Ebola: Six 'high risk' passengers from west Africa quarantined at Delhi airport

New Delhi: Six people deemed "high risk" Ebola suspects were on Monday admitted to a quarantine facility at Delhi airport, health ministry said.

The suspects were among 181 passengers who arrived in India from the affected western African countries.
As of today, the ministry said, as many as 816 passengers were being tracked by authorities under Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme.

These passengers are those who carried certain risk because of suspicion that they might have come in touch with Ebola victims and are being monitored to ensure that they are attended to in case they develop symptoms of the dangerous disease.
"Report has been received from state IDSP units of 18 of the 20 states about 80 passengers being monitored. One passenger, who is being tracked and monitored in West Bengal has confirmed to be having Malaria...," it said.
01/09/14 PTI/Times of India

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Air taxis to help airlines meet small-town quota

New aviation norms will dramatically affect the way airlines operate — as well as their bottom line — as they mandate that, in another two years, airlines have to fly as much on regional routes as they do on trunk routes.
In the process, a new formula has been suggested to achieve this, one which will give a fillip to non-scheduled airlines like Invision Air and Freedom Airways which could now have code-sharing arrangements with the likes of Air India, Jet Airways, SpiceJet and Indigo.
While airlines are still studying the impact of the guidelines — an executive of one of the top three domestic airlines said implementation would be a challenge given the losses they made — KPMG’s India head of aerospace Amber Dubey said that “the draft policy shows greater understanding of the genuine problems being faced by airlines”. Amber added the obligations — an equal capacity has to be deployed on trunk and non-trunk routes by winter 2016 — seemed “a bit excessive”.
The industry has accumulated losses of R49,000 crore — only IndiGo and GoAir are currently recording profits, while both Jet and SpiceJet reported losses of over R4,000 crore and R1,003 crore in FY14.
The term Category I/II /III airports has been given up in favour of trunk and regional routes, so an apples to apples comparison is difficult. Broadly speaking, if airlines fly around a third of flights in regional routes right now, this has to be increased to half by winter 2016. If an airline has 100 available seat kilometres (ASKMs) deployed in trunk routes by winter 2016, a similar amount have to be deployed in regional routes.
30/08/14 Indian Express

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Airlines claim some airports charging for landing small planes

New Delhi: Some Indian airlines have claimed that they had to pay landing charges for small aircraft at several airports where rules do not permit such payments and urged the government to look into the matter and help them improve connectivity to non-metro cities.

According to aviation sources, some airlines have already raised the issue with the Civil Aviation Ministry and Airports Authority of India ( AAI) in the recent past.

They have stated that they had to pay between Rs 8,000 and Rs 10,000 per landing at several airports where these payments are not permitted according to rules.

The airports include all major metro airports as well as almost two dozen non-metro ones.

In this regard, the sources also quoted AAI's 2014-15 document on 'Charges for Airports and Air Navigation Services'.
30/08/14 PTI/Economic Times

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CIAL to go for 4:1 rights issue

Kochi: The 20th Annual General Meeting of Cochin International Airport Limited held in Kochi on Friday decided in favour of the airport company going for a rights issue.

“The State government has a very open mind to the demand for a rights issue. Considering the recurring demand from the share holders, steps will be taken to issue shares to the existing shareholders at a proportion of 4:1 and at a price of around Rs.50,” Chief Minister Oommen Chandy said after the 20th Annual General Meeting of the company. The announcement came even as the minority shareholders were gearing up to corner the company director board for not considering the long-pending demand.

Company officials pointed out that the proposal for rights issue at 4:1 (one for every four shares) required a green signal from the company AGM.

Devasikutty Padayatil, general secretary of Shareholders’ Organization of Cochin International Airport Limited (SOCIAL), said minority shareholders were demanding issue of shares at par (1:1).
30/08/14 Hiran Unnikrishnan/The Hindu

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Not Delhi Or Mumbai, Bangalore Is Airlines' Favorite Hub

Bangalore: Bangalore is the IT hub of the country, a city where one can find people from around the country and also from around the globe. The industry most flourishing from this exodus of people is the airlines.

Bangalore Airport is becoming the busiest and most-sought after destination for airlines to fly their aircrafts from, apart from Delhi and Mumbai.
The two airports, Delhi and Mumbai are already holding the prestigious place constituting over 35 percent of all domestic traffic and is barely left with any capacity left with low-cost carriers utilizing the space. This is making the low-cost carriers turn towards Bangalore; with AirAsia deciding upon making Bangalore its hub of operations in the country, reports Rediff.

AirAsia challenged the domestic market leader IndiGo by operating most of its flight with cheap rates from the main hub Bangalore. With small carriers making its way to Bangalore, full-service carries and big airlines are following suit. Air Costa, a regional airliner has also joined the line-up. From June to the end of the year, as many as 64 additional flights will connect the city to existing as well as new destinations. According to Bangalore International Airport officials, the airport witnessed 12 percent growth in traffic between January and May this year as compared to the same period last year. Mittu Chandilya, the CEO of AirAsia India, says the decision to locate the airline's hub to Bangalore instead of Delhi or Mumbai was driven by the latent potential in the city. Bangalore known as the country’s Silicon Valley is experiencing high diversity of people and providing a great potential for Airlines to expand their wings to start new popular and in-demand prospective destinations like Chandigarh, and Patna, which have no direct flights available.
30/08/14 Indolink

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Maharashtra extends proposal date for Navi Mumbai airport

Mumbai: The Maharashtra government has extended the last date for submission of 'Request For Proposal' (RFP) for the proposed Navi Mumbai International Airport till Oct 30, an official said Friday.

The RFP, floated in February this year, was amended by the project management committee comprising officials of the central and state governments. The RFP outlines the bidding process and contract terms.
After incorporating a fresh set of conditions and other requirements for the bidders, the last date for submitting the RFP has now been extended to Oct 30, said the official connected with the project.

The Navi Mumbai International Airport (NMIA) on mainland across the harbor is one of the flagship mega-projects in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region. It is designed to decongest the existing Mumbai International Airport.

Slated to be the one of the biggest 'Greenfield' international airports in the world, the NMIA will offer world-class facilities for passengers, cargo, aircraft, airlines and allied services.
30/08/14 IANS/Economic Times

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New demands take flight

Pune: Taking into consideration what looks like increasing demand from Pune-based commuters to reach varied tourist destinations in minimum time, it appears airline companies have recently started providing several domestic flights from here, connected via well-frequented metro cities.

Over the last two months, airline companies introduced around nine such connected domestic flights — all of which have been getting an overwhelming response, they say.

In August, Spice Jet launched its first Pune-Mysore flight via Bangalore — it facilitates reaching destinations like Ooty, Kodaikanal, Coorg and others. Previously, to reach these locations, a Bangalore flight would generally be followed by road transport — this, however, was inconvenient because of heavy Bangalore traffic.

Nilesh Bhansali, director of the Travel Agents Association of Pune (PAAT), explained, "To tackle this problem, Spice Jet introduced the Pune-Mysore flight via Bangalore some days ago. This departs early in the morning and reaches by afternoon, after a one-hour halt at Bangalore airport. People prefer to halt at the airport rather than getting stuck in traffic, as it saves their time and energy."
30/08/14 Sukirt Gumaste/Pune Mirror

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Mobiles top items left at Kolkata airport

Kolkata: hould you ever feel bored, simply go to the lost and found section of the Central Industrial Security Force's website and look up Kolkata airport. The list of items that passengers leave behind at the airport is certainly worth a read. Mobiles, including I-Phones, top the list of items left behind by passengers.

A couple of months ago, the CISF took the trouble to list even a yellow 'wedding garland', probably left% behind by newly-weds. It cannot be said for sure whether somebody returned to the airport to collect it but people certainly do when they leave behind their expensive laptops, cameras and mobiles.

"Nearly 80% of people come back to claim their goods. Our efforts have been very successful. A large number of items are left behind by passengers. We don't decide what is important and what isn't. We simply inform people of the things left behind. That is why we started uploading lists on the CISF website," a senior official of the Kolkata airport said.
30/08/14 Jayanta Gupta/Times of India

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Nagapattinam man held for hoax calls to city airport

Chennai: The airport police have apprehended a 36-year-old man who made calls to Chennai airport, claiming Pakistan-trained terrorists would attack the terminal.

The police said he is a habitual offender who has been booked on earlier occasions too, including in 2007, when he claimed a bomb would go off at Tiruchi airport.

Abdul Karim, a resident of Thittachery in Nagapattinam district, made two telephone calls to the office of the manager of Chennai airport on Monday and Wednesday.

“The first time, he identified himself as Stephen from Bangalore, and threatened that Pakistani terrorists would blow up the place,” said an investigating officer.
30/08/14 The Hindu

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Man held with 1.8 kg gold at IGI airport

New Delhi: The Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) Saturday arrested a passenger for illegally carrying 1.8 kg of gold at Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport here, an official said.

Nadim Ali, in his 40s and a resident of Muzaffarnagar in Uttar Pradesh, was arrested after the gold was recovered from him Saturday morning, the official said.

“Nadim arrived at IGI from a Kuwait flight. He was seen entering a washroom located near the international arrival de-boarding gate-15 of terminal-3. Suspecting his activities, the washroom was checked from where a wallet was recovered,” said a CISF official.
30/08/14 Odisha Sun Times

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Air taxis might get fixed flights to small towns

New Delhi: In an attempt to incentivise airline operators so that they fly to cities and towns with poor or no air connectivity, the government is planning to permit non-scheduled operators (NSOPs) to publish their schedules and operate regular flights, provided they operate within the 87 identified small cities and towns. They have been allowed to operate to any one metro city but they cannot have a base or hub there.

Under the current policy, NSOPs can fly to various destinations in the country but cannot publish a schedule.

The government has also decided to liberalise the policy for conversion of regional scheduled airlines, like Air Costa, to national scheduled airlines within a period of three years, provided they connect to regional and remote destinations.

The move will help get more aircraft into the network to serve smaller cities and towns by bringing in planes that are used by NSOPs as charters. Now they can also publish a schedule and pick up passengers on a regular basis by taking a scheduled commuter permit. This permit will allow them to fly scheduled flights across the country, though they cannot have a hub or base in any of the six metro cities.

The draft norms have made major changes to an earlier policy cleared by the United Progressive Alliance government. That policy had identified only 52 cities and towns and had no clause on converting NSOPs into scheduled commuter airlines. It also had not specified a formula for NSOPs and regional airlines that wanted to trade in credits for flying to these routes with larger scheduled airlines.
29/08/14 Sharmistha Mukherjee/Business Standard

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Flights delay take-off for ‘stuck’ passengers

Margao/Vasco: About ten domestic flights delayed their departures and even relaxed their check-in time for passengers who were stuck for over four hours in a traffic blockade on both sides of the vital North-South link, the Zuari bridge, on Thursday afternoon.

Vasco traffic cell PI Sudesh Narvekar said trouble began when a car met with a minor accident on the bridge around 1.30pm. An hour later, just as police had begun sorting out the issue and clearing the piled-up traffic, a Kadamba Transport Corporation (KTC) bus travelling from Panaji to Vasco broke down in the middle of the bridge.

A tyre of the bus had burst and with no spare tyre on board, the driver had to requisition one from the KTC depot in Panaji, 16km away.

Since the accident and the breakdown occurred at what is peak time for domestic flights into and out of Goa, several passengers were caught in the gridlock that stretched up to 4km on both sides of the bridge.
Frantic calls from their passengers prompted SpiceJet, GoaAir and other airlines to delay their flights to Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore, said sources, adding that at Dabolim airport, about 300 passengers who had arrived were left stranded without taxis or coaches for close to two hours.
29/08/14 Times of India

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Why the Indian Health Ministry is wrong to focus on airport screenings to keep out Ebola

It has already claimed more than 1,400 lives, yet the Ebola virus continues to spread across West Africa. On August 8, an emergency committee of the World Health Organization unanimously agreed to declare the virus a public health emergency of international concern, calling for a coordinated international response to stop the spread of the disease. Consequently, India’s health ministry has put in place several elaborate precautionary measures, including extensive screening of all airline passengers arriving from Ebola-hit regions of West Africa.

Despite these efforts, India’s somewhat panicked response to Ebola is indication of the power of media-led hysteria – and how it can set the priorities of an otherwise fragile system of public health. A number of public health experts have argued in the wake of this global spread of news about the disease that attempts to build a more proactive approach to disease control are actually hampered by these bouts of overwrought interest in one disease or the other.
29/08/14 Udit Thakur/Scroll.in

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India should review airport regulatory model for investment: ACI

New Delhi:  India's prevailing airport regulatory model has yielded "poor returns" for investors, global airports body Airports Council International (ACI) said today and sought its review to attract investment to develop aviation infrastructure in the country.

Asserting that transparent economic regulatory processes must be put in place in India, ACI Director General Angela Gittens said, "The current regulatory model has yielded poor returns for investors and this could stifle development of India's airports in the long run."
Gittens, who met top government officials including those from the Civil Aviation Ministry here, said India needed the "right" economic regulatory framework in place to encourage the development of the much-needed airport infrastructure.

The government should "review their approach towards regulation....India really needs to think about how much economic regulation is necessary," she told reporters.

"It is outmoded to have a very prescriptive economic regulatory model," she said, giving the example of the United Kingdom which had "stepped away from such a system".

The ACI chief said the private investors came in to invest in airport infrastructure with "one set of expectations but got something different".
28/08/14 PTI/Economic Times

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Indian airports over-regulated: Global airports body

New Delhi: One of the key challenges for Indian aviation is the development of airport infrastructure which should not be subject to strict economic regulation in every case, Airports Council International (ACI) director general Angela Gittens told newspersons after interacting with senior aviation sector officials in New Delhi.

ACI has offered its support to India’s attempts to further develop its airport infrastructure and find the right regulatory framework. “Other countries have faced this dilemma and we will provide examples for the government to explore. India should be one of the three largest aviation markets in the world. ACI wants to see India take its rightful place in the aviation world,” Ms. Gittens said when asked about the interactions with Ministry of Civil Aviation officials.

In this regard, ACI discussed with Government officials the need for India to have the right economic regulatory framework in place to encourage the development of this much needed infrastructure. “The world is recognising that airports are businesses in their own right as they vie to gain air services for their communities. As such, the need for regulating every aspect is now outmoded and regulators tend to focus more on service quality rather than strict price,” added Ms. Gittens.
28/08/14 Sandeep Dikshit/The Hindu

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Code of conduct in sight, int’l airport plan fails to take off

Pune: With the model code of conduct to kick in, the proposed international airport for Pune will be pushed by another year, and taken up by the new government formed after the Assembly elections in October.
In November last year, the state gave in-principle nod for the airport at Khed taluka. However, with the government hesitating to give the final nod to the proposal, status quo has been maintained for the proposal.
“It is only after the government gives us the final approval that we can take the project forward. At present, with no approval and directive, we are at status quo,” said Tanaji Satre, chairman and managing director of Maharashtra Airport Development Company (MADC).
With the site being at Khed, the issue of land acquisition of SEZ land and compensation fell through which had the government asking the MADC to survey the old site in Chakan. “We have surveyed the site again as per demand, but as usual we have not found it suitable. The site was surveyed earlier and the undulation of the land is not suitable. We have submitted our report,’’ officials said after re-surveying the old site.
The site which was given an “in-principle” approval was found suitable with the Airport Authority of India too giving its clearance after survey. With the current air traffic, the urgency of a Green Field Airport is the need of the hour and the Pune International Airport Project will be the answer. After the formal approval, clearances from the ministries of civil aviation, environment, defence and home affairs, Bureau of Civil Aviation Security and India Meteorological Department will have to be sought.
29/08/14 Nisha Nambiar/Indin Express

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GoAir to give 30% concession to residents of Andaman and Nicobar Islands

Port Blair:  Private airline GoAir today announced 30 per cent concession on base fare of its flights operating to and from Port Blair throughout the year for residents of Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

"It is indeed very satisfying to make our humble contribution in the development of Port Blair ... by connecting it to several Indian cities on the mainland," GoAir Vice President (Airports, Customer Services & Nodal Officer) Kamal Kikani said here.
"There is an immense scope to increase tourist traffic to the islands leading to the development of the local economy, employment opportunities, support services and quality of life in general," he told a press conference.

The service would start from October 1. "The A&N Islands need to be given a special status like Jammu & Kashmir and also improved air connectivity for an all round development," Islands Lt Governor A K Singh said.
28/08/14 PTI/Economic Times

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Mumbai makes it to 'smart city' list on strength of its airport

Washington: A single big idea — its monumental new airport — has propelled Mumbai into the A-list of National Geographic's "smart cities" across the world, a catalog that includes familiar metropolises such as New York and London, newbies such as Dubai and Seoul, and outposts such as Halifax, Nova Scotia (Canada) and Tallinn, Estonia.

NG's "smart city" list isn't necessarily a chronicle of technologically accomplished cities. In fact, Mumbai makes the cut on account of its artsy airport. "Travelers might spot the peacock feather motif throughout terminal 2 of Mumbai's Chhatrapati Shivaji airport. This and other lofty designs were unveiled earlier this year at the Jaye He Museum, now India's largest public art programme. Some 7,000 works pack the four-storey museum," the magazine says, noting that with that 40 million people passing through the airport each year, the exhibit rivals the Louvre in number of visitors.

But no other Indian city features in the 50-city list, in which San Francisco comes out on top simply on account of its reputation as the "global epicentre of big 'unrealistic' dreamers," that has produced an endless stream of innovations. In fact, the characteristics that form the basis of other cities making the list suggests that "smart cities" does not necessarily mean wired cities, as some Indian planners and the current Indian government are suggesting.
28/08/14 Chidanand Rajghatta/Times of India

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Swaraj's flight faces bad weather before safe landing

Bhopal: Bad weather and heavy rains forced an Air India flight with External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on board to head to Ahmedabad today.

The weather later cleared and it landed safely here at around 3.15 pm.

"The pilot announced that due to bad weather, he will have to divert the flight to Ahmedabad," Swaraj said at a function to launch Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan scheme, for which she had specially flown here.

"However, as on May 16, (when BJP-led NDA came to power at the Centre) the darkness vanished soon and the plane landed at Bhopal Airport," the minister said.
28/08/14 PTI/Business Standard

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PSUs May Oppose Small Investors’ Bid for CIAL Rights

Kochi: The annual shareholders’ meeting of the Cochin International Airport Ltd (CIAL) here on Friday is likely to see public sector undertakings (PSUs) opposing any move to offer shares through rights issue to minority investors.
The big investors, including some prominent non-resident Keralite businessmen who are directors of the CIAL, are also unlikely to allow such a proposal to go through, though they may not oppose the move publicly, it is learnt.
The rights issue proposal is not in the agenda of the AGM papers circulated among shareholders. However, the minority investors are hoping that Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, who is chairman of the CIAL, will make an announcement regarding the matter on Friday.    The proposal was to give rights to investors who own 2,000 or less shares.
But, the PSUs opposed the move at last year’s AGM, forcing the Chief Minister to make a promise that the issue would be taken up again at this year’s AGM. There are about 9,000 investors who own less than 2,000 shares in the CIAL.
“How can the government move a proposal, that is not in the agenda. Further, we cannot allow disproportionate rights as the public sector undertakings we are answerable to our shareholders and the CAG (Comptroller and Auditor General of India),” said an official of a PSU, which is a shareholder of CIAL.
29/08/14 New Indian Express

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