No flight will be diverted from Amritsar Airport: Sukhbir

Amritsar: Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal today asserted that no flight is being diverted from Amritsar Airport to any other place since the state has taken up the issue with the Centre, besides initiating efforts to launch more international and domestic flights at Sri Guru Ram Dass International Airport near here.

Dressing for flights

When on board or in international travel lounges, I would notice how well-dressed some of the travellers were. They looked trendy and comfortable. That’s when I decided to put a little thought into my travel wardrobe. It really isn’t that hard. Start with the weather in your city. We invariably tend to travel to colder places in the summer months. If you land up at the airport in your woollens, you’re bound to be sweating even before you take off. While it’s important to keep comfort in mind, it doesn’t hurt to add a little style to your travel outfit.
Consider these the next time you travel.

‘Waive airport fee for taxi aggregators’

Mumbai: Taxis plying for aggregators have to be parked at the "pay-and-park" lot at domestic and international airports and the additional burden is being borne by commuters, who end up paying Rs 110 in parking costs over and above the fare.

Said a regular Uber user, "At airports in other cities, there is no such additional charge. Why should we pay Rs 110 extra for a cab at Mumbai airport?

Two forge tickets to drop grandfather off at Mumbai airport

Two Vasai residents are detained by airport authorities for carrying forged tickets so that they could drop off a family member who was flying to London, inside the airport terminal.
John Markos D’Monte and Lisborn Lopes, both residents of Vasai, had bought tickets that mentioned their flight to be Vistara Airline’s Goa-bound UK 820 that was to depart at 1.25 pm.

Touts at airports reflect lack of effective policing

New Delhi: An auto-rickshaw driver, arrested for acting as a tout at the domestic airport here, has been held guilty by a Delhi court which said such illegal activities show "lack of effective policing" and bring bad name to the country.

The court, however, did not sentence him to jail and imposed a fine of Rs 2,500 on him considering that he was poor and had shown remorse for his act.

Airport Privatisation Plan Still on Radar

Hyderabad: Refuting reports on scrapping privatisation plan of four airports, Ashok Gajapathi Raju, Minister for Civil Aviation, said the proposal was very much under consideration.

“Nobody has scrapped anything. The world is open. Everybody is functioning. The Government is functioning. We want to grow economically. Where we see economic opportunity, we will grow. Our thrust will be employment opportunities for Indian people,” he said.
He was speaking to media after inaugurating Pratt & Whitney’s customer training centre here on Thursday.

‘Indian aviation industry on the rise’

Hyderabad: The American aerospace manufacturer, Pratt & Whitney, a United Technology company, has sold close to 10 percent of its Geared Turbofan (GTF) engines to Indian companies, Indigo, Aircosta and Go Air. Over 600 engines out of 7,000 manufactured by the company were ordered by the three companies, said Mary Ellen S. Jones, vice president, commercial engines, sales Asia/Pacific and China.

Pratt & Whitney opened its customer training centre in the city inside the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport campus here on Thursday.

As China slows, aviation bets on India’s aam aadmi

Hyderabad: Aircraft engine maker, Pratt & Whitney, a unit of United Technologies Corp, on Thursday opened its India customer training centre in Hyderabad, as India remains the only “bright spot” in the global aviation market.
The centre, set up at Hyderabad’s Rajiv Gandhi International Airport, is the third training centre of the company after the US and China — highlighting the importance that the company attaches to the Indian market. It was inaugurated by Union civil aviation minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju.
While the economic slowdown has hit the growth markets like China, Russia, Brazil, and oil producing countries, the Indian aviation sector is expected to see a huge growth as more and more upwardly mobile middle class families shift to the air travel.

No plan to take off Robert Vadra from no-frisking list: MoS Civil Aviation

New Delhi: The Civil Aviation Ministry has no plans to remove the name of Congress President Sonia Gandhi's son-in-law Robert Vadra from the elite "no-frisking" list at domestic airports.
"We are not withdrawing Robert Vadra's name from the list. It is not on our radar," Minister of State for Civil Aviation Mahesh Sharma on Thursday.

Nirvana lies in flying like Robert

New Delhi: The Narendra Modi government is considering requests from yoga practitioner Baba Ramdev and self-styled godman Baba Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh to exempt them from frisking at airports.

The proposal comes at a time the Centre is undecided on whether to drop Sonia Gandhi's son-in-law, Robert Vadra, from the list of VIPs exempted from airport security checks. Modi had attacked the "special treatment" for Vadra during his campaign speeches before last year's general election.

Aviation security wing to get chief after three years

New Delhi: The Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS), the aviation security wing of the government, is likely to get a new chief in AP Maheshwari, an Indian Police Service Officer from the 1984 batch, after a gap of about three years.

Modi Inaugurates New Terminal at Chandigarh Airport

Chandigarh: Prime Minister Narendra Modi today inaugurated a swanky new terminal at Chandigarh airport which will handle both domestic as well as international flights, and said it will play a key role in the economic development of the region.

The ambitious Rs 939-crore project, which is being seen as a "harbinger" of regional development for the northern part of the country, will be operated and maintained by Chandigarh International Airport Ltd (CHIAL), a joint venture between Airports Authority of India (AAI) and the governments of Punjab and Haryana.

Govt projects Rs 24,000-cr cost to develop 14 greenfield airports

The government has estimated a total project cost of Rs 24,000 crore for the development of 14 greenfield airports in the country. All these projects will be undertaken by the Airport Authority of India (AAI), which is responsible for the building, operating and maintaining aviation infrastructure in the country.

Air India CMD Ashwani Lohani urges employees to work as cohesive force

New Delhi: Urging employees to work as a cohesive force in the interest of the national carrier, Air India chief Ashwani Lohani today said there would not be any compromise on the safety of passengers or operations.

Lohani, who recently took over as the chairman and managing director of the government-run airline, in a letter to the 27,000 employees today, said Air India is a brand, which needs to be revived with concerted efforts from all.

Why Indigo proves once again its IPO will have many takers

Mumbai: Indigo could not have wished for a better timing for its phenomenal performance. The company is planning to tap the primary markets to raise money for its future growth capital, and its record profit just made that job easier.

In FY15, the company posted a profit of Rs 1,304 crore - a growth of 2.8 times as per the company’s filling in its offer document. The sharp jump in profit has been despite its revenue growing by only 22% to Rs 13,925 crore. Profit before tax rose to Rs 1,847 crore from Rs 471 crore in the previous year.