India, US To Work Jointly On Aviation Security Programme

New Delhi: In a first-of-its-kind initiative in aviation security, the US Trade and Development Agency (USTDA) has entered into a cooperation agreement with the Airports Authority of India (AAI) and Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) to establish an aviation security equipment testing and evaluation programme. The agreement was part of the US-India Strategic Dialogue during the recent visit by US Secretary of State John Kerry.
Three American companies will work with AAI and BCAS to enhance Indian aviation officials’ capacity to effectively test, certify and procure advanced scanning technologies, the USTDA statement, issued late Friday night, said.

Will US Airlines operating from India be affected by High Court order in Pan-Am related issue?

Will US airlines operating from India be affected by the Punjab & Haryana High Court asking the Central Government to take up the issue of discrimination by the US government against Indian victims of the 1986 Pan-Am flight 73? It may be recalled that the flight was hijacked in Karachi by terrorists from Libya on 5 September 1986. As many as 13 Indians were killed and around 120 Indian passengers were injured in the attack.

This was the flight on which Pan-Am's chief purser, 23 year old Neerja Bhanot was gunned down by terrorists as she tried to allow passengers to escape from the aircraft, which had mainly American citizens. Neerja Bhanot was awarded the Ashoka Chakra, which is India's highest peacetime gallantry award for bravery, in 1987. She became the first woman to receive the award.

Hoardings near airport threaten to ground Mumbai's only non-stop flight to US

New Delhi: Mumbai may lose its only non-stop connection to the US for the silliest reason: billboards near the airport. Air India has complained to aviation and Maharashtra authorities that it is forced to carry only 260 passengers in the 340-seater Boeing 777 deployed on the Mumbai-Newark sector. The reason: billboards near the airport come in the path of the aircraft, forcing it to fly light to allow it take off in a way that it can steer clear of this hurdle.

US-like system to check smuggling at Delhi airport

New Delhi: Enhancing its measures to check smuggling, the customs department has installed a US-like system to keep a track on suspicious passengers.
The Advanced Passenger Information System (APIS), developed by the National Informatics Centre, has been put in place by customs officials at the Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) here, official sources said.
The system acts as an electronic database of all passengers, crew and other airline staff entering and exiting the international airport here, they said.
The APIS automatically red flags suspicious passengers on the basis of their movement and other parameters, and give a lead to customs officials for follow up, the sources said.
“There is no human interference in the system. The data generated by the APIS is purely on the basis of information of a person’s travel history and his or her antecedents,” a source said.

Double standards by US in PAN AM 73 flight incident, HC directs Centre to take action

Chandigarh: The Punjab and Haryana high court has directed the Central government to take up the issue of discrimination by the USA government against Indian victims of 1986 PAN AM 73-hijack case.
The directions, passed on May 29, have come in the wake of a petition filed by Chandigarh resident Aneesh Bhanot whose sister, Neerja Bhanot, a chief purser with Pan Am Airlines, was gunned down by the terrorists who had entered the aircraft posing as Pakistani police personnel carrying arms and hand grenades. Neerja, the country's first woman Ashok Chakra winner, was gunned down when she tried to save three US children from the bullets of the terrorists.
Bhanot had sought directions to the central government to take up the issues pertaining to the safety and security of Indian passengers on-board US airlines in case of a terrorist attack and not allow the USA to abandon the Indians like they did in the case of PAN AM 73. He had also sent a representation to the ministry of civil aviation on January 6, 2014 to take up the issue but no action has been taken.