Civil Aviation Development & Discussion

VinodTK · Post by **VinodTK** » 03 May 2011 05:29

The Hosur facility, which will have the capacity for two narrowbodies or one widebody, up to and including Airbus A340-600s and Boeing 777-300s, will obviate the need for Indian carriers to fly their aircraft to Singapore or Dubai for repainting.

neerajb · Post by **neerajb** » 03 May 2011 07:04

Cross posting from International Aerospace Discussion thread:

NRao wrote:Air France flight data recorder recovered

Cheers....

Vasu · Post by **Vasu** » 03 May 2011 15:13

Vipul wrote:This is the chance for shutting down Air Parasite. Declare Lock-out. Sell the airline lock, stock and with the excess baggage to a private player.If this is not done, its going to be only a short time before the airline asks for another 5,000 Cr bailout package.

I can feel some similarities to the time when the UPeeA privatized the Delhi and Mumbai airport in their first stint as government. Then too the strikes went on for some time and got violent, and passengers had to spend a few days wading through trashed terminals and dirty restrooms. The unions finally got around to the negotiating table and agreed to the takeover after 4 days of striking.

The only difference is that at that time, the government was in the middle of the sell-off process, and the new owners at once took over the basic services once they were given the green light. Currently, there is absolutely nothing concrete in terms of Air India sell-off (at least in the public domain). Hence, if at all Air India shuts down, India will at once lose a major chunk of its air capacity for at least the time till an interested buyer can restart some of the routes.

But keep in mind that the process to privatize the airports had been taken during the NDA regime. I'll give props to the UPeeA gov'mint that they at least finished the process. This time it'll be all on them if they decide to privatize AI, and I just don't believe they have the political b@lls to take such a decision. Besides, everybody knows that overstaffing is a major reason for their sorry state, so many employees will have to take the VRS/termination benefits offered to them.

Besides, who will buy Air India? Foreign airlines aren't allowed stakes in domestic scheduled carriers. Some blogs are reporting that British Airways may be interested if FDI rules are "tweaked". Then I heard floating reports on the Tata group's interest in returning to aviation.

neerajb · Post by **neerajb** » 03 May 2011 22:54

Touchdown : The development of propulsion controlled aircraft at NASA Dryden

I was watching ACI/Mayday DHL A300 attempted shootdown over Baghdad in 2003 and it mentioned this novel idea, PCA, conceived during the nineties to prevent such incidents of total hydraulic loss. Such a shame that the technology exists which is inexpensive but still it is not being used. Above article is a wonderful read on how they conceived/developed/tested it.

Cheers....

putnanja · Post by **putnanja** » 06 May 2011 01:51

Airlines allowed to continue ground handling duties till July

The Supreme Court today allowed private airlines to continue carrying out ground handling duties till July when it will start final hearing of the plea challenging a government directive to hand over such duties to airport operators or a consortium led by Air India.
...
...

The apex court today again asked from the government the reasons which prompted it to take over the ground handling duties from the airlines.

"Merely for that you want to take it (ground handling) would not apply. Was their any immediate occassion... what prompted you," the bench asked.

After not getting proper reply, the bench said, "You can takeover even the airlines. The issue is arbitrariness ... Whether you have taken the decision fairly by drawing a line of services which needs to be taken".

Klaus · Post by **Klaus** » 06 May 2011 09:39

Air France crash body lifted from a depth of 3900 metres. Rapid decomposition of the corpse, still wearing a seatbelt, took place as it was lifted through warm waters close to the surface.

Klaus · Post by **Klaus** » 10 May 2011 08:53

The May 2011 edition of the Rotor & Wing magazine is available through the following link at ifile.it: http://ifile.it/nycmb6k.

Alternatively, the online edition can be found on the online digital reader: Link

This edition highlights what one can expect from the HeliRussia 2011 exhibition as well as highlights from the HeliExpo 2011 held in Orlando, Florida. Links are as follows:

http://www.aviationtoday.com/rw/heliexpo2011/photos
http://www.aviationtoday.com/rw/heliexpo2011/videos

Abhijeet · Post by **Abhijeet** » 17 May 2011 00:16

Flew out through Mumbai airport on a domestic flight yesterday. This one was on Jet which was in a different section of the airport I hadn't traveled through before.

One word: Wow. It reminded me of Hong Kong or Incheon -- lots of space, lots of empty seating, soaring roofs and (incredibly for a domestic flight in India) an actual aerobridge to the aircraft!

When you travel through a privatized airport like this, and then on a private airline flight that is as good as anything anywhere else in the world, you have to wonder why every little bit of liberalization has to be fought for so bitterly in India.

In the last couple of months I've traveled domestically on Indigo, Kingfisher, SpiceJet and Jet, and in each case the experience has been top notch. In fact, the end to end experience of airline travel in India -- book online in minutes, print an e-ticket, board through a slick airport, arrive on time and with great service -- is one of the few experiences in India that is truly world class.

merlin · Post by **merlin** » 17 May 2011 19:54

Abhijeet wrote:Flew out through Mumbai airport on a domestic flight yesterday. This one was on Jet which was in a different section of the airport I hadn't traveled through before.

One word: Wow. It reminded me of Hong Kong or Incheon -- lots of space, lots of empty seating, soaring roofs and (incredibly for a domestic flight in India) an actual aerobridge to the aircraft!

When you travel through a privatized airport like this, and then on a private airline flight that is as good as anything anywhere else in the world, you have to wonder why every little bit of liberalization has to be fought for so bitterly in India.

In the last couple of months I've traveled domestically on Indigo, Kingfisher, SpiceJet and Jet, and in each case the experience has been top notch. In fact, the end to end experience of airline travel in India -- book online in minutes, print an e-ticket, board through a slick airport, arrive on time and with great service -- is one of the few experiences in India that is truly world class.

Yeah that's good experience.

Contrast with my recent Air Parasite experience. Spent a lot of time sweating and wondering if the strike would end in time for my return back home from almost 2000 kms away. In the end was able to - minus two bags which got sent to Mumbai! Bad food caused food poisoning to my daughter. A slum like Kolkata airport was the icing on the cake

Purush · Post by **Purush** » 30 May 2011 07:32

How much is true, how much is mudslinging?

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/26/busin ... nted=1&hpw

NEW DELHI — When Bob Haygooni paid a midflight visit to a cockpit at his new employer, Air India, he was shocked. The pilots, he said, had completely covered the windows with newspaper to keep out the sun.

“All you had in the cockpit was this yellowish glow, as the light permeated the newspaper,” Mr. Haygooni recalled, saying it was a visibility hazard he had never seen before in 30 years of flying.

But “this was a normal thing at Air India,” said Mr. Haygooni, a former United Airlines pilot who flew for the Indian airline for 16 months. In April 2010, however, he decided that the paycheck was not worth his concerns over what he considered the government’s haphazard approach to running its state-owned airline.

Interviews with more than a dozen experienced pilots hired in the last three years by Air India to work new international routes describe an airline with problems. But theirs are not the only complaints.

As a result, Air India lost more than $1 billion in taxpayer money in the last fiscal year. And now there is a growing public clamor for the government to get out of the airline business.

Spokesmen for Air India defend the airline as safe and say it is working to correct its problems.

And the nation’s new civil aviation minister, Vayalar Ravi, vowed in an interview Wednesday not to close or sell the airline. “There is no question of Air India being shut or privatized,” he said. He said vested interests who “want to exploit the people for their own profit” were behind suggestions that India’s government give the airline up.

Still, Mr. Ravi said the airline had been mismanaged in the past — including the merging in 2007 of India’s domestic and international state-run airlines. “Nothing positive came out of the merger,” he said, and Air India has bought too many planes.

But the airline does “not make any compromises with maintenance and security,” Mr. Ravi said.

As in many other emerging-market countries, India had a severe pilot shortage about five years ago, as the number of passengers and airlines grew faster than the country could churn out new pilots. Airlines here responded to the pilot shortage by hiring expatriates, including hundreds from the United States, where — until the rules changed in 2007 — commercial pilots were forced to retire at age 60. In India, as most everywhere else, the retirement age has long been 65.

For many of those who joined Air India, the culture clash has been severe. Dozens left before their three-year contracts expired. Of the 186 foreign pilots hired since April 2007, Air India has just 36 left, the company said.

Pilots interviewed for this article expressed safety concerns about basic operations at Air India — particularly its training procedures, which many said were not adequate for teaching the hundreds of new pilots the airline needs for its expansion. Some, like Mr. Haygooni, spoke freely. Others insisted that their identities not be revealed because they said the industry did not reward whistle-blowers.

Air India is “just so far behind the ball I don’t know how they will ever catch up,” said Alexander Garmendia, 64, who joined Air India in 2009 after retiring from American Airlines. He trained at Air India’s headquarters in Mumbai for six weeks, but said he left in part because he was worried about safety.

One safety concern noted by the interviewed pilots was that veteran Air India captains often left cockpit doors unlocked — a practice most carriers around the world abandoned after the 9/11 attacks in the United States. They also said captains tended to leave the cabin during flights, leaving co-pilots alone for long periods. They said pilots’ smoking in cockpits was also common.

Mr. Rattan acknowledged that such things might occur, but “to say it was a trend would be to stretch things too far.”

Expatriate Air India pilots said they were most worried about an inadequate training system that they said created co-pilots with excellent book knowledge but little real-life flying experience.

“The biggest problem is if I have a heart attack, this kid isn’t going to be able to get the plane on the ground,” said one current Air India pilot, who has more than 25 years of commercial airline experience.

At Air India, some pilots say, young co-pilots get few hands-on opportunities in the cockpit. Veteran captains handle the landings and takeoffs, often leaving co-pilots little to do but operate the radio and fill out paperwork.

Most of the pilots interviewed for this article recalled incidents when they let young co-pilots take the controls — a common practice in America and Europe to give inexperienced pilots a chance to learn — but then had to seize back command of the aircraft to prevent a disaster.

An Air India spokesman in Mumbai, K. Swaminathan, said in an e-mail that India’s airline regulator did allow assisted takeoffs and landings by co-pilots, when they were flying with commanders who were authorized to do such training. But “as the airline is in the midst of a fleet expansion, all commanders may not have the necessary experience to allow co-pilots to conduct supervised takeoffs and landings,” he said .

Sriman · Post by **Sriman** » 30 May 2011 08:37

PPRuNe has some absolute horror stories about Air India and Indian aviation in general. You cannot discount the fact that some of it might be expat takleef but there are way too many people talking about similar things for you to dismiss it

Purush · Post by **Purush** » 30 May 2011 11:03

You are right..found these 2 just by a quick google search.

I am going to spend some time looking through the forums (luckily, my 4 y old forum account was still active hehe)
http://www.pprune.org/rumours-news/4455 ... ested.html
http://www.pprune.org/south-asia-far-ea ... anger.html

From the second link (march 2011. apologies if this is a repost)
source http://m.indiatoday.in/itwapsite/story? ... &secid=114

WTF......

Would you trust your life with a pilot who is likely to confuse the sound of apples dropping on the floor inside the cockpit with engine trouble?

A woman pilot of Air India, the commander of the flight, made a dubious entry into aviation history when she did just that with nearly catastrophic results as the flight was taking off from Varanasi for Delhi.

On a Khajuraho-Varanasi-Delhi flight last month, with over 100 passengers on board, Capt. Kanwaljit Kaur braked suddenly as the aircraft was taking-off - it was taxiing at about 240 kmph. It caused all the tyres of the aircraft to burst.

The passengers had a miraculous escape. They were hurriedly offloaded at Varanasi and the flight was cancelled.

However, the airline was tightlipped on the issue and no details are available on whether any passenger was injured, or if the passengers had been compensated.

According to official sources, the national carrier had instituted a formal inquiry into the incident. Capt. Kaur is likely to be let off lightly and allowed to fly again, said a source.

However, the directorate general of civil aviation (DGCA), which has also decided to order an inquiry into the incident, can stop this.

DGCA chief E. K. Bharat Bhushan said the details would be sought from Air India. " It is a very serious incident and will be handled accordingly," Bhushan said.

According to sources, Capt. Kaur had bought the apples from Varanasi and placed them inside the cockpit of Air India's flight number IC-406 on February 11. Then, as the aircraft began taxiing for take-off, the apples started tumbling out one by one, making a dull sound as they dropped to the floor. The commander and her co-pilot, Capt. I. K. Singh, forgetting all about the apples, presumed the aircraft's compressor had either packed up or the engine had shut down and decided it was dangerous to fly.

Capt Kaur, apparently without checking the cockpit instruments, applied sudden brakes and brought the aircraft to a screeching halt.

Airline sources, who did not want to be named, said the plane was at VI speed, or the "decision speed" when a pilot can abort takeoff.

The next stage is V2 or 'initial airborne' when it is difficult to abort take off.

As the apples began rolling inside the cockpit, Capt Kaur reportedly rushed to put them in her bag or in some compartment as the aircraft was taking-off, sources said. During the take-off roll? Because the plane didn't take off, right?

Capt K Kaur, when contacted over the phone, claimed the incident took place on February 7. When asked about the "falling apples" and aborted take-off of the Khajuraho-Varanasi-Delhi flight, she refused to comment.

"I am not authorised to speak to the media," she said.

Capt Subodh Nigam, director of operations at the airline, when asked if any action had been initiated against the pilot, refused to comment. "I am busy in a meeting. Contact the PR department," he said.

Air India's spokesperson Kamaljit Ratan said, "Passenger safety is of utmost importance to us. The incident will be looked into and if needed, action will be initiated." Aviation expert Capt A. Ranganathan said, " This is a serious incident and also a matter of indiscipline which Air India should look into. It is prohibited to carry loose objects inside the cockpit. This could have led to serious consequences.

The DGCA should inquire into the incident." Interestingly, Capt Kaur has a history of idiosyncratic behavior.

She had recently strayed into Pakistani airspaces and caused a huge embarrassment to Indian authorities. The incident had occurred on a Delhi-Amritsar scheduled flight when she flew into Pakistani airspace, revealed an Air India source.

A formal apology had to be tendered to the Pakistani authorities, the source said.

This is a second reported incident in recent days when a pilot's actions had seriously compromised flight safety.

About a month back another pilot, Capt. Parminder Gulati of the private carrier Indigo, had landed the aircraft on the nose landing gear, which is the weakest part of the plane. The incident had occurred on January 11. There were over 100 passengers on the flight.

An inquiry had later revealed that her last 15-20 landings were at an angle which increased the chances of the nose wheel touching first.

Aircraft should land on the main landing gear (MLG), and after the main wheels (at the rear of the aircraft) touch the runway, the speed of the aircraft is reduced. Only then should the nose landing gear (NLG - below the nose of the aircraft) should be lowered to touch the surface of the runway. This is the basic landing technique.

Purush · Post by **Purush** » 30 May 2011 11:13

Another interesting thread..some Air parasite clowns are actually defending their strike..
http://www.pprune.org/south-asia-far-ea ... araja.html

Purush · Post by **Purush** » 30 May 2011 11:31

http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes ... s-oil-psus

NEW DELHI: Cash-strapped Air India suffered a double whammy on Friday with oil marketing companies deciding to supply it only as much aviation turbine fuel on a daily basis as it pays for and the GMR Group putting the Maharaja, along with Vijay Mallya's1 Kingfisher, on cash-and-carry from June 1 at both Delhi and Hyderabad airports.

Unless the aviation ministry is able to get relief for AI now on these fronts, it will have to cough up about Rs 1 crore daily to GMR for using the two airports and slash about 10% flight capacity as oil companies now plan to have a strict cash-and-carry for it and not give any fuel over and above that.

Kingfisher will have to pay about Rs 57 crore to the GMR Group for using its two airports. An airline spokesperson said: "We don't comment on supplier issues as a matter of policy." An AI official said: "These issues will be sorted out. The Prime Minister's Office and ministries of defence
and external affairs owe us Rs 451 crore and if they pay that money, some of our problems will get resolved."

However, the situation looks very grim for AI as the airline has close to Rs 4,000 crore in dues to vendors along with a debt of Rs 40,000 crore and losses of Rs 13,000 crore. AI was lifting about 130 kilo litres of ATF worth Rs 18.5 crore daily from the oil companies. After being put on cash-and-carry last December due to dues of over Rs 2,400 crores to the three oil marketing PSUs, it started paying Rs 13.5 crore everyday.

The oil companies opposed furtherance of credit even on cash-and-carry and recently the daily cash payment was hiked to Rs 16 crore. Oil companies refused to refuel AI planes for a while on Friday that led to cancellation of over 20 flights from places like Thiruvananthapuram, Hyderabad and Mumbai. "Now we have decided that AI will get exactly the fuel it pays for and no more addition to the earlier credit," said a source.

For AI, this translates into about 10% cut in the 130 kilo litres it used to take everyday. This will mean a reduction in flights. The airline is learnt to be working on either merging some flights; curtailing frequencies and closing some loss-making routes on both domestic and international sectors.

So this will negatively impact the revenue, the airline will need another Rs 1 crore to pay to GMR as the airport company has threatened to put it on cash-and-carry. Incidentally, being on cash-and-carry at its main hub airport is going to be huge logistical problem as well as embarrassment for the airline.

The aviation ministry will try to get relief for AI on both these fronts. While the ATF issue will be tackled at secretary Nasim Zaidi's level, the GMR crisis is being tackled internally with joint secretary (airports) Alok Sinha calling GMR, GVK and AAI for a meeting on Monday.

Another report says that pilots have been asked by AI to fill up gas from SIN and DXB when they're there, since fuel is cheaper at these airports.

Vasu · Post by **Vasu** » 30 May 2011 17:16

Every day a new story on Air Parasite, and a follow-up story on its army of defenders.

I wonder what the bottom of the barrel will be? Hmm, most likely another cash support by the government is coming soon. Already its trying to get the handling rights at airports for the parasite. Maybe they'll sell some of their crafts.

Suppose the other airlines keep increasing their capacity and more and more people are saved from traveling by Air India, and they have all this idle capacity and all these idle employees lying around, then what happens?

With all these stories of women pilots coming out, I wouldn't be surprised if it becomes a gender issue soon.

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 31 May 2011 12:56

some of the pvt airlines have heavy investments from pvt banks too. if they go down, the banks will take major hits on NPA front. same banks are also in bed with big realty firms.

in the end the problem boils down to "too big to be allowed to fail" and "systemic risk from a ripple failure"

Surya · Post by **Surya** » 01 Jun 2011 05:14

Mallya is kind of the Trump of India

all show nothng of substance

other than his liquor business

SriKumar · Post by **SriKumar** » 01 Jun 2011 07:40

The black box for the ill-fated Air France flight was recovered recently and investigators have started accessing the data. A preliminary report was released to public.

Air France 447 black boxes reveal new details from doomed flight

This article has a link to a pdf file of the report released by BEA (French version of a Civil Aviation Authority?). The report has a lot of references to basic data like speed, altitude, pitch, bearing etc. It is quite remarkable that that data is even downloadable after 2 years underwater. They do not speculate on the reasons for the disaster but it does say that the plane stalled at 38,000 ft. Stall warnings came on twice atleast, and during the last 3 minutes of the flight, it had a very fast vertical speed (and a very low horizontal speed). Question in my mind is whether the BEA trusts the data recorded by the black box (wasn't there a fear originally that the speed sensors were giving faulty readings due to icing conditions.).

While the cause of the crash was not explicitly explained in the report, air accident investigation agency director Jean-Paul Troadec said a “combination” of faulty sensors, human error and other mechanical issues were possibly to blame. The co-pilots were getting inconsistent speed readings before the plane crashed, according to the report.

It is heartening that the black boxes were retrieved and there is viable data in it. The CVR should give additional info. (assuming it was located).

Another link:
http://nycaviation.com/2011/05/initial- ... ers-pilot/

putnanja · Post by **putnanja** » 01 Jun 2011 10:54

The CVR and DFDR(black box) were both retreived. The pitot tubes measuring the speed was probably iced up and the speed indication was off as per the preliminary report. But other instruments were working properly, so other data was mostly correct. Look up airliners.net and pprune.org for some interesting discussions on this AF447 issue

Austin · Post by **Austin** » 01 Jun 2011 13:46

Air India In Near-Term Financial Distress

chetak · Post by **chetak** » 04 Jun 2011 12:20

Singha wrote:some of the pvt airlines have heavy investments from pvt banks too. if they go down, the banks will take major hits on NPA front. same banks are also in bed with big realty firms.

in the end the problem boils down to "too big to be allowed to fail" and "systemic risk from a ripple failure"

Not to mention PSU banks!!

One flashy private airline has SBI as the lead in it's funding circus.

If you take a small loan like for house building or car loan etc then you worry.

If you take a large multi thousand crore loan then the bank panics and starts to reschedule the loan in a servile and docile manner every time you threaten to default.

Good going for some people.

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 04 Jun 2011 14:35

and the banks take these huge risks with depositors money, and these pvt "entrepreneurs" take these cos to greater heights using others money not their own, which is locked away in tax shelters and trusts.

Vasu · Post by **Vasu** » 04 Jun 2011 15:07

Very true. This is actually true for most privately held businesses, or family controlled businesses, such as the Ambanis, Ruias, Jindals, Agarwal, Bajaj etc. Very shady holding structures, with multiple shell companies abroad.

And yes, lots of debt on their books. Especially at the PSU banks, I think a lot of transactions today are still relationship based, so economic sense can take a backseat. Even a private bank, if it is trying to sign on one of these big companies as a client, will readily take on a few more risks in providing them debt.

To make the point more relevant, most (all?) domestic scheduled carriers are like this - family controlled. Kingfisher owned by Mallyas, IndiGo by InterGlobe (privately held and i couldnt find an iota of financial data online), SpiceJet by the Marans (who as we all know have built an empire of everything in TN), Jet by Naresh Goyal and well nothing to say of Air Parasite, owned by the most opaque entity of all - the Government of India.

At least jet and KF are listed, so at least they have a big incentive to be more open and prudent. I had heard rumors that the Marans might delist SpiceJet. Its stock is already affected by the 2G capers of its parents.

svinayak · Post by **svinayak** » 06 Jun 2011 02:34

Check this
Andaman is getting too much publicity in the western media
Too much strategic now

http://travel.yahoo.com/p-interests-40006587
India: Andaman Islands

These 550 atolls in the Bay of Bengal have all the prerequisites for an idyllic getaway—with an added dose of culture. You can still see a few ancient indigenous tribes. The island of Havelock, a two-hour ferry ride from Port Blair, is arguably the most appealing, thanks to its bone-white beaches. Book a sea-facing villa at the new SilverSand Beach Resort (91-3192/282-493; silversandhavelock.com; doubles from $130) and ask the staff to take you on a trek to the Kala Pather forest.

T+L Tip: Get to know the area’s historic villages on an excursion with Island Vinnie’s (islandvinnie.com; tours from $11).

Bade · Post by **Bade** » 06 Jun 2011 23:19

I think selling AI off to the likes of KF will solve the problem, NOT ! But then who else will buy it I do not know. Either way it is public's money down the drain.

I assume all biggies like Qatar Air, Emirates, etc must also be heavily subsidized to keep them above red. Airline business looks like maya onlee when looked at closely.

Mallya saar still owes me $150 or so. Maybe should approach a small claims court.

Suraj · Post by **Suraj** » 07 Jun 2011 04:12

New Delhi airport passenger volume topped 1lakh/day in May, with T3 alone hitting 80-85K passengers/day. That amounts to 29-30M passengers per year, with a design capacity of 36M passengers/year. Just last year we had people complaining that 'T3 is too big'. Now it seems they better hurry and demolish the old T2 to build T4; T3 will exceed capacity in under 5 years. Problem with air traffic projections is that they don't quite seem to take into account the potential for rising incomes and long suppressed availability to result in supply creating its own demand rapidly.

Vipul · Post by **Vipul** » 07 Jun 2011 21:07

At Delhi, GMR is planning Terminals 4 and 5 for international Ops, while T3 will be for domestic flights only.

Vasu · Post by **Vasu** » 09 Jun 2011 11:03

From my office window here in BKC, I am surrounded by slums on all side with that poor poor Mithi river, full of filth and stench, flowing nearby as I wistfully watch the big planes take off from the airport and I tell myself that I am wasting my time wishing for something like a T3 here!

chetak · Post by **chetak** » 09 Jun 2011 17:16

Bade wrote:I think selling AI off to the likes of KF will solve the problem, NOT ! But then who else will buy it I do not know. Either way it is public's money down the drain.

I assume all biggies like Qatar Air, Emirates, etc must also be heavily subsidized to keep them above red. Airline business looks like maya onlee when looked at closely.

Mallya saar still owes me $150 or so. Maybe should approach a small claims court.

Mallya's airline is bleeding a hundred crores a month onlee.

Cut your losses sirjee.

Vipul · Post by **Vipul** » 09 Jun 2011 22:48

Vasu, the X Shaped terminal at MIAL, should be done by 2013. It would surpass T3 in all parameters.

Vasu · Post by **Vasu** » 10 Jun 2011 09:19

I hope so Vipul. I've been following the construction for a while now and in my mind, the problem is that there are huge encroachments around that area that will need to be removed before that area can be useful at all. Thats one of my big concerns. The Mithi river will be made to flow under ground, but the encroachments will not go easily.

Google Maps link

On Google Maps, I get the idea that the airport only owns the land on which the lower right part of the 'X' will be constructed, but around it are all encroachments.

Vipul · Post by **Vipul** » 10 Jun 2011 21:32

Of the total land that GVK got from GOI after the privatisation, it is implementing a scheme of Free houses for slum dwellers who have encroached on 270 acres (Mera Bharat Mahaan!!!!).
HDIL is building these houses right now and GVK should be able to get the much needed portion to improve the airport.
It is a disgrace to see such big slum clusters all around the airport.
Given the impediments GVK is doing a fab job in building the new airport infrastructure.

VinodTK · Post by **VinodTK** » 14 Jun 2011 04:48

Heliport to come up in Rohini area

If you can afford a small aircraft or a helicopter you may be able to land in Delhi’s northern suburb Rohini. If not, you could still avail private helicopter services to be launched for tourists in remote areas, especially in northern India. Delhi is set to get its first heliport outside the Palam airport area, where small aircrafts and helicopters land.

Vasu · Post by **Vasu** » 16 Jun 2011 17:58

Airbus gets $7.2 bn order from GoAir

Airbus has received an order worth $7.2 billion for 72 planes from GoAir, the latest in a series of Indian airlines scrambling to meet growing demand in India.

The order for A320 planes brings GoAir's total order book with Airbus to $9.6 billion, Managing Director Jeh Wadia told reporters on Thursday.

India's largest private carrier Jet Airways is also expected to place aircraft orders with Airbus at the Paris Air Show later this month, according to media reports.

Earlier this year, budget carrier IndiGo placed a $15.6 billion order with Airbus for 180 planes in what it called the biggest jet order in commercial aviation history.

And in November, rival SpiceJet agreed to buy 30 Nextgen turboprop aircraft from Canada's Bombardier Inc for as much as $915 million.

"In terms of aircraft, we see tremendous potential in India, which has barely six airlines with 350 aircrafts catering to a billion people, compared with China's present 1,100 aircrafts," Wadia said.

GoAir has ordered the "A320neo" planes, an upgraded version of Airbus' best-selling A320 150-seat workhorse. The deliveries will begin in 2015.

IndiGo's ordered 150 of the same aircraft - the A320neo (New Engine Option). From the Airbus website:

Designated the A320neo, this option provides the minimum change with maximum benefit for the best-selling A319, A320 and A321 through the availability of two new jet engine choices – CFM International’s LEAP-X and the PW1100G PurePower from Pratt & Whitney – along with the use of Airbus’ large Sharklets wing tip devices.

Improvements with the A320neo include a 15 per cent reduction in fuel consumption, two tonnes of additional payload, up to 500 nautical miles of more range, lower operating costs, along with reductions in engine noise and emissions.

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 16 Jun 2011 18:21

Indigo is commencing international ops in sept starting with dubai , bangkok and singapore. they have completed the 5 yr in-business yardstick.

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 16 Jun 2011 18:25

meantime Dum Dum continues to limp along in the tail of the armour div....

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1110606/j ... 076660.jsp

Didi, save our terminally ill airport
Holiday rush adds to horrors
SANJAY MANDAL
little has changed at city’s gateway of shame

An airport terminal that makes a mess of handling 10,000 fliers a day has reached breaking point with the passenger count shooting up to 14,000 this summer holiday season.

All the familiar signs of chaos — snaking queues, dirty toilets, vanishing trolleys and bad behaviour by staff — were visible on Sunday, proving that the city’s gateway of shame hasn’t taken a step towards redemption since Metro started highlighting flier woes last year.

“Daily traffic has increased by more than 20 per cent, but there has been no improvement in infrastructure,” said an airport official who did not wish to be named.

Airport director B.P. Sharma blamed an unprecedented surge in holiday traffic for all the problems, insisting that the authorities were doing the best they could to make fliers comfortable. “The domestic terminal is equipped to handle 4,800 passengers a day but we have been receiving around 14,000 over the last few days,” he said.

Metro finds out how pressure has brought out the worst in the airport.

PARKING

Sandip Basu, a resident of Lake Road, realised last week that Howrah railway station does a better job of traffic management than the city airport. “I arrived at the domestic terminal to catch a Delhi-bound flight and felt disgusted by the sight that greeted me. The lane in front of the terminal was so clogged that I was forced to get off my car at a distance and walk with my luggage,” said the 38-year old company executive.

Taxis, the main troublemakers, continue to be a law unto themselves. “They enter the lanes earmarked for private vehicles and nobody reins them in. Discipline enables you to make the best out of a tough situation, but here it is the opposite. More the pressure, more the lack of discipline,” said a businessman stepping out of the terminal at rush hour on Sunday.

An airport official blamed a traffic rejig for the chaos. “The taxi parking lot has been shifted to the exit route because of construction, blocking one lane. Vehicles with VIP stickers are also parked in that lane,” he said.

QUEUES

Subhashis Dutta was headed for Bangalore last week after a holiday in the city when he got stuck in the security-check queue for nearly 30 minutes. “My Jet Airways flight was scheduled to take off at 6.15am and I was worried when the minutes ticked by and the queue moved ever so slowly. I reached the boarding gate on time but the flight was delayed because many of my co-passengers were way behind me in the queue. The flight took off at 6.40am,” he recalled.

Dutta said he hadn’t seen a more chaotic airport. “How can they not provide fliers a place to sit while they wait for boarding? It’s such a shame,” he said.

The torture starts from the entrance and doesn’t end till a flier is past the boarding gate.

“There are two entry gates but nobody uses the one that is for passengers as well as visitors because there is nobody to guide anyone. Nothing seems to have changed since last Puja,” said surgical oncologist Gautam Mukhopadhyay.

City-based businessman Kumar Aswani was to take a flight to Delhi two days ago when chaos stalked him at every step.

“My flight was at 9am and I was at the airport by 7.30am. It took me 10 minutes to enter the terminal, 15 more minutes to get my luggage scanned and 40 minutes for security check,” he said.

The in-line baggage system that all modern airports have has been installed but the staff are still not “fully trained” to operate it, an official said.

The number of counters in the domestic terminal is 50 to Mumbai’s 118. The plan to expand the security hold and add more counters for security check has yet to be implemented. The entire domestic terminal makes do with six X-ray machines and 12 frisking booths.

“From June 15, we will have a larger security hold, one more X-ray machine and three extra frisking booths,” airport director Sharma promised.

According to an official of a private airline, several morning and evening flights are being delayed by 15 minutes on an average.

TROLLEYS

Sanjay Purohit, 50, arrived at the airport to take a JetLite flight to Delhi on Sunday when trolley trouble struck. “It took me more than 20 minutes to find a trolley and I had to walk till the exit gate… I couldn’t find a single one there either. My vehicle was parked in the lane and those behind me were constantly honking. It was so frustrating,” he said.

Nearly 300 damaged trolleys have been dumped in front of the airport police station instead of being repaired, negating the addition of 200 new trolleys.

The 80-odd employees whose job it is to retrieve the trolleys left by fliers in the parking lot and elsewhere continue to take things easy. “Trolleys get damaged regularly because these are not retrieved and maintained properly by the staff. Nobody can take them to task as they are backed by political parties,” an official said.

The number of trolleys in use is less than 2,500, which works out to one trolley for five passengers during the holiday rush.

“The contractor is not getting the trolleys repaired. We will soon seek new bids,” the airport director said.

CLEANLINESS

Businessman Raj Metharamani knows the airport is being stretched but can’t understand what prevents the authorities from maintaining the minimum level of cleanliness.

“You have to cover your mouth with a handkerchief before entering a toilet. Even railway toilets are better,” he complained.

The airport had procured mopping machines last year but already two of them have developed snags. “The equipment is hardly maintained,” an official said.

BEHAVIOUR

If running into problems at every step leaves fliers frustrated, the behaviour of the Airports Authority of India staff makes many of them promise never to seek assistance from an official.

“Nobody answers queries or hears a complaint properly. Once I was searching for a trolley and was rudely asked by a staff member to ask the airport manager about the shortage,” Metharamani recalled.

“The Citu-backed employees’ union has instilled this culture. We will change this within a few months,” promised Union minister Saugata Ray, the chairman of the airport consultative committee.

nachiket · Post by **nachiket** » 16 Jun 2011 18:37

^^No surprises here. This is commie paradise land we are talking about. They opposed airport privatization tooth and nail. Highly unlikely that the situation is going to get better anytime soon. And expecting miracles from Mamata Didi is just

She is not Nitish Kumar.

What is the situation of Chennai airport now BTW? That was the other metro airport not privatized when the Mumbai and Delhi airports were. It'll still be probably better than Kolkata though.

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 16 Jun 2011 18:42

hopefully JJ can slap AAI into line and do good things to Chennai. its a question of intent and execution - I dont think funds and land is a problem for chennai type gateway into far east and pacific rim.

Aditya_V · Post by **Aditya_V** » 16 Jun 2011 20:33

nachiket wrote:^^No surprises here. This is commie paradise land we are talking about. They opposed airport privatization tooth and nail. Highly unlikely that the situation is going to get better anytime soon. And expecting miracles from Mamata Didi is just She is not Nitish Kumar.

What is the situation of Chennai airport now BTW? That was the other metro airport not privatized when the Mumbai and Delhi airports were. It'll still be probably better than Kolkata though.

What is Situation in Chennai Airport RIght now, Busy Bus Terminas, Central Railway Station or more appropriately a big Public Toilet. Kinda like the ersthwhile Begumpet Airport in Hyderabad.

Vasu · Post by **Vasu** » 17 Jun 2011 10:22

nachiket wrote:^^No surprises here. This is commie paradise land we are talking about. They opposed airport privatization tooth and nail. Highly unlikely that the situation is going to get better anytime soon. And expecting miracles from Mamata Didi is just She is not Nitish Kumar.

What is the situation of Chennai airport now BTW? That was the other metro airport not privatized when the Mumbai and Delhi airports were. It'll still be probably better than Kolkata though.

Nachiket, the problem's not didi's ability to bring about a change, the problem is the mindset.

Having studied in IIMC, I have seen first hand the absolute pigheadedness of most people there when it comes to doing business. In West Bengal, change is the most difficult thing to bring about. For one, WB is not a communist economy, it is a CPI(M) economy. That system will have to be dismantled first.

To not derail the thread, please do check out the Kolkata Airport construction thread on Skyscraper City - India. There are finally some photos of the new terminal under construction. The artists rendering of the new terminal are actually mind blowing.