GMR, GVK keen on Chicago airport

Mumbai: India’s GMR and GVK groups, the respective business houses behind the companies managing airports in New Delhi and Mumbai—the country’s top two airports—will together with international partners participate in bids to choose the developer to privatize Chicago’s Midway International Airport in the US, senior executives at the two groups said.
The bid could entail spending around $1 billion (Rs4,300 crore) according to an investment banker.
Under the privatization plan of the Chicago airport—the bigger airport in the city is the O’Hare International Airport— that is owned by the Illinois state, the private developer will have long-term exclusive rights to operate the airport and to collect all revenues associated with the operation of Midway including aeronautical, leases, passenger facility charges and federal grants, subject to Federal Aviation Authority, or FAA, rules.
The agreement term for the airport, which handled nearly 20 million passengers last year, is expected to be at least 50 years.
The Bangalore-based GMR Group won the 20-year operations right of Sabiha Gökcen International Airport at Istanbul earlier this year. Its plan to bid for the Chicago airport is part of its interest in several global airport projects, an executive said.
A second GMR executive, who did not want to be named, added the group had plans to bid for airport projects in South Africa, Prague in the Czech Republic and St Petersburg in Russia.
04/07/08 P.R. Sanjai/Livemint

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Audio data nails pilot lie

Calcutta: The pilot of the cargo Boeing 737 that almost crashed into an Airbus with 136 passengers on May 29 was the one responsible for the planes coming so close that the blips on the radar merged (Metro grab on right), an inquiry has revealed.
“The pilot of the cargo flight is prima facie responsible for the near-mishap (60 nautical miles from the city airport). The probe has revealed that he was not adhering to the flying altitude assigned by Dhaka ATC (air traffic control),” a senior airport official, who was in the inquiry team, said on Sunday.
“The pilot accepted that he had descended more than the assigned level, but claimed he was asked to do so by the ATC,” the official said.
The recorded conversation between the watch shift officer of Calcutta ATC and his Dhaka counterpart nailed the lie.
On noticing that the Alliance Air cargo plane had descended below 18,000 feet, the level assigned to it, the watch shift officer of Calcutta ATC had immediately contacted Dhaka for a clarification.
“Have you assigned him a level below 18,000 feet?” he asked his Dhaka counterpart. “No,” came the answer.
“Then who asked him to descend further?”
“We have no idea,” was the reply from Dhaka.
When the error was detected, both the Boeing 737, coming to Calcutta from Agartala, and the Air India A-320, headed in the opposite direction, were flying at the same altitude: 17,000 feet. They missed each other by the proverbial whisker, officials said.
According to the probe panel, set up by the directorate -general of civil aviation, the pilot of the Boeing 737 descended 1,000 feet more than what the ATC had recommended while the other aircraft had maintained the specified altitude of 17,000 feet.
30/06/08 Sanjay Mandal/The Telegraph

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Air India passengers stranded at Bangalore airport

Bangalore: Passengers of a US-bound Air India flight were stranded here on Saturday after it was cancelled shortly before take-off due to technical snag, officials said.
"The Bangalore-Mumbai-Chicago flight scheduled to take off at 1 am on Saturday was cancelled an hour before the departure due to technical problem," an Air India official said.
The flight has been rescheduled to leave at 1 am on Sunday from the Bengaluru International Airport, the official said.
28/06/08 PTI/Daily News & Analysis

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Lufthansa Moves Out of MRO Deal With GMR

New Delhi: The slowdown in aviation and poor financial health of airlines are now casting its shadow on big deals that Indian companies had stuck with global majors.
German carrier Lufthansa's $5 billion technical support arm, Lufthansa Technik, has pulled out of a tie-up with GMR Group, inked in April 2007, to set up a $20 million maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) facility at the new airport in Hyderabad. The GMR Group is now talking to some leading Asian carriers for the proposed MRO.
The deal aimed to ready the MRO facility by this year-end, with Lufthansa arm contributing 75% of the investment and Indian carrier the rest. Sources close to the deal said Lufthansa Technik was in talks with a leading Indian carrier to maintain their fleet of Boeing 737s and Airbus A 320s at the proposed site so that it has an assured fleet to service. But in this cost-hostile environment, this did not happen and the MRO deal fell through.
A GMR official said they had to do land leveling and prepare parking bays at the airport.
28/06/08 Saurabh Sinha/RedOrbit, USA

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Unaccounted jewellery worth Rs 68 lakh seized in TN airport

Chennai: Income Tax Officials seized unaccounted jewellery worth Rs 68 lakh, weighing about seven kg, from a passenger who arrived from Ahmedabad at the domestic airport here last night.
Airport sources said acting on information, IT sleuths checked the baggage of the passengers who arrived here by a Spicejet flight from Ahmedabad.
Upon screening the suitcase of Ramdev (53), the officials found jewellery worth Rs 68.6 lakh. On interrogation, he said he was a jewellery broker based in Ahmedabad and had brought the jewellery for selling in some reputed shops in the city.
However, he did not have any document to substantiate his claim.
27/06/08 Chennai Online

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Mumbai aircraft lost radio contact: AI

Mumbai: "The aircraft going beyond Mumbai can be attributed only to loss of radio contact," said a statement issued by Air India in response to a report carried by TOI on Thursday on an AI flight which overflew Mumbai even as its pilots snoozed in the cockpit.
The report had stated that two pilots of Air India flight 612 from Jaipur to Mumbai had, earlier this month, dozed off and overflown their destination. The incident took place on June 4, just after 7 am, when the pilots took off from Jaipur and put the aircraft on autopilot, sources said. Prior to this flight the pilots had operated a Dubai-Jaipur flight.
An Air India spokesperson said that the commander and his co-pilot had availed of 24 hours of rest in Dubai prior to operating the flight and so there was no question of the crew being fatigued. Air India said that its pilots were not asleep and that "(they) had temporarily lost contact with the ATC and therefore the aircraft had strayed 10-15 kilometres away from Mumbai".
Reacting to the statement, the commander of a Gulf-based airline said, "In India, when the pilot recognises that he has a communications failure he has to squawk 7600 on the transponder and the ATC would have cleared all aircraft below the flight level of this aircraft and he would have landed. I don't understand why the pilot did not even commence descent into Mumbai and went off 10-15 kilometres. No one ever does that."
The airline also said that the pilots were not woken up by the SELCAL buzzer. However, a top official of Mumbai Air Traffic Control confirmed that SELCAL was indeed used to establish contact with the pilots. SELCAL, or selective calling, sounds like a buzzer in an aircraft's cockpit when the ATC dials the exclusive four-alphabet combo assigned to an aircraft.
27/06/08 Times of India

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AI denies report that pilots hit the snooze button

New Delhi: Air India on Thursday said a Jaipur-Mumbai flight had lost radio contact with the air traffic control (ATC) for a short while on June 4.
Commenting on a news report that the flight had flown past its destination of Mumbai with the pilots fatigued and fast asleep, AI's Director for Public Relations Jitender Bhargava said, "We emphatically deny the report. No such incident took place. We've checked our records." Maintaining that the report on the incident did not mention the date of flight, he said that on June 4 the Jaipur-Mumbai flight had lost radio contact with the ATC for some time, leading the plane to fly 24 km off Mumbai – and not half-way to Goa. Bhargava said that AI pilots had not slept on board and were not woken up by the ATC personnel.
26/06/08 Expressindia.com

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Monkey business at Dr Ambedkar Airport

Nagpur: Trap a monkey at Dr Ambedkar International Airport premises and get Rs 1,000, or trap a pig and get Rs 300. This is what the Airports Authority of India (AAI) officials are paying an expert monkey trapper to check the monkey and pig menace at the airport.
The expert — Haider Khan Maner from Sangli — has already begun the job of trapping monkeys and succeeded in trapping nine monkeys using his techniques. The monkeys will be relocated to Nagzira and nearby forest areas under the supervision of forest officials, a senior AAI official informed on Thursday.
Notorious for the intrusion of stray animals, including pigs, on the runway, Dr Ambedkar International Airport at Nagpur is now fighting a running battle with monkeys. Sources informed that around 70-80 monkeys have created havoc in the airport premises. The monkeys are seen in groups, usually early in the morning and afternoon.
“If not controlled immediately, these animals may also pose danger to aircraft during landings and take-offs just like other animals,” fear airport officials.
Interestingly, the monkeys are not afraid of the recently-installed zon guns — an LPG cylinder-operated device that emits loud bangs at irregular intervals.
27/06/08 Sachin Dravekar/Times of India

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Thai-Indian duo ahead in airport race

A Thai-Indian consortium has emerged as the lowest bidder for the Rs 2,000-crore Calcutta airport modernisation project.
ITD of Thailand, which was involved in constructing Suvarnabhumi airport in Bangkok, and its Indian partner ITD CEM have quoted around Rs 2,000 crore, said sources in the civil aviation ministry, which completed examining the bids on Wednesday.
The highest bid was around Rs 2,400 crore. Three consortiums and one company had submitted the technical and financial bids on June 16.
The others were Pomerleu Inc (Canada)-CCCL, TAV Tepe Akfer Yatirim Insaatva Isleme AS (Turkey)-Punj Lloyd Ltd and India’s Larsen and Toubro.
Usually, the lowest bidder is awarded the contract but a ministry official said it would take around three weeks for the award to be announced.
“The bid will be evaluated by a technical committee, which will send its recommendation to the Airports Authority of India (AAI) board for approval,” the official said from Delhi.
Financial as well as technical experts will be members of the committee.
27/06/08 The Telegraph

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Mandakalli airport to take off by this Dasara

Mysore: Mandakalli airport, which is being upgraded with various infrastructural facilities, will be ready for landing and taking off private aircrafts by this Dasara, beginning on Sept. 30, disclosed Lok Sabha member C.H. Vijayashankar.
Commercial flights will start by February 2009, the MP said, while addressing a press meet after taking part in a meeting of officials to review the progress in the works relating to upgradation of Mandakalli Airport in the office of the Deputy Commissioner here yesterday.
Work on the first phase of upgrading the airport is almost completed. That includes the runway, taxiway and the peripheral road. The work relating to the terminal building was to be completed by December. However, as the officials of Airports Authority of India (AAI) urged for construction of additional three floors to the terminal building in keeping with the second phase work, the terminal building will be ready by February, the MP said.
Land measuring 162.32 acres in five villages and in the vicinity of Chamundi Hill has been identified for shifting stretch of Mysore-Ooty National Highway 212 passing alongside airport to a distance of 2.5 km. The approval from Government for acquiring land has been obtained.
Approval has also been given by the government for construction of 60 metre wide four-lane road. The National Highways Engineer has taken steps to acquire the land after determining the exact width of the road.
26/06/08 Star of Mysore

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Airports ignore Patel plea, seek hike in charges

Rejecting Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel's exhortation for reduction in parking and landing charges, the developers of Delhi and Mumbai airports have sought the government's permission to increase charges by 10 per cent across the board. Without this, they said, they would lapse into losses.
The developers have pointed out that the contract they have signed with the government to modernise the airports permits such an increase after two years of taking charge.
GMR, which is modernising Delhi airport, and GVK, which is handling Mumbai, completed two years last May.
Patel, addressing the Business Standard Open Sky summit in New Delhi on Tuesday, had suggested that airport developers should reduce charges to provide relief to airlines, which are projected to register Rs 8,000 crore in combined losses this year. Airport charges constitute 12 per cent of the cost of operating an airline in India.
Airport developers said the cost of construction material — steel, cement, etc — had gone up by 10-15 per cent in the last six months.
26/06/08 Surajeet Das Gupta & Anirban ChowdhuryBusiness Standard

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Shirdi airport project gets approval

Shirdi, renowned for its Sai Baba temple, will soon be on India’s air map, proving a boon to religious tourism in Maharashtra.
The state government Wednesday announced its decision to construct an airport at Mauje-Kakdi village at an investment of Rs.2.64 billion ($62.8 million).
It will come up on an area of over 400 hectares, 15 km from Shirdi town.
The project will be undertaken by the Maharashtra Airports Development Co Ltd as a public-private partnership.
26/06/08 Indo-Asian News Service/Fresh News

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Chennai airport to commence work on second domestic terminal within two months

Chennai: Chennai’s Anna International Airport, will commence work on the construction of the second domestic terminal, within the next two months and is expected to be completed in 28 months. “It will have two-level terminals with departure area on first floor and arrival area on ground floor covering 67,000 sq. meters. It will also have three aerobridges, Common Use Terminal Equipment (CUTE) terminals and other state-of-the-art facilities,” informed Dinesh Kumar, Airport Director, Chennai International Airport. Further, an aerobridge will be added to the international arrival terminal, which is expected to be completed by the end of 2008. Apart from this, four aerobridges will be constructed in both, domestic and international terminals.
The Airports Authority of India (AAI) is planning to invest Rs 1,800 crore, for extending the second runway of the existing airport and overall expansion. The Government of Tamil Nadu is still in the process of acquiring land for this extension, partly owing to protests from residents, whose lands are within the area set aside for acquisition. According to the residents, expansion of the airport will cause floods during rainy season.
24/06/08 Lakshmi Vishwanath/TravelBizmonitor.com

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Thai woman sent back with her dog squad

Mumbai: Pakvimol Thangtha, a Thai national, had apparently thought she could take her 31 pets out of Sahar airport for a walk. However, she would now have to board a flight on Thursday with all of them and head back to the place from where she came.
Thangtha landed in Mumbai with two full-grown Pugs and 24 puppies of the breed, four Chihuahuas and a golden retriever from Bangkok on Tuesday. She told the customs officials attached to the air intelligence unit (AIU) that she owned all the dogs. However, a senior customs official said, “The four-hour travel for the pedigreed canines, especially the month-old puppies, could have ended as the final flight as they were simply checked in along with other baggage items on the plane. Another passenger, S Rao, who owns a cinema theatre in the Jayanagar region of Bangalore and who accompanied Thangtha, was also detained. Both passengers were fined Rs75,000 each.”
Joint commissioner of customs (AIU) Satish Kumar said, “.. Dogs and other animals have to be declared on the load sheet of the airline as special cargo so that proper temperature is maintained during flight to ensure the safety of the animals.”
However, Jet Airways spokeswoman Srirupa Sen said, “The issue is between the customs and the passenger. The airline has no role in it.”
Later at night she said carriage of live animals was accepted by Jet Airways after verifying relevant documents by the check-in staff and at stations like Bangkok, by local health authorities.
26/06/08 Renni Abraham/Daily News & Analysis

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GMR Infra buys 50 % in InterGen for $1.1 billion

Mumbai: In the largest ever acquisition of a global energy utility by an Indian company, GMR on Wednesday announced the signing of a definitive documentation for the acquisition of 50 per cent stake in the U.S.-based InterGen N.V., a global power generation company.
The transaction is valued at $1.1 billion and GMR Infrastructure (Malta) signed the share purchase agreement with AIG Highstar to acquire the 50-per cent stake. The remaining 50 per cent is held by Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board (OTPPB).
GMR is an infrastructure company with a presence in energy, airports, highways and urban infrastructure. InterGen has power plants across the U.K., the Netherlands, Mexico, Australia and the Philippines, with a total capacity of 12,766 MW.
GMR has an ambitious international business strategy whose focus sectors are energy, airports and aerotropolis (real estate development around airports).
GMR is developing airports in New Delhi, Hyderabad and Istanbul. According to Ashutosh Agarwala, CFO, Strategic Finance, GMR Group, “by 2010-11 airport infrastructure will account for 45-50 per cent of group revenues.”
26/06/08 The Hindu

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BIAL to raise $200 mn, eyes valuation of $2-2.5 bn

Bangalore/Mumbai: The operator of the newly-opened Bengaluru International Airport is seeking a valuation of up to $2.5 billion to raise about $200 million in equity to fund the second phase of the airport’s development.
The valuation of Bangalore International Airport Ltd (BIAL), which sources put at as high as Rs 10,000 crore, or about $2.3 billion, could make it among the most valuable privately-owned domestic aviation assets. This would better the three-month-old Hyderabad Rajiv Gandhi International Airport, majority owned by GMR Group, which is estimated to be valued at $1-1.5 billion.
BIAL—40% owned by Siemens with L&T, Unique Zurich, Airports Authority of India and KSIIDC, a Karnataka government agency, holding the rest—is exploring the option of a private placement, among others, to raise part of the equity for the proposed Rs 2,500-crore expansion. It is believed that the company is exploring various possibilities and no investment bank is involved in the process.
A source said the company was seeking valuation in the range of $2-2.5 billion, leading to a possibility of 8-10% equity placement for raising over $200 million. While BIAL CEO Albert Brunner said the information on fundraising through private placement was not true, one of the investors confirmed to ET that all options are being explored.
26/06/08 Boby Kurian, Rajesh Unnikrishnan & Peerzada Abrar/Economic Times

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Parallel taxiway at Coimbatore airport: preliminary works begin

Coimbatore: Airports Authority of India (AAI) has taken preliminary steps such as floating of tenders and finalisation of consultants to build a parallel taxiway and a new terminal building at Coimbatore Airport.
The works are expected to be completed in another 28 to 30 months.
Since none of these works require land acquisition delay is not expected. According to AAI sources, shortlisting of contractors for appointing them as consultants has begun for parallel taxiway and creation of three more parking bays at an estimated outlay of Rs. 44 crore.
Parallel taxiway will help in minimising the runway occupancy or time used by aircraft.
At present, an aircraft on touching down the airport taxies the entire runway distance and returns via the same run way to the apron for parking, says Airport Director, K. Hemalatha.
Once the parallel taxiway is completed, aircraft can use it to reach the parking bays thus leaving the runway free for another landing or take off.
The airport witnesses an average of 22 to 23 landings and take offs every day. It has five parking bays (it can accommodate six aircraft of smaller size).
This is in addition to the isolation parking bay for aircraft in distress/those with security perception.
26/06/08 V.S. Palaniappan/The Hindu

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GTAA hints at more fee cuts

In an effort to remain competitive and grow market shares, the Greater Toronto Airports Authority will effective January 2009 slash landing fees for cargo operators by 25 per cent.
The move will follow a three per cent cut in landing fees across the board announced in January this year.
“We’ve also embarked upon a three-pronged marketing development initiative aimed at boosting our global competitiveness while improving our corporate sustainability,” Lloyd McCoomb, the authority’s president and CEO, told members of the Mississauga Board of Trade last week.
More fee reductions are also in the pipeline, aimed at seeking to partly offset high jet fuel prices carriers are facing, while seeking to boost the airport’s own revenues through projected economies of scale, he said.
GTAA is the operator of Canada’s busiest airport, Toronto’s Pearson International, which accounts for a third of all airport movements in the country. Despite being among the few airport jurisdictions in the world that is heavily taxed and that has to pay a rent, and despite being recently named as being among the most uncompetitive airports worldwide— a charge the airport operator has disputed— the airport generated revenues of $26.4 billion.
At present some 76 airlines fly through the airport, with recent additions being Jet Airways, Emirates airlines and Icelandair, while others such as KLM, Lufthansa and Air China have added capacities on this route.
The event was presided over by Jake Dheer, chairman, MBoT, as part of the board’s ongoing executive speaker series.
The board leads a business mission to India from October 17-29, 2008, with cities on the itinerary including Bangalore, Chennai, Mumbai and New Delhi.
26/06/08 Sunil Rao/South Asian Focus, Canada

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Airports may cut landing, parking charges

New Delhi: The Union civil aviation ministry might ask airports to reduce landing and parking charges for aircraft.
Speaking at a function today, the civil aviation minister, Mr Praful Patel, said by reducing landing and parking charges for aircraft, airports could contribute to a “form of relief” for the loss-making aviation industry.
Mr Patel, however, said his ministry had not initiated any talks as yet with airport authorities in the country but this was “going to be looked into soon”.
The minister ruled out any bailout package from the government for the aviation industry. “Unlike other countries, in India it is very difficult for the government to write a cheque to the companies,” he said.
Mr Patel said keeping in view the bad financial health of domestic airlines at present, prices of air transport fuel (ATF) need to be brought down by about 50 to 60 per cent. Besides, states are charging high taxes on ATF, he said.
24/06/08 The Statesman

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War over Delhi skies

The air-space over the capital is one of the most highly protected, but a turf war between the very people who keep the skies safe -- Airports Authority of India (AAI)and Indian Air Force IAF) is potentially putting the lives of air passengers at risk.
The ongoing fight for the skies, between the Indian Air Force, and Delhi Air Traffic control is basically a 'fight' over controlling how aircrafts flying over Delhi airspace. What the authorities have forgotten or failed to realise while they argue over the issue, is that there are hundreds of passengers' lives at stake.
Normally, aircrafts over Delhi are told where to go and what to do by civilian Air Traffic Controllers (ATCs), but in the skies over Delhi, Air Force controllers have allegedly issued instructions to passenger aircrafts without Delhi airport having a clue. This is where the trouble started.
The Airports Authority of India sent a letter to the Air Force, telling them to stop interfering.
In the letter - a copy of which is with TIMES NOW - the AAI further alleged that because of Air Force interference, a collision was narrowly averted as the Air Force went ahead and issued instructions to an aircraft without telling Delhi ATC about it.
On December 29, 2007, Kras Air flight 1913 scheduled to land at Delhi airport was told by IAF control to fly in circles above the capital, Delhi ATC was not told about this.
Similarly on January 14, 2008, the same Kras Air Flight 1913 was told to circle the skies, something that Delhi ATC was kept in the dark about. Civil controllers noticed that Air France flight 256 was headed for a collision with another aircraft and in the nick of time, emergency evasive manuevers had to be performed.
25/06/08 Times Now.tv

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