Fog diverts, delays flights to Odisha capital

Bhubaneswar: Dense flog disrupted flight movements at Biju Patnaik International Airport (BPIA) in Odisha capital leading to diversion of a flight today.
“Since last three days, the visibility at the airport here is very low. Landing of aircrafts at BPIA is getting delayed as visibility at BPIA was around 50 metres (minimum level required for landing in low visibility conditions) in the morning which later improved to 100 metres. The approach necessary for landing is 750 metres. Around two-three aircrafts could not land this morning and hovered in the sky for quite a while. A New Delhi-Bhubaneswar Go Air flight was diverted to Kolkata. Air India flights have landed and the visibility is improving gradually following which the flight services would resume as normal,” BPIA Director, Sharad Kumar informed.
According to airport sources, a Go Air flight from New Delhi was unable to land due to low visibility following which it was diverted to Kolkata. Similarly, two other Air India flights were delayed due to thick envelop of fog in the Bhubaneswar sky.
02/01/16 Odisha Sun Times

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ATC and Customs officials worried

New Delhi: The job of an air traffic controller, who manages air traffic and keep the skies safe, is considered one of the most stressful in the world. What has become an added cause of stress for many air traffic controllers at the Delhi airport is the odd-even car rationing scheme. The Air Traffic Services complex at Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport is situated at a distance form the Delhi Metro’s Airport Express Line station, which has no other public transport system available either. Almost all air traffic controllers reach their workplace in their personal vehicles due to the odd hours they work. With the odd-even scheme coming in, they are worried about coming to work or going back home. “Our work goes on 24x7 and we all work in shifts that change at odd hours. We can’t bring our cars on alternate days due to the odd-even scheme. Also, if we bring our car on one day, we go back home the next day due to the hours of work,” said a senior ATC official who didn’t wish to be named.

“People like us who provide such essential services and work at odd hours should have been exempted. We do get travel allowance from office but not any pick and drop facility. We are dependent on our personal vehicles,” he said. “Also, most of us live at different places and chances of carpooling are limited,” he added. Like ATC officials, Customs officials too work round the clock and in shifts that pose the same problems.
02/01/16 Sidhartha Roy/The Hindu

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Wi-Fi now available at Tiruchi airport

Tiruchi: Tiruchi joined the other international airports in the country in providing modern communication facilities to travellers with the launch of the Wi-Fi internet service at the airport.

The Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) has installed the Wi-Fi network free of cost to the Airports Authority of India (AAI) as part of an understanding between them.

The AAI has provided the space with the BSNL providing the facility for the benefit of domestic and international travellers arriving and departing from the airport.

The BSNL has partnered with the Quadgen Wireless Solution for providing the facility which was inaugurated by Tiruchi Member of Parliament P. Kumar on Friday in the presence of the Airport Director B.C.H. Negi, and BSNL Principal General Manager Raju.
02/01/16 The Hindu

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Dog on runway delays Dubai-bound flight at Amritsar airport

Amritsar: An Air India Express flight to Dubai was halted seconds before take-off as the flight crew spotted a stray dog on the runway on Wednesday, officials said.
The aircraft had lined up for take-off on the runway at the Guru Ram Dass Jee international airport here when a crew member in the cockpit saw the dog moving near the plane.
The pilots immediately took the aircraft back to its parking area and all 171 passengers were asked to disembark.
The flight finally took off after a delay of three hours.
31/12/15 IANS/Times of India

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NRI Woman Mistakenly Arrested By Indian Authorities Wins Compensation

Fourteen months after Sarah Thomas, a multinational company employee from Dubai, was mistaken for a fugitive wanted by the CBI and arrested by immigration officials and police at Chennai airport, the Madras high court recently awarded Rs 2 lakh compensation to her.
CHENNAI – Fourteen months after Sarah Thomas, a multinational company employee from Dubai, was mistaken for a fugitive wanted by the CBI and arrested by immigration officials and police at Chennai airport, the Madras high court recently awarded Rs 2 lakh compensation to her.
However, since the unsuspecting victim of the faux pas told the court that she was not interested in the compensation amount, state and central government must pay Rs 1 lakh each to the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister’s Flood Relief Fund, said a bench comprising Justice S Tamilvanan and Justice C T Selvam on Tuesday.
On October 29, 2014, Sarah Thomas landed at Chennai airport from Dubai to attend a colleague’s wedding scheduled the next day in Madurai.
She was detained by immigration officials and placed under arrest on the ground that she was Sara Williams Saramma Thomas alias Saramma Thomas who was facing a CBI case and against whom a lookout circular (LOC) was pending.
She was lodged in Central Prison at Puzhal and taken to Kerala by a team from the state. It was only on November 2, 2014 that the mistake dawned on the Kerala police.
Her son, Kevin John Sajith, an engineering student in Chennai, filed the present habeas corpus petition in the high court.
On Tuesday, the bench said: “We are of the view that it is a harassment, causing grave mental agony to an innocent person. The reasons assigned by officials that the mistaken identity was on account of bona fide reasons could not be accepted. There is a gross negligence on the part of authorities in sending Sarah Thomas to Central Prison, Puzhal, and then taking her to Kerala.
The judges said while Rs 1 lakh would be paid by the external affairs ministry, another Rs 1 lakh would be paid by the government of Tamil Nadu.
31/12/15 Link

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Team from Changi to visit Ahmedabad, Jaipur next month

New Delhi: A Changi Airport team, which has been nominated by Singapore Government to carry out the operations and management of Ahmedabad and Jaipur airports, is likely to visit the two airports next month.

The visit would follow discussions with the Airports Authority of India (AAI) on the modalities of the Memorandum of Understanding signed between AAI and Singapore Co-operation Enterprise (SEC).

The AAI had signed an MoU with SEC, during Prime Minister Narender Modi's visit to that country, to co-operate in planning and development of Ahmedabad and Jaipur airports besides, other aspects including design, planning, traffic and commercial development, service quality and operations and management.

The operations of the airports, however, will remain with AAI.
30/12/15 PTI

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Civil Aviation Ministry gives site clearance for Bhogapuram airport

Hyderabad: The stage is all set for the commencement of works on the proposed international airport at Bhogapuram in Vizianagaram District. The airport, according to senior officials, received the Union Civil Aviation Ministry’s site clearance at a meeting held at New Delhi on Monday.

The airport, which is being fiercely opposed by the locals, has already received necessary clearances from the Defence Ministry.

“The project received in principle nod from the Union Government. We will receive a written order in a week,” a senior official who made a power-point presentation on the benefits of the project to the Union Ministry said.

The Government had initially proposed the Bhogapuram aerotropolis comprising the international airport, maintenance, repair and overhaul facility and aviation academy in a sprawling 15,000 acre site. Bhogapuram international airport is one among the three Greenfield airports proposed in the State while similar projects are proposed at Kuppam and Dagadurthi.
30/12/15 M. Rajeev/The Hindu

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Two Keonjhar airstrips cry for development

Keonjhar: While the state government is making an effort to develop airstrips across the state, two airstrips in Keonjhar are in dire need of attention. One of the airstrips is located at Raisuan, about 7km from here under Sadar block and the other at Tanto, about 70km from here under Joda block of the district.
While the government is signing MoUs with several companies for the development of airstrips across the state, the ones in the district remain neglected. Both of them are allegedly unsafe for use and security and proper deployment trained employee. According to sources, the government has taken steps for renovation and expansion of Rangeilunda, Jeypur, Padmapur and Baripada airstrips and also to increase the length of Raourkela, Jharsuguda, Lanjigarh and Angul airstrips.
31/12/15 Times of India

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Mumbai Customs arrests French couple for gold smuggling at international airport

The Air Intelligence Unit of Mumbai Customs on Wednesday apprehended a French couple at the Mumbai international airport and recovered 2.6 kg of gold valued at around Rs 60.88 lakhs, from them.
On the basis of profiling, the cops intercepted Mohamed Hassain and his wife Djany Mohamed Safraby, both of whom have who has a French passports. The couple had arrived in Mumbai from Dubai via Bahrain by Gulf Air flight GF-56. The AIU recovered one gold bar of 1kg, five gold bars of 100gms each, two crude gold chain weighing 700gms, 5 crude gold bangles weighing 300 gms, one necklace 94gms and gold chain and two rings 12gms.
30/12/15 Mid Day

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AI offloads 9 flyers at Mumbai airport

Ahmedabad: Nine passengers — four men, three women and two children — were offloaded from an Ahmedabad- London flight at Mumbai airport early on Wednesday after they were found travelling without proper documents. All the nine passengers belonged to Delhi or Punjab and were travelling to El Salvador for New Year holidays.
Sardarnagar police, who are investigating the matter, said all the passengers had boarded Air India's AI-131 flight to London from Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport. When the flight landed in Mumbai for a brief halt, the security staff of Air India found that the passengers did not have transit visa for London where they would be changing flights for El Salvador, the central American country which offers Visa on Arrival (VoA). All the offloaded passengers intended to avail of the facility at El Salvador.
31/12/15 Times of India

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Aviation ministry on backfoot after Opposition questions Changi contract

New Delhi: So is it wrong to say that the Indian government has agreed to let Singapore's Changi airport operate and manage Jaipur and Ahmedabad airports? Under intense Opposition fire for bypassing the tender route to award O&M contract for these two airports directly to a Singapore entity through a government-to-government (G2G) agreement, the Ministry of Civil Aviation was on fire fighting mode today.
Secretary RN Choubey said "it is possible that Changi decides that the procurement of some services at the two airports should be done via a tender. Let the team come and more details will emerge".
The Congress and the Left parties have created an uproar over an initial MoU between India and Singapore which allows that country to nominate an agency for taking the O&M contract for the two Indian airports for a fee. Till now, any private participation in airport modernisation has always been done through a global tender where the Airports Authority of India invites bids.
Despite the disclaimer by Choubey, it is possible that the O&M contract for these two airports sees no bidding at all. Changi has demonstrable expertise in airport management and the two Indian airports it will Associate with were earlier going to be privatised through the PPP mode. This would have meant private parties could pick up equity stakes in the Airports and taken them on long lease, working out some sort of revenue sharing arrangement with AAI.
30/12/15 Sindhu Bhattacharya/F.Business

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New NOC system for constructions around airports launched

New Delhi, Dec 30 (IANS) The central government on Wednesday launched a new online regulatory clearance system to process no objection certificate (NOC) applications for development of structures around airports.

The "NOC Application System" (NOCAS) version 2.0 which has been developed by the Airports Authority of India (AAI) was inaugurated by Civil Aviation Minister P. Ashok Gajapathi Raju during a function held here.

According to the Ministry of Civil Aviation, the new NOCAS is an automated online system for granting of NOC for height clearance of structures being developed around airports.

Speaking on the occasion the Civil Aviation Minister Raju said that flight safety and security cannot be compromised at any cost, while calling for creation of new regulatory systems that do not hinders economic development.
30/12/15 sifynews

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Air traffic controllers to earn more for extra duty

The Airports Authority of India (AAI) has raised overtime allowance to encourage air traffic controllers to work extra hours.

The move comes in the wake of International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO)'s inspection of airports in India. During its inspection last month, ICAO had raised concerns about the shortage of air traffic controllers in India. While there is a requirement of 3,500 controllers, there are only about 2,300 controllers supervising air traffic movement in Indian skies.

Because of the shortage, controllers are made to do extra shifts. Till now, they were paid Rs 400-500 for extra duty. The allowance has now been revised and controllers would get an additional amount of Rs 270-1,800 for an extra shift. The additional amount would be equivalent to the pro-rata payment of allowances, which are part of the regular salary package.
30/12/15 Aneesh Phadnis/Business Standard

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Navi Mumbai airport moves closer to reality as govt okays bids

The Centre today gave an in-principle approval for financial bids or request for proposals (RPF) for the much-delayed Rs 15,000-crore Navi Mumbai International airport.

At a meeting held with the authorities of the City and Industrial Development Corporation (CIDCO) in New Delhi, the aviation ministry gave its in-principle approval for the RFPs which will be soon shared with the four bidders shortlisted for the project, according to official sources.

CIDCO had invited the global tenders for request for qualification (RFQ) on February 5, 2014. It received nine bids out of which four have been shortlisted.
30/12/15 PTI/Business Standard

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'Turbulence' over security at Dabolim

Central agencies spent over Rs 350 crore to create new infrastructure facilities at Dabolim International Airport. Their aim was to improve the handling capacity of loads from the international and domestic sector. Meanwhile, the idea of ensuring foolproof security has somewhere gone missing.
Today, a terrorist or hijacker can gain easy access right up to the second floor of the terminal building with any airline ticket in hand; one need not have to go through security screenings until the second floor, where the hand luggage gets checked only at a security check in area before one boards into the aircraft. This is a grave security lapse.
Even police officials endorse that having luggage checked on the second floor is pointless.  “What is the point of checking the passenger or his luggage on the second floor? This appears to be a formality to safeguard only the aircraft, but what about the aerodrome? From the threat point of view, anyone can easily gain access and can cause destruction in the aerodrome and also to the aircraft,” said Dabolim airport Police Inspector Brutano Peixeto.
All these loopholes can lead to a disaster because the Airport Authority of India (AAI) officials are yet to install a Door Frame Metal Detector machine (DFMD) at both departure gates of the terminal building. The proposal made by the CISF for the same is yet to see the light of day.
“It is really serious; this shows that the security at the airport is not foolproof, but has several loopholes. Moreover, the security at the old airport was much better than the security at the new airport” said a senior police official who did not want to be named.
31/12/15 Navin Jha Navin/Herald

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Civil Aviation Ministry gives site clearance for Bhogapuram airport

The stage is all set for the commencement of works on the proposed international airport at Bhogapuram in Vizianagaram District. The airport, according to senior officials, received the Union Civil Aviation Ministry’s site clearance at a meeting held at New Delhi on Monday.

The airport, which is being fiercely opposed by the locals, has already received necessary clearances from the Defence Ministry.

“The project received in principle nod from the Union Government. We will receive a written order in a week,” a senior official who made a power-point presentation on the benefits of the project to the Union Ministry said.

The Government had initially proposed the Bhogapuram aerotropolis comprising the international airport, maintenance, repair and overhaul facility and aviation academy in a sprawling 15,000 acre site. Bhogapuram international airport is one among the three Greenfield airports proposed in the State while similar projects are proposed at Kuppam and Dagadurthi.

There was, however, strong opposition from the locals who received support from the CPI (Marxist) and the YSR Congress Party. The CPI (M) has said that the proposed project would ruin the lives of the locals and that there was no truth in the Government’s claims that the proposed airport would generate huge number of jobs.
30/12/15 M.Rajeev/The Hindu

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It’s official: No airport at Chakan

Pune’s search for a new international airport seems to have hit a blind spot with the proposed site at Chakan being officially dropped from the list of probables by the state government. A recent notification by the state government has renotified the over 700 hectares of land, previously identified as one of the proposed sites for the airport, for industrial usage.
The notification has asked the Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC) to start the land acquisition for it. The site for the proposed international airport, spread over six villages in Khed taluka of Pune district, has seen no progress in the last 10 years in terms of land acquisition.
Although the official notification of the land for the project was issued a decade ago, MIDC has failed to acquire any land in the region due to opposition from the villagers, who were also supported by Shiv Sena MP Shivajirao Adhalrao Patil. The erstwhile Congress-NCP government had accused the MP of playing politics with development.
31/12/15 Partha Sarathi Biswas/The Indian Express

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Gold rush at airport: Yellow metal worth Rs 6.5 cr seized

New Delhi: In a major seizure, gold worth about Rs 6.5 crore has been seized from five persons, including two Kazakh nationals, who were allegedly trying to smuggle it into the country at Indira Gandhi International Airport here.

The seizure of over 25 kgs of gold was done in the past one week by the customs officials.

In first incident, two Kazakh nationals, in early twenties, were intercepted by the customs officials after their arrival here from Almaty.

"Both of them were carrying five kgs of gold each, which was seized and the duo was arrested," said Vinayak Azaad, Additional Commissioner of customs at the IGIA.

Three other persons were also arrested for smuggling gold. Besides, gold was seized from some of the passengers who had come from Dubai, Bahrain, Doha and Hong Kong.
31/12/15 Business Standard

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More fly out of Chennai airport

The city airport has posted a 7.9% growth in combined domestic and international passenger traffic from April to October when compared to the corresponding period last year. However, aviation experts say that there is nothing to rejoice as Bengaluru airport has recorded a 24% growth in passenger movement. The city airport's record may not improve much in the coming months as rain and floods have eroded a lot of traffic in December, a peak season. Chennai handles more passenger volume but growth rate is sluggish when compared to the neighboring airport of Bengaluru. International travelers grew by 6.3% and domestic travelers increased by 8.8% in Chennai from April to October.
A senior official of Airports Authority of India (AAI) official said that this was a good sign of reviving business in the city. "With the development activities and investment planned in the coming years, the number of travelers will increase further. We are making progress but slowly," he added. However, airlines do not seem to share the same enthusiasm as Bengaluru has registered double digit growth in percentage for domestic and international passenger traffic.
An airline official said, "The experience of international carriers was bad during the floods that many refused to resume flights though airport officials declared that the runways are open earlier than the appointed date. Airlines are expected to move to Bengaluru. Amaravati airport, when it opens, will be another competition to Chennai because Andhra Pradesh is aggressive in marketing the state to investors." Growth of international passengers is slowing down in Chennai because European carriers prefer to fly out of Begnaluru. Air France was the first to move out. Lufthansa has added frequency from Bengaluru. "It will not be surprising if European carriers would want to operate more services from Bengaluru because they suffer losses flying into Chennai because of poor ground handling, lack of parking stands, poor safety practices, bad terminals and other facilities which hamper a quick turnaround," he added.
30/12/15 The Times Of India

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Singapore nominates Changi to manage Jaipur, Ahmedabad airports

NEW DELHI: Singapore has nominated Changi Airports to carry out operations and management at Jaipur and Ahmedabad airports.

"Singapore has nominated Changi Airports to come and talk to us on carrying out operations and management at Jaipur and Ahmedabad. Changi representatives will visit both these airports now before we start discussions with them," said a senior AAI official, who did not want to be identified.

During PM Modi's trip to Singapore, India and Singapore had signed an agreement, where Singapore would cooperate India in providing operations at Jaipur and Ahmedabad airports.
30/12/15 Mihir Mishra/The Economic Times

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