Seven flights diverted as squall hits Calcutta

Calcutta: The Monday morning squall stalled operations at Calcutta airport for more than half an hour, resulting in diversion of seven flights.

Airport officials said no aircraft could take off or land between 10.18am and 10.51am because of strong winds.

Officials at the Met department in the airport said the wind blew at 62kmph for a minute at 10.03am. It slowed down to 34 kmph after some time and remained so till 10.51am.

If an aircraft lands negotiating a strong wind, it might veer off the runway or suffer a tyre burst, a pilot said.

"If there is a strong tailwind, the aircraft has the option of changing its direction and landing from the other end of the runway. But landing is impossible amidst strong crosswinds," he pointed out.
Airport officials said flights faced strong crosswinds on Monday morning.

More than 10 flights hovered over the city waiting for the wind speed to come down. Seven of them had to be diverted to other cities.

A flight each from Jaipur and Chennai of IndiGo airline were diverted to Bhubaneswar. A flight from Mumbai and another from Bangalore, both of IndiGo, were diverted to Raipur and Patna.

A Vistara flight from Chennai, an Air India flight from Bagdogra and a Jet Airways flight from Bangalore were diverted to Bhubaneswar.
30/04/18 Telegraph

Read More

Maharashtra Gives Green Signal For New Airport At Chandrapur

Mumbai: The Government of Maharashtra on Saturday (28 April) cleared the decks for the construction of a greenfield airport in the Vidarbha region of Maharshtra at Chandrapur. The will be the second major airport in the region after the Babasaheb Ambedkar International Airport at Nagpur, the winter capital of Maharashtra.

The General Administration Department of the state government issued a notification last week appointing the Maharashtra Airport Development Corporation (MADC) as the nodal agency and special-purpose vehicle (SPV) for the project.

While 332 acres of government land will be handed over for the construction of the airport, 464 acres will be acquired at a cost of Rs 46 crore. The Airports Authority of India (AAI) had in January submitted a pre-feasibilty report giving a nod to the location of the proposed airport. It will come up Vihirgaon, around 40 km away from Chandrapur. An airstrip exists at Morwa, 12 km from the city but is not being expanded due to land constraints in the vicinity.
The first phase of the project will see an airport being developed to handle smaller planes such as the Bombardier Dash 8 Q400 using a 2 km-long and 45 metre-wide runway while the second phase will see an expansion to handle larger aircraft such as the Airbus A320 with a second runway measuring 3 km.
30/04/18 Nagpur Today

Read More

AAI issues seven-year retail tender at Chennai Airport

The Airports Authority of India (AAI) is seeking a master concessionaire to design, build, finance, operate and maintain general retail outlets at Chennai International Airport.

The concession spans 12 locations covering more than 1,000sq m and the contract is for seven years.

It is based on a minimum annual guarantee of Rs11.88m ($178,000) or 20% fixed revenue share on monthly net sale depending on which is higher.

The deadline for submissions was 27 April.

Available products will include gifts and toys, tobacco, jewellery and watches, electronics, footwear/leather accessories and writing stationary/instruments, but crucially not liquor which is a key category across Indian duty free.
30/04/18 Andrew Pentol/TR Business

Read More

Fourth RCS flight from Punjab to take off on May 1

Adampur: First flight from Adampur Airport to Delhi is going to take off on May 1, 2018 under Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS).

Adampur Airport will be the fourth airport in Punjab to operate RCS flights.

This flight will operate 7 days a week, with Q-400 Bombardier 78-seat Aircraft, said an Airports Authority of India (AAI) statement on Monday.

Adampur Airport is an Airforce airport. Airports Authority of India is developing a Civil Enclave at this airport in two phases.

Since Adampur Airport was selected as one of the Airports for operation of RCS flights in round one and flights were to be commenced at the earliest, a small terminal building of size 375 square metres has been constructed at this airport with Prefabricated structure along with approach road, a small car parking and other associated structures as interim measure.

This Terminal building is fully air-conditioned and has all the modern facilities and passenger amenities including FIDS, CCTV etcetera apart from airlines ticketing counters, and public toilets.
30/04/18 SIasat

Read More

New airport at Warangal hinges on GMR nod

Hyderabad: In spite of requests from Telangana government seeking a go-ahead to develop an international airport at Warangal, GMR is reluctant to allow a second airport within 150km radius of the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport (RGIA) at Shamshabad.
The united Andhra Pradesh government, while entering into concessionaire agreement with GMR Hyderabad International Airport Limited (GHIAL) to develop the Shamshabad airport, had incorporated a clause stating that no other airport would be allowed within 150km of RGIA. The clause was put in as a new airport nearby would impact the revenue of the international airport.
image (2)
But now the state government desperately needs an airport at Warangal as it would help attract investments to the Kakatiya Mega Textile Park (KMTP), which is being developed in 1,200 acres. Chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao laid the foundation stone for KMTP in November 2017.
Official sources said that industries minister KT Rama Rao is keen on airport connectivity to Warangal and the Telangana government has written three letters to GMR since 2014 seeking relaxation on the clause. But the GMRHIAL, in which the state government has 13% equity, is ignoring the request. KTR also took the issue up with former civil aviation minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju during his Delhi visits.
30/04/18 Koride Mahesh/Times of India

Read More

Vadodara airport to get 2 new aerobridges

Vadodara:  Two aerobridges will be operational soon at Vadodara airport, Airport Authority of India (AAI) chairman Guruprasad Mohapatra, said today.

The AAI had started building these aerobridges last year, to ferry passengers directly from the gate to the aircraft, Mohapatra told PTI over the phone.

“The commissioning of the aerobridges will enable the flights to park close to terminal building making it easier for passengers to board the flight without using the bus. This makes travelling easier for senior citizens, children, pregnant women and wheelchair-bound passengers,” he added.

This new terminal building at the city’s Harni airport was inaugurated by prime minister Narendra Modi on October 22, 2016. Construction, was part of the Centre”s efforts to modernise existing airports and develop them at par with international standards, Mohapatra said.

“The new terminal has helped in accommodating 12 additional flights and passengers which was ten flights earlier,” he said.
30/04/18 PTI/India.com

Read More

Surat airport director transferred

Surat: Airport director Dilip Sajnani was transferred on Monday triggering speculation on the social media that he was shunted in wake of the slow progress at the airport.
Sajnani will be replaced by S K Panigrahi from Imphal airport, who will be taking charge soon. Sajnani has been transferred barely a year after he was appointed at Surat airport.
Speaking to the TOI, Sajnani said, “I pray that Surat’s dream to fly internationally be fulfilled soon and the city remains safe and secure always. The love and affection Surtis have showed has been praiseworthy.”
Co-chairman of SGCCI’s aviation committee Manoj Singapuri said, “Sajnani has been forthright in calling a spade a spade. Obstruction surveys for buildings are to be done every two years, but in Surat it was done after 10 years and that too with Sajnani’s persistence. He brought all the shortcomings of Surat airport in public domain and this may have irked the people who opposed progress at Surat airport.”
30/04/18 Ashleshaa Khurana/Times of India

Read More

Why airports are unable to handle increasing air traffic

Last month, the tyres on an Indigo flight from Tirupati to Hyderabad burst on touchdown — leading to thousands of passengers being stranded in airports across the country for up to seven hours. Every day, though, delays of half an hour or more, which have a cascading effect on schedules country-wide, are par for the course — a result of soaring passenger traffic, and stagnation in planning and expansion of airports to handle the footfalls.
Airports in India — from the busiest like Delhi and Mumbai to smaller ones in Patna and Guwahati — have become synonymous with queues, delays and congestion. On the airside, failure to add runways and parking bays has meant airports are unable to clear airlines’ requests to add more flights.
“If a flight gets delayed at another city like Delhi or Mumbai, there are delays in all the other sectors. This is beyond our control,” said an airline official. In December, for instance, 45% of flights were delayed at Mumbai.
India has recorded double-digit growth in domestic air passenger traffic for the past 42 months, shows data from International Air Transport Association (IATA), a trade body of global airlines. Passenger traffic at Delhi airport grew 14% in 2017 compared to the previous year, making it the fastest growing airport in the world, according to Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation (CAPA), a global consultancy firm.
It’s the same across the country. Hyderabad airport was meant to handle 12 million passengers per annum, but footfalls crossed 18 million in 2017. Last year, Kolkata’s Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport handled 19.5 million passengers — the terminal can manage 20 million passengers and will run out of space this year. Even at Patna airport, passenger traffic hit 29 lakh last year — a 48% increase over 2016 numbers — when the airport can handle just 7 lakh passengers a year.
Prakash Singh avoids flying in or out of Patna on holidays. “The queue to enter the airport can stretch into the car park,” he said. “There are two baggage scanners, which means you spend a long time completing security check. The airport is the same as it was 20 years ago though the number of flights has shot up. Patna airport can give a bus stand a run for its money,” said Singh, who lives in Noida and travels to his hometown frequently.
30/04/18 Times of India

Read More

For now, no GST on goods sold at Indian airports' duty-free shops

Kolkata: Prices of perfumes, chocolates and tobacco sold at duty-free shops in Kolkata and 16 other international airports in the country will not skyrocket. At least not immediately.
Allaying fears of international fliers, tax experts told TOI the pronouncement by the Authority for Advance Ruling (AAR) that goods sold at the duty free shop at Delhi airport should be subject to GST will be challenged as the very existence of duty-free shops is at stake.
“Flyers purchase liquor, confectionery, perfumes and tobacco at duty-free shops as they get international brands at prices that are 30-40% lower than the market. If the AAR decision is implemented, the price of these goods other than liquor could go up by 9-14%. This will take away the sheen from duty-free shops,” said a representative of Flemingo, the largest operator of duty-free shops in India.
A state GST official said he was aware of the AAR ruling but was yet to get any circular from either the authority or GST council.
Prior to GST, duty-free shops were exempt from levy of central sales tax (CST) and value added tax (VAT) as sale from such shops were considered as exports and supplies were taking place beyond the customs frontiers. The New Delhi bench of the AAR has now ruled that supply of goods to international passengers going abroad from ‘duty-free’ shops may be taking place beyond the customs frontiers of India under Integrated GST Act, but the shops are within the territory of India under the Central GST Act, and hence, subject to CGST. GST rate on chocolates and perfumes is 18% and tobacco is 28%. There is an additional surcharge and cess.
30/04/18 Subro Niyogi and Udit Prasanna Mukherji/Times of India
---------------------------

Read More

Yogi govt to showcase Jewar airport, Defence Corridor projects in US meet

Lucknow: The Yogi Adityanath government would showcase its two mega projects viz. Jewar International Airport and UP Defence Corridor totalling over Rs 357 billion during the business meetings in major US cities this week.

Among the top US-based companies scheduled to hold parleys with a top-level UP delegation led by state health minister and government spokesperson Sidharth Nath Singh, include Lockheed Martin, Boeing and Honeywell, which are marquee global aviation corporations.
week.

Among the top US-based companies scheduled to hold parleys with a top-level UP delegation led by state health minister and government spokesperson Sidharth Nath Singh, include Lockheed Martin, Boeing and Honeywell, which are marquee global aviation corporations.

The proposed Jewar International Airport in Greater Noida and the Defence Corridor in Bundelkhand region are projected to boost industrial climate in Uttar Pradesh, which has over the past decades not witnessed setting up of any mega industrial unit barring the National Capital Region (NCR).

A 5-member delegation, also comprising UP infrastructure and industrial development commissioner (IIDC) Anup Chandra Pandey, is leaving for USA today to confabulate with the US industry captains in San Francisco, New York, Washington and Stanford.

The other companies lined up for the series of business and investment meetings include Cisco, Amazon, Intel, Adobe, Oracle, 3M, Gilead Sciences, Pepsico, Medtronics, Guavus (Thales), ChargePoint, Visa, Uber, Varian Medical Systems, Master Card, Pfizer, WaterHealth and Huntsman.

The business meetings are being organised under the aegis of US-India Strategic Partnership Forum (USISPF). On October 23, 2017, top business leaders from blue-chip companies under the USISPF umbrella had met UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath here to explore investment opportunities in the state.

While the Jewar airport is proposed to be developed at an investment of over Rs 157 billion, the Defence Corridor would get a total investment of Rs 200 billion. Both the flagship projects are being pushed up with the active cooperation of the Centre, especially in the backdrop of the 2019 Lok Sabha poll, when prime minister Narendra Modi would seek a re-election.
29/04/18 Virendra Singh Rawat/Business Standard

Read More

Customs notified status eludes Surat airport

Surat:  High-flying Surtis are still awaiting announcement from the central government regarding customs notified status for Surat airport. In the first week of April, Navsari MP C R Paatil had stated that the notification will be announced within a week. Paatil had stated at a press conference that a strong representation was made to the civil aviation ministry and the Airports Authority of India (AAI) regarding limited international operations from Surat airport.
“We have been told by AAI and civil aviation ministry that customs notified status for Surat airport is likely to be given in the next one week. With this, Surat airport will have international flight operations,” Paatil had said.
Last month, senior officials from the central government’s bureau of immigration and customs and from finance and civil aviation ministries visited Surat airport for checking the modifications, documentations and related infrastructure before providing customs notified status for limited international operations.
30/04/18 Times of India

Read More

Cong conspired to keep Amritsar airport from int'l flights: Malik

Amritsar: After the increase in the frequency of Air India flight form Amritsar to Birmingham, Shwait Malik, state president of the Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP), tore into the Congress, accusing it of deliberately ignoring the Shri Guru Ram Das Jee International Airport in the city.
"The overwhelming response the Amritsar-Birmingham flight has been getting has exposed the conspiracy of the Congress against the Shri Guru Ram Das Jee International Airport. I had stated in my first speech in Rajya Sabha that it was a conspiracy of the Congress against the Amritsar airport to stop the international flights," he said.
According to Malik, the UPA government was hand in glove with a private entrepreneur, who had hijacked the airport and stopped all the profitable flights. The success of flights to Birmingham and Singapore prove that the Congress made the "blunder" during its governance by degrading the airport of the holy city. Congress leaders did this sinful act against the devotees, who were deprived to visit the Golden Temple due to non-availability of flights, he said.
28/04/18 Tribune

Read More

Under UDAN, Jewar airport to bring UP cities closer to NCR: PwC report

New Delhi: The proposed international airport at Jewar in Greater Noida will not only bring places in Uttar Pradesh such as Kanpur and Allahabad closer to NCR under the regional connectivity scheme UDAN, it will also benefit locations in neighbouring states, a techno-economic feasibility report for the airport has stated.

The Uttar Pradesh government is of the view that once the airport begins functioning from 2022-23, people travelling by air in the state will increase significantly.

Air traffic in Uttar Pradesh is currently growing at a rate of 28.8 per cent.

The PwC report stated that when the airport starts functioning, Shimla, Ludhinana, Pathankot, Gwalior and Adampur would be benefitted by it.

These places, including Bhatinda would be benefitted by both the Jewar airport and the IGI airport in New Delhi under the Centres UDAN scheme. The capacity deployment to Kanpur and Adampur at present remains the highest.

It said 88 per cent of Jewar airport traffic would be domestic and the rest international, adding that adjoining districts of Uttar Pradesh such as Agra and Gautam Budh Nagar would be the main contributors to the fliers volume to the airport.

The report said the demand for air travel from the Dellhi-NCR region will increase manifold in the coming years and it will be determined by factors such as "natural growth in air travel demand due to economic progress and model shift from railways to air".

The ambitious regional connectivity scheme, also known as Ude Desh Ka Aam Naagarik (UDAN), where fares are capped at Rs 2,500 for one-hour flights, seeks to connect unserved and under-served airports.
29/04/18 India Today

Read More

While government pushes for Udan, airports handle flyers way beyond capacity

New Delhi: While the government is pushing air travel in small cities and towns under Udan, the Regional Connectivity Scheme, many airports in the country are operating in excess of their capacity.

Some of these are located in state capitals and tourist hotspots such as Jaipur and Port Blair.

According to data from the Union Ministry of Civil Aviation for 2016-17, 13 airports, in Rajkot, Nagpur, Patna, Leh, Dehradun, Bagdogra, Jammu, Port Blair, Imphal, Agartala, Guwahati, Jaipur and Coimbatore, are handling far more passengers than they were designed for.

Some even deal with three or four times their capacity, leading to bottlenecks both in the air and on the ground.These 13 airports handled about 21.53 million passengers against their capacity of 14.73 million.

Airports in Patna and Nagpur, for instance, handle several times the amount of traffic they were designed for.

While Patna airport saw 2.11 million air passengers against a capacity of 0.70 million, Nagpur saw 1.89 million passengers against a capacity of 0.57 million.

Ministry officials said that due to the rising number of air travellers and the induction of more aircraft, air traffic in 2030-31 is estimated at 855 million passengers. To deal with this overload, the Airports Authority of India (AAI) and other airport operators have initiated several steps, including the revival of unserved and under-served airports and construction of new greenfield airports.

Officials said the expansion and development of airports is a continuous process undertaken by AAI depending on traffic demand, operational requirements and availability of land.

Recently, AAI has taken up the upgradation and development work of airports at Surat, Kolkata, Dimapur, Amritsar, Tezu, Port Blair, Hubli, Belgaum, Kishangarh, Gorakhpur, Jammu, Calicut, Pakyong, Agartala, Guwahati and Trivandrum. The AAI also plans to invest `20,178 crore between 2016-17 to 2021-22 to upgrade airport infrastructure and services.

Currently, there are 98 operational airports in the country. Officials said there is enough capacity at major airports, including the national capital. Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport is not expected to reach saturation for at least four to six years, while the Chennai airport would reach its handling capacity by 2020-21.
29/04/18 Kumar Vikram/New Indian Express 

Read More

Airport trolley woe persists

Calcutta: The city airport now has 1,500 more trolleys but the shortage still persists during the "non-rush hour" such as afternoon or late at night, airlines and airport officials said, blaming the crisis on contractual workers.

The trolley count at Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport has crossed 3,500 following the procurement of 1,500 trolleys since April 1. The authorities decided on the purchase after being flooded with complaints about shortage from passengers.

"The problem has reduced to an extent. There are now enough trolleys during the rush hour in the morning and late afternoon. But the shortage is still acute during the non-rush hour, such as early afternoon or late at night," an airport official said.

"During the non-rush hour, trolley retrievers are still seen standing in the arrival area of the international section whenever a flight lands, offering passengers trolleys for money. The retrievers' job is to ensure that trolleys are in the designated racks throughout the day and night."

Officials said the retrievers were keeping trolleys in the racks during the rush hour because of heightened surveillance. But the trolleys being taken away by passengers are not being retrieved in regular intervals.
29/04/18 Sanjay Mandal/Telegraph

Read More

Zoom Air looking to spread its wings to B'desh, Myanmar

Kolkata: Zoom Air is looking to fly to nearby international destinations like Yangon and Chittagong, from Kolkata, a top official of the airline has said.

Last week, Zoom Air launched daily flights between Kolkata and Tezpur in Assam, under the Centre"s regional connectivity scheme (RCS).


"We are planning to operate flights to international destinations such as Yangon and Chittagong from Kolkata. These destinations are likely to be connected with one or two destinations in the North East," CEO cum MD of Zoom Air, Koustav M Dhar told PTI.

"We will be able to introduce international flights from Kolkata, because from now on, we will park two aircraft in the city at night," Dhar said.

At present, only one aircraft is parked at the Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose International Airport (NSCBIA) in Kolkata at night, and very soon the airline is going to park its new, the fifth aircraft, in Kolkata as well, he said.

"The routes on the international sectors are yet to be finalised. The options are Kolkata to Yangon via Guwahati and Kolkata to Chittagong via Guwahati. We are looking at these routes since there is a demand," Dhar said.

Dhar also said that the airline is planning to start flights between Mumbai and Delhi with a stopover in Durgapur.

"We are planning to start flight operations to Durgapur and the route will be Delhi to Mumbai via Durgapur. The Delhi-Durgapur-Mumbai flights are expected to start from August this year," Dhar said.
29/04/18 PTI/Business Standard

Read More

Mumbai unserved, underserved airports: Low-cost carriers want to operate more flights

Mumbai: Low-cost air carriers are demanding additional slots from the Mumbai International Airport Limited (MIAL), which manages Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport. The demands come six months after flights to unserved and underserved airports under the Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS) took off from the Mumbai airport. Operating at maximum capacity at present, MIAL officials said it was unlikely to offer additional slots right now. While underserved airports are those which do not have more than a flight a day, unserved airports are those where there are no operations.
Hoping to increase the popularity of their flights to these underserved airports, airlines sought convenient flight timings. At present, Mumbai airport offered eight slots under UDAN to airlines, including TruJet, Air Deccan and SpiceJet. While occupancy on these flights is promising, airlines want to expand their services. Air Deccan, which operates flights to Nashik, Kolhapur and Jalgaon from Mumbai, wants better slots. “We see 70 per cent occupancy on flights that operate from Mumbai to Nashik and almost around 80 per cent occupancy while flying to Kolhapur and Jalgaon. We would like to get additional slots to increase frequency of flights to Jalgaon and Kolhapur,” an Air Deccan official said.
Air Deccan operates one 18-seater ATR flight to connect the RCS routes out of Mumbai. While a Kolhapur-bound flight from Mumbai leaves the airport at 1.15 pm, it reaches Kolhapur at 2.45 pm. It departs from Kolhapur on the same day at 3.05 pm. Air Deccan also wants to increase frequency of Mumbai-Kolhapur flights from three to six days a week.

“We are operating with a single airplane and have accepted the slots given to us by MIAL. Being congested, the airport is unable to provide additional slots at present. As we plan to operate 72-seater planes in future, convenient slots can help us make the flights popular,” the official added.
29/04/18 Neha Kulkarni/Indian Express

Read More

Kerala: Calicut airport all set to take ‘wide’ flight again

Malappuram: Development dreams of Calicut International Airport have taken an active turn with airline companies expressing their interest in resuming more GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) services.
Companies like Saudi Airlines, Gulf Air and Qatar Airways are set to resume GCC services using their wide-body aircraft, provided the airport is found fit for the same. Services of wide-body aircraft to and from the airport were suspended from May 1,2015 for re-carpeting the runway.

To restart them, a meeting of representatives of Airport Authority of India (AAI) and of flight companies as well as top officers of the Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) in November last year prepared a 71-page report and submitted it to the AAI suggesting the airport was fit to resume services of wide-body aircraft like the Boeing 777-200. The airport is now awaiting sanction of the DGCA. Resuming the services of the wide-body Boeing 777-200 aircraft at the Calicut airport will increase the number of flights, which in turn will lead to an increase in seats, resulting in more revenue for the airport. The services will also minimise the inconvenience expatriates face. Restoration of Jeddah-bound aircraft will bring back the Haj embarkation point tag to Karippur. Qatar Airways and Gulf Air will start more services to GCC countries.

To resume services of wide-body aircraft, the Calicut airport authorities developed the Runway End Safety Area (RESA) at the airport and increased its length from 90 m to 240 m. Besides, lighting arrangements have also been made at the end of the runway. The development work were done at a cost of Rs 10 crore.
28/04/18 New Indian Express

Read More

Goa will be made logistics hub of India, says Suresh Prabhu

Panaji: Union Commerce and Industry Minister Suresh Prabhu said here today that the government plans to turn Goa into a logistics hub of the country. “We are going to make Goa the logistics hub of the country. There are four coastal states on the Western coast-Maharashtra, Karnataka, Kerala and Goa. After Mumbai, the biggest airport that is going to come up is in Goa (in Mopa),” he said. The minister was addressing a gathering at the ‘Goa Start Up and Innovation Day’ organised by the state Information and Technology Department.

He said the existence of two airports in Goa, including the second facility at Mopa, which will be commissioned in 2020, would help position Goa as a logistics hub. According to him, once the Mopa airport is commissioned, it will have the capacity to handle 30 million tourists annually. “We want to make sure that while it handles the passenger traffic, it also handles the cargo. The government of India is making a cargo policy, wherein the cargo will also drive the country’s economy,” he said.

“Total 40 per cent of the GDP will come from global trading like import and export. We want to make cargo as a major driver (of the economy),” he said. The minister said that he has asked the special secretary in-charge of Union Environment Ministry to visit Goa in the next few days to prepare a concrete plan for the logistics hub. The Centre and the Goa government must work in tandem to leverage the advantages that the state offers, he said. The existing airport at Dabolim is also getting upgraded with the investment of Rs 500-600 crore, the minister added.
28/04/18 PTI/Financial Express

Read More

CISF won’t BE removed from ‘non-core’ airport security areas

The suggestion made by the Ministry of Civil Aviation to remove the presence of the Central Industrial Security Force from the “non-core” areas of airport security has been shot down by all the stakeholders looking after the security of the aviation sector in India.

According to sources, the Ministry of Civil Aviation had suggested late last year to do away with the presence of the CISF in certain “non-core” areas of operations in airport terminal buildings as well as other important locations with a view to cutting costs and expenditure being borne by the airport operators. According to highly placed sources, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation, the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security and even the CISF have not agreed to the suggestion that was made by the ministry, keeping in view the sensitivity of the airport terminal buildings and the security threat involved at a time when the world is witnessing a rise in terrorist activities. The proposal from the ministry suggested that the “non-core” areas of security would involve frisking, checking boarding passes, baggage tags as well as guiding passengers and other activities inside the terminal building, and such activities would be conducted by retired Army or para-military personnel, while the CISF would continue to provide security to the airport from outside the terminal buildings.
28/04/18 Dibyendu Mondal/SUnday Guardian

Read More