GMR Hyderabad airport handles Covid-19 evacuation flights

Hyderabad: While the world battles the pandemic and India is under a lockdown, GMR Hyderabad International Airport is handling Covid-19 relief and evacuation flights.

The airport on Tuesday handled a special relief flight operated by Air India to evacuate German nationals stranded in the country.

The special flight AI 3005, a Dreamliner (Boeing B787-8) aircraft, landed at Hyderabad airport today at 7.32 am from Chennai. In coordination with the German Consulate and the Telangana government, a group of 38 passengers arrived at the airport at around 6 am.

A select group of personnel from GHIAL Terminal Operations, Airside Operations and other critical operators were made available to ensure the safe departure of the stranded passengers.

Special screening and safety measures were in place, including thermal screening prior to terminal entry and mandatory social distancing enforced through special queuing arrangements at all passenger processing points.

The passengers from Hyderabad joined those who had boarded the aircraft in Chennai. The flight departed from Hyderabad to Mumbai at 9.22 am. From there, all the German nationals were to be flown to Frankfurt.

On March 28, the airport handled another special rescue flight of IndiGo to evacuate its crew stuck in Hyderabad. IndiGo flight 6E 9999 landed at the Hyderabad airport on March 28 with its eight-member crew, who disembarked here and departed to Chennai with five stranded IndiGo crew members.
31/03/20 Business Line

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Medical equipment land at Calcutta airport

Calcutta: Ventilators from Switzerland, infrared thermometers from China and personal protection gear from Chennai — equipment for treating Covid-19 patients and those suspected to have contracted the virus — have started arriving at Calcutta airport since last week, officials said.

As the state prepares to fight a possible spurt in coronavirus cases, government and private hospitals are buying vital treatment and diagnostic equipment from other countries and states.

“Since it’s an emergency situation, we are getting most equipment by air,” a state government official said.

The consignments started arriving last Friday, officials at the airport’s cargo terminal said.

The state is in talks with export and import agents to procure a large number of Covid-19 test kits and ventilators, airport sources said. Quotations have also been sought for protective gear such as goggles, N-95 masks, disposable surgical gowns and masks, personal protective equipment (PPE) and gloves. Most of these have to be flown in from China, health department sources said.

The government is also planning to procure civil epidemic prevention equipment such as daily-wear masks and forehead thermometers.

A consignment of 5,000 infrared thermometers has arrived from China. Three ventilators ordered by the government of a northeastern state were flown in from Zurich on a special cargo aircraft last week, said airport officials.

A SpiceJet cargo aircraft brought 277 boxes containing PPE for doctors and healthcare workers. The consignment also contained gloves, caps and shoe covers for government hospitals across the state, an official said.
31/03/20  Sanjay Mandal/Telgraph

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Mumbai airport operates with 500 staff, BEST helps in employee transport

With all international and domestic passenger flights suspended till April 14, there is no hustle and bustle at the airports of India. However, all are trying to keep the operations running with minimal staff as the 21-day lockdown has mandated social distancing.

Mumbai International Airport, which used to handle around 1,000 flights a day before the lockdown started, is currently operating with a staff of 500 personnel to handle evacuation flights and cargo aircraft.

BEST, Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport, has been helping the airport employees in their transportation from their homes to the airport.

The airport, which is the largest gateway for pharmaceutical products, is currently handling vital cargo operations and emergency evacuation flights.

"The items include pharmaceutical goods, medical equipment, which are
approved by the regulatory bodies and customs," the GVK Group's airport said.

Various teams across the areas of engineering and maintenance, operations staff, and CISF are also working at the airport during the lockdown period.

"The airport maintenance staff continue to effectively sanitize and fumigate the entire terminal building including the vital areas where tactile interface, as in human hands come into play – like elevator buttons, escalators, etc. implementing measures to prevent any potential spread of the virus and assure well-being of the passengers, once operations resume," the airport added.
31/03/20 Anu Sharma/CNBC TV18

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Deal to sell 49% in GMR Airports on track, says GMR Group

New Delhi: The GMR group today said that funding plan in its subsidiary – GMR Airports Ltd (GAL) – is on track despite the uncertain economic conditions, as its French partner has raised money through bonds to honour the payment plan.
In February 2020, GMR Group had signed an agreement with France’s Groupe ADP to divest 49% stake in GAL for an equity consideration of Rs 10,780 crore.
“Groupe ADP of France has successfully raised Euro 2.5 billion in bonds in two-parts. The two-part bonds having different maturity have been priced at effective interest rate of 2.125% and 2.75%, respectively. The bonds were over-subscribed by more than five times. This raising plan ensures that the payment plans remain intact,” said a company executive, who did not want to be identified.
The executive added that over-subscription of bonds in current economic scenario is also a testimony of faith international investors have in Groupe ADP, a global airport developer and operator.
As part of the deal, the group has already received the first tranche of Rs. 5,248 crore, which was utilised to deleverage the group and improve cash flow and profitability.
30/03/20 Mihir Mishra/Economic Times

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PM Modi salutes AAI employees for raising Rs 20 crore for COVID-19 relief fund

New Delhi: Employees of the Airport Authority of India (AAI) have raised Rs 20 crore as an initial contribution for the PM CARES Fund to fight the menace of coronavirus (COVID-19). Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday saluted the AAI employees for their professionalism.

"AAI employees raised Rs 20 crore as an initial contribution to the #PMCARES Funds to fight the menace of COVID1-9. Collectively, as responsible citizens of this country, we shall make all efforts to protect, empower and help effected communities to tide over this emergency," the AAI tweeted.

The airport authority also donated Rs 15 crore from its CSR funds to the PM Cares Fund to deal with the challenges arising out of the unprecedented coronavirus crisis.

"The COVID-19 India crisis is one of the toughest challenges we are facing. The AAI has decided to donate Rs 15 crore from its CSR Fund to the PM-CARES Fund to meet this challenge before the nation. At this moment, contributing to such a collective fund is the need of the hour #AAICares," it said in another tweet.
29/03/20 ANI/TimesNowNews.com

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Flight from Calcutta for stranded foreigners

Calcutta: The federal foreign office of Germany has arranged an Air India flight from Calcutta to evacuate its nationals stranded in eastern India because of the cessation of international flights in India to fight the spread the coronavirus.

Citizens of other European Union nations and the UK will be allowed on board as well.

The plane is expected to fly out from Dum Dum airport with more than 150 passengers on Tuesday morning.

“The embassy signed a contract with Air India on Saturday morning in Delhi. This repatriation programme is for short-term visitors who do not have back-up to stay on as well as Indians who hold permits of residency in Germany,” deputy consul general Jurgen Thomas Schrod told Metro.

The flight will stop at Delhi for refuelling before flying onwards to Frankfurt.

There will be about 100 Germans on board, along with citizens of Britain, France, Italy, Denmark, Sweden, the Netherlands, Belgium, Greece and Finland. “Since this is a special flight, flyers will not get a boarding pass but will have to sign a form to pay a fare equivalent to normal economy class ticket rates.”

The flight has a capacity of 238 passengers but will carry only about 150 to ensure social distancing. “We still have a few seats available to fill up,” Schrod said.

The deputy consul general worked a 10-hour shift on Saturday, attending calls on three phones and answering emails, and was back at his table on Sunday at the consulate general with his colleagues. “We are a small consulate but this needs to be done. My colleagues in other European consulates in the city are also working hard to make this a success. We want to ease the burden on society and the government here in the midst of the pandemic.”
29/03/20 Sudeshna Banerjee/Telegraph

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BIAL appeals RWA not to evict airport employees

Bengaluru: Bangalore International Airport Limited (BIAL) the managers of Kempegowda International Airport has appealed to the Residents Welfare Associations (RWA) to stop evicting Airport workers as it needs to maintain a certain level of critical manpower to continue to handle cargo flights despite the shutdown of passenger operations The staff of KIA complained that the landlords are asking them to vacate their residences due to fears that they would spread the deadly Covid-19 disease among the community.
BIAL Managing Director and CEO Hari Marar said in a letter to the Bangalore Apartments Federation, General Secretary. Cargo operations continue to ensure that people across the country are able to receive their essential commodities like medicines, medical equipment and kits, and household parcels, among others. Besides this, relief aircraft and evacuation flights are also operating from the airport on a need basis”
 29/03/20 UNI

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Amid Lockdown, Indigo Operates Flight From Delhi To Jodhpur For Iran-returned Indians

Mumbai: In-line with its commitment to provide support to the nation in the current scenario, IndiGo operated a relief flight from Delhi to Jodhpur on March 29, 2020. India is currently under a 21-day lockdown till April 14 to curb the spread of the coronavirus and consequently, all international and domestic commercial passenger flights have been suspended for this period.

However, as per an official statement,  the flight 6E-9121 operated by 2 captains and 4 cabin crew, carried 139 Indian passengers to Jodhpur to be shifted to the Army isolation centre. All passengers were certified as being corona negative prior to the flight. These passengers had arrived from Iran to Delhi on another flight as part of the evacuation process of Indian citizens from the Covid-2019 impacted countries.

Furthermore, the statement apprised about the precautionary measures while checking in and operating the flight, including overall staff, crew and aircraft maintenance engineers using personal protective equipment like masks and gloves, spraying disinfectant on all the bags prior to loading, meal boxes placed on seats prior to boarding and passenger disembarkation in lots of 20 and x-ray treatment of all check-in baggage.
Meanwhile, Indian airlines are currently in "grave and immediate danger" of insolvency as a result of disruption in air travel due to the coronavirus pandemic that can reduce about 5.75 lakh jobs in the Indian aviation industry, global airlines body IATA has told Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
29/03/20 Prachi Mankani/Republic World

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Head Constable Deployed at Mumbai Airport Tests Positive For COVID-19

New Delhi: A head constable who was deployed at Mumbai airport has been tested positive for COVID-19 on Saturday. In a statement, Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) informed that the constable was under treatment in a Mumbai hospital for last few days.
Meanwhile, the number of positive cases in Maharashtra rose to 181 today. Presently, Mumbai has 73 positive cases, Pune 32, Sangli 24, Nagpur 11, Kalyan-Dombivali 7, Navi Mumbai 6, Thane 5, Yavatmal and Vasai-Virar 4 each, Ahmednagar 3, Satara and Raigad 2 each.
There is one patient each also in Ratnagiri, Sindhudurg, Ulhasnagar, Aurangabad, Palghar, Kolhapur, Gondia, besides one from Gujarat.
On the other hand, the death toll of COVID-19 patients in the state increased from five to six including a senior Mumbai medico who died while under treatment at a private hospital on Thursday night.
28/03/20 India.com

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Trivandrum International Airport assigned standby function

Thiruvananthapuram: After screening over 2 lakh passengers who arrived in Kerala after Covid-19 outbreak entered a crucial stage, four airports in the state have ceased operations for passengers. However, Trivandrum international airport has been included in the list of standby airports in the country, along with four other airports, as it is close to the international air route. The airport will be used for refuelling and technical landing of aircraft that use the international route.

Chennai, Kolkata, Varanasi and Ahmedabad airports are the other standby airports. C V Ravindran, Director, Thiruvananthapuram international airport, told TNIE though the normal functioning of the airport has come to a halt, it would function as standby airport due to its proximity to international air route. The aircraft passing through the international air route can land here for refuelling purpose. Aircraft can also make technical landing. For this purpose some skeletal staff have been pressed into service.

Staff deployed in non-essential wings have been asked to work from home, but personnel attached to air traffic control, radar, fire services, operations, ground lighting and other key wings would work as usual as the air space is open for other flight operations. A few cargo aircraft have been operating from here chiefly to West Asia with strict restrictions, he said. The airport has also screened 1,023 aircraft from January 29, subjecting a total of 1.13 lakh passengers to thermal scanning. Of them 34 tested positive for Covid-19, while 210 were recommended home quarantine.
28/03/20 Dhinesh Kallungal/New Indian Express

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Flying out of Hyderabad to pinch less after UDF slashed upto 77% from April 1

New Delhi: Flying out of Hyderabad will pinch passengers less, once the corona pandemic ends and normal travel resumes. The Airport Economic Regulatory Authority (AERA) has slashed user development fees (UDF) for departing domestic passengers from Rs 430 to Rs 281, reduced by 35%; and for departing international flyers from Rs 1700 to Rs 393 (without taxes), reduced by 77%.
“The revised UDF shall be applicable for tickets issued issued on or after April 1, 2020,” the AERA order on Hyderabad Airport’s aeronautical tariff for the second control period (April 1, 2016, to March 31, 2021) issued on Friday says.

At the current rate of Rs 430 for domestic departing passengers, airline websites show Rs 507 as with tax figure indicating a rate of almost 18% tax. An international UDF of Rs 1,700 with taxes, show airlines websites, comes out to Rs 2,006 (with 18% tax). So the UDF saving for flyers flying out of Hyderabad will be about Rs 170 and Rs 1,540 per domestic and international departing passenger, respectively.
28/03/20 Saurabh Sinha/Times of India

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Indian airports hits a snag: Scarcity of slots

Kolkata: With suspension of all international and domestic passenger flight services in India, due to the corona virus outbreak, some Indian airports are reeling under shortage of aircraft parking space.

The Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International (NSCBI) airport in Kolkata which has 58 parking bays, now has a total of 53 aircraft parked inside. The outbreak has already dealt a massive blow to the Indian aviation industry and now some airports in the country are reeling under space crunch for aircraft parking.

Due to suspension of both domestic and international flights in India, many airlines have their aircraft grounded at several airports in the country. It recently came to light that the Indira Gandhi International (IGI) airport in Delhi is reportedly running out of space for aircraft parking and has hence made space in its remote bay area and hangars for the purpose.
The Kolkata airport though at present has space for parking but it is only a matter of time when the space runs out. A senior official in the Kolkata airport administration, today, told The Statesman, “At present, there are 53 parked aircraft in the Kolkata airport. The NSCBI airport has a total of 58 parking bays.”

Asked whether it already is witnessing paucity of space, the senior official pointed out, “For now, there is no space crunch since there is no flight operation at the airport. Only medical flights are operating, which are one or two at a time. We still have vacant space for parking aircraft.”
27/03/20 Soumyadip Mullick/Statesman

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Meet unsung heroes of Delhi airport. Yes, airport is still functional

New Delhi: With the announcement of the suspension of all commercial passenger flights till April 14, it may appear that airports across the country are non-functional. But that is not the case.

Our airports are functional and they are being kept operational by a dedicated team of staff, working 24x7, for all cargo and evacuation flights that have been pressed into service during this hour of national and global crisis.

A constant sanitisation of the airports is being carried out, as flights continue to land and take-off. The latter is especially true of Delhi's international airport from where much of the rescue missions are being carried out. On Friday itself, a flight carrying 37 Bulgarian nationals left from Delhi for Sofia. Later in the evening, Japan Airlines evacuated more than 150 of its citizens from India via Delhi.
At Delhi airport, over 500 staff are working round-the-clock to ensure smooth operations. These include operations staff, trolley, cleaning, security, landside management at Terminal 1, 2, 3, inline baggage, airport rescue and firefighting along with airside operations.

Of these, over 100 of the operations and cleaning staff are staying inside the airport premises and, in a way, stand quarantined. They've been involved in the sanitisation of the terminal buildings including check-in areas and counters, baggage belts, immigration counters, custom area, trolleys and washrooms. Delhi International Airport Limited says, "This is the first time an extensive sanitisation work has been undertaken by the airport since it has become operational."
27/03/20 Poulomi Saha/India Today

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Kashmir’s 1st victim ‘wasn’t screened’ at Srinagar airport

Srinagar: Evidence has emerged suggesting that Kashmir’s first coronavirus victim, 65-year-old religious preacher from Hyderpora, who died in a Srinagar hospital on Thursday, had developed symptoms way back in first week of March when he was travelling from Delhi to UP.

The evidence also suggests that he was not screened at the Srinagar airport on his arrival here on March 16 from Jammu. The government has already ordered a probe to look into the alleged mismanagement of the Covid victim by the hospital authorities in Srinagar as for as violation of the Covid protocol is concerned. As per the medical history recorded by the doctors at Covid clinic of SKIMS, which has been accessed by The Tribune, where he visited on March 21, the deceased had revealed his travel history to doctors.

As per the medical history recorded by the doctors at Covid clinic on his admit card, the Hyderpora man had developed Covid-like symptoms, fever, chest pain and dry cough on March 8 when he was travelling from Delhi to UP, where he visited Deoband. “He took medication, but was not relieved of the symptoms,” the doctors at the Covid Clinic-Emergency of SKIMS have noted down. The man died on March 26, exactly 20 days after his first symptoms appeared on March 8 when he came into contact with scores of people not only in Kashmir but in Delhi, Deoband and Jammu as well. In the advice note, SKIMS doctors wrote: “The patient was advised about home quarantine and also advised hygiene, (to) avoid social gatherings...”.
27/03/20 Ishfaq Tantry/Tribune

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Man held for misbehaving with health team at airport

Kochi: Nedumbassery police arrested a man for misbehaving with the medical team at the Kochi airport on Monday.Lami Arakkal, 54, who arrived from Chennai around 9.25pm, was arrested and later released on bail. “When the medical team at the airport asked him to wear a mask and fill out some forms as part of collecting details, Lami got angry. Refusing to cooperate, he verbally abused the doctor and tried to leave,” said an officer with Nedumbassery police station.

The medical team informed the police who reached the spot and arrested Lami. He has been booked under IPC Sections 294(b) and 506(1) on the instructions of District Police Chief (Rural) K Karthik. “His relatives were called to the station and apprised of the situation. He was later released on bail,” said the official.
25/03/20 New Indian Express

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Kempegowda International Airport closed till Mar 31

Bengaluru: Bangaluru International Airport Limited (BIAL) MD and CEO Hari Marar said on Wednesday that Kempegowda International Airport here would remain closed to passengers from 2359 hours on March 24 until 2359 hours IST on March 31. However, ''as per government order the airport will continue to facilitate the transport of essential commodities through its cargo operations,'' the MD further said.
BIAL has taken every preventive measure to contain the spread of virus, including regular screening of all staff-both before and after shifts, the provision of safety equipment like facemasks, gloves and access to hand sanitiser, he stated.
''We are working closely with the State Health Department and Airport Health Organisation to control the virus and have done everything in our capacity to safeguard our surroundings,'' Mr Marar added in a statement.
25/03/20 UNI

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Cops help stranded passengers at airport

Ahmedabad: Ever since a partial lockdown has been imposed in Ahmedabad to curb further spread of COVID-19, the movement of all public transport vehicles including cabs and autorickshaws has been strictly restricted. The restricted movement of vehicles would have hampered movement of scores of travellers who landed at Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International (SVPI) airport in Ahmedabad on Tuesday, however, Ahmedabad city police officials came to their rescue by issuing special permission to private cabs to ferry passengers.

With no cabs and private vehicles available at the airport, a number of passengers who did not have someone picking them up, were left hassled and confused on how to get home. “We saw several passengers walking hassled around the airport when we realized that they are unable to move due the restriction on movement of cabs as well as other modes of public transport. The ACP and DCP took a decision to issue special permission to cab drivers to ferry the passengers,” said K C Rathwa, police inspector, Airport Police Station.

“We contacted a few cab drivers who are regularly visiting the airport and they later informed other cabbies to help passengers move to their destinations. A special letter was issued to each cabbie by the police station, enabling one to move in the city only to drop the concerned passenger and return to the airport, based on which several passengers were sent home,” Rathwa further added.
25/03/20 Niyati Parikh/Times of India

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Why quarantine works better than airport screening

On Monday, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) published research from February 27 that attempts to “identify rational intervention strategies that might work towards control of the outbreak in India” of COVID-19. The research compares the effectiveness and feasibility of two approaches — attempting to contain an outbreak at the border, and quarantining symptomatic cases within the country.

The research makes a case for post-travel tracking rather than border containment. It uses mathematical modelling to show that spending resources on quarantining symptomatic cases can achieve a meaningful impact on the disease burden (assuming an “optimistic” scenario), rather than attempting to achieve infeasible levels of containment at the borders.

At the same time, it also accounts for the inevitability that an outburst of cases would make lab confirmations impractical. Therefore, the paper proposes “symptomatic surveillance” to be included with quarantine measures.
The government has focused on random sampling of patients with severe symptoms and quarantining positive cases. In the initial weeks of rising cases in India, asymptomatic travellers were not tested.
The researchers found that if India screened all symptomatic airport arrivals from China, the epidemic would occur in 45 to 47.7 days. If all asymptomatic arrivals from China were screened, India would need to identify at least 75% of asymptomatic infected arrivals in order to achieve an “appreciable” delay in the outbreak. If 90% were identified, the delay would be 20 days.
25/03/20 Karishma Mehrotra/Indian Express

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Many flyers stranded at Delhi airport

New Delhi: On the last day of domestic flight operations out of Indira Gandhi International Airport before suspension of flights, many passengers succeeded in their last-ditch effort to leave the capital, though some weren’t so lucky when their flights were cancelled owing to crew or pilot unavailability. There were numerous complaints about unexpected cancellations of connecting flights that left flyers stranded at the airport.
From Tuesday midnight, a major chunk of the airport staff will cease working. The cargo terminal operations and special flights bringing Indians stranded abroad will continue, and two runways have also been kept operational for chartered planes and special flights. At 1.30am on Tuesday, 270 passengers landed at IGIA from Iran on a Mahan Airways flight and were sent into quarantine.

“The airport staff requirement will be toned down, and only those essential to operations will be retained for duty. Even their numbers will be reduced because reaching the airport during the lockdown will not be easy,” an airport official informed. “Along with cargo and special flights, we are also prepared to manage chartered planes because a large number of MPs and politicians are in Delhi.”

On Monday, the central government had announced the cessation of domestic flight for a week, starting from 11.59 pm on Tuesday, to combat the spread of Covid-19 cases. An airport source said several flights were cancelled in the last 24 hours. Some had very low occupancy. Among those cancelled was an IndiGo flight to Jammu. Yash Naruka, a Twitter user, posted: “My female friend is at Delhi airport terminal 1D, she's from Jammu. She works in jaipur, she was travelling to Jammu. now in Delhi all the connecting flights have been cancelled and she have no place to go, please look into it (sic)”.
25/03/20 Jasjeev Gandhiok/Times of India

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All flights from Nashik to stop from today

Nashik: All flights from Ozar airport, located around 20-km away from Nashik city, have been stopped from Wednesday until March 31 following directive from director general of civil aviation (DGCA).
Passengers, who have already booked their flights in advance during this period, are to be given free option to change their travelling dates. Alliance Air, a subsidiary of Air India, operates flights from Nashik to Hyderabad, Ahmedabad and Pune, while private airline TruJet operates from Nashik to Ahmedabad.

“There will be no domestic flight between March 25 and 31 due to the outbreak of the Covid-19. The DGCA has already issued a circular in this regard. There will be no domestic flights from Wednesday,” sources from Alliance Air said.


TruJet sources also reiterated the same. “We will be giving free flights on any other days to those who have already booked flights in advance during this period,” sources from the airlines said.

25/03/20 Tushar Pawar/Times of India

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