: AS Shirdi airport completes a year since its inauguration on October 1 last year, SpiceJet is planning flights using the Boeing 737 from Shirdi to New Delhi. This will be a step ahead for a non-metropolitan airport, which would see a widebody operate from it. Airlines have only flown 72-seater ATR aircraft from Shirdi so far.

The airport was inaugurated by President Ram Nath Kovind last year. Alliance Air, subsidiary of Air India, operates Hyderabad-Shirdi-Mumbai flights daily. According to Maharashtra Aviation Development Corporation (MADC) officials, occupancy on flights to and from Shirdi were above 80 per cent.
“We have seen good booking and passenger occupancy on Shirdi flights. On weekdays, the occupancy is above 60 per cent and, on weekends, above 80 per cent. Being a popular temple town, more and more people are taking flights to Shirdi,” a senior MADC official said.
The airport plans to celebrate completion of one year by operating its first widebodied aircraft. C S Gupta, executive director (technical), MADC, said SpiceJet plans to use Boeing 737-700s and 800s for the Shirdi-Delhi flights. “The Boeing 737-700 can accommodate 144 passengers while the 800 variant can accommodate 189 passengers. With the Shirdi-Delhi flight, daily flights from Shirdi will increase to eight from four.”
28/09/18 Neha Kulkarni/Indian Express

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‘Take our land near airport, compensate us’

Mohali: Residents of four villages are ready to offer their land falling within 100 metres of the Chandigarh airport for acquisition. They claimed that it was their ancestral land and they have been living here for the past 150 years.
The Times of India spoke to many villagers in Pabhat, Bhabat, Jagatpura and Kambali. They had no objection to being removed from the place, but wanted compensation for their land. And if no compensation can be given, then they want the government to put a cap on the height of construction.

Charan Singh, 76, of Pabhat village said, “My father Ishar Singh lived here for the entire 90 years of his life. Whenever we asked him when they moved to this village, he said his father had come here, which means around 150 years ago my ancestors settled here. I was also born and brought up in this village. I live here and have also let my property. This airport came up on land acquired from our village and we are eyewitnesses to the construction of defence installations.”
28/09/18 Barinderjit Saluja/Times of India

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Air India Express to connect Kochi to Singapore

Kochi: The national budget carrier Air India Express (AIE) is set to convert the current three days a week connectivity from Kochi to Singapore via Madurai into a daily one via Bangalore, which also will be an additional destination for the carrier. The flights via Bangalore are set to take off on October 29, according to an official of the airline.
At present, Air India Express operates Kochi-Singapore service via Madurai thrice a week on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. The flight IX-484 departs from Kochi at 10:40 a.m. (local time) and reaches Singapore at 7:05 p.m. (local time). On the return direction, flight IX-483 will depart Singapore at 08:10 p.m. (local time) and arrives in Kochi at 11:45 p.m. (local time).
The Kochi-Singapore service via Bangalore of Air India Express begins on October 29 on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays. Flight IX-486 will depart Kochi at 10:30 a.m. and will reach Singapore at 07:55 p.m.. On the return direction, the flight IX 485 will depart Singapore at 09:10 p.m. and arrives Kochi at 01:30 a.m.
28/09/18 Vinod Nedumudy/Deccan Chronicle

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Why Cochin Airport Does Not Deserve UN's 'Champions of the Earth' Award

Cochin International Airport (CIAL), near Kochi, Kerala was one among the six to pick up the prestigious “Champions of the Earth” award with the likes of PM Narendra Modi and French president Emmanuel Marcon on September 26.
The “Champions of the Earth” is the highest environmental honour awarded by the United Nations.  Kerala’s Cochin airport was named change maker in the entrepreneurial vision category for being the world’s first fully solar-powered airport.
True, CIAL got the award for Entrepreneurial Vision for being the world’s first fully solar-powered airport but what at what cost? The solar panels touted as green only conceals the messed up environment that the airport is sitting on.
The cost of damage to the environment is several times high than the benefits of the fully solar-powered airport.
Kerala state AAP convenor C R Neelakandan draws an analogy to the portrayal of Cochin airport as green. “It’s like saying a rapist is good because he does not smoke or drink. Not drinking or smoking does not justify the actions of a rapist. So is the case with Cochin airport."
“Since the time of its construction, around 1000s of acres of paddy fields have been destroyed and the Chengal Creek (a tributary of the river Periyar) has been diverted to build runways,” he says.
Neelakandan says the diversion of the creek caused flooding in the neighbouring areas for three days in 2013 when the shutters of Edamalyar dam were opened. In 2018, the flooding occurred when shutters of all the dams on river Periyar were opened.
28/09/18 Minu Ittyipe/Outlook

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Shortage of CISF men keeps Madurai airport off elite list

The shortage of Central Industrial Security Force personnel at Madurai airport has been plaguing its attempt to get into the elite list of airports having round-the-clock operation. Nevertheless, the officials have expressed confidence that the airport will attain the status soon, adding that they have been pursuing it intensively.
At a recent meeting, officials of the Airport Authority of India gave approval for 24 hour operation to two airports including Surat. AAI sources said that though Madurai International Airport had applied for the approval, it did not get the nod owing to shortage of CISF personnel.
However, sources from the airport said that the CISF officials’ demand for an inflated number of personnel has resulted in the proposal getting shelved for now. The present strength of around 300 men is adequate for the time being if they are deployed judiciously. The officials were taken aback by the demand to almost double the existing strength which cost Madurai airport the opportunity to go 24 x 7.
However, Madurai airport director V V Rao said that they were working on it relentlessly and hope to get the nod in a couple of months. Once the required number of CISF men is deployed, they will get the clearance, he said.
28/09/18 Times of India

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Coimbatore bets big on air cargo biz

Coimbatore: Buoyed by the increase in cargo traffic, the Coimbatore airport has proposed to set up an exclusive freighter bay at a cost of Rs 12 crore. The airport, which has nine aircraft parking bays, had been recording a steady rise in both perishable and non-perishable cargo traffic over the past one year.
Inside sources said airport director R Mahalingam had sent a proposal to the Airport Authority of India to set up a freighter aircraft bay at the airport, in addition to the existing nine aircraft parking bays. “The project cost was estimated at Rs 12 crore in the proposal. Authorities are studying the proposal and its feasibility. Once they approve the plan, they will sanction funds,” said an airport official, who didn’t want to be named.

The exclusive freighter aircraft bay is expected to attract a few cargo aircraft like Fed Ex to start operations in the district. “Being a manufacturing and agriculture hub that exports a wide range of goods, Coimbatore offers potential for high quantities. If a freighter aircraft were to commence service from the city to destinations like Dubai or Singapore for at least once a week, it will be a boon for us as we can increase our cargo acceptance by leaps and bounds. This will also make us less dependent on bonded trucking,” the official said. “For this to happen, we first need to create the required infrastructure.”
28/09/18 Times of India

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Why Villagers Are Unhappy With UP's Jewar Airport Project

“I invested Rs 1 lakh on the bajra crop last month. But all this will be gone once land acquisition happens,” sighs Ashok Kumar, pointing to a lush green field.
When the Uttar Pradesh government acquires their 60 bighas (around nine hectares) of land for the proposed Jewar international airport in Uttar Pradesh’s Gautam Buddh Nagar district, Ashok’s 21-member household will have to leave their village Rohi and start life elsewhere. In the first
phase, over 1,300 hectares will be acquired from six villages, affecting 2,250 families. A total of 5,000 hectares have been earmarked for the Rs 15,000-20,000 crore project. The airport is expected to be operational by 2022-23.
Ashok was among the 200-odd landowners who submitted their consent to land acquisition last week, following hectic parleys by local MLA Dhirender Singh, who quit the Congress to join the BJP ahead of the 2017 assembly polls. The consent of these landowners was crucial under the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013, which stipulates that at least 70 per cent of affected landowners must agree to having their land acquired before any acquisition takes place.
“The percentage of consenting landowners has crossed 75 per cent now,” says the MLA. “I made door-to-door visits for convincing villagers that the airport will bring development.” Rohi was one of the six villages that had been refusing to allow land acquisition for the project, which has been in the pipeline since 2001. The other five are Dayanatpur, Kishorpur, Parohi, Ranhera and Banwari Bas.
“The government has been sent the details of the agreements and once it takes the final call, a notification for land acquisition will be issued as per Section 11 of the Act,” says Prabhat Kumar, chairman of the Yamuna Expressway Industrial Development Authority (YEIDA), nodal agency for
the project.
26/09/18 Preetha Nair/Outlook

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Air India A320 floated before Jammu overrun

Indian investigators have determined that an Air India Airbus A320 conducted a destabilised approach to Jammu and landed a third of the way down runway 36 before overrunning.

The aircraft (VT-ESL) dipped below the glideslope after descending past 500ft and reached maximum deviation at just 180ft, before it began to regain the approach path at 160ft.

When the aircraft started to flare at 55ft, its pitch increased from 2° to 6° nose-up before reducing to 3°.

The A320’s high pitch angle and prolonged flare led to the aircraft’s floating above the runway, at just 2ft for 4s, before it finally touched down – at 145kt – some 2,400ft along the 6,890ft runway.
The pilots had received an auto-brake fault message when they extended the landing-gear, and opted to apply maximum reverse-thrust and full manual braking after touchdown.

The A320 nevertheless overran and came to a halt on rough ground, with its main landing-gear 24ft off the runway end. It stopped 53ft from a perimeter wall.
27/09/18 David Kaminski-Morrow/Flight Global

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L&T starts work on integrated terminal at Chennai airport

Chennai: Larsen and Toubro has begun construction of a new integrated terminal at the Chennai airport as part of the Phase II modernisation project.

Officials of Airports Authority of India (AAI) said the company had started excavation work which will continue for the next six months; after this, the foundation work and other construction work would follow. The project is expected to be completed in mid-2021.

Estimated to cost around Rs. 2,500 crore, the integrated facility will have the international terminal at the centre and the domestic terminal on either side of it.

This meant that the old Kamaraj Domestic Terminal and the Anna International Terminal together would become the international terminal and the existing domestic and international terminals would be modified to serve as the domestic terminals on two sides, officials said.
27/09/18 Sunitha Sekar/The Hindu

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A new terminal at Allahabad airport to welcome foreign mission chiefs of 192 countries

New Delhi: The Uttar Pradesh government led by Yogi Adityanath will come up with an entirely new terminal at the Bamrauli Airport in view of Kumbh Mela in the city to facilitate not only foreign but domestic visitors. The government is taking all measures to showcase the mela in a better way and to provide all possible facility in the city.   powered by Rubicon Project
In one such initiative, the government has plans to put up digital signages not only in major Indian languages but also in the important foreign languages in the 30 kilometer periphery of the city. Sources in the Uttar Pradesh government said that people from across the country had to land either in Varanasi or in Lucknow to reach Allahabad which are 130 and 200 kilometers away from Allahabad respectively. Now people will be able to get direct flights from the far off places of the country to Allahabad. Air Force officials and civil aviation ministry is looking after the entire matter.
The government sources said that besides provide a good infrastructure in the main city and the city of tents, banking facilities, telecom and internet facilites and other essential services will be provided in the mela area to take care of the people visiting from the country and outside the country. The city of tents as the 45-day long mela is known to the world will install 4000 premium tents for the visitors. Around 192 countries' mission chiefs are also expected to visit the mela for that the city is decked up with state-of-the-art infrastructure. The government is also likely to issue a postal stamp to commemorate the mela in which not only the UP government but the entire Sangh Pariwar is involved.
27/09/18 Vinod Kumar Shukla/One India

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Indian, Greek team to build €520m New Heraklion airport on Crete

The government of Greece has awarded the contract to build and run an airport on the island of Crete to a consortium led by India’s GMR Airports and GEK Terna Group of Athens.
The two companies will design, build, finance and operate the New Heraklion International Airport for 35 years, including the phase one construction period, which is expected to last five years.
Expected capital expenditure for Phase 1 construction is €520 million.
Crete’s present international airport, Nikos Kazantzakis, is the second largest in Greece and is reaching the limit of its capacity despite a number of expansion projects. It will be closed once its replacement is operational.
Bengaluru-based GMR, which is the largest private developer of airports in India, first put a bid in for the New Heraklion project in 2016. Greece has been trying to find a consortium willing to fund the scheme since 2009, when the debt crisis made the scheme problematic.
The project will be funded using a mix of equity sales, accruals from Nikos Kazantzakis and grants from Greece’s treasury.
26/09/18 GCR

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Indian airports and the name game

To change the name of an airport a resolution has to be first passed by the state assembly. Then it has to be passed by the Union cabinet and finally notified in the Gazette of India.

In the past 10 years, six airports have been renamed. Five of them have been renamed after personalities. In the case of the sixth one, the government decided to insert the word 'Maharaj' to the existing Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport Mumbai. Out of these six changes, two were done by the present Narendra Modi government and four had been done by the previous Manmohan Singh government.

At present there are 12 proposals from state governments, pending with the Union cabinet, for renaming of airports, which are under various states of consideration.

And contrary to what the government said in 2016 in the Rajya Sabha, all the suggested names, barring one, are to honour personalities. One of the trickiest is of renaming Chandigarh airport. Both Punjab and Haryana government own 24.5 per cent of it and the rest is owned by the Airports Authority of India.
27/09/18 Ashok Kumar Upadhyay/India Today

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Proud moment for MP, Gujarat as Indore, Ahmedabad win best airport awards

Today is World Tourism Day and the Ministry of Tourism has presented the National Tourism Awards for the year 2016-17. The ministry presents this award to various segments of the travel and tourism industry every year.  The ministry awarded the Airports Authority of India’s Devi Ahilya Bai Holkar Airport, Indore and Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport, Ahmedabad with the prestigious awards in the 'Best Airport' category.

Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport, Ahmedabad received the Best Airport Award in Major Cities category and Devi Ahilya Bai Holkar Airport, Indore received the Best Airport Award in ‘Rest of India’ category for the promotion of Tourism at these airports.

These awards are presented to State Governments / Union Territories, classified hotels, heritage hotels, approved travel agents, tour operators and tourist transport operators, individuals and other private organizations in recognition of their performance in their respective fields and also to encourage healthy competition with an aim to promoting tourism.
Tourism Minister K J Alphons presented the awards to the recipients.
27/09/18 ZeeBiz

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Interim ban on construction in 100-metre area around airport

Chandigarh: Less than two months after the Indian Air Force expressed safety and other concerns regarding the Chandigarh international airport, the Punjab and Haryana High Court today ordered interim ban on further construction in a 100-metre area from the boundary wall of the landing field.
A Division Bench of the High Court also made it clear the to Greater Mohali Area Development Authority to carry on with the activity of demolishing illegal structures falling in the area under its jurisdiction. Taking note of GMADA’s assurance that it would issue orders in this regard by Monday, the Bench directed the state of Punjab to provide adequate police force.
The Bench of Chief Justice Krishna Murari and Justice Arun Palli also made the Zirakpur Municipal Corporation a party to the ongoing public interest litigation on making the airport fully operational. It was also directed to initiate action against illegal constructions in accordance with law. The Bench also called for a detailed report on the issue.
26/09/18 Tribune

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After inauguration, ‘uncertainty’ looms over flight operations at Jharsuguda airport

Jharsuguda: Uncertainty prevailed over the flight operations by Air Odisha at the Veer Surendra Sai (VSS) Airport, which was recently inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi here under UDAN (Udega Desh ka Aam Nagrik) scheme.
The cancellation of three flights scheduled to and from the Jharsuguda airport on Tuesday raised big question among the air passengers for the flight services by Air Odisha.
Three days after operationalisation of Odisha’s second major airport, not a single flight landed at the airport on Tuesday as per the schedules.
Following inauguration of the airport, three flights were scheduled to take off daily from Jharsuguda to Raipur, Ranchi and Bhubaneswar excluding Sunday.
However, three flights were cancelled on Tuesday at the Jharsuguda airport due to repair work, stated the VSS Airport Director PK Chouhan.
26/09/18 Odisha Sun Times

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Fact Check: This is the truth behind PM's claim on new airports

"There are now 100 airports operational in India of which 35 were added in the last four years," Prime Minister Narendra Modi said during the inauguration of Sikkim's first airport at Pakyong on September 24 this year.

"Since Independence till 2014, the country had only 65 airports built over 67 years. That means, on an average, only one airport was built per year. However, in the past four years, almost nine airports were built in every year," the prime minister added.

India Today Fact Check team dug deep to find out the facts regarding the claims.

Claim: "Today we have made 100 airports operational."

Fact: Almost true. As of today, India has 101 operational airports. The information was given by none other than the Minister of State for Civil Aviation Jayant Sinha to Parliament.

Answering a question in Lok Sabha on July 19 during the last Parliament session, Jayant Sinha said there are total of 129 airports owned by Airports Authority of India (AAI), of which 101 are operational.

Claim: "Among the (100 airports) 35 added in last 4 years. Since Independence till 2014, only 65 airports were built in 67 years."

Fact: False. Only seven operational airports have been added in the last four year.

The government records show 94 airports were already operational in 2014. The then Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapati Raju had stated this in the Lok Sabha on December 1, 2014, five months after the Narendra Modi government came to power.

If you go by the two statements of these two ministers - 94 airports were operational in 2014 (Ashok Gajpati Raju) and 101 airports in 2018 (Jayant Sinha) - it is clear that only seven operational airports have been added in the last four years.
We contacted J B Singh, PRO of Airports Authority of India, to provide us with the list of the 35 new airports the PM was referring to. However, he said the AAI does not have the list.

Claim: "In last four years, every year almost nine airports were built."

Fact: False. At the rate of nine airports per year, a total of 36 new airports should have been ready by now. Whereas only seven new airports have been completed and made functional. Moreover, all the seven airports made operational by the Modi government were actually approved during the UPA rule.
26/09/18 Chayan Kundu/Balkrishna/India Today

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Sikkim's first-ever airport at Pakyong: All you need to know

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday inaugurated the Pakyong Airport in Sikkim, the first ever aerodrome in the state. Chief Minister Pawan Chamling and Union Aviation Minister Suresh Prabhu were also present, as the Prime Minister unveiled the plaque, formally inaugurating the 990-acre aero facility.
The airport is spread over 201 acres and is located on top of a hill about two km above Pakyong village, 4,500 feet above sea level.  The airport was constructed by the Airports Authority of India. Earlier, the nearest airport from Sikkim was located 124 km away at Bagdogra in West Bengal.
The Pakyong airport is located around 60 km from the Indo-China border and is therefore strategically relevant from a security point of view. The Indian Air Force (IAF) will also find this airport convenient for landing and taking off. The IAF would be able to land various types of aircraft on the airport's runway with the construction of another 75-metre stretch adjacent to the main runway in the coming days.
The airport was constructed at an estimated cost of Rs 6.05 billion and is an "engineering marvel" for its soil reinforcement and slope stabilisation techniques keeping in view the altitude it was built at.
Features of the airport include integrated structures comprising an ATC tower-cum-fire station, two sophisticated CFTs, one terminal building for passengers, high-intensity runway lights, parking for over 50 vehicles. The reinforcement wall of the project is 80-metre-high.
The airport has a 1.75 km runway with a width of 30 metres. It has a 116-metre-long taxiway connecting it to an apron measuring 106 metres by 76 metres that can simultaneously accommodate two ATR-72 aircraft. The airport has a 3,000 sq metre terminal building and has a capacity to handle 50 in-bound and as many out-bound passengers. The Sikkim Police has been entrusted with the security of the Pakyong airport.
26/09/18 Business Standard

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Centre clears Rs 1217-cr project for Patna airport

Patna: The cabinet committee on economic affairs chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday approved the construction of a new domestic terminal building and other allied structures at Patna airport at an estimated cost of Rs 1,217 crore, and handed over the Hotel Patliputra Ashok to the state government.

The airport nod comes after a delay of around six months, which happened due to the estimated cost escalating from around Rs 800 crore to Rs 1,150 crore. Hence the Airports Authority of India (AAI) had to wait for the Union cabinet’s approval, mandatory for any project that exceeds Rs 1,000 crore.

With the new terminal building, the airport will be able to handle up to 45 lakh passengers per annum, up from the existing 7 lakh.

The new terminal will have an area of 65,155 square metres, including a basement area of 18,650 square metres.
26/09/18 Dev Raj/Telegraph

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PM Modi, Cochin Airport win UN's 'Champions of the Earth' award

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Kochi International Airport were on Wednesday awarded UN's highest environmental honour, the 'Champions of the Earth' award, along with four other environmental changemakers.

PM Modi and French president Emmanuel Macron were recognised in the Policy Leadership category for their "pioneering work in championing the International Solar Alliance and promoting new areas of levels of cooperation on environmental action", according to the UN.

Prime Minister's pledge to eliminate the single-use plastic in India by 2022 and Macron's work on the Global Pact for the Environment found a special mention.
Among the other recipient of the awards was the Cochin International Airport, which received the award in the Entrepreneurial Vision category.

The airport was hailed for its "leadership in the use of sustainable energy".

"Cochin is showing the world that our ever-expanding network of global movement doesn't have to harm the environment. As the pace of society continues to increase, the world's first fully solar-powered airport is proof positive that green business is good business," the United Nations said in a statement.
26/09/18 Times of India

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Malindo Air Announces New Direct Service to Kolkata

Malindo Air will be introducing its new services between Kuala Lumpur International Airport and Kolkata – Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport, effective 22 October 2018, flying five times per week.

Flight OD281 from Kuala Lumpur is scheduled to depart at 9.55 p.m. and will arrive in Kolkata at 11.20 p.m. The journey takes 3 hours and 55 minutes using a narrow-body Boeing 737NG aircraft, comprising of 12 Business Class and 150/168 Economy Class seats. The returning flight from Kolkata OD282 is scheduled to depart on the following day at 12:10 a.m. and arrive in KLIA at 6:35 a.m

Chandran Rama Muthy, Chief Executive Officer of Malindo Air, said:

“The vibrant city of Kolkata is a much anticipated destination, as well as the 8th India city that we fly to. With the five-weekly flights, we hope to increase travellers’ traffic for both business and leisure between these two cities. We aspire not only to fly direct point-to-point traffic but also to carry connecting passengers beyond Kuala Lumpur to various destinations on our network ranging from ASEAN to Australia. We are optimistic about this route and we are anticipating more frequencies in the near future.”
26/09/18 Aviation Tribune

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Bengaluru on Cloud Nine with more flights

Several new flights will commence operations from the Kempegowda International Airport (KIA) in the next couple of months. On the domestic front, Indigo and SpiceJet will start flights to various destinations.
Starting October 1, SpiceJet will introduce a flight on the Bengaluru-Mangaluru route which will operate six days a week.
On the Bengaluru-Coimbatore route, the airline will introduce two direct flights. Two of the three new flights added on this route throughout the week while one will operate six days a week.
While flight SG-3465 operate six days a week, flight SG-3084 will operate throughout the week. Both the flights will commence operations from October 8. Another flight, SG-3084, will commence flight service from October 21. The airline will also operate a direct flight to Madurai from October 8. From November 7 onwards, it will operate new flights to Varanasi and Udaipur.
Similarly, Indigo will also introduce nine new flights from Bengaluru of which eight are domestic and one international. A direct flight to Pune will start on October 28, followed by flights to Chennai and Raipur which will commence from November 1
25/09/18 Bangalore Mirror

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You could board a flight from Gzb in Jan ’19

New Delhi/ Ghaziabad: The Airports Authority of India (AAI) has paved the way for civilian flights to take off from the Hindon Air Force base by January next.
It has not only finalised plans for the Rs 45 crore civil terminal here, but also subsidised regional flights — whose fares are capped at Rs 2,500 per hour — that will operate from Hindon. The AAI is planning to shift small private jets having less than 80 seats, which currently operate from IGI Airport, to the new terminal in Hindon and free up slots in Delhi for schedule flights.
AAI chairman Guruprasad Mohapatra had said earlier Hindon’s civil terminal would be ready “in maximum six months”. Flights under the regional connectivity scheme (RCS) and small private jets will operate from here until the expansion of IGI is completed by September 2022.
“The terminal building will come up in an area of 3,500 square metres. It will be air-conditioned, pre-engineered or pre-fabricated structure and not a porta cabin. The terminal will have a peak capacity to handle 300 passengers an hour (150 departing and as many arriving),” said Mohapatra.
25/09/18 Saurabh Sinha/Abhijay Jha/Times of India

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SpiceJet announces new flights from Amritsar to Bangkok, Goa

Chandigarh: The private carrier, SpiceJet on Tuesday marked the launch of its two new daily flights from Amritsar to Bangkok and Goa, commencing on 6 November by handing over the first ticket to Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh.

A three-member team from SpiceJet, led by Chief Customer Service Officer Kamal Hingorani, met the CM at his official residence to announce the launch of the new flights from Sri Guru Ram Das Jee International Airport.

Lauding the initiative, Amarinder said that there was a huge potential of tourism in Punjab, especially the holy city of Amritsar, which is visited by a large number of devotees thronging from around the world to pay obeisance at Darbar Sahib and Durgiana Mandir, besides paying tributes to the great martyrs at Jallianwala Bagh.

The CM also asked the SpiceJet authorities to start more flights between Amritsar and other destinations in the country and abroad. He also emphasised the need to start a direct flight from Mohali International Airport to Singapore in view of the huge demand from the people in the region.
25/09/18 Statesman

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Is Air India anti-national carrier, asks HC

Chandigarh: The Punjab and Haryana high court has observed whether Air India is a national carrier or an anti-national carrier as international flights from the Chandigarh international airport are being struck down one by one.

During the resumed hearing of the case in connection with the PIL filed by Mohali Industries Association regarding infrastructure deficiencies at the airport, the court slammed the central government too, observing that if an international airport has to function in this manner, why not shut it down? The court directed Air India to provide the schedule of all flights. The next hearing will be on Wednesday.
A division bench of Chief Justice Krishna Murari and Justice Arun Palli further observed why Rs 1,400 crore was spent on the new airport if international flights were to be cancelled. The court observed that first the Bangkok flight was discontinued, while the direct flight from Chandigarh to Singapore is yet to be started. The court asked if there was any hidden agenda behind removing all international flights from Chandigarh one after another. It was also observed that if the Central government had no plan for this airport, why it was started in the first place.
25/09/18 Times of India

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With Pakyong, every state is now on India’s air map

Gangtok: Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the Pakyong airport in Sikkim on Monday, putting the Himalayan state on the aviation map. Located 30 km from Gangtok, Pakyong will become the country’s 100th operational airport when the first scheduled flight lands there on October 4.

The 201-acre picturesque airport is located at an altitude of 4,500 ft above sea level and has a 1,700-metre tabletop runway certified for operations of small fixed wing aircraft like ATR, CRJ and Bombardiers. It was constructed at a cost of Rs 605 crore after shaving off a mountain top to build the runway.

“With Pakyong, we have hit a century. In 67 years since Independence, we had just 65 airports, less than one airport per year. In the past four years, we have added 35 new airports at the rate of nine airports a year,” the PM said.

For Sikkim’s citizens and tourists to the state, the 75-minute flight from Kolkata will cut down commute time and expense. Till now, one had to take a 10-and-ahalf hour train journey to New Jalpaiguri or an hour’s flight to Bagdogra in West Bengal and then drive down National Highway 10 for four hours to reach Gangtok.
25/09/18 Chewan Dahal/Times of India

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Pakyong flight seats command premium

Calcutta: Sikkim’s first airport, located 4,600ft above sea level, is easy on the eye. Not so much on the pocket if you didn’t buy a ticket long before the WhatsApp forwards landed.

On Tuesday afternoon, a flight from Calcutta to Pakyong for October 4 was quoting at Rs 9,405 a seat. Calcutta to Bagdogra on the same day costs Rs 2,414.

With a fortnight to go before the first SpiceJet plane to Pakyong takes off, almost all seats on flights scheduled for the four Durga Puja days have been taken.

Till Tuesday afternoon, 69 seats on the October 4 flight had been sold compared to 29 for the new 6am flight to Bagdogra. The Pakyong flights scheduled for October 15 to 18 are full, according to a SpiceJet official.

Anyone wanting to take a flight about six weeks from now would still need to shell out Rs 22,000 for a round trip. Flights to Bagdogra, so far the nearest airport to Sikkim, are considerably cheaper.

“I wanted a ticket to Pakyong for October 22. The return fare was showing Rs 22,000. I went ahead with the booking thinking it will be worth it,” said a resident of Ballygunge Place who can’t stop gushing about pictures of the airport that a friend had WhatsApp-ed to him a few days ago.
25/09/18 Sanjay Mandal/Telegraph

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Inline bag scan to miss online target

Calcutta: The airport’s promise to switch on inline baggage screening in the domestic section of the airport by Durga Puja has hit a logistics hurdle, continuing a long tradition of deadlines being missed.

Airport officials said the arrival of some equipment required for the system to be made operational had been delayed, pushing back the installation schedule by a few months.

At a meeting last Friday, representatives of airlines had asked the airport authorities to start installing the equipment after Diwali to avoid chaos during the peak of holiday traffic.

“We have to close each conveyor belt one after the other to install the chips that will scan bags as they travel through the belt. Each belt will have to be closed for operations for at least 15 days,” an airport official said on Monday. “Airlines have requested us to start work after Diwali because they would otherwise be unable to handle the increase in passenger traffic,” he said.

About 62,000 fliers use the airport every day. The figure could increase to at least 70,000 during the festive period.
25/09/18 Sanjay Mandal/Telegraph

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SL airline plans to retreat from city

Visakhapatnam: Sri Lankan Airlines, which had launched a direct flight from Visakhapatnam to Colombo in July last year, may withdraw its operations from the Visakhapatnam international airport.
Sri Lankan Airlines had initially launched its services four times a week from Visakhapatnam at a low fare of Rs 8,000-Rs 10,000.

However, after a few months, the fares were raised to Rs 12,000 and the operations were reduced to three times a week due to decrease in passenger traffic. Later, fares were hiked to Rs 16,000.

Speaking to TOI, K Vijay Mohan, president of Tours and Travels Association of Andhra (TTAA), said, “According to internal communications, the Sri Lankan Airlines may shut its operations as it is not viable. The bothway passenger traffic is only 40-50%, hence is not viable. The airline said with the present minimal loads, it is not able to meet the route operational cost and has been losing money.”
26/09/18 Times of India

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'With Pakyong, India has 100 airports connected by regular scheduled flights'

The Ministry of Civil Aviation on Tuesday said the country has 100 aerodromes connected by regular scheduled flights after the inauguration of Pakyong airport in Sikkim.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday inaugurated the Pakyong aerodrome, where commercial flight operations are set to start from October 4. After the inauguration, Modi had said that after Independence the country had only 65 airports till 2014, taking an apparent dig at the Congress. In the last four years, the government has built 35 airports, he had said. Modi-led BJP government came to power in 2014.

Against this backdrop, the ministry said that with the inauguration of Pakyong airport, the country now has 100 airports connected by regular scheduled flights.

Evidently, not all these airports were benefitting the general public. Out of these, only 67 airports were connected by regular flights of scheduled airlines, it said in a series of tweets. “In the last four years, the number of airports connected with scheduled flights (and thus benefitting general public) has gone up from 67 to 100 airports,” the ministry said.
25/09/18 PTI/Business Line

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Bengaluru airport signs agreement with Unisys to personalize and improve the passenger experience

Bengaluru: Unisys Corporation today announced that it has entered into an agreement with Bangalore International Airport Limited (BIAL) – operators of Kempegowda International Airport, Bengaluru – to develop an Analytics Center of Excellence.

The Analytics Center of Excellence will support a business intelligence and advanced data analytics platform for BIAL to consolidate and rationalize the Airport's strategic, tactical and operational reporting – enabling Airport staff to make faster and better-informed business decisions, process air travelers more quickly and enhance the airport experience for the customer.

The platform will allow the Airport to provide real-time content information pertaining to Airport services and flight information. The services will also provide travelers access to improved airport navigation, communication of airport services and proactive and personalized retail offerings based on passenger preferences and past spending history. This not only offers passengers greater visibility into airport amenities and services, but it also establishes an avenue for BIAL to generate non-aeronautical revenues.

Satyaki Raghunath, Chief Strategy and Development Officer, BIAL said, "BIAL is committed to being a data-driven organization that will create a smart, futuristic and intuitive airport journey for passengers. Unisys brings a strong combination of in-depth understanding of the aviation industry and proven experience in delivering digital transformation for organizations of all sizes. Unisys' solution will provide us with intelligent and intuitive data and analytics that will support the enhancement of the customer experience we provide." 
25/09/18 Market Watch

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Chandigarh airport will soon be ready for wide-bodied aircraft: Jayant Sinha

The Chandigarh airport will soon be ready to handle wide-bodied aircraft, linking the city to far off international destinations in the US and Europe, Union Minister Jayant Sinha said Tuesday. The Minister of State for Civil Aviation made the remark while addressing a conference on "Making India an Aviation Hub: Giving Wings to Aviation Sector in North", organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII),  Chandigarh.

The Chandigarh airport will be made available for night operations as well by March 2019, said Sinha. The operation of wide-bodied aircraft would provide the city direct air linkages to major international destinations, including those in the US, Europe, Canada and the UK. The airport would be suitable for big aircrafts such as Boeing 787, Boeing 777 and Airbus 330.

The existing Chandigarh airport runway can cater only to middle-body aircraft that could fly only to domestic destinations and a few closer destinations aborad including Dubai, Sharjah and Bangkok. The airport lies in defence airfield which is increasingly being used by civilian operators. The Air Traffic Control and runway operations lie with the IAF. The first phase of the airport runway repairs was carried out from February 12 to 26 this year and the airport remained shut for all flights. The second phase of closure was from May 12 to May 31.
25/09/18 PTI/ZeeBiz

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Architect behind Odisha airport

Ludhiana: A Ludhiana-based architect is the man behind the design of seven airports in the country. The Jharsuguda Airport, Odisha’s second airport which was inaugurated by the Prime Minister three days ago, has been designed by architect Kanav Khosla.
“The airport is special as it has the minimal impact on environment. This is one of the greenest airports in the tier-3 airports in the country as many eco-friendly features have been added to the airport,” he says.
“The airport has been designed to require least amount of air-conditioning with features like cavity-windows, making use of the optimum ambient light requiring least use of lighting. Water used at the airport is also recycled which can be used for irrigation purposes, apart from several other eco-friendly construction material, including fly-ash bricks,” he added.
25/09/18 Gurvinder Singh/Tribune

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Is Sikkim Airport Really India’s 100th Operational Airport?

“Today, it is not only a historic day for Sikkim but also for the country. With the inauguration of the Pakyong airport in the state, the country got its 100th operational airport,” said Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 24 September at the opening ceremony of Sikkim’s first airport.

How the number of airports in India adds up to a 100 as of today remains a bit of a mystery in the absence of any clarification on what kind of airport was being referred to or criteria was being followed.

The DGCA is the Indian governmental regulatory body for civil aviation under the Ministry of Civil Aviation while the Airports Authority of India or AAI under the same ministry is responsible for creating, upgrading, maintaining and managing civil aviation infrastructure in India.

According to the Civil Aviation’s official annual report 2017-18 (Chapter 4,5,6 Part 1) published on 5 September 2018, there are 129 airports under AAI with 23 international airports, 78 domestic airports, 8 customs airports and 20 civil enclaves at defence airfields.

Of 129 airports, 101 airports –including civil enclaves – are operational and 28 are non-operational, according to government replies (here and here) to the Lok Sabha (lower house of Parliament) on 19 July 2018 and 8 August 2018.

According to 2017-18 data released by DGCA, as on 31 March 2018, there were 110 operational airports in the country.

The data, sourced from Airports Authority of India (AAI), till 31 March 2018, showed that there are 26 international airports, 8 customs airports and 74 domestic airports which are operational.
07/09/18 Asmita Nandy/Quint

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PM Modi inaugurates Sikkim's first airport, stresses on development

Prime Minister Narendra Modi Monday dedicated Sikkim's first airport at Pakyong to the nation and said previous governments worked in a slow pace for ushering in development.
Modi said his government is committed to make the Northeast an "engine of India's growth story".
With the inauguration of the greenfield airport, the country currently has 100 airports, the prime minister said.
He said the greenfield airport in Sikkim will not just improve connectivity between "landlocked and bordering" Sikkim, but will also boost tourism and other economic activities in the state.
Sikkim's dream of having an airport came true nine years after the foundation stone for it was laid here, around 33 km from state capital Gangtok, in 2009.
Located around 60 km from the Indo-China border, the airport is spread across over 201 acres and is on the top of a hill about two-km above Pakyong village at 4,500 feet above sea level.
Civil Aviation Minister Suresh Prabhu, who was also present on the occasion, said the dream of the people of Sikkim to have an airport of their own has now come true.
24/09/18 PTI/Times of India

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Air traffic control: China and India compete

Previously obscure Indian Ocean fishing villages such as Hambantota, Gwadar and Kyaukpyu have suddenly been transported into the glare of international media attention as China, India and others compete for control over ports across the region.

But competition over critical infrastructure isn’t just confined to the maritime realm. In fact, access to airfields is just as essential to allow military aircraft to cover the vast distances across the Indian Ocean. This is why China and its competitors are paying ever more attention to securing access to airfields and to deny access to others.   

As a ‘new’ power in the Indian Ocean, China has the biggest need to secure air access to fulfill multiple strategic imperatives. It needs staging points for evacuations or other operations to protect Chinese nationals, and for maritime air surveillance in support of its naval presence.

The PLA Air Force is only starting to make its presence felt. It participated in the 2011 evacuation of some 32,000 Chinese from Libya, staging through Sudan (which likely strained the PLA Air Force’s capabilities). The PLA Air Force also participated in the 2014 search for Malaysian Airlines MH370 out of Perth.

These are baby steps. The PLA Air Force faces a steep learning curve and is well behind the PLA Navy in experience and capabilities (such as air-to-air tankers) necessary to conduct long-distance operations.
24/09/18 David Brewster/The Interpreter/Lowy Institue

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Quick baggage scanning soon at airport

Chennai: In three months, passengers flying out of the domestic terminal at the Chennai airport will be relieved of the laborious process of scanning their baggage through standalone machines.

From December, a passenger entering the domestic terminal will have to just drop off her baggage at the airline check-in counters and the inline baggage scanner will examine them, akin to what happens in the international departure terminal.

According to officials of Airports Authority of India (AAI), they will do away with the existing standalone machines in three months as the installation of four new inline scanners have begun.

In the current setup, passengers who enter the terminal have to first wait in the queue, lift their baggage and put them through the standalone machines and then proceed towards check-in and other formalities for boarding. In the inline system, passengers can head straight to check-in counters and leave their baggage, which will eventually be taken to the aircraft after scanning. “These scanners have a capacity to scan 1,200 bags an hour. Also, they are the latest ones equipped with CT X-ray and CT Scan systems which can easily detect explosives. There will be various levels of scanning in these new machines, which will ensure better security. There are 14 screeners certified by the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security who will monitor the screening of baggage,” an official said.
24/09/18 Sunitha Sekar/The Hindu

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IAF wants old airport for Siachen, Airports Authority of India stays mute

Chandigarh: :For the past six months, the Airports Authority of India (AAI) has not been able to decide on handing over the old building of the Chandigarh airport lying almost unutilized to the IAF.

The IAF wants to use the building spread in 12,150 square metre area to facilitate the movement of thousands of troops to Siachen, Leh, Thoise, Kargil and other forward areas.

The state-of-the-art building was completed in 2011 at a cost of around Rs 80 crore. The building, however, is lying unused ever since flight operations were shifted to the international terminal on Mohali side in 2015. Sources confirmed to TOI that only a small skill development centre is running in two rooms in the building with very few students, resulting in gross mis-utilisation/underutilisation of such a huge building that has a capacity to accommodate 400 passengers at one time.
The AAI has been criticised for causing undue losses by non-utilizing the building for the past around three years. The AAI is also spending a huge amount of money every month on its maintenance, as a contract has been especially given to a private agency for the purpose. Sources confirmed that the tarmac (apron or parking area near the terminal) of old building is property of IAF, thus it would be difficult for any other authority to utilize the building for any purpose.
24/09/18 Ajay Sura/Times of India

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Pune airport to start facial recognition of flyers

Pune: Come 2019, just facial recognition would be enough to board flights at the city airport.
The system would ensure seamless check-in and security check process, reducing the waiting time at the airport drastically. A source said the facial recognition system would be in place at four airports, including Pune, on a trial basis before its introduction at all the airports in the country. A part of the civil aviation ministry’s DigiYatra initiative, it is aimed at providing modern electronic and digital facilities to flyers.

A source at the Pune airport told TOI that the facility had electronic gates and the work on installation of the required software was on. “The work on installation of cameras and other equipment is in progress,” he said.

Once the facial recognition system is in place, passengers will have the option to go through a one-time registration process at the entrance of the airport terminal building. The details of the flyer concerned would be captured in high definition cameras, which will act as his/her unique signature or code.

24/09/18 Joy Sengupta/Times of India

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IndiGo announces Allahabad as its 60th destination

New Delhi: To further enhance its flight connectivity from Uttar Pradesh, private airline IndiGo on Monday announced Allahabad as its 60th destination after successful launch of operations to and from Gorakhpur.
The airline will now operate flights between Allahabad and Bangalore with all-inclusive fares
starting from Rs 3,620.
The flights would start operating from November 15, this year.
The bookings are, however, open with immediate effect.
24/09/18 UNI

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SpiceJet to connect Shirdi-Delhi; Mumbai-Kanpur

Mumbai: Low cost airline SpiceJet is set to be the first airline to provide air connectivity between Delhi and the temple town of Shirdi, near Nashik in Maharashtra with daily direct flights to begin from October 1. It will also be the first airline to launch flights between Mumbai and Kanpur next month.

The famous Shirdi Sai Baba temple receives an estimated 60,000 pilgrims every day. "With the new flights launched, tourists who otherwise take a rail or road tour can conveniently switch to a more convenient and time sensitive travel mode," said SpiceJet in a press release. Shirdi airport was commissioned only in October last year.
Additionally the airline will also launched a new daily direct flight on the Mumbai-Kanpur route effective from 8 October thereby becoming the first airline to connect the country’s financial capital and UP’s commercial capital, the release said.
24/09/18 Manu V/Times of India

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Air India Airport Staff Arrested At Delhi Airport For Smuggling Gold

New Delhi: Two people, including an employee of Air India SATS, have been arrested by customs officials for allegedly trying to smuggle gold into the country with a value of Rs. 17 lakh at Delhi airport, according to an official statement issued on Monday.
Air India SATS, which is a 50:50 joint venture between Air India Limited and Singapore-based SATS Limited, offers end-to-end ground handling services such as passenger and baggage handling, aircraft interior cleaning and cargo handling services among others.
"Further, one airport staff working for M/s Air India SATS was also intercepted, who was assisting the said passenger in smuggling," the customs department said in the statement.

A detailed personal baggage search of the passenger and the airport staff resulted in the recovery of two gold rods crudely given shape of kada (bangle), total weighing 600 grams and having total value of Rs. 17.18 lakh, it said.
The passenger has also admitted that he was involved in smuggling of gold total weighing 300 grams on previous occasions at Ahmedabad airport, the customs department said.
24/09/18 PTI/NDTV

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Kerala floods one month after: Kannur airport commissioning likely to get delayed

Thiruvananthapuram: The flood which caused a loss of Rs 336 crore to the Cochin International Airport is likely to push the commissioning of the Kannur International Airport Ltd to next month. The authorities were working hard to commission the airport by September last. A senior officer in the state administration said the commissioning of the airport would be extended to next month as the airport is yet to submit the data and documents regarding the calibration of navigation equipment by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO).

The incessant rain in the month of July and August delayed the calibration of various navigation equipment. It an international practice to submit and publish the documents regarding the calibration data to ICAO before the commissioning of the airport. Meanwhile, a Boeing 737-800 of Air India Express trial landed at Kannur International Airport on Thursday and the aircraft successfully docked with one of the passenger boarding bridges.

The test flights were performed in the wake of the calibration of the Doppler Very High-Frequency Omni-Directional Range (DVOR), a standard ground-based radio navigational aid.
21/09/18 Dhinesh Kallungal/New Indian Express

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How tough was it to give Sikkim its first ever airport

Gangtok : Flying straight to Sikkim is soon going to be a reality as the Himalayan state has got its first ever airport.
Pakyong Greenfield Airport project was unique and challenging. There were steep slopes on the project site, the region receives high rainfall and there were existing water channels along the project site.
The team at the AAI came up with innovative solutions. A 'Cut and Fill' method was used to ensure that the same material cut from the uphill side was used to fill the downhill side, eliminating waste and also reducing cost.
Environment-friendly reinforcements like Gabyon and Geo-grids were used to ensure a stable and long lasting fill reinforcement. The existing water streams were smoothly channeled under the airport with no impact on the water flow.
Pakyong Airport boasts of the highest environment-friendly retaining wall in Asia and is one of the finest engineering feats of the AAI.
21/09/18 ANI

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Fly from an airport near Noida to foreign shores soon

New Delhi: Jewar Airport Latest News: Uttar Pradesh's 'loss' after 17-years to be Haryana's gain? What reports say Jewar Airport Latest News: Uttar Pradesh's 'loss' after 17-years to be Haryana's gain? What reports say
Jewar Airport: Yogi promises fair deal in land acquisition from farmers Jewar Airport: Yogi promises fair deal in land acquisition from farmers
The proposed international greenfield airport at Jewar near Noida, which borders Delhi, seems to be progressing fast now  as a delegation of farmers recently met Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath in the state capital and submitted their consent letter regarding submission of their land. A huge controversy had surrounded Jewar airport over land acquisition issue.

According to reports, farmers said they have collectively taken this decision for the development of people as well region, while expressing their faith that the state government will take requisite measures for their livelihood and their rehabilitation.

The Chief Minister lauded the farmers' positive move and said that all should contribute for the development of the state, adding that their contribution would always be remembered for the Jewar airport.

The delegation was led by local MLA Dhirendra Singh, who has been making regular visits to the villages where land is to be acquired for the state government's ambitious project. The project's cost is estimated to be between Rs 15,000 and Rs 20,000 crore.
21/09/18 ZeeBiz

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Govt. to hold talks with T.N. for airport land

Puducherry: The territorial administration will start official level talks with Tamil Nadu on acquiring around 200 acres of land for expanding the Puducherry airport, Minister for Tourism Malladi Krishna Rao said here on Thursday.

Inaugurating a one-day seminar on “challenges and opportunities,” organised by the Tourism Department, Mr. Rao said he, along with the Chief Minister, had discussed the land acquisition issue with Deputy Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu O. Panneerselvam on the sidelines of the recently held Southern Zonal Council meeting in Bengaluru.

The Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, who was present at the meeting, had promised to recommend to the Finance Department to provide financial assistance to the Union Territory to compensate the land acquisition cost, the Minister said. “We will be holding a meeting with Tamil Nadu Chief Secretary next week to finalise the modalities,” he said.
21/09/18 The Hindu

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'New tariff model risky for greenfield airport developers'

Mumbai: The draft airport policy that seeks to shift tariff structure to the 'price cap' model from the existing 'cost plus' model exposes developers to traffic risks in general and is particularly risky for greenfield airports, a report warned Thursday.

The proposed changes in the approach towards greenfield airports to 'dual till' from the earlier '30 per cent hybrid till' leaves the entire non-aero revenues outside the ambit of price cap, which to an extent is a positive, India Ratings said in its report.

The draft policy also defines clearly aero and non- aero revenues, including clarity on the inclusion of cargo revenues under the aero banner. Of the four large private airports, historically there were significant delays in fixing tariffs for control periods.

"Despite strong passenger traffic growth, introduction of traffic risks and limited flexibility on tariff revisions combined with restrictions on real estate area amplify the risk for a greenfield airport," warned the report.
21/09/18 PTI/ZeeBiz

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GMR gets Letter of award to develop airport in Greece

Hyderabad: The Greek government Friday issued a Letter of Award to the consortium of GMR Airports Limited for the development, operations and management of the new international airport of Heraklion on Crete island in Greece.

GMR Airports Ltd, a subsidiary of GMR Infrastructure Ltd, and Greece-based Terna Group are members of the consortium, a press release from GMR said here.

GMR Airports is the designated airport operator in the consortium for the Greek project, the release said.

The project involves design, construction, financing of the new Heraklion airport. The concession period for the greenfield project would be 35 years, including phase- 1 construction of five years, it said.
21/09/18 PTI/India.com

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Odisha: After Jharsuguda, three more airports in the offing

Bhubaneswar: After the much-awaited Jharsuguda airport, scheduled to be inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sept 22, three more airports are in the offing in Odisha.

The infrastructures of three airports are being developed in Jeypore, Rourkela and Utkela at investment of over Rs 100 crore. These airports are expected to be operational by 2019, informed Airports Authority of India (AAI) member (planning) AK Pathak.

While the airport in Rourkela is likely to be functional by October-November this year, the airports in Jeypore and Utkela are expected for operations by March 2019, he said.

Meanwhile, Odisha Assembly has recently passed a resolution unanimously to name the newly-constructed Jharsuguda airport after noted freedom fighter Veer Surendra Sai.

About inauguration, the Airports Authority of India on Twitter wrote, “The #AAI is proud to announce that @PMOIndia Shri @narendramodi will inaugurate the Jharsuguda Airport in the august presence of HMCA Shri @sureshpprabhu, Prof. Ganeshi Lal (Governor) & Shri @Naveen_Odisha (@CMO_Odisha) on September 22, 2018.”
21/09/18 Odisha Sun Times

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Helping hands for Haj pilgrims to fly in and out of Mumbai airport

Mumbai: For more than half a century, they have been a constant presence at the Mumbai international airport for a month every year, when it hosts thousands of people making the once-in-a-lifetime pilgrimage to Mecca. Yet, like their fathers and mothers before them, a number of middle-aged men and women have been ensuring that the departure and arrival home of pilgrims go off without a hitch.

Javed Shaikh (48), whose father Mehboob Shaikh founded the Haj Pilgrims Social Workers Group 52 years ago, generally makes his way to the airport after wrapping up work at his export firm by early evening.

At the airport, Javed’s task is to assists pilgrims till the immigration counters and ensure they board flights to Jeddah. “A majority of pilgrims are first-time flyers… We volunteers make sure that everyone stays in a group and have travel documents ready. We help them collect boarding passes, clear immigration, direct them to the prayer room and board flights.”
With flights to and from Jeddah commencing 10 pm onwards, Javed and his fellow volunteers spend the whole night running around. Nearly 50 men and women have volunteered this year. “Each of us has been granted different levels of clearances. Some volunteers cannot go past the departure and arrival gates, some can stay only within the airline check-in counters, and only six can stay with passengers till they take off,” said Javed.
21/09/18 Srinath Rao/Indian Express

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IndiGo bus catches fire at Chennai airport, all 50 on board safe

Chennai: A bus belonging to IndiGo Airlines caught fire at the airport here while ferrying passengers of a domestic in-bound flight, according to airport officials.

No one was injured in the incident Thursday as the fire was doused immediately, they said.
The bus caught fire when it was nearing the arrival point with about 50 passengers on board.
21/09/18 PTI/Indian Express

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Sikkim’s Pakyong airport stuns before it flies

To visit Sikkim by air means landing at West Bengal’s Bagdogra airport, then travelling 124 km uphill on winding roads to reach its capital, Gangtok. However, from September 23, Sikkim will finally get its own airport — perched between the Himalayan ranges at a height of 4,500 ft! The Pakyong airport will be the country’s 100th functional airport — and on September 23, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will fly in to inaugurate it.
The greenfield airport — the Northeast’s first — which has been conceived at a budget of Rs 605.59 crore is skilfully engineered to include soil reinforcement and slope stabilisation techniques in context of the altitude it has been built in.
Earlier this year, on March 5, the Indian Air Force’s Dornier 228 was tested from Pakyong. Later, SpiceJet followed by conducting test runs of the 78-seater Bombardier Q400 from Kolkata to Pakyong on March 10. This led to security clearances for commercial operations.

From October 8, SpiceJet will operate daily flights to and from Kolkata and Guwahati under the Union Civil Aviation Ministry’s UDAN (Ude Desh Ka Aam Nagrik) scheme that aims to enhance regional connectivity. Fare prices are pegged at Rs 2,600.
19/09/18 Indian Express

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Fight For Flight: Bhopal Demands Better Air Connectivity

Mass urban migration is one of the major issues which India has been facing for a long time now. The reason behind it is a lack of opportunities in smaller cities prompting people to move out of their hometowns to metros. This has created a sort of imbalance with bigger cities being overly exploited and the potential of tier II and tier III cities being grossly untapped. Development is also directly linked with how connected these cities and towns are with other parts of the country and the world.
Bhopal, the capital of Madhya Pradesh and also one of the cultural hubs of the country, is one of the major tier II cities which is facing this issue. Even as it has a functional airport, which has a daily movement of just 16 flights inbound and outbound to cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Raipur and Lucknow, as far the international connectivity is considered, there are just Hajj flights to Jeddah.
This problem of connectivity has been persistent for a very long time. Even before when the Airport Authority of India embarked on modernizing airports in tier II cities, a new airport terminal at the Raja Bhoj Airport in Bhopal was constructed. However, even after these many years that infrastructure remains unused.
The Logical Indian spoke to Prachi Baluapuri who is spearheading an online campaign which is pushing for a better air connectivity of Bhopal. This community is right now 40,000 members strong. Speaking of the specific issues, Baluapuri said, “Bhopal is centrally located and sees a lot of air traffic. However, the air connectivity to the city is very poor. To go to or come from any other city apart from Delhi, Mumbai, Raipur and Lucknow, one would have to travel to Indore, which enjoys better air connectivity. Indore again is three and half hour journey away from Bhopal.”
20/09/18 Shraddha Goled/Logical Indian

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Survey for intl airport at Mandi soon

Shimla: Besides setting up a special task force for expediting the setting up of an international airport at Nag Chala in Mandi, the Union Civil Aviation Ministry will shortly get the obstacle limitation surface survey done so that the project can be put on fast track.
The State Tourism and Civil Aviation Department had got Rs 1 crore deposited for undertaking the survey at Nag Chala, about 5 km from Sundernagar in the Balh valley of Mandi district.
The development comes in the wake of the meeting Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur had with Suresh Prabhu, Union Civil Aviation Minister.
However, with the cost of land and resettling some families, whose houses fall in the area, Prabhu has asked for a change in alignment of the airport so that the cost could come down.
It is learnt that several houses, roads and prime agricultural land fall within the chunk of almost 3,500 bighas identified for the international airport.
20/09/18 Pratibha Chauhan/Tribune

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Sikkim locals affected by airport project demand proper compensation

Gangtok: Even as brisk preparations are on for the grand opening of the Greenfield Airport at Pakyong in Sikkim by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on September 23 next, locals affected by the airport project are expecting that Modi would also lend an ear to their grievances and provide relief during his inaugural speech.

The affected residents who had lost their land and houses affected because of the airport project during an interacting with media in Gangtok apprised of the damages caused and issues related to compensation and rehabilitation.

The affected families who have filed a petition before the High Court of Sikkim maintained that inauguration of the airport was not right before the final hearing of the case which is still subjudice.
The affected families have been demanding that the compensation for houses and land be paid as per the amended Land Acquisition Act rates.
20/09/18 NorthEastNow

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Air India’s trial flight lands successfully at Kannur Airport

New Delhi: Air India successfully landed its test flight at Kannur International Airport Thursday, clearing the way for flight operations to start at the fourth airport in Kerala. This landing was necessary for the aviation ministry to clear operation at the new airport.

The Air India flight took-off from Thiruvananthapuram at 9.45 am and landed at Kannur at 11.38 am. After the Boeing 747, the aero bridge and other facilities for passengers were also tested.

Built at a cost of Rs 2,292 crore and spread over 2,300 acres, the airport is expected to serve more than one million passengers annually and authorities estimate the number will increase five-fold by 2025.

The airport has a runway suitable for Code E aircraft, like the Boeing B-777 and Airbus A-330. It will be extended later for the operation of Code F aircraft, like Airbus A-380. The integrated 95,000 sq m terminal building, the eighth largest in India, has been built with state-of-the-art facilities.
20/09/18 Indian Express

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Curbs on hand baggage eased at J&K airports

Jammu: In a significant decision, security agencies and airlines have eased the restrictions on carrying hand baggage in outbound flights from airports in J&K. It followed the persistent demands by the passengers. Airport director DK Gautam said the passengers would now be able to carry hand baggage in accordance with the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security regulations, in outbound flights. These restrictions were imposed in 1990s because of sensitive security situation in the state.
20/09/18 Tribune

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AAI hired 2,000 female staff in last 5 years’

Panaji: Airports Authority of India (AAI) has hired around 2,000 women air traffic controllers across the country in recent years, bringing the percentage of women in the field up to 10% from 1% five years ago, Goa international airport director Bhupesh C H Negi said on Wednesday. He was speaking at an event organised to mark Girls in Aviation Day by the India chapter of Women in Aviation International and aviation major Lockheed Martin India to encourage girls to take up careers in the industry.
“AAI is taking tremendous steps to improve the working conditions of women deployed across airports,” Negi said, adding that AAI recently became the first airport operator in the country to start recruiting women in rescue and fire services. “A woman from Kolkata was the first rescue and fire fighter to be recruited,” he told girl students of Std XI and XII at St Andrew’s Higher Secondary School, Vasco. He said the industry is not limited to subjects like science, technology, engineering and mathematics and there were other areas including commercial, ground handling and ticketing that offered opportunities for women.
20/09/18 Times of India

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MIL to conduct re-survey of high-rise buildings posing threat to airport

Non-application of mind by Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) and Nagpur Improvement Trust (NIT) in sanctioning high rise buildings near funnel area of Nagpur’s Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar International Airport has now emerged as biggest threat to its growth and very survival as an important airport. Due to such sanctions, the MIHAN India Limited (MIL), that runs the airport, has even mooted a proposal to reduce the length of runway that will disallow the landing of big aircraft. The MIL had identified 10 buildings whose heights are above the prescribed level. The same MIL has planned to conduct re-survey to see whether there are more such buildings being constructed near the funnel area.

V M Mulekar, Sr Airport Director of MIL told mediapersons, “Before taking final call, we want to check where there are more buildings whose height is in the objectionable zone. We had already issued notices to 10 buildings asking them to reduce the height of their buildings. They can appeal against us to Airport Authority of India (AAI). The appeal will be sent to Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on whose notice NMC can demolish the additional part of such constructions.”
Meanwhile the agency hired by MIL will do the survey of buildings within the 20 km vicinity of the airport and submit the report at the end of October to DGCA. DGCA would recommend certain actions based on the report which the civic authorities have to follow.
20/09/18 Hitavada

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Delhi, Mumbai airports among most connected intl aerodromes: Report

New Delhi: Airports in the national capital and Mumbai are among the 50 most connected international aerodromes, according to a report.
Delhi and Mumbai airports have been ranked at the 25th and 38th positions, respectively, in the Megahubs International Index 2018 prepared by digital flight information provider OAG.
The top 50 international megahubs are those airports with the highest ratio of possible scheduled international connections to the number of destinations served by the airport.
The list is topped by London's Heathrow airport with a connectivity index score of 333. Chicago O’Hare (score of 306) and Frankfurt (score of 302) airports are at the second and third places, respectively.
The score of Delhi airport stood at 168 while that of Mumbai was 127.
In the Asia Pacific region, Delhi airport is at the ninth spot, as per the report.
19/09/18 Outlook

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Amritsar-Dubai Indigo flight from October 28

Amritsar: Indigo will start its international flight between Amritsar and Dubai from Sri Guru Ram Das Jee International Airport from October 28.
Fly Amritsar Initiative convener and secretary overseas, Amritsar Vikas Manch, Sameep Singh Gumtala, said this would be the third direct flight by Indian carriers from the Amritsar airport for Dubai. SpiceJet and Air India Express are successfully running their flights from here for the past few years.
18/09/18 Neeraj Bagga/Tribune

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Key Indian airport to allow widebody flights from UAE, Saudi Arabia

Widebody flights from the UAE and Saudi Arabia could soon land at India’s Calicut International Airport after the country’s civil aviation authority granted approvals toward the resumption of Boing 777 and Airbus A330 flights on the airport’s runway, according to reports.

“At any time, airline companies can begin operation of flights after getting the schedule. Saudia has already got approval from the DGCA after meeting the safety assessment and mitigation measures for the operation of wide-bodied aircraft,” Indian daily The Hindu quoted Calicut International Airport director K. Srinivasa Rao to say.

Calicut International Airport in Kerala is India’s 12 busiest, and Kerala’s third busiest airport. The airport banned widebody operations in 2015 as a result of a court inquiry into the cause of a 2010 Air India Express Boeing 737 crash in nearby Mangaluru in 2010.

Widebody operations could resume with Saudia as early as next month. Emirates is reportedly also in talks with aviation and airport officials, according to the report.
19/09/18 Shayan Shakeel/Arabian Business

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Space & new flight cheer for airport

Patna: The congested city airport got more space for passengers and flights as chief secretary Deepak Kumar inaugurated a security hold area with a corresponding boarding gate on the first floor of the terminal building, and two portable cabins that will expand the security hold area on the ground floor.

The facilities were inaugurated on Vishwakarma Puja on Monday, and are expected to help ease the chaotic, crowded conditions that fliers have to face at an airport that was designed to cater to people in early 1970s when there were just a handful of flights.

Now, there are around 49 arrivals and 49 departures almost every day, and the situation becomes pathetic especially during winter when fog reduces visibility leading to congestion, flight diversion and no space to cater to hundreds of passengers.

"A hall has been created on the first floor and a boarding gate has been created. Additional space for passengers has been created on the ground floor too. With these, the airport could now take extra load of passengers of three aircraft now. The new facilities are very attractive and passengers could get a view of the runway while waiting," Deepak said while inaugurating the facilities.
19/09/18 Dev Raj/Telegraph

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