Airport will be built at Burnapur: Jigajinagi

Vijayapura: Ramesh Jigajinagi, MP and former Union Minster, has said that the proposed airport will be constructed at Burnapur village in Vijayapura taluk in the district.

There was confusion after Public Works Minister Govind Karjol, who represents Mudhol in Bagalkot district, recently circulated a letter stating that he had urged the government to shift the project to the newly acquired land near Mulawad village in Vijayapura district.

“Let me make it clear here that the site for the airport will not shifted. It will come up at Burnapur village in Vijayapura taluk where over 700 acres have been set aside for the purpose. I have already conveyed this message to Mr. Karjol also,” he said here on Friday.
Mr. Jigajinagi also said that the work would start soon.

He also blamed the previous Congress government for not granting funds for levelling the land sought by the Airports Authority of India.

He also accused the private agency, which withdrew from the project, of demanding ₹100 crore to level the land. “The private agency which was not interested to take up the project created this misconception that this much money was needed,” he said.
He said that he has written to the Union government to take up the work on priority and complete it.
22/09/19 The Hindu

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Six locations shortlisted for city’s second airport

Chennai: After dilly-dallying for years on a second airport for the city, the State government has now shortlisted six locations.
Highly-placed sources told The Hindu that Thiruporur, Vallathur, Thodur, Cheyyar, Maduramangalam and Mappedu are on the shortlist.
In a few days, the State government is likely to hold talks with officials of the Airports Authority of India (AAI) to see which site would be feasible to build the new airport. A field visit will also be conducted.
“There are several locations on the radar. We have shortlisted six from them. In fact, one of the locations was identified two months back. But AAI officials felt it was not suitable, in view of technical factors,” said a senior government official. The land requirement for the second airport will be around 2,000-2,500 acres, said AAI officials.
“There is a dire need for a second airport as the existing facility is already getting saturated,” said an AAI official.
22/09/19 Sangeetha Kandavel/Sunitha Sekar/The Hindu

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Nok Air launches Guwahati-Bangkok flight service

Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal on Sunday flagged off Nok Air's Guwahati-Bangkok flight here and hoped that the introduction of the service will help in strengthening bilateral relations between Assam and Thailand.

The introduction of the flight is not just an extension of airline route but more importantly a futuristic gesture, which will go a long way in strengthening bilateral relations between Assam and Thailand, Sonowal said at the flagging off ceremony at the Lokapriya Gopinath Bordoloi International Airport here.

The Nok Air flight will reach Don Mueang Airport near Bangkok in three hours time and offers a convenient connection twice a week for both business and leisure travellers.

"Connectivity has always been a major bottleneck in optimum realization of the growth prospects of the region and with this in view, the Centre has taken up steps to connect six South East Asian destinations from Guwahati under UDAN scheme", Sonowal said.

The first Guwahati-Dhaka flight by Spicejet under International Air Connectivity Scheme was flagged off on July one this year and this flight marked the roll-out of UDAN- International, pioneered by Assam Government with Viability Gap Funding of Rs 100 crore.
22/09/19 PTI/India TV

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‘Business providing fillip to Birsa Munda airport revenue'

Lower tax on aviation fuel and the Government’s impetus to enhance Birsa Munda Airport’s feasibility for industrial transportations has boosted air traffic as well as commercial revenue generated from Jharkhand’s largest airport. In a tete-a-tete with The Pioneer, Airport Director Vinod Sharma gave an insight on the current situation of the airport and the plans in the pipeline. Sharma –a man who seemed visibly busy signing documents and holding impromptu discussions with his subordinates at the airport office on Friday—feels that promoting business in the airport premises will be the most effective way of adding a fillip to the commercial revenue generated here.
Excerpts from the conversation >>

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ILS to be operational at Odisha’s Jharsuguda Airport by December

Jharsuguda: Instrument Landing System (ILS) will become functional at the Veer Surendra Sai Airport in Odisha’s Jharsuguda by December, said airport’s director Sudesh Kumar Chouhan.
Speaking to mediapersons on the sidelines of an event at Sambalpur IIM yesterday, Chouhan further said that the number of parking lots at the airport will be increased to six from the existing two.
The official also informed that flight services between Jharsuguda and Bengaluru will start this winter season. An 198-seater Boeing-737 aircraft of SpiceJet airlines will commence flight service from the airport to Bengaluru on October 27, he added.
Initially, Jharsuguda Airport was only meant for Visual Flight Rules (VFR) operations. Since the city witnesses low visibility and bad weather during most part of the year, this leads to delays and cancellation of scheduled flights.
With new navigational facilities, the airport will become an all-weather airport and will enhance connectivity. This will ensure more regular service which will benefit both airlines and passengers.
22/09/19 Odisha Sun Times

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Doha bound flight returns to Chennai due to glitches

Chennai: A Doha bound flight of a private carrier carrying 240 passengers and a crew of five, on Saturday returned to the airport here, about 40 minutes after its departure due to technical issues, officials said. As soon as the glitches were noticed when it was airborne, the pilot got the nod of authorities to return and safely landed the aircraft at the airport here, they said.

The passengers of the early morning aircraft were provided accommodation at a nearby hotel and the flight resumed its journey hours later. Following a similar episode, involving the same carrier days ago, the civil aviation authorities have asked the airline to look into such matters and submit a report.
21/09/19 Free Press Journal/Yahoo!

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AAI orders probe into Imphal Airport building collapse

Imphal: A day after an under-construction building collapsed at Manipur’s Bir Tikendrajit International Airport in Imphal on Wednesday evening, the Airports Authority of India (AAI) asked the state government’s Planning and Development Authority (PDA), an agency which executes the infrastructural works, to undertake an inquiry into the incident.

Speaking to reporters on Thursday at his office, director of Bir Tikendrajit International Airport, S Senthil Valavan, said that the AAI has advised PDA to conduct the inquiry and submit the report to them.

Meanwhile, the regional headquarters (NER) of the AAI in Guwahati will also conduct a separate investigation into the incident to ascertain the cause and bring out the report accordingly, Senthil said.

The director also disclosed that the project, supposed to be an electrical and mechanical workshop for the international airport, had started its initial work this year after signing a pact between AAI and state agency PDA in November 2017.

Of the estimated total budget of Rs 8.65 crore for the ambitious project, so far, as per the director, Rs 3.45 crore have already been released for the deposit work.
According to reports, a total of 50 workers were engaged at the site when a portion of the ground floor was collapsed right after completion of concrete layering of the single floor cargo terminal building at around 5:45 pm. The incident left eight labourers were injured, including one in critical condition.

Soon after the incident, rescue teams, including the Indian Army and Assam Rifles rushed to the site and rescued the injured workers from the accident spot. Later, the injured persons were taken to the Regional Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS) for first-aid.
“We were worried about the concrete debris and we used the JCBs to cut the steel and remove the debris. During the search and rescue, we also used the live detecting machines to find out if any person was left under the debris but everything was fine,” added Senthil
20/09/19 Vangamla Salle KS/East Mojo

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Air Asia to start services in Tripura from October 20: Official

Low-cost carrier Air Asia would begin operations in Tripura from October 20, a senior official said on Thursday.

"Air Asia has got approval from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation to start services from the Maharaja Bir Bikram Airport here from October 20. Initially, the route would be Imphal, Guwahati, and Kolkata," airport director V K Seth said.

Seth said preliminary activities like recruitment of supporting and ground staff would be completed soon.

Earlier in the day, Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb, in a tweet, had announced that the carrier would soon start its services from the state.
20/09/19 PTI/Moneycontrol.com

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AAI opts out of race to buy shares from Bidvest, ACSA

Mumbai: Airports Authority of India has decided not to exercise its right to bu y shares from its partners Bidvest and Airports Company South Africa (ACSA). The two South African companies have been trying to sell their combined shareholding in Mumbai International Airport Ltd (MIAL) and exit the 13-year old joint venture.
The arbitration court has also given GVK, which operates Mumbai airport, time till October 30 to deposit the purchase price of the shares (Rs 1,248 crore) in an interest bearing escrow account failing which Bidvest has the freedom to sell shares to any third party they wish to after securing necessary regulatory approvals.
As per the original shareholder agreement between MIAL’s partners, AAI has right of first refusal over the Bidvest and ASCA stakes. “The matter was deliberated at the appropriate levels and finally AAI has decided not to purchase the shares which are subject matter of the present proceedings, pending before this Arbitral Tribunal either from Bid Services Division (Mauritius) or of M/S ACSA Global Limited,” said the interim order of the arbitration panel that ET has reviewed.
In April, GVK informed the stock exchanges that it had entered into a non-binding agreement with NIIF-ADIA for its airports business at a valuation of around Rs 12,500 crore.
A deal was to reduce debt of up to Rs 5,750 crore. Canadian pension fund PSP Investments later joined the NIIFADIA consortium. The transaction to ringfence GVK’s crown jewel is yet to be completed. Sources said that the prospective investors have been insisting on a co-control deal with GVK, irrespective of the economic interest, and the right to appoint MIAL’s CFO.
AAI’s decision removes a potential hurdle for Adani Group that had made a play for India’s second busiest airport since January pitting them directly against GVK, the incumbent operator. The Hyderabad based infrastructure company needs to find a partner within the next one and a half months to stall the ongoing takeover attempt.
19/09/19 Mihir Mishra/Arjit Barman/Economic Times

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Hyderabad airport to double its capacity after ministry approval

GMR Hyderabad International Airport Limited (GHIAL) has secured clearance from an environment ministry agency to double the capacity of Rajiv Gandhi International Airport in Hyderabad.

The Expert Appraisal Committee (EAC) in the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change has recommended the airport’s expansion project for environment clearance, The Hindu Business Line reported.

Following the expansion, the airport will be able to handle up to 50 million passengers each year.

The project is expected to entail an investment of approximately Rs85bn ($1.19bn), the publication added.
Rajiv Gandhi International Airport in Hyderabad is the second-fastest-growing airport in India, in the ‘over 15 million passengers per annum’ (MPPA) category.

The greenfield airport handled 18.3 million passengers last year. It was constructed to handle 12 MPPA but was expanded to cater to 25 MPPA.

If approved, the project will build a new terminal (T2) and expand the current terminal (T1).

The cargo terminals will also be expanded, as well as the cargo satellite building and other associated warehouses, to cater to A 5.75LTPA capacity.
20/09/19 Airport Technology

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DMK leader Kanimozhi tweets about Chennai Airport roof leak, Twitter users slam her double standards

Chennai International Airport’s roof is in the news again. The city, that was in news for being parched for months, has received incessant rainfall in the past few days. On September 18, Chennai recorded the wettest day of the year after receiving 104 mm of rainfall.  And it seems, the city’s airport bore the brunt of the heavy showers as the staff there had to place plastic trays to collect the rainwater percolating through the roof.

The incident came to light when Dravida Munnetra Kazagham (DMK) parliamentarian Kanimozhi shared a Twitter post criticising the poor maintenance of the airport.

“First it was the ceiling falling. Now the roof has turned into showers. Plastic containers have been placed to collect the water dripping from above due to rains,” she tweeted.
Though the tweet garnered immediate attention, the opinion of the tweeple was divided. While some upheld Kanimozhi’s concern that the airport should be in a better condition, others reminded her about how her party, along with the United Progressive Alliance (UPA), had opposed plans to privatise the airport. They were of the opinion that privatisation would have given the airport its much-needed facelift.
20/09/19 Jagyaseni Biswas/Moneycontrol.com

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Mumbai airport awaits takers for international slots of Jet Airways

Mumbai: Five months after Indian carrier Jet Airways stopped operations, Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (MIAL) has finished allotting all domestic slots of the cash-strapped airline to various Indian carriers, but is still awaiting takers for the airline’s international slots.

A slot implies a specific date and time when a flight can depart or arrive at a specified airport.

An airport official told The Indian Express, “With most of Jet’s previous Boeing 737 aircraft being inducted by airlines like SpiceJet and Vistara and airlines being quick to capitalise on the opportunity, all domestic slots available are now full.”

“A number of international slots are still vacant and the process of plugging those gaps will take close to six months,” the official said, adding that 60 per cent of Jet’s international slots have been filled up at MIAL. Across India, 175 of Jet’s 346 international slots at AAI airports are still to be allotted to other carriers.

A number of foreign airlines are interested for the international slots at MIAL, officials said.

British carrier Virgin Atlantic has announced flights from London to Mumbai starting next month, US-based carrier Delta Airlines will connect New York and Mumbai starting December 24 and Russia’s Aeroflot and Ural Air are planning to begin services connecting Moscow to Mumbai from the second quarter of the next financial year.

Sources said the domestic slots were easily filled as many carriers had inducted Jet’s aircraft and had flying rights to those destinations.
20/09/19 Parth Khatau/Indian Express

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NGT directs Delhi airport to measure, display prescribed noise levels of aircrafts

New Delhi: The National Green Tribunal has asked the Delhi International Airport Limited ( DIAL) to measure and display the prescribed noise levels for aircraft at the international airport here.

A bench headed by NGT Chairperson Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel noted that a notice to airmen (NOTAM) was issued by the Airports Authority of India, which has been incorporated in the Aeronautical Information Publication on October 11, 2018, regarding use of reverse thrust by pilots while landing.

"We suggest that DIAL not only measure and maintain the prescribed noise levels but also display the same in public domain," the bench said.

The DIAL told the tribunal that it has taken steps to control noise pollution as per the notification issued by the Ministry of Environment and Forests on July 6 last year that laid down certain requirements which are to be complied to by June 17 next year.

The tribunal's order came on a plea filed by an NGO -- Society for Protection of Culture, Heritage, Environment, Traditions and Promotion of National Awareness -- seeking execution of NGT's November 24, 2017 order, which directed authorities concerned to take all mitigating measures for reducing noise pollution expeditiously.
19/09/19 MirrorNowNews.com

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IndiGo decides not to stop B’luru flight

Trichy: IndiGo Air has retracted its decision to withdraw its flight between Trichy and Bengaluru despite high patronage, apparently after an uproar in the social media. The leading domestic carrier had closed bookings on Trichy – Bengaluru and Trichy – Kochi sectors in August.
TOI had carried a report on August 25 saying that both the services were going to be withdrawn from the last week of October, which IndiGo confirmed. Work to be executed at the Kochi airport was stated to be the reason for the withdrawal of the Kochi service. However, despite the Bengaluru service registering cent per cent seat occupancy, the airline closed bookings in that sector too without offering any reason.

Following the social media campaign against the move quoting the Times Of India report, the service provider has now come with a new time table resuming the service to Bangaluru from October 27, sources at the Trichy airport said.

According to the IndiGo booking site, the existing Bangalore timing (arrival at Trichy at 7.40 am from Kochi and departure from here at 8 am and arrival at Bangalore at 9.10 am) will continue till October 26. As per the new time table, the flight will depart from Bangalore at 5.30 pm and arrive at Trichy at 6.50 pm.
20/09/19 D Vincent Arockiaraj/Times of India

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Around 50% of Jet Airways slots at state-run airports still vacant

Five months after the temporary suspension of operations of Jet Airways, around 50 percent of its slots at state-run airports are still lying vacant, as per the officials aware of the development.

The airline grounded operations for a temporary but indefinite period on April 17 and vacated 346 slots at airports run by the Airports Authority of India (AAI) and over 400 at private-run airports, as per the documents reviewed by CNBC-TV18.

Out of the 346 slots vacated by the airline at AAI airports, 174 or 50 percent of the capacity is still to be allocated to other carriers and is lying unutilised.

Chennai, which is the fourth busiest airport in the country as per FY19 figures, has 30 vacant slots. This means that 65 percent of Jet Airways’ capacity at the airport, which stood at 46 slots, is sitting idle.

The issue is serious for non-metro airports like Guwahati and Indore which have a limited number of flight operations and hence, vacant slots to the tune of 10 for former and 16 for the latter are hurting the connectivity to these states as well.

Around eight slots of the airline are also lying unutilised each at Amritsar and Lucknow, as per the information reviewed.
18/09/19 Anu Sharma/CNBC TV18

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Finally, Night Flights at Chandigarh Airport to Become a Reality in October

In a first for the Chandigarh International Airport, a late night flight is set to take off October 5 onwards. This will be the first flight that will operate during the night hours after 7:50 PM. The development came in five months post declaration of round the clock operations at the Chandigarh airport.

First Night Flight Details
GoAir is going to operate the first night flight connecting Chandigarh and Ahmedabad making a halt in Delhi overnight. As per GoAir official, the flight will begin operations from October 5. It will fly six days a week.

The flight schedule is as follows:

Departure from Ahmedabad- 8:10 pm
Arrival at Chandigarh- 10:10 pm
Departure from Chandigarh to Delhi: 10.50 pm
Arrival at Delhi: 12.20 am

The flight will have overnight halt at Delhi airport. Next day schedule is:

Departure from Delhi to Chandigarh- 9:50 am
Arrival at Chandigarh- 11:10 am
Departure from Chandigarh to Ahmedabad- 11:50 am
Arrival at Ahmedabad- 1:55 pm
19/09/19 Times of India/ChandigarhX

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Rise in airport bird-hits poses higher risk to human lives: Report

Kolkata: The incidents of bird strikes have been consistently increasing at airports across the country, posing a higher risk to human lives.

In the past 30 days, the Indian aviation sector has witnessed over five bird-hit cases reported by airlines such as IndiGo, GoAir, AirAsia and Kalitta Air.

Unfortunately, such incidents are only reported; and proactive initiatives towards mitigating such incidents are largely ignored due to lack of regular monitoring and successful implementation of guidelines defined for airport operators, according to sources.

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has defined ‘reporting guidelines’ to the airline players on a bird-hit case, and has laid down guidelines for airport operators to mitigate bird-hit incidents at the airports.

However, there is a strong need to regularly monitor and implement guidelines defined for airport operators to proactively undertake risk assessment and examination of habitat in and around the airport that can reduce incidents; and enhance the safety of the passengers.
Recently, DGCA team visited Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport, 2 days after GoAir flight G8-149 carrying Rahul Gandhi and several opposition leaders was ready to land at New Delhi airport, on which the pilot opted for a go-around as a bird hit was suspected on one aircraft.
The DGCA team reviewed the measures taken by the airport operator to reduce cases of bird hit.
The airport operator informed that they have engaged wildlife consultant to understand aerodrome wildlife ecology and suggestive measures.
18/09/19 India Blooms

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Nine flights diverted, 3 grounded at Patna airport

Patna: Nine flights were diverted and three others were grounded at Jayaprakash Narayan International (JPNI) Airport in Patna on Wednesday afternoon after a fire tender was stuck near its runway. Flight operations at the airport came to a halt at 1.10pm and the runway remained closed till 3.30pm.
Airport director Bhupesh CH Negi said in a statement that the air traffic control (ATC) tower detected minor grass fire about 22 metres away from the runway edge on its northern side around 12.10pm. “The fire started due to the use of crackers by personnel deployed along the runway for scaring away birds as per the standard operating procedure to avoid bird hit,” he said.

Negi said the fire tender was sent near the runway to douse the fire. “During the process of extinguishing the fire, the fire tender tyres got stuck near the runway possibly due to soft surface because of overnight rain,” Negi said.

The airport director said the runway was closed as a precautionary measure and flight operations remained suspended from 1.10pm to 3.30pm. “The Crash Fire Tender was removed with the help of earthmovers,” he said.

While flight operations resumed at 3.40pm after proper inspections, a number of flyers were annoyed and voiced their frustration over lengthy delays and lack of communication from the airlines.

Several flyers tweeted their experience after coming to know that their flights had been diverted to a different airport.

“The Patna airport is a terrible, terrible place. It almost broke me, emotionally. The employees there are trying, but it is way too small for the number of passengers and it is highly disorganized in terms of process,” tweeted Guha Krishnamurthi, a law student.
19/09/19 Faryal Rumi/Times of India

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GoAir Launches Kannur - Kuwait Flights

GoAir is set to operate its maiden flight starting today from Kannur to Kuwait with a brand new Airbus A320 aircraft. The flight will take off from Kerala’s 2nd Greenfield and 4th International Airport that is built on Public Private Partnership in an area of about 2,300 acres. GoAir’s inaugural flight from Kannur to Kuwait has received fantastic response and the flights are fully booked.

With Kuwait becoming GoAir’s 4th destination in the Gulf region, close on the heels of launching Muscat, Abu Dhabi, followed by Dubai and now the princely state of Kuwait, reveals GoAir’s robust plans to expand its operations across the Middle East region. In doing so, Kannur has emerged as a strategic hub for GoAir’s domestic as well as international operations.  Kannur is a popular destination for both leisure and business travelers within the state of Kerala and the new route to Kuwait will provide more affordable flying options to the international travellers.
19/09/19 T3

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Dharmendra Pradhan bats for direct flight to Dubai

Bhubaneswar: Union petroleum minister Dharmendra Pradhan has urged his civil aviation counterpart Hardeep Singh Puri to launch a direct flight from Bhubaneswar to Dubai. Pradhan said 15,000 Odias worked in the UAE and would be benefited by a direct flight.
“I am made to understand that there are more than 15,000 Odias living in different parts of the UAE who are forced to take indirect flights. I also understand that the Odia society in the UAE had a meeting with the general manager, Air India (middle east and Africa), regarding the viability of a direct flight between Bhubaneswar and Dubai based on favourable traffic data between the two destinations,” Pradhan said in the letter.
He has also said Bhubaneswar was a hub of education, tourism and healthcare. “Keeping all these factors in mind, I request your intervention for a direct flight between Bhubaneswar and Dubai,” he said.
19/09/19 Times of India

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