Employees and officers of the Airports Authority of India on Friday staged a demonstration at major airports across the country to protest against the privatisation of Mumbai and Delhi airports, but flights and other operations remained unaffected.
The airports chosen for operation, management and development through a public-private partnership model are those in Lucknow, Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Mangaluru, Thiruvananthapuram, and Guwahati.
Airport sources said the Delhi-bound Jet Airways plane was taxiing on the runway at 0840 hrs when it stopped at the end moment. At the same time, the Chennai-bound Air India flight from Delhi was given landing permission by the Air Traffic Control (ATC).
The vigilance unit of the Delhi police arrested sub-contractor of the Airports Authority of India Satpal and his two accomplices Sudama and Salimuddin.
The creation of joint ventures by Delhi International Airport Ltd (DIAL) has not impacted its revenue share, says the Airports Authority of India (AAI).
They shouted slogans against the signboard when the airport is named after Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj.
Employees of Airport Authority of India began a "non-cooperation" drive across the country at the stroke of midnight opposing the closure of existing airports in Bangalore and Hyderabad. There has been no disruption in services so far. The domestic or international flights from Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai Hyderabad and Kolkata airports were on schedule. However, baggage services were affected in some airports.
The spokesperson said India has "always advocated constructive, solution-oriented, and practical engagement with all stakeholders to achieve a negotiated settlement to this conflict".
The AAI, which manages the Juhu airport, has proposed to extend the existing 1,140-metre runway by 700-800 metres to enable it to accommodate turboprops and small passenger jets.
A 35-year-old man who was allegedly behind a series of hoax bomb threats to airports and railway stations across the country has been arrested after he presented himself before Nagpur Police, an official said on Friday.
Experts, too, believe that developing airports in places such as Meerut or Moradabad could be a loss-making proposition.
Civil Aviation Minister Vayalar Ravi on Thursday asked managers of state-run airports to tighten up their belts for competing with private-led ones and fulfil their customers' expectations.
Mumbai International Airport Pvt Ltd is a joint venture between GVK-SA consortium and Airports Authority of India. It was awarded the mandate of upgrading and expanding the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport. As per the contract, L&T would build the new integrated passenger terminal and expand the existing facilities, the company informed the Bombay Stock Exchange.
Airports Authority of India employees' representatives today said they would not hesitate to go on strike again if the government went ahead with the privatisation of Delhi and Mumbai airports.
The Societe Internationale de Telecommunications Aeronautiques, which has been in India since 1952, is now partnering with the Airports Authority of India to equip 25 airports with common use passenger processing systems to 'improve the experience of millions of passengers,' Hani El-Assaad, SITA President (Middleast, India and Africa), said in New Delhi.
Serious lapses at several non-metro airports like damaged X-ray machines, absence of explosive detectors and faulty metal detectors have been found in an audit carried by the aviation security agency BCAS.
This is the first instance of AAI-run airports charging fee.
The Airport Authority of India employees have yet to call off their strike against the privatisation of the modernisation of the Mumbai and Delhi airports, despite indications late on Friday that the agitation might called off.
The Karnataka government plans to develop new airports at Gulbarga and Hassan.
Employees of the Airports Authority of India on Tuesday called off their nationwide agitation to ensure job security following the decision to privatise two metro airports
The metro airports, where the ministry is thinking of restricting the number of ground handling agencies, are Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Bangalore and Hyderabad.
In a bid to ease air traffic congestion and ensure safety, government has decided to introduce separate flight corridors for helicopter operations at Delhi and Mumbai airports.
As the manager of a chunk of the country's airports, state-owned AAI is seeking an expansion in the norms to use its land on the city side of any airport for services that are not aviation-related. As of now, the AAI Act allows an airport operator to use land only for aviation-related services.
Level 1 of the terminal will house Kingfisher, Air India, Jet Airways and MIAL offices, while Level 2 will be the security-hold area for passengers after checking in at either terminal 1A or 1B.
The decision will benefit the under construction airports at Hyderabad and Bangalore and the one already built in Kochi with majority private participation.
In the last five years, AAI had developed and upgraded 58 airports, including 35 non-metro airports.
After imposing development fee in four private airports, the government is mulling charging it from passengers departing from another nine airports in the country.
AAI holds a minimum of 26 per cent equity in any of the joint venture in the form of assets, and the balance is with private sector/financial institution/state government for city-side development of viable non-metro airports.
The flight, carrying 216 passengers and 16 crew, landed safely, the Tata Group-owned private carrier said in a statement Tuesday evening.
"Had the government agreed to this proposal of the AAI, the (modernisation of) Mumbai and Delhi airports would have been completed by this time," the Standing Committee on Transport, Tourism and Culture said in its latest report. While opposing privatisation, the report said the AAI proposal, which promised to revamp the two facilities in a much shorter time, was "turned down for unknown reasons."
Announcing this in New Delhi, Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel said trial runs on the new third runway of IGI Airport would begin in ten days from now. Once operational, it would go a long way to ease the air traffic congestion over the Delhi airspace. The two airports, as per the recommendations of the respective state governments, would be developed by the state-owned AAI and not privatised.
Strong crosswinds and heavy rains with thunder and lightning impacted flight operations from 4.05 pm to 4.51 pm, an airport official said.
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