Delhi: 40 flights diverted, 57 trains delayed due to fog

New Delhi: After dense fog in the capital today morning affected air and railway traffic, operations in both have resumed effectively.

More that 90 flight schedules were affected and 40 were diverted from the Delhi airport due to poor visibility. According to an airport official, both landing and take-off of flights had been stopped since 7.30 am.

Earlier in the morning, 10 flights were diverted from the airport. The fog-induced low visibility affected the railway traffic in the morning, with 15 trains cancelled, 57 delayed and 18 rescheduled in several parts of northern India.
31/12/17 Ashna Kumar/India Today

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Delhi smog causes unprecedented flight delays

Smog level in Delhi is close to hazardous and on some days it is more than apocalyptic. 2017 has literally been the defining year for climate calamity and absolutely nothing is able to control it, especially in India. With the order of Chief Minister, they fired anti-smog guns in the atmosphere but it seems to have backfired or certainly didn’t help. Level of mercury is rising on alarm rates inside the body of people who live in Delhi-NCR region. Climate authorities have given their reports about uncontrollable atmospheric changes which have gone random enough to not be predicted anymore. If this continues than soon enough scientists won’t be able to issue pre-alerts regarding cyclones and Tsunami which will result in unfathomable loss of life.

In the spell-binding conditions of this catastrophe airport authorities were forced to cancel some of domestic and international flights as the visibility distance above Delhi airport is close to nothing now. Time of peak winters is going on and Delhi already faces enough fog every year for flights to get suspended and mixed smoke with it has made it almost impossible t fly during early morning hours. Morning hours is the time when the smog is at it’s maximum and it became quite a task to clear the visibility on the runway itself and flying was clearly not an option.
31/12/17 By Shubham Dwivedi/NewsFolo

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Low visibility halt operations at IGI airport; 90 flights affected

New Delhi: Over 90 flights were affected this morning as visibility dropped to 50 metres due to dense fog at the Indira Gandhi International Airport here, the heaviest this year. While 54 domestic flights were delayed and 17 diverted to other airports, eleven international flights were delayed and 8 were diverted due to the dense fog, according to flight information available on the airport’s website. So far there have been 4 cancellations, including three domestic and one international flight, according to the information. RK Jenamani, Director, IMD, Delhi area and IGI airport said, “Runway visibility since 5.30 am has been between 50-75 metres. This is so far the worst fog we have experienced this year.”

Delhi airport has advanced technology for low-visibility landings, called CAT IIIB. As a result landings can take place with a visibility of 50 metres. However, for take-offs a minimum visibility of 125 metres is required.
31/12/17 PTI/Financial Express

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10 flights from Patna airport cancelled due to foggy weather

Patna: Flight operations at Jayaprakash Narayan International Airport at Patna remained paralysed on the third consecutive day on Saturday as 10 outbound flights were cancelled and another six inbound flights were diverted due to foggy weather.
Patna airport director Rajendra Singh Lahauria informed that five out of the 10 cancelled flights were of IndiGo airlines, three of Jet Airways and one each of SpiceJet and GoAir.
IndiGo also announced cancellation of four of its flights from Patna airport on Sunday as well, including G8 902 (Patna- Bengaluru), G8 508 (Patna- Delhi), G8 342 (Patna- Kolkata) and G8 633 (Patna- Lucknow).
While five flights grounded at the airport on Friday due to poor visibility were allowed take- off from 12:30 in the afternoon on Saturday under low - visibility take- off procedures but landing of inbound flights could start only from around 2:30pm.
With frequent cancellation and hours of delay of flights, Patna airport has literally turned into a railway station or bus stand from past two days. Tens of hundreds of passengers are seen waiting at the "small" airport at any given point of time. Over 1000 passengers are seen inside the terminal at any given time, which has the capacity to accommodate only 600 people.
31/12/17 Piyush Tripathi/Times of India

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Passengers made to wait in flights for hours after landing. Here’s why

Patna: Travellers in two flights at Patna airport were made to wait for more than an hour before they were allowed to de-board after landing. And the reason for the same was lack of parking space for the aircraft, reported Prabhat Khabar.

The incident happened on Saturday when GoAir flight 140 landed at the Jay Prakash Narayan Airport in Patna after two IndiGo flights, which were parked in slot 1 and 5.

Slot number 4 was already occupied by an IndiGo flight since Friday night, which was not allowed to fly as the pilot had completed the permissible time limit for flying an aircraft.

The aircraft parked at slot number 4 had also occupied the space of slot number 3, hence no flight could be moved there.

Because of these factors, the GoAir flight had to remain stranded for around 1 hour 40 minutes.

The IndiGo flight parked at slot number five took off at around 5 pm, following which the GoAir could get a parking space, and the passengers could be de-boarded.

Air India flight 407 also remained stranded with passengers inside because of the same reason. The passengers inside the Air India flight were made to wait for 1 hour 10 minutes before they could get off the flight.
31/12/17 Zee News

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Most disruptive day ever at KIA: 102 flights delayed, 8 cancelled

Bengaluru: In what has turned out to be the worst week ever for morning operations at the Kempegowda International Airport (KIA) here, 281 flights were delayed and 25 others cancelled during peak hours owing to fog.
On Saturday, the airport faced arguably its worst delay ever, as 102 flights were delayed and eight others cancelled as the operations were suspended from 4.58 am until 8.23 am.

Out of the eight cancelled flights - all of the low-cost airline IndiGo - four were arrivals and as many departures. Out of the 102 delayed flights, there were 44 arrivals and 58 departures.

International operations were also affected. Out of the four flights that were forced to take a diversion, two international flights - one of British Airways and another of Oman Air - were diverted to Chennai. A domestic flight of IndiGo was diverted to Hyderabad while a cargo flight of Bluedart was diverted to Chennai.
The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has set up visibility requirements for landings and take-offs. The runway visual range (RVR) should be 400 metres for take-offs and 550 metres for landings.
31/12/17 Furquan Moharkan/Deccan Herald

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Alliance Air tweaks its Lucknow-Bhopal flight timings

Bhopal: Air India's regional arm Alliance Air has decided to reschedule the timings of its flight on Lucknow-Bhopal route to afternoon from morning for entire January, to pre-empt any weather-related impact on the services during the period.

The daily flight will now take off at 2.05 pm from Lucknow and land at Raja Bhoj Airport in Bhopal at 3.45 pm.

The flight, in its return leg, will depart from Bhopal at 4.15 pm and reach Lucknow at 5.55 pm, Alliance Air said in a statement.
31/12/17 PTI

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Flight to Bangkok gets costlier

City residents are making a beeline for Bangkok for the New Year celebrations with the recently launched Air India Chandigarh-Bangkok flight booked to full capacity.
Ringing the New Year in the popular tourist destination though comes at a price since fare for the 5-hour direct flight has almost doubled.
The economy class fare for a return flight to Bangkok on January 1 is Rs 30,500. When the flight was announced, the introductory fare was Rs 16,000 for a return flight ticket.
RK Negi, local station manager, Air India, said: “The response of the flight has been encouraging. For January 1 flight, 150 economy seats have been booked and only a few business class seats are vacant, which are expected to be booked in the next two days.”
31/12/17 Tribune

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Baby dies falling on escalator

Calcutta: A six-month-old girl died after slipping off the arms of her mother, who had the baby in one hand and a bag in the other, on an escalator in Calcutta airport on Saturday.

Khushi Soni, who banged her head on the steel floor of the escalator, suffered a broken neck bone and head injuries and was bleeding from the ear. She died in hospital a few hours later.

Khushi and parents Dinesh and Sangeeta were about to board a 6.20am SpiceJet flight to Silchar where Dinesh, a CRPF jawan from Rajasthan, is posted.
31/12/17 Telegraph

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Space crunch: Chennai airport misses new int’l links

Chennai: Chennai airport will lose out on foreign connections, as international carriers are not able to launch flights due to lack of peak-hour slots.
While Korean Air is looking at starting services to capitalise on business connections but is yet to apply for slots, Garuda Indonesia will start operations from Mumbai, which contributes 30% of Indians visting Bali, comapred to Chennai's 20%.
Garuda Indonesia will start Mumbai-Bali service on March 12, while Kuwait-based Jazeera Airways has sought slots for Mumbai-Kuwait flights. The airline recently started flights from Hyderabad. VietJet will start services from Delhi to Ho Chi Minh City next year. However, Chennai is yet to receive new applications.
A senior official of Airports Authority of India (AAI) said, "We do not have slots for peak hour, but we can accommodate the airlines. However, they have not applied to us yet." Peak hour slots are full in Chennai and adding more flights may delay turnaround time of planes.
30/12/17 Times of India

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It’s no smooth take-off for international cargo facility

Madurai: The international cargo operations that commenced at the Madurai international airport recently may have brought joy to exporters in southern Tamil Nadu. But the excitement seems to be fading fast thanks to multiple issues. Exporters and traders say the terminal is bogged down by unfriendly environment, unprofessional outsourced workers and absence of permanent plant quarantine officer.
The much-awaited facility was thrown open on December 15, a couple of weeks after the terminal building was inaugurated. It had taken a long time and sustained efforts from traders, exporters, aviation enthusiasts and of course officials of Airports Authority of India for the cargo facility to materialise after the notification for the facility came way back in 2014.
The first few days after the opening had witnessed a spirited export of consignments largely consisting of flowers, seafood and vegetables. But due to the hiccups, traders and exporters have gone back to other airports like Trichy, where they have been doing the business for long. As a result only a meagre quantity of cargo was lifted from the terminal in the past 10 days.
Narrating a bitter experience, president of Tamil Nadu Chamber of Commerce and Industries, N Jegatheesan, said a jasmine flower consignment which he sent recently to Dubai was not cleared by the officials there. The reason they cited was the scanned certificate issues by the plant quarantine officials in the Madurai airport. "In the absence of permanent plant quarantine officer, the certificate is issued by officials in Chennai based on the recommendation of the assistant plant quarantine officer here. While the officials from other countries require a document with seal and signature, what is issued here is a scanned copy of the certificate issued in Chennai," he said.
Moreover, the officials wanted the consignment to be in three to four hours before the flight departure, which was not possible in the case of flowers. He had shifted from Madurai airport back to Trichy, where there were no such hassles, he said.
30/12/17 Times of India

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GMR awaits Centre’s security nod to pick sub-contractor

Panaji: GMR Goa International Airport Limited (GGIAL), which will develop and operate the Greenfield airport at Mopa, has forwarded the names of three companies to the union government for security clearance before finalising the sub-contractor to construct the airport.
GGIAL has forwarded the names of L&T (India), Linak of Turkey and Megawide of Philippines to the home ministry. A top officer from GGIAL told TOI that all these three companies have pre-qualified for the bid. He also said that the sub-contractor for the project would be selected based on the security clearance from the union government and the techno-commercial competitiveness.
"We are expecting to get all clearances in January," he said.
In June 2017, GGIAL had invited tenders from global contractors for engineering, procurement and construction works of the new airport. Three companies have qualified for the sub-contract.
30/12/17 Murari Shetye/Times of India

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2nd runway, new terminals violate clearances: Centre

Chennai: Airports Authority of India (AAI) built the city airport's new terminals and the bridge for its second runway across the Adyar in violation of environmental clearances issued for the project, says a compliance report prepared by ministry of environment and forests and climate change (MoEF&CC).
The report vindicates the stand of activists and residents of localities in the vicinity of the airport who have argued that the bridge AAI built to extend the second airstrip infringes upon various rules and causes the river to flood residential areas in Manapakkam in heavy rain.
"AAI has deviated from the original dimensions of the bridge as approved by MoEF&CC," says a certified compliance report the ministry filed, based on inspections of the terminals and the bridge for the runway on November 14. "In addition, the Adyar river [over which AAI has built the bridge] appears to fall within the Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ). In view of this, CRZ classification of this area and the status of land may be sought from the competent authority. Thereafter, an appropriate view may be taken by the MoEF&CC."
AAI, it says, has built a bridge with a span of 200mx462.84m on RCC columns of 0.87m diameter on the Adyar; the ministry, it notes, had given approval for a bridge with a span of 200mx415m on RCC columns of 1.2m diameter, and 1.4m above the river's high flood line. It says AAI also deviated in the total height of the bridge: The ministry approved a bridge of a height of 11.15m but the agency built a bridge only 10.50m high.
The report says there are deviations in construction of the new terminals, too, which AAI inaugurated in 2013. The ministry approved of a total built-up area of 1,28,000sqm but AAI established a built-up area of 2,14,041sqm without obtaining prior approval and necessary consents.
"The report vindicates my stand," former pilot and air safety expert Captain Mohan Ranganathan said. "AAI has built the bridge in violation of all norms, which [contributed] to the floods of 2015. It should be demolished.
30/12/17 V Ayyappan/Times of India

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Chandigarh international airport launches 'chat thela'

Mohali: In a new and innovative move, the Chandigarh International Airport has come up with 'Chai Wala' outlet to lure passengers by offering  tea and hot gulab jamun on arrival.

The outlet was inaugurated by Chairman CHIAL (Chandigarh International Airport Limited) and Member Planning, Airport Authority of India Sudhir Raheja in the presence of Regional Executive Director, Northern Region, Rakesh Kalra.

Commuters relished hot chai during the chilly winters. The moving thela also serves Gulab jamun, much to the delight of the passengers  while waiting for their luggage. The chai thela offered complimentary chai and Gulab jamun to all the passengers who arrived on Friday. It will be on chargeable basis from Saturday onwards.

Chairman CHIAL also inaugurated the newly opened outlet 'Subway' in the domestic side and The Crambar and Coffee2go on the domestic side and awarded a few of the employees for their service.

Sarabjeet Singh, an employee of Aroon Aviation Service (a housekeeping agency) was awarded for his honesty as he had returned an amount of Rs 44000 of a passenger to the CHIAL authority.
30/12/17 Daily Pioneer

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A runway to nowhere: Where AAI failed

Rattled by a strong report of non-compliance from the Union ministry of environment over the second runway and the new terminals at Chennai airport, the Airports Authority of India plans to study and prepare a proper response. The project would not have proceeded had there been deviations, a senior official said.
"The report will be studied before a response is given, he said, adding that a decision would be taken based on the response.
As per information provided to the environment ministry, the second runway was to handle wide-body planes like B747s or A380s. But the runway is being used only for narrow body ATRs and A320s because of absence of safety buffer zone on either end, defeating the purpose of runway extension. The AAI sought more land on the extended end, but the state was not able to give it leadiong to the runway not being better than before.
The bridge across the Adyar to extend the second runway to equip the short runway to handle B747s and A380s seems to have been poorly planned. The runway was extended, but there was not enough land for a safety buffer. The runway lies in an incline with a dip in the centre as the level of extended end was raised to prevent flooding. Airlines are hesitant to use it as AAI attempted cross-runway operations using both runways simultaneously twice and failed.
30/12/17 Times of India

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Construction of boundary wall at Bihta airbase soon

Patna: Construction of boundary wall for development of a proposed civil enclave at Bihta airbase is expected to commence soon as Patna district administration has acquired around 108 acres of land near the airbase and asked the Airports Authority of India (AAI) to take its possession.
"We are ready to give possession of the land required by AAI to construct the civil enclave at Bihta airbase. The AAI should commence the construction of boundary wall so that the site becomes free from encroachments," Patna DM Sanjay Kumar Agrawal said on Friday.
The state cabinet headed by chief minister Nitish Kumar had on November 15 last year sanctioned Rs 260.74 crore for acquisition of 120 acres of land near Bihta airbase. Of the 120 acres, 108 acres is proposed to be utilised for development of civil enclave and the remaining 18 acres would be used by state government for development of amenities for including a VIP lounge, a hotel and a hangar. The AAI has targeted to ready the first block of the proposed civil enclave by mid-2019 utilising Rs 500 crore.
30/12/17 Piyush Tripathi/Times of India

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Jewar airport construction to start in December 2018

New Delhi: The construction work on Jewar airport in Greater Noida will commence in December next year - earlier than the Uttar Pradesh government's scheduled plan and well ahead of 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
In line with the advanced target, Yamuna Expressway Industrial Development Authority (YEIDA) on Friday selected professional services firm EY (formerly Ernst & Young) to prepare a techno-economic feasibility report (TEFR) for the proposed airport.
"EY has been awarded the mandate to conduct TEFR for the project and the report is to be submitted by April 2018," Prabhat Kumar, chairman of YEIDA, told ET. "We are targeting to call for bids in July and lay the foundation stone of the project in December," he said.
While KPMG came second in the bids for TEFR for the airport called by YEIDA, Deloitte came third. "EY will also help us get the environmental clearance for the project," Kumar said.
30/12/17 Mihir Mishra/Economic Times

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Bhubaneswar To Have 2nd Airport Soon: Dharmendra Pradhan

While inaugurating several passenger amenities at the Bhubaneswar Railway Station, including a second entry point and ticket facilities at Platform No. 6, Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan revealed that Bhubaneswar will have a second Airport soon.

“As part of PM Narendra Modi’s development agenda for Eastern part of India, several measures have been taken for developing railways, national highways and air services. Several review meetings held in recent months for the above projects in Odisha,” he said.
“There will be two more ring roads for Bhubaneswar on the National Highways. A second Airport will come up in the smart city. In addition, the PNG/CNG facilities by the Petroleum Ministry, will make things easier for people of Bhubaneswar”, the Minister said.

“Modi Government has provided enough funds for railway projects in Odisha in just 3.5 years, which the state did not get even in the last 30 years. I urge both Railways as well as the State Government to utilise the funds properly,” Dharmendra said.
30/12/17 Sagar Satpathy/Odisha News Insight

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IndiGo moves court against Delhi Airport

Delhi Airport's proposed infrastructure of the domestic terminal upgrade faces a major roadblock as has moved court against the direction to partially shift its operations to Terminal 2. DIAL-operator of had asked the airline to shift its flights to Mumbai, Kolkata and Bangalore by January 4.
In its petition filed before Delhi High Court, has asked for a stay on the shifting order challenging the airport operator’s authority to decide the course of action regarding shifting of operation. 
"the restrictions sought to be imposed by DIAL could destroy IndiGo’s business, the reputation of which has been built up over last 11 years. DIAL's directions are completely arbitrary and do not have any nexus with the object sought to be achieved- decongestion," said.
has also made Ministry of Civil Aviation, Airport Authority of India (AAI) and Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) a party to the case.
Multiple rounds of negotiations between the airport operator and the airlines failed after the airport operator had asked the airlines to shift. According to the plan, IndiGo, and were asked to shift one-third of their flights to Terminal-2, by October 29. which operates 306 daily flight services including 86 to Mumbai, Kolkata and Bangalore refused to shift saying that it will lead to loss of business as October was a peak traffic season and shifting would lead to inconvenience for passengers. A maximum number of passengers that can travel to Delhi by are from these three sectors, this will lead to widespread confusion among our passengers,” said. 
29/12/17 Oakwood Herald

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Flights suspended at IGIA after drone spotted

Once again, reports of an unidentified flying object near the Indira Gandhi International airport led to disruption in flight operations and affected as many as 15 departures and arrivals. Security officials, however, could not find anything suspicious when they rushed a Quick Response Team (QRT) to the spot.

It was around 7 am on Thursday when the pilot of a Chennai-Delhi Indigo flight spotted a suspicious object and reported the matter to the Air Traffic Control (ATC). The message was further conveyed to Airport Operations Control Centre and the Delhi Police. A team of CISF QRT was also rushed to the spot but nothing could be found, an official said. As a precautionary measure, some departures were put on hold while a few arrivals were delayed at the airport.

Delhi Police has registered the matter and is now trying to spot the origination of the flying object. This, however, is not a rare incident where a UFO was spotted by a pilot. Earlier this month, in a close shave, a drone-like UFO and an Air India flight, landing at the IGI airport almost had a face-off. Seconds later, another flight to Leh that took off from another runway, also reported spotting the flying object.

The incident also affected some departures and landings at the airport. However, the officers said that no such flying object could be found within the airport periphery.

The menace of the drone-like UFO sightings, however, is not something new at the IGI airport and is known for leaving the security and intelligence sleuths at the airport rattled. In October this year, a Jet Airways Singapore-Delhi flight, while preparing to land on runway 29 of the IGI airport, reported a drone flying in the proximity, about 300-400 meters above the ground.
29/12/17 DNA

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