Airports: India
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Naming airports after politicians resented
The Times of India Jan 09 2016
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
In an unexpected move, some state governments have recommended doing away with the system of naming new airports after individuals, a proposal that is being considered by the civil aviation ministry .
“The proposal has come from some of the state governments but a final decision is yet to be taken. It will, however, not result in a change of name for any of existing airports,“ minister of state for civil aviation Mahesh Sharma told TOI.
Naming airports and other facilities after politicians has been a trend in the country and often triggered controversy . Recently , there was a row over naming the Bengaluru airport with some violent protests demanding that the facility be named after Tipu Sultan instead of calling it Kempegowda International Airport. While the suggestion had come from theatre and film personality Girish Karnad, it later turned into a major controversy.
Similarly , at the Hyderabad airport the domestic terminal named as NT Rama Rao, the film star-turned politician soon after TDP nominee Ashok Gajapathi Raju took charge as aviation minister in the Narendra Modi government.
Several airports across the country are named after politicians or freedom fighters, a practice that even the highly-politicised railways does not follow.
Runways, tricky
Srinagar, Leh, Port Blair, Kozhikode, Lakshadweep
Mangalore among six ‘tricky’ strips ON GROUND & IN AIR: FLYING INTO DISASTER
Anshul Dhamija | TNN
DANGER ZONES
Srinagar Leh Port Blair Kozhikode Lakshadweep
Mangalore: Mangalore’s Bajpe is a ‘special’ airport. Perched on a hillock, its runway is built on a flat stretch of land. Both ends of the runway, which has a mere 90-metre safety area against the 300-metre norm, slope downwards. That makes it tricky for pilots.
If a pilot misjudges landing or take-off, the aircraft will overshoot the runway and go downhill. That is what seems to have happened on Saturday.
Besides Mangalore, there are several other airports that come with a ‘special tag’ due to peculiarities and complexities involved in the landing and take-off procedures. Typically, airports located in hilly and mountainous regions, and those adjacent to water bodies like rivers and seas are classified as ‘special’. They include airports at Srinagar, Leh, Port Blair, Kozhikode and Agatti (Lakshadweep). The Vizag airport used to be on this list until a new airport was built.
“The runways at the airports in Leh and Port Blair are unidirectional, which means aircraft can only land and take off in one direction irrespective of the direction of the wind. That’s because both have mountainous terrain on one side of the runway,’’ says a former IAF pilot. Only experienced pilots can fly to special airports
Mangalore: Airports located in hilly terrain, such as Mangalore’s Bajpe and others, often get a ‘special tag’ due to complexities involved in landing and take-off. ‘‘At the Calicut airport, pilots have to keep a close watch on the hills close by. At Agatti, the runway is very small, with tall trees on one side of the airport. At Srinagar airport, the winds are of high speed and the topography mountainous,’’ says a pilot, who flies for a leading airline in India.
Only very experienced pilots and co-pilots are deployed to fly aircraft to special airports. According to airline officials, pilots operating to these airports undergo special training, and are constantly put through special checks.
Mangalore, Patna
Table-tops, bird hits: Many tricky runways in India TIMES NEWS NETWORK
New Delhi: The Air India Express Boeing that crashed in Mangalore on Saturday veered off the runway after missing the landing threshold — an error that rarely causes a crash. In this case it did because of the runway’s unusual configuration. The airstrip sits on a plateau making landing a test of any pilot’s skill. But Mangalore’s Bajpe airport isn’t the only tricky one in the country and experts warn that more such disasters are waiting to happen if the burgeoning aviation sector doesn’t keep pace with safety norms.
Particularly, the Kozhikode international airport in Kerala, with its table-top runway, comes under the scanner. A flight overshot the runway recently but the pilot was able to halt the aircraft preventing a disaster.
The Kozhikode airport has a 2,860 m long runway surrounded by hillocks. There’s a valley at the end of the runway as in Mangalore. Experts have long demanded a 12,000 ft extension apart from an additional ILS. But this hasn’t materialized. ‘‘A table-top runway is the only option, given the terrain,’’ said airport director G Chandramouli.
Up north in Bihar, Mangalore is waiting to happen at Patna with only 6,330 ft of the 7,500 ft runway available for landing. Because of this, airlines don’t operate with full load, particularly in summer. Bigger aircraft just can’t operate here. A disaster here would be much worse than Mangalore because if an aircraft overshoots the runway, it will crash into human settlements. Also, the Patna-Delhi railway track lies parallel to the airport’s boundary wall.
A decade-and-half after the first international flight took off from Jaipur, the city’s Sanganer airport continues to operate on International Civil Aviation Organization’s provisional licence due to non-compliance with norms. The organization is concerned about the airport’s proximity to residential areas.
Chandigarh international airport lacks adequate facilities and falls short of safety norms with no night landing facility. Ahmedabad’s Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel international airport, with 80 flights and an average of 5,475 passengers daily, is one of the busiest in the country. It reports the highest bird hits in the country mainly due to slums and the vegetation around it, forcing the authorities to install laser guns to scare away birds. In 2009, it reported 24 bird hits. Along with bird hits, Nagpur airport has often been in the news for ‘‘animal hits’’ due to its proximity with monkey and deer habitat.
Potential Disasters?
Kozhikode International Airport Patna Airport Sanganer Airport, Jaipur Chandigarh International Airport Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport, Ahmedabad Nagpur Airport
Chamundi Hills, in the vicinity of Mysore airport, is not in the aircraft’s approach path, but concerns have cropped up now
Runways, tricky III Patna and Jammu
Patna and Jammu runways most critical: Aviation min Saurabh Sinha | TNN
New Delhi: Patna and Jammu, both nightmarish landing strips for pilots, have emerged as the most critical among 11 airports in an evaluation by the aviation ministry in the aftermath of the Mangalore crash last month. The runway in both these busy airports is shorter than Mangalore’s (8,000ft), with no room for error or emergency.
The Patna strip runway is so constrained that authorities fear a Mangalore-like situation could mean the plane breaching the boundary wall and ramming a train as a railway line is just beyond the 6,000ft runway. The aviation ministry is set to ask the Bihar government to act fast on its advice to shift the airport.
Jammu has a longer runway, at 6,700 feet, but aircraft have to apply screeching brakes as they negotiate a sharp turn on approach. A longer turn could mean entering Pakistani airspace just 6 nautical miles away.
Even Riskier Than Mangalore?
Patna’s runway is just 6,000ft long (Mangalore was 8,000ft long). Tall trees of a botanical garden on one side and a railway line where the runway ends. No scope to extend runway Jammu runway is 6,700ft long. Difficult, sharp-turn approach to runway means planes have to apply screeching brakes on landing
Armed forces opposed to extending Jammu runway to 8,000ft Politics roadblock to alternative airport at Patna?
New Delhi: Post-Mangalore crash, the aviation ministry has identified 11 airports where the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) had sent teams for inspection as critical. These airports are: Leh, Kullu, Shimla, Port Blair, Agartala, Lengpui, Calicut, Mangalore, Latur, Jammu and Patna — the last two the most critical.
Most of these airports are situated in difficult terrain where extending the runway is next to impossible. In Kullu, for instance, the river Beas flows on both ends of the runway. The only way to extend the airstrip is to build a bridge on the river and link it to the airstrip.
Almost a week after the list was prepared for priority inspection, a top official said: “In other places, certain safety augmentation measures can be taken but those two cities don’t offer much scope. Patna airport has a botanical garden with high trees on approach and a railway line on the other end of runway. Trees can’t be cut and the railway line can’t be shifted. As a result, planes have to land in the 6,000-feet available with no room for error. The state government has been asked to shift the Patna airport for a while now.”
The site identified for the alternate airport is Bitah, an existing defence airport that sees one or two flights a week.
Sources said the state’s delay in shifting the airport is due to political considerations — a section of the ruling party is known to favour a top state leader’s constituency as the location for the new airport.
Small airports: Poor visibility
Poor visibility at small airports a worry
V Ayyappan | TNN
Chennai: Though visibility is a crucial factor for pilots to make a safe landing, most of the small airports in the south do not have modern equipment to measure runway visibility and feed it to the air traffic control system.
With rains round the corner in the west coast, accurate information about the extent of visibility at airports in Thiruvananthapuram, Kochi, Kozhikode, Mangalore and Coimbatore is vital for pilots.
At the Chennai airport that handles up to 400 flights every day, there is only one transmissometer — used to gauge runway visibility range (RVR) — installed near the touchdown point at the Pallavaram end of the main (07) runway. The other end of the runway does not have the equipment.
‘‘A transmissometer would have helped the pilot of the ill-fated Air India Express flight at Mangalore. Readings of dew point and temperatures were indicating that air was less dense, which means the aircraft may have needed more landing run, said V Krishnan, a former office-bearer of Air Traffic Controllers Guild.
International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) recommends RVR for runways served by Instrument Landing System (ILS). And almost all airports have ILS, still they do not have transmissometers, he added.
The meteorological department has chosen to install the equipment at airports where they have a forecasting office instead of looking at the requirement of pilots. Here too, only one end of the runway has transmissometers.
When transmissometers are not installed, the Met department issue does a manual calculation by measuring the lowest distance from where an object could be spotted at a 360 degree angle.
Though plans to install more such transmissometres were drawn up two years ago, fund crunch had slowed down the installation. Met department hopes that the Mangalore disaster would speed up the process.
Indian operators at foreign airports
The Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) is the regulator for civil aviation security in the country and is responsible for laying down the standards for embarkation security and anti-sabotage measures in respect of civil flights and ensuring their compliance through regular Inspections and Security Audits. The aim of BCAS is to safeguard Civil Aviation operations against acts of unlawful interference and it is the regulatory authority for discharging all relevant national and international obligations in respect of training of personnel in aviation security responsibilities which include, inter alia, planning and co-ordination of all aviation security related activities, operational emergencies and crisis management. The Commissioner of Security (CA), BCAS is the "Appropriate Authority" to ensure development, maintenance, updating and implementation of National Aviation Security Programme for India and to fulfill all international obligations in this context.
The BCAS has its headquarters in New Delhi and 4 Regional Offices located at Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai airport, each under a Deputy Commissioner of Security (CA), regulating, monitoring and conjecturing regular security Inspections and audits of the airports in Northern, Eastern, Western and Southern region, respectively.
A proposal for restructuring/strengthening the BCAS has since been approved by the Government of India which involves establishing of four additional Regional at Amritsar, Guwahati, Hyderabad and Ahmedabad, each headed by a Deputy Commissioner of Security. The Four existing Regional offices at the Metros, viz., Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata will be upgraded and headed by an officer of the level of Senior Deputy Commissioner of Security. Besides this, 69 additional posts have been created at various levels to strengthen the existing infrastructure.
Further, one post of Joint Commissioner of Security (CA) of the rank of inspector General of Police has also been created to strengthen the senior management level at the BCAS Headquarters.
AIRPORTS AUTHORITY OF INDIA
Airports Authority of India (AAI) is a leader PSU under the Ministry of Civil Aviation engaged in development, building airport infrastructure & managing airports across the length and breadth of the country including remote and far flung areas. AAI came into existence on 01.04.1995 with the merger of the then two authorities (National Airports Authority & International Airports Authority of India). AAI manages 115 airports including 23 civil enclave and also provides CNS-ATM facilities at 11 other airports. AAI has been bestowed with the responsibility to manage the entire Indian airspace measuring around 2.8 million nautical square mile area covering the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea, as designated by ICAO for provisioning of Air Traffic Services in the said air space.
Development of Airport Infrastructure-Status Thereof
As is known, AAI had embarked upon a laudable plan of moderning and upgrading its airports due to the influx of air traffic in the past decade. AAI had dual aim. Firstly to match/keep pace ahead of the increase in the density, both of aircraft & air populace and secondly, to provide the country with world-class standard airports. Accordingly, 60 airports inclusive of Kolkata and Chennai airports were identified for modernization and upgradation, rationale being to develop the State Capitals and other airports which have the potential to attract the tourist and business travellers who would meaningfully contribute towards the economic growth of the state.
The task involved being humongous and cost intensive, the magnitude can be well gauged from the fact that the capital outlay in the 10th Five Year Plan was R 3534 crores wheareas in the 11th Five Year Plan it was R 12964 crores, an increase of almost 300 per cent, modernization of Kolkata and Chennai Airports being to the tune of 4340 crores (2325 crores Kolkata & 2014 crores Chennai). Most of the airport infrastructure projects initiated have since been completed or are near completion and thus making AAI stand in good stead, as the facilities provided are not only user-friendly but also of world-class standard based on the latest state-of-the art technology. However, to be more specific, appended below are the details:-
Projects Completed
Amritsar, Dehradun, Jaipur, Kullu, Srinagar, Udaipur, Varanasi, Gaya, Cooch Behar, Agartala, Barapani (Shillong), Dibrugarh, Lilabari, Ahmedabad, Aurangabad, Bhopal, Nagpur, Pune, Surat, Calicut, Madurai, Mangalore, Mysore, Trichy Trivandrum, Vizag, Chandigarh and Godia airports.
Projects near Completion
Lucknow, Khajuraho, Ranchi, Vadodra, Jaisalmair, Bhubaneswar, Raipur, Goa, Indore, and Rajahmundri Airports. Projects on the anvil Portblair, Jammu, Coimbatore, Puducherry and Tirupati.
DELHI, MUMBAI AIRPORTS: RESTRUCTURING
Modernization of Delhi Airport : The Operation, Management and Development Agreement (OMDA) was signed between M/s Delhi International Airport Pvt, Ltd. (DIAL) and Airports Authority of India (AAI) on 04.04.2006. The lease of the Airport to the Joint Venture Company is for an initial period of 30 years, which is extendable by another 30 years. Subsequent to the signing of OMDA, DIAL took over IGI Airport on 3rd May 2006.
DIAL had prepared a 20 year Master Plan for restructuring and development of IGI Airport, projecting all the facilities which will be commissioned in a phased manner and would ultimately cater to 100 million passengers by 2036. With the completion of Phase-I work of IGIA in 2010, a new integrated Terminal-3 has become operational with 34 million passenger handling capacity per annum, covering both international and domestic passengers, 168 check-in counters, 24 remote check-in counters, most modern 5 level in-line baggage system, 98 immigration counters, 78 aero bridges, multi-level car parking (4300 cars capacity), 3000 CCTV, 352 Screening machines, etc. IGIA has been rated as 4th in the category of 25-40 million passengers per annum (mppa).
Modernization of Mumbai Airport
The OMDA was signed between Mumbai International Airport Pvt. Ltd. (MIAL) and AAI on 4th April, 2006, and the latter took over the management and development of Chhatrapati Shiva ji International Airport (CSIA) w.e.f. 3rd May, 2006. There was a transition phase of three months and w.e.f 3rd August, 2006, MIAL has been independently handling management and operations of CSIA. As per the Master Plan prepared by MIAL, total project cost for development of CSIA is estimated to be Rs.9802 crore. The target date for completion of this project is 31.12.2012. The major development works completed during the Year 2010-11 are S6 (Realignment of Taxiway B1 to Code F), S09 1108 India 2012 (Completion of South-West pier) projects, Apron T2, Upgradation and Realignment of Runway 09/27, Relocation of Various Facilities, integrated passenger terminal/ car park/Sahar Access Road, Other Projects etc. CSIA, Mumbai has emerged as one of the top performing airports and has been rated the 2nd best airport worldwide by ACI in the 15-25 mppa.
GREENFIELD AIRPORTS
Bengaluru International Airport, Devanahalli, Bengaluru : A Greenfield airport project at Devanahalli near Bengaluru has been implemented on a Build Own Operate and Transfer (BOOT) basis for 30 years with Public-Private-Participation (PPP) at a revised cost of Rs.2068 crore. Government of Karnataka and AAI together hold 26% equity and the strategic joint venture partners hold the balance 74%. AAI's investment in the equity is capped at Rs.50 crore. A Consortium led by Siemens, Germany with Unique Zurich, Switzerland and Larsen and Toubro, India Limited, as other members have been chosen as the strategic Joint Venture Partners. The airport was commissioned on 24 May, 2008.
International Airport, Hyderabad
Rajiv Gandhi International Airport, Shamshabad, Hyderabad
A Greenfield
airport has been developed in Shamshabad, near Hyderabad on Build Own Operate and Transfer (BOOT) basis with PPP by the Government of Andhra Pradesh. The approximate cost of the Project is Rs.2920 crore. AAI and Government of Andhra Pradesh together hold 26% equity with AAI's equity being capped at Rs.500 million.
The balance 74 per cent is being held by the strategic partner, a consortium consisting of M/s GMR Enterprises and Malaysian Airports Holdings Berhand (MAHB). The airport was commissioned on 23 March, 2008.
It is worth mentioning that Airports Council International has adjudged Rajiv Gandhi International Airport, Shamshabad near Hyderabad as the 'World's Best Airport' for the airport service quality amongst the airports handling 5-15 million passengers, category for the year 2009.
Policy for Greenfield Airports
The Government has promulgated the Policy for Greenfield Airports on 24.04.2008. The new policy aims to streamline the approval process to facilitate strengthening and augmenting of airports infrastructure in the country. It also attempts to make the approval process more transparent and predictable. The policy does not attempt to undermine the authority of the Government/Union Cabinet. Pursuant to Policy for Greenfield Airports, a Steering Committee was constituted to monitor and facilitate the approval process of proposals received for setting up of the airport.
So far, the Central Government had accorded "in-principle" approval for setting up of a Greenfield airport at Mopa (Goa), Navi Mumbai, Sindhudurg (Maharastra), Bijapur, Gulbarga, Hassan, Simoga (Karnataka), Kannur (Kerala), Pakyong (Sikkim), Durgapur (West Bengal), Dabra (Madhya Pradesh), Palladi (Rajasthan), Kushinagar (Uttar Pradesh), Karaikal (Puducherry) and Shirdi (Maharashtra).
Airport Economic Regulatory Authority (AERA)
AERA has been established on 12.05.2009 with the prime objective to create a level playing field and foster healthy competition among all major airports (Government owned, Public Partnership based, Private), encourage investment in airport facilities, regulate tariffs of aeronautical services, protection of reasonable interest of users, operate efficient, economic and viable airports at notified airports. The commencement of chapter III and chapter VI of AERA is notified, w.e.f. 01 .09.2009
to enable AERA to discharge regulatory functions. AERA has got operationalized with manpower consisting of Chairperson, Secretary and other skeleton supporting staff. The AERA is in the process of formulating approach, philosophy in economic regulation of airports and air navigation services for regulation of tariff in consultation with stakeholders.
Unsuccessful airports
The Times of India, Aug 20 2015
Ghost airports bear witness not all projects soar
Two-and-a-half years after the completion of a new $17 million terminal building, the airport in Jaisalmer, stands empty . Not a single passenger has passed through the gates of the airport in Rajasthan, big enough to handle more than 300,000 travellers a year, with parking bays for three 180seater narrow-body jets.
India has spent more than $50 million since 2009 on eight airports that do not receive scheduled flights -white elephants that are a reminder of the pitfalls for PM Narendra Modi as he bets on an infrastructure drive to fuel growth.
India's main hubs, mean while, are bursting at the seams, slowing airlines' ability to expand in a vast country where they should be supporting economic growth.
“They (the government) need to realise it's not a case of `build the airport and we will come',“ said Sanjiv Kapoor, chief operating officer at SpiceJet. The airline last year ceased flying to a new airport in Mysore because of insufficient demand.
2015
2015: Mumbai airport
Manju V
May 18, 2015
Mumbai airport handles record 851 flights in a day
Surge in flights out of Mumbai airport
The congested Mumbai airport which uses only a single runway at a time for flight operations handled a total of 851 flight movements on May 15, 2015. For a while now, the airport has been handling record number of flights on particular days. Prior to this, in February 2015, the airport handled 840 takeoffs and landings in a day as there was a sudden rise in number of charter flights operated out of the city as politicians thronged Anjani village to attend former deputy chief minister R R Patil's funeral.
The sudden increase in flight movements was caused by an increase in charter aircraft operations. On an average, other than the passenger flights, the airport handles about 30-40 charter flights a day. But on certain days, the number of charter flights jumped. Apart from the scheduled flights, the airport handled 50 charter flights and 24 freighter flights. The Mumbai airport has been working towards reducing Runway Occupancy Time (ROT) for aircraft so that more operations can be handled in an hour.
However the extra load was not handled during peak traffic time. That is because charter flight operations are banned from 8 am to 10 am and 5 pm to 7 pm. The waiting time to take off or land on Mumbai airport's runways may be long in the morning and evenings, but the scene is different in the afternoons when the flight movements are low and flights depart more or less on-time, except on days when there are problems like weather-related delays.
