Air India discusses reducing flights to New York, decision likely soon

MUMBAI: Surging air turbine fuel prices and mounting losses may compel Air India to reduce the frequency some of its international flights including its recently-introduced New York flights from both Mumbai and Delhi.

The matter was understood to have been discussed at a meeting of senior Air India officials recently.

"The meeting discussed the issue of reducing the frequency of some of our flights, including the Delhi-New York and Mumbai-New York non-stop services. However, due to divergent views, no final call was taken," an Air India official told PTI today on strict condition of anonymity.

According to the official, one of the proposals discussed was to cut the New York flights by half from both the destinations.

Currently, there are seven flights a week from each destination.

Apart from high operational costs, the load factor on both the routes is also understood to be below the air-carrier's expectations. "This is also weighing on the minds of the management," the official said.

The officials discussed reducing the flights to three from New Delhi and four from Mumbai in view of the not-so-encouraging load factor," he said.

The airline is incurring losses to the tune of Rs 2.5 crore per day on each of its flights. The average load factor is understood to be in the range below average 40-56 per cent.

Both the routes were launched with much fanfare during the tenure of the former Air India Chairman and Managing Director V Tulasidas.

Source : The Economic Times

My opinion :

At a time when most foreign carriers are booming in India, and increasing flights to India, it is a sad testimony on the administration of Air India due to all the interference from the various "babudoms" of the Governments of India and the States.

How dare Air India not service Delhi and Mumbai, even if there is no traffic. Let us remain oblivious of the traffic demand from Bangalore to San Francisco, which is ensuring all the foreign carriers flights go full. After all the Indian tax payers are here not just to subsidise other Indians, but other foreign countries as well.

Let us also ensure the demise of Indian carriers, by preventing them from flying overseas. How can we, the benevolent Government of India, hurt the foreign carriers and Jet Airways. We must prevent Kingfisher from setting up an international hub in Bangalore.

Image Copyright (C) Devesh R. Agarwal.

Kingfisher Airlines received its first wide body Airbus A330 today. The magnificent machine touched down at 10:05am IST at the Bengaluru International Airport (BIAL) on June 20, 2008.

It received the traditional water cannon salute from the fire trucks at BIAL.

However, everything is being kept low key, since Dr. Vijay Mallya is not in town. I am looking forward to the August launch of the international services by Kingfisher.

The high prices of ATF (Aviation Turbine Fuel) have the airlines in India in a tizzy. They are cutting back services, begging for a reduction in fuel taxes, sub-leasing their aircraft, basically, anything, which will help stop their haemorrhaging losses.

Karnataka has one the highest prices of ATF in the country due to its high taxes, and faces pressure for their reduction. The Government of Karnataka has an ace in its sleeve that can help airlines flying in to Bangalore save some money. An ace, they are unaware of -- HAL airport.

Many times, weather conditions, ATC congestion or an airport closure, does not allow a flight to land immediately. International aviation safety rules require a flight to carry enough extra fuel to hover over the destination airport, for a certain amount of time, and then fly on, to an "alternate airport". We have seen flights being diverted from Mumbai to Ahmedabad, Delhi to Jaipur, and Bangalore to Chennai.

These diversions add about 30~45 minutes of flying time, which translates to about 2 tons of fuel for an single aisle jet like the Boeing 737 or Airbus 320. For shorter flights this means the flight carries double the actual fuel required.

In the air, weight equals money. Even if a flight does not go to the alternate airport, it still has to carry the extra fuel and its consequent weight. Weight that could be otherwise utilised for commercial gain like carrying cargo, or savings by not carrying it.

In the rush of closing HAL for commercial flights, the Ministry of Civil Aviation, seems to have overlooked the fact that HAL is still, a fully functioning airport for all non-commercial flights. i.e. private, charters, defence, and has all the needed infrastructure to act as an alternate airport. To top it off, HAL is just 7 minutes flight time from BIAL.

If HAL airport is permitted to act as an "alternate" airport to BIAL, flights can reduce their "alternate airport" fuel requirement. Today, they would be grateful for the savings this will realise.

Staff Reporter

Bangalore: A team of experts from the Airport Authority of India (AAI), led by D.P Singh, General Manager (Communication and Management Survey), is assessing the air traffic and passenger capacity of the Bengaluru International Airport (BIA) at Devanahalli following a direction from the Ministry of Civil Aviation.

According to sources in the BIA, the team of four members arrived here a couple of days ago and is collecting data and assessing the capacity of the new airport to handle the air and passenger traffic.

Order
The study is being carried out following an order of the Karnataka High Court that had asked the Centre to renegotiate with the promoters of the new airport the possibility of opening the HAL airport for domestic or short distance flights.

The team of experts is likely to complete its study by the end of this week and submit a report, based on which the Ministry will recommence the process of renegotiation with the promoter of the new airport, Bangalore International Airport Ltd., on the contentious issue of opening the HAL airport for partial commercial operations.

Meanwhile, the officials working at the newly built Air Traffic Control tower at BIA were shocked to see water leaking into the building during the recent rains.

“It is surprising and shocking to see an ATC tower built with international standards leaking within a few days of opening. Luckily no damage has been caused to any equipment,” said the officials.

The officials pointed out that the airport management had taken up the repair work to stop leaks but by then rain stopped. “We have to wait for rains to see the result,” said an officer.

The same Very High Frequency Omni Range (VOR) allotted to the Arakonam Naval base in Tamil Nadu and Bengaluru International Airport Ltd. is confusing the pilots while approaching Bangalore from Chennai.

Sources said that pilots, about 15 minutes after take-off from Chennai airport, were getting the same VOR signals that they got from the BIAL.

The AAI officials said the pilots were getting these signals from Arakonam naval base, which had the same VOR. It was misleading the pilots and some pilots had complained about this confusion to the ATC, they added.

When it was brought to the notice of BIA Chief Executive Officer Albert Bruner on Monday during a talk at the Aeronautical Society of India, he said that he was unaware of such a problem and assured the team to look into it.

The employees and officials working at the ATC tower complained that they were facing problems to climb up as the only lift provided for the 20-storeyed building stops functioning during power failure.

“Already on four or five such occasions we had to either wait or take climb the staircase after the airport commenced operation on May 24,” said an officer expressing anguish over how the Directorate-General of Civil Aviation had given licence although it was one of the lacunae pointed out by it earlier.

© Copyright 2000 - 2008 The Hindu

S Praveen Dhaneshkar, DH News Service, Bangalore:

The Airports Authority of India has adopted a new VOR (Very High Frequency Omni-directional Radio Range) for the Bengaluru International Airport (BIA) at Devanahalli after it was found that its VOR of 112.3 MHz was also being used by the INS Rajali, a naval airbase of the Indian Navy at Arakkonam, TN.

The new frequency would be 116.8 MHz, senior officials from AAI told Deccan Herald on Wednesday.

“This move has been initiated after complaints from pilots of flights taking off from the Chennai International Airport that their aircraft panels showed that the flight was just 20 nautical miles from the BIA, where as the aircraft was actually 120 nautical miles from the airport. This confusion prompted us to initiate urgent action and effect a change” AAI officials added.

When BIA was being constructed, the AAI had no idea that the naval base at Arakkonam, too had the same VOR. “The Wireless Planning Commission, Ministry of Communi cations and IT while granting the radio frequency signal did not realise the issue and it went unnoticed” said officials.

Meanwhile, AAI has written to the authorities at the Arakkonam naval base to switch off their VOR facility temporarily, until the VOR at the ATC (Air Traffic Control) at BIA is changed.

Wednesday June 18 2008

Express News Service

BANGALORE: Aviation officials at Bengaluru International Airport (BIA) are striving to correct a folly that earlier escaped being noticed by those involved in air traffic control, but could've proved to be expensive.

In a shocking case of carelessness, a first in the history of aviation, Bengaluru International Airport is using the same VOR (Very High Frequency Omnidirectional Radio Range) of 112.3 MHz that INS Rajali, a naval airbase of the Indian Navy at Arakkonam, has been using for years now.

The frequencies planned should be unique to each airport to help pilots identify and locate different airports. The goof-up was detected after several pilots mistook the Arakkonam naval base to be BIA, but were fortunately alerted on time, averting a disaster.

BIA officials in charge of communications and navigation are now scrambling to change the frequency they are using.

General Manager (Communications and Navigation Surveillance), Airports Authority of India (AAI), at BIA, Govardhan Rao told this website's newspaper on Tuesday, ''We are in the process of changing the frequency that we are using for BIA as it is the same as that of Arakkonam naval airbase. We will change it as soon as possible.''

On whether the AAI was not informed by the Wireless Planning and Coordination (WPC) about the chosen frequency already being in use, Rao said, ''I am not aware of this, but had the AAI known that the frequency was being used by some other agency, AAI would not have chosen the same.''

The WPC Wing of the Ministry of Communications makes recommendations on Radio Frequency Allocation for all wireless users in India to make sure each one uses a unique frequency.

Transition from one frequency to another might cause disturbances in operations at BIA, but AAI is contemplating various options to make the transition as smooth as possible. AAI will coordinate with the airport operator and airlines to make the transition without disturbing BIA's operations,'' Rao said. An aviation expert suggested that the AAI could make the transition without disturbing operations at BIA by using the VOR of HAL Airport to guide an aircraft towards Bangalore.

When an aircraft comes closer to Bangalore, it can be easily directed towards BIA using a combination of high technology navigational aids.

GPS, initial navigational system, ARNA Navigation System, radar and many other advanced systems together would suffice to guide an aircraft to land at BIA.

This unusual mistake in selecting a frequency confuses pilots as their navigational aids read BIA and INS Rajali as the same and interchangeably.

''This confusion might have led an aircraft en route BIA to the restricted areas of the military base at Arakkonam and vice-versa. An unauthorised entry into military airspace can be extremely dangerous for the passengers and the crew,'' the expert said. However, the operators of BIA were ignorant of this mistake in the selection of frequency by the CNS Department of AAI.

BIAL CEO Albert Brunner told reporters on Monday that he did not know of any problem with the frequency BIA was using.

Source : The New Indian Express

Clarification from me :
The entire Communications and Navigation System and Air Traffic Management (CNS-ATM) at BIAL airport, is the responsibility of the Airports Authority of India. This includes the frequency allocations.

18 Jun 2008, V Ayyappan,TNN

CHENNAI: With travellers hesitating to fly to the new Bangalore airport because it is a two-hour drive from the city’s centre, airlines have started to combine some of their services on the Chennai-Bangalore route.

Airlines that are already reeling under the impact of high cost of jet fuel are struggling to cope with low load factor on the once lucrative sector. Deccan, Kingfisher, Paramount Airways and Jet Airways are struggling to get seats filled in the sector. Since not many bookings are being made flights scheduled during non-peak hours, airlines have started to combine flights scheduled at short intervals to minimise losses.

Airport sources said that there was a startling 60 percent dip in passenger bookings per flight after the new airport was opened at Bangalore. Only the first flight of the day, like the 6.20 a.m service operated by Deccan gets fully-booked. Other services scheduled later in the day suffer from low load factor.

“The airlines are not getting as many bookings as they used to get when the old airport was functioning at Bangalore. The load factor has started to dip even in the morning, the peak hour,” said a senior official of Airports Authority of India (AAI).

Indian has stopped its services to Bangalore while other airlines are thinking of re-scheduling their frequencies to prevent aircraft flying empty. However, airlines are yet to make a formal announcement and are managing the show by clubbing some of the services when loads go abysmally low, as in the last couple of weeks. Kingfisher Airlines, which has recently increased services to Bangalore, is monitoring the situation before deciding whether they will have to go for a re-scheduling.

Airport Director Dinesh Kumar said “We are yet to get requests for re-scheduling of services in Chennai-Bangalore sector.”

A senior official of a private airline confirmed that there was a dip in passengers which together with high fuel costs had increased the cost of operations tremendously.

“The number of passengers flying is decreasing drastically. This is largely because of the distance from Devanahalli to Bangalore city and also because of the high fare fixed by the airlines,” said Travel Agents Federation of India secretary Talha Rahman. Hence, travellers who once used to fly have started to drive down. Only those whose tickets are booked by the office continue to fly. J Sethuraman, who flies every time he travels to Bangalore decided to drive down this time. “I had booked a 5 pm flight to Bangalore from Chennai yesterday. But, my clients in Bangalore warned me not to fly. They told me to take the car, as driving down will be more cheaper and faster. So, I started at 3 pm in my car and reached Bangalore at 8.30 pm.”

I have updated all the BIAL transport information in October 2008. Please use the Vayu Vajra link on the main menu bar.

BIAL bound? No problem
Author: Priyadarshini Nandy

Booking a cab to and from the airport just became easier with service providers going online. You don’t have to worry about them turning up on time as stiff competition keeps these vendors on their toes...

After much deliberations and protests the Bangalore International Airport is finally in function. The only issue that continues to trouble commuters is the lack of infrastructure that leads us to the airport.

Thanks to private vendors coming forth, travelling to the airport isn’t much of a mammoth task any more.

Of these, Zoom Airport Express, Airlift cabs and Meru cabs are three of the only services to have come forward with fully integrated websites, www.zoomairportexpress.com, www.airliftonline.com and merucabs.com for consumers to use to schedule pick up and drops.

How it works

While Airliftonline allows you to schedule pick up and drops to and from the airport, all financial transactions are made directly to the cab drivers. The service has pick up points for users to choose from.

Meru Cabs has a more user friendly interface, allowing you to book cabs online and on the phone via SMS or their customer care centre. Payment however is again made to the driver Zoomexpress however, intends to take that a step further by allowing online payment for travelling to the airport.

The website is not completely operational now as the the company is still in the process of partnering with banks with card payment options.

“Once the e-commerce is set up, people will be able to use the website not only to book pick up and drops, they can also make payments as we will have fixed charges to the BIAL from every location.

So, once the customer keys in the location he needs to be picked up from, he can pay for it accordingly online itself. Since we’re focussing on BIAL as our hub, it becomes easier to fix a fee,” says TPRS Prasad, CEO Zoom Airport Express.

Zoom Express schedules cars every 30 minutes and users can actually check the next convenient pick up time and book their cabs accordingly. “Users can actually book taxis, keeping one hour windows for us to accommodate them. This way, even last minute scheduling is possible,” adds Prasad.

In comparison iT ADDA did a quick comparison between the three websites to bring out their best features.

Meru cabs: The company is not new, already operating in Mumbai and New Delhi. Their website is really comprehensive and has whatever information you might be looking for on the website. Once you register on the website, it keeps track of your previous bookings with them as well. Once booked, the website sends you a confirmation number as an alert either via email or SMS.

Airlift cabs: It allows you to take a cab either from their list of pick up points or from your home. Extra charges are applicable for door-to-door pickups. The website also asks for your flight details and automatically gives you the best pick up times for you to choose from. Again, transactions are made with the taxi driver directly as the fare is calculated according to the meter.

Zoom Express: While the website currently carries information on the areas covered, they do intend to start e-commerce within a month’s time. Once that section is up and running, customers won’t have to argue with cab drivers on faulty metres and fares as everything would be possible online.

“Since this is a cab share concept, we’ve been able to keep the fares moderate without compromising customer comfort,” concludes Prasad.

Source : The Mid-Day

Addendum

Please read my BIAL transport article and BMTC Online Booking article which details other transport options to and from BIAL.

DH News Service, Bangalore:

Bengaluru International Airport (BIA) Chief Executive Officer, Albert Brunner on Monday said on several times in the past, the BIA consortium (Larsen and Toubro, Zurich Airport and Siemens AG) was on the edge of pulling out from the prestigious airport project.

Delivering a talk on the new airport at the Aeronautical Society of India here, Mr Brunner said, “Looking back, it makes me sad. Private players felt seriously a need to pull-out from the project between 2004-06, due to undue delays and hurdles encountered in seeking clearances for the project. It was a time when the airline industry started booming. We even commissioned Lufthansa Consulting to do a fresh study in 2005 on air traffic projections that projected increase in volumes”

Expansion plans
Mr Brunner announced that BIA has begun plans on the expansion/capacity of the new airport, including the second runway and terminal by 2013.

“We need a second runway two to three years from now. Expansion plans to increase the apron and runway will have to begin immediately.”

He then added that the saturation point of BIA will be reached only in 2025.

“We want to provide more capacity in the terminal building. In phase 2, short term capacity expansion has been planned to accommodate low fare airlines by the end of next year. It could be a low cost terminal or a simple structure. Later, phase 3 will include a additional terminal and a second runway.”

Airport city on cards
An exclusive airport city for non-aviation activities are also being planned at BIA. This will include a hotel, shopping malls, conference halls and business related infrastructure. “The concept of an ‘Airport City’ where you can live and work around the airport is in the pipeline” he said.

The CEO of BIA further said that future challenges were many. “We have to improve teething problems, fast.

The initial glitches such as not enough toilets are being looked into. Lounge space for airlines will be provided. Kingfisher and Jet Airways will soon operate their lounges. We also need to convince people about the one airport concept.

It was the business community that kept the need for two airports functioning. Connectivity is not that bad. You can reach the airport from M G Road in 60 minutes , even during peak hours,” Mr Brunner observed.

Expensive expansion
The BIAL CEO also said that the next phase of airport expansion will be an even costly affair than the Rs 3500 crore invested to construct the airport.

He concluded by saying that a high speed rail to BIA will be developed on an urgent basis.

Source : The Deccan Herald

Monday June 16 2008

Monica Jha

BANGALORE: Pilots from two airlines (one domestic and one international) have reportedly complained about problems in landing using instrument landing system (ILS) at the Bengaluru International Airport.

The runway (27 orientation, which is being used presently) at the new airport has a 3.4 degree glideslope for an ILS approach while the international standard for the same is 3 degree. The 3 degree glideslope (the angle of descend with respect to horizontal plane) is an acceptable descent profile world over and, therefore, auto pilots are designed for this profile. At BIA, which has a glideslope of more than 3 degrees, auto pilots do not work and pilots need to resort to manual landing, that can cause hard landing at times.

A three-degree glideslope gives a descent of approximately 318 feet per nautical mile (NM) while for a 3.4-degree glideslope, the descent would be about 370 feet per mile which means an aircraft would descend at a higher speed than recommended.

When an aircraft on ILS follows a 3 degree glideslope, passengers do not feel any discomfort but a 3.4 degree glideslope may result in a steep landing causing discomfort to passengers. The operator of BIA, Bangalore International Airport Limited (BIAL), apparently made a mistake in assessing the elevation of glide path location.

On a continuous descent, an aircraft must maintain a height of 50 feet at the threshold of a runway. Due to errors in calculating the elevation this height at BIA was found to be less than 50 feet. So, BIA had to increase the glideslope to maintain a height of 50 feet at the threshold of runway. However, the glideslope for runway when used in 09 orientation is 3 degrees.

To ratify the problem, BIA would need to relocate its glide path antenna further up, an expert from the aviation industry told this website's newspaper. "But, changing the position of glide path antenna at a live airport and a live runway is not possible as landing without ILS for a few days that would be necessitated for calibrations, would be extremely difficult. BIAL can do it when they change from 27 to 09 runway in November," he added.

Source : The New Indian Express

DH News Service, Bangalore:

The State government, citing a study report of the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI), has told the High Court that the proposed super expressway connecting the Outer Ring Road and Bangalore International Airport (BIA) is not feasible.

Advocate-General Udaya Holla, in his submission on the airport connectivity, informed the court that the NHAI, which conducted a techno-economic study on the project, had concluded that it was not a feasible project. Instead, a high speed railway link will come up.

The advocate-general said the 22-km expressway had also run into rough weather following problems related to land acquisition.

“The land price is more here, with each acre costing Rs five crore to Rs six crore and there are some residential layouts too over there,” he said.

A division bench comprising Justice Ram Mohan Reddy and Justice Jawad Rahim, which heard the matter, came down heavily on the Central government, stating that it should have thought of the problems when the airport project was initiated.

“It is a chaotic response from the Central government. Why did the Union government not think of this?” the court questioned.

“The cost is not an exception. It is the people’s money. Bring down the risk. They should be benefited,” said the court. Despite the negative report, however, the NHAI was requested by the State government to reconsider the expressway project. The high speed railway link will be coming up as an alternative. The government counsel said that the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation had been appointed as a consultant for the railway project.

“Public notice will be issued soon inviting expression of interests from the parties,” said the State government counsel.

The State also informed the court that the improvement work was under way on 46 connecting roads to the new airport, and would be finished by Dec 2008.

The government counsel also said two signals — at the CBI junction and at Sanjaynagar junction — would be shifted. The matter was adjourned to June 30.

Source : The Deccan Herald

Anirban Chowdhury & Manisha Singhal / New Delhi/Mumbai June 16, 2008,

The airline industry said it would consider deeper cuts in flights and routes to counter rising aviation turbine fuel (ATF) costs and falling passenger growth as a result of rising fares.

This is one of the key decisions taken at a five-hour meeting among airline chiefs Friday, including Kingfisher's Vijay Mallya, Jet Airways' Naresh Goyal, GoAir's Jeh Wadia and SpiceJet CEO Siddhanta Sharma under the umbrella of the Federation of Indian Airlines (FIA).

Meanwhile, the civil aviation ministry has agreed to request state governments to reduce sales tax when the empowered committee of state finance ministers meets on Monday in New Delhi.

State sales tax ranges from 4 per cent to 35 per cent and makes ATF in India one of the most expensive in the world — it accounts for almost half an airline's operational costs in India against a global average of 20 to 25 per cent.

The government's decision to raise ATF prices over 18 per cent last month has forced some airlines to raise fares around 10 per cent, signalling an end to the cheap fare era and rapid growth in passenger traffic.

Low-cost carriers have been holding the price line, but this could severely dent their profits. Most airlines are already reporting losses and the industry is expected to lose $2 billion by the end of this financial year owing to aggressive pricing.

"If for some reason the government is not able to accede to our demands then we have no other option but to cut flights drastically and the connectivity will suffer," said Kingfisher promoter Vijay Mallya, who chairs the FIA.

Airlines have already started cutting back. GoAir, for instance, has opted out of flying to Jaipur and plans to cut shorter-haul flights from Bangalore and Hyderabad and opt for more long-haul flights. Company executives were not available for comment.

By September Jet Airways is moving out of numerous routes that will be serviced by its value airline JetLite, formerly Sahara Airlines, which it acquired last year. These include routes like the entire north-east and Jammu & Kashmir sectors and destinations like Port Blair.

"We have started by taking over low-cost sectors like Chennai-Pune and Chennai-Port Blair, among others," said Rajiv Gupta, COO of JetLite.

Meanwhile, JetLite also stopped operating flights in sectors like Delhi-Chandigarh, Ahmedabad-Jaipur, Mumbai-Bhuj and Hyderabad-Bangalore and will cut ten more in the next month.

The aim is to reduce the number of flights between Jet and JetLite by 20 per cent, sources in the airlines said.

Rival carrier Kingfisher has also decided to cut domestic capacity 15 to 16 per cent, said Rajesh Verma, executive vice-president, Kingfisher Airlines.

Senior executives in the company added that like Jet, Kingfisher would also rationalise routes with Simplifly Deccan, which it bought late last year.

"We are becoming one company in a week, so we will definitely look at synergising routes," said a senior company executive.

SpiceJet, which saw average load factors drop 7 to 8 per cent over last year, will cut daily flights from 117 to 100 by next month. SpiceJet's Sharma said this would increase average load factor 2 to 3 per cent and yields per passenger by Rs 70.

Airlines are also urging the ministry to negotiate with the private operators to reduce the parking and the landing charges levied at the new airports and allow the airlines to do their own ground-handling instead of using agencies appointed by the airport operators.

Source : The Business Standard

ANIL BUDUR LULLA

Bangalore, June 14: The glitzy airport in India’s software capital that was to have been the takeoff point for the aviation growth story remains grounded in the present.

From “teething problems” like the long journey to the airport in Devanahalli, 50km from the city, the scanner has now shifted to its planning, which, airline sources said, has not been made with the future in mind.

International airlines have slammed the airport for the “flawed” design of the aerobridges — a sanitised corridor connecting the plane doors with the terminal building.

The new airport has eight aerobridges to handle 11.4 million passengers annually. In comparison, the new Hyderabad airport has 12 aerobridges for 12 million passengers. The new Terminal 3 of Beijing Capital International Airport has 66 aerobridges for handling 43 million passengers annually.

Only four of the eight aerobridges in Bangalore can service wide-bodied aircraft at a time, leaving the other four idle. If one wide-bodied aircraft is being serviced, the two aerobridges flanking it have to be left unused as the aircraft’s large wingspan prevents other planes from being parked close to it on either side.

Wide-bodied aircraft, such as the Airbus A330, A340 or the Boeing 747 or 777, have a wingspan of 60-75 metres compared with 28-34 metres for narrow-bodied planes like the A320 or Boeing 737. With an aerobridge every 45-50 metres, wide bodies occupy a major portion of the apron — the area where the planes are parked, loaded or unloaded, refuelled or boarded.

The airport has been built by a consortium led by Zurich Airports on a build-operate-and-transfer basis.

The consortium of Zurich Airports, Siemens and L&T hold 74 per cent stake, while the Karnataka government and Airports Authority of India hold 13 per cent each.

Albert Brunner, the chief executive officer of Bangalore International Airport Limited (BIAL), said it was not a design flaw but a plan to “optimise” the use of infrastructure.

“When a wide-bodied aircraft is parked, it takes the space of two narrow-bodied aircraft and, therefore, the aerobridge next to the parked wide-body aircraft cannot be used during this time. Kindly note that this does not mean that the aerobridges are not designed properly. It is an optimal and flexible use of the infrastructure. When only narrow- body aircraft are parked, all bridges are in use,” Brunner said in an email reply to a questionnaire from The Telegraph.

But airlines are not amused. A European airline, which operates only Airbus A-340s to Bangalore, was upset with the planning. “We understand that only four wide-bodied aircraft can be parked at a time. How can one call this an international airport? If you see the hubs around the world, they can accommodate up to 15-20 wide-bodied aircraft at any given time. It’s just that there should have been more space between the bridges to make optimal use of infrastructure,” said the airline’s area manager, who did not wish to be named.

With aviation registering phenomenal growth and seat demand surging, airlines across the world are opting for more wide-bodied aircraft. But the Bangalore airport, which cost over Rs 2,500 crore and took four years to build, is not designed to meet the demands of this growth.

Urban planner and architect K. Jaisim agreed that the new airport does not seem to have been planned for the future. “I really cannot say if the aerobridges have been planned that way by BIAL or there is a design flaw. I can only say that they should have designed them better to accommodate all types of planes as air traffic is only going to go up.”

Jaisim said he was surprised that this new-age international airport was designed like a huge railway station when the world over architects were moving away from the tradition of building the air side in a long and straight line.

The flat factory-like structure and the intricate alleys that arriving passengers are made to go through have led Jaisim to wonder whether its architects had been given a free hand to build what they had designed. “Or have they just shifted a rejected first world airport to the third world?” he said.

The airport has been equipped with eight aerobridges, one double-arm Y-shaped aerobridge that can reach out to two doors of an aircraft and nine remote bus gates.

But as international travellers are sanitised (security, immigration and customs checks are mandatory), security agencies prefer only aerobridge transfers for both arriving and departing passengers.

At present, Bangalore is connected by 14 international carriers and seven of them use wide-bodied aircraft. In the not-too-distant future, Air India, Kingfisher and Jet Airways plan daily non-stop flights to the US even as more European, US and Chinese carriers eye the new airport.

“In a way the aerobridge design is restricting us as every international flight has a turnaround time of anywhere between two to three hours. On an average, only 30 wide-bodied aircraft can be serviced through the day. But as most international flights depart in the wee hours, a limited number of aircraft can be serviced and at the same time it will block access for narrow-bodied aircraft operated by other international airlines,” said an airport source.

But CEO Brunner said that if all aircraft at a time are narrow bodied — like the A320 or Boeing 737 or even an Embraer 70-seater — all eight aerobridges can be used simultaneously.

The availability, or lack of it, of aerobridges has already put a strain on international operations. “Airlines waiting for the new airport to open and those that had plans to add to capacity from Bangalore are not amused,” said the representative of a southeast Asian airline. The slots they were looking at clashed with those of other airlines who fly wide-bodied aircraft, he explained.

He confirmed that the issue had been taken up with the Airports Authority of India as most international flights are slotted late at night and in the early hours. “I foresee an infrastructure crunch in a few months from now,” the official said.

Another irritant for the airlines is that though the airport has been cleared for the jumbo Airbus A380 to operate from its 60-metre-wide runway, the world’s largest commercial jet cannot be serviced from two levels as the airport lacks a double-deck aerobridge. Boeing’s Dreamliner will also have similar problems as the airport, unlike the one in Hyderabad, has not planned for these mega-seaters.

So, what’s the solution? Jaisim said an ideal design would be with curvatures or convex-type of structures which give operators more flexibility to think two decades ahead. “When I look at this airport, it lacks warmth and comfort. This is not a passenger-friendly airport. It does not leave a good first impression,” he said.

The second phase of the airport includes a mirror image of the existing terminal building, apron, taxiway and a second runway. “I hope they design it to cater to double-deck planes and plan a fast exit for passengers using aerobridges instead of the present cumbersome three-level exit,” Jaisim said.


Source : The Telegraph

On Friday, 13 June 2008, I had the privilege of leading a delegation of senior supply chain managers from member companies of the Bangalore Chamber of Industry and Commerce (BCIC) on a visit of the two cargo terminals operated by Menzies Aviation Bobba (Bangalore) and Air India Singapore Airport Terminal Services (AI-SATS) at BIAL airport.

The team comprised of senior officers of a veritable "Who is who" of Bangalore industry, and was 360 degrees in sector verticals (Automotive, Biotech, Earth Moving, Electronics, Floriculture, Garments, High Tech, Logistics providers, PCB), as well as geographic locations all around Bangalore.

Hosting us were Mr. Andrew Brant, CEO, and Mr. Kamesh Peri, Director, of Menzies, Mr. Ranjiv Ramanathan of AI-SATS, and Mr. Marcel Hungelbeuhler, COO of BIAL, along with their respective operations teams. They are all competent and committed people.

Compared to my visit of 28-Apr-2008 (read article), the progress made in the last 15 days has been astounding, reflecting the hard efforts of everyone at Menzies, AI-SATS, and BIAL.

Menzies, services the European carriers, Lufthansa, British Airways, Air France, Thai, and Kingfisher, while AI-SATS services Air India, Indian Airlines, Jet, Singapore, Malaysian, Emirates, Etihad amongst others.

While the Menzies terminal is definitely way ahead in terms of preparedness, AI-SATS is making rapid strides in catching up.

After a tour of the two warehouses, the team's assessment was, that AI-SATS, which was forced to commence operations in an unprepared state, should be fully functional in about 6 - 8 weeks, while Menzies-Bobba is almost fully operational.

Compared to the poor conditions at MSIL and JWG terminals at HAL airport, the new cargo terminals are definitely superior, (read article), but they need to improve to global standards.

While new concepts in cargo handling have been brought in, the team, all expert supply chain managers, some handling over 100,00 item inventories, was disappointed by the lack of quality systems and metrics with regards to traceability and handling.

The offered many expert suggestions and critical assessment to Menzies, AI-SATS, and BIAL. The reception of suggestions was encouraging, and we look forward to constantly improving services, in-line with the global reputations of both operators, and BIAL.

BIAL indicated, that they have made facilities for low cost meals that will be helpful for the numerous employees of Customs Agents, Cargo Agents, and transporters. Traffic flow issues were being addressed.

Despite the best efforts of both the cargo terminal operators, it is still taking a minimum of 2 days to clear the cargo. The two big impediments appear to be, operations of Indian Customs authorities and some airlines.

Despite, the commitment of both the Chief Commissioner and Commissioner of Customs, to industry at a meeting in early March, there is still no assessment at BIAL, only at HAL airport. Despite the Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) system, Customs demands physical papers, which need to be collected the day following cargo landing, and physically carried across to HAL, assessment carried out, duty paid, and then the papers again carried back to BIAL for customs inspection and release. It is painful, time consuming, and only hurts Bangalore's industry by increased time and costs. The team demanded that Customs live up to their commitments and commence assessment at BIAL immediately.

Certain airlines are not further aggravating the situation by not filing their paperwork electronically. The team requested BIAL to ban these airlines from carrying cargo.

One of the cargo operators was very insistent, on not being clubbed along with the other, in assessments. Unfortunately, the one point the cargo terminal operator missed, was the fact, that the team was the customer of their customers, the airlines. The airlines decide on which terminal operator handles their cargo, not industry. Therefore, the two operators are measured in entirety.

As Theodore Levitt said, “The true business of every company is to make customers, keep customers, and maximize customer profitability”.

The team offered a constant engagement to help Menzies, AI-SATS and BIAL, reach their potential of global standards in service, and ensure industry's profitability and by extension Bangalore's growth. The encouraging response is promising.

12 June, 2008

Adds frequencies to New Delhi, Bangalore and Hyderabad

DUBAI, U.A.E, 12th June 2008 – Set against a backdrop of booming trade ties and escalating travel between Dubai and India, Emirates, one of the world’s fastest-growing carriers has announced plans to advance its Indian operation with 18 additional flights per week, effective 1st July 2008.

The Dubai-based airline will step up its frequencies to the country’s capital city, New Delhi, and IT hubs, Bangalore and Hyderabad, progressing its Indian footprint to 132 flights per week – the highest ever frequency for an international carrier in the Indian skies.

In time to support the holiday season, the new frequencies will be introduced between July and October 2008.

New Delhi
Closely following its recent announcement to introduce a second daily operation to New Delhi, Emirates will introduce four additional weekly frequencies to the capital city, one each on Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday, starting 2nd July.

The enhanced capacity – 18 flights per week – will provide corporate travellers smooth connections to international business hubs such as New York, London, Frankfurt, and Paris via Dubai. At the same time it will offer more flight options to North India’s holiday seekers and students travelling to North America, UK, Switzerland and Mauritius.

Cargo movement is also expected to gain momentum as the increased capability - over 300 tonnes per week – supports the growing export of garments, meat products, fruits and vegetables, machinery and spares to Middle East, Africa and Europe.

Bangalore
Also known as the Silicon Valley of India, Bangalore, home to more than 1600 tech firms, including international heavyweights such as IBM, Intel, Compaq, Infosys, and Tata Consultancy Services, will be served with seven additional weekly frequencies – two of which will be introduced in July and the remaining five in October. Emirates’ increased air links of 15 weekly flights will improve connectivity to North America, a major market for India’s IT exports, estimated to be worth USD 50 billion.

Hyderabad
Emirates will progressively increase its Hyderabad service to 18 flights a week by 1st October. The additional flights have been timed to provide the city’s business and leisure travellers with quick connections to onward points in Europe and North America.

Cargo tonnage will improve by over 70 percent to 246 tonnes a week, offering Hyderabad’s exporters the much-needed capacity to transport pharmaceuticals, engineering spares, chemicals and poultry products to the Gulf, Africa, America and Europe.

Salem Obaidalla, Emirates’ Senior Vice President, Commercial Operations, West Asia and Indian Ocean noted: “Having fuelled strong economic and trade ties between the Middle East and India since the start of its services in 1985, Emirates is well-poised to support India’s blistering growth in the 21st century with its efficient, reliable and increased air links.”

India-Dubai trade relations have been outstanding and promise further growth next year. India is the leading export and re-export destination for Dubai and its second-largest source of imports. Also, India has the highest number of companies registered with Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

Salem added: “The additional flights have been introduced at an opportune time and will support the growing demand for air connections during the summer season as thousands of Indian expatriates head home for their annual holidays.”

The additional flights will be operated by ultra-modern Boeing 777 and Airbus A330-200 aircraft in two and three-class configurations, and will inject over 5900 seats on the Indian routes.

Flight Days Depart Arrive
New Delhi - July additional flights
EK510 Mon, Wed, Fri, Sun Dubai at 04:35 New Delhi at 09:15
EK511 Mon, Wed, Fri, Sun New Delhi at 11:00 Dubai at 12:45

Hyderabad - July additional flights
EK526 Mon, Wed, Sun Dubai at 03:45 Hyderabad at 08:55
EK527 Mon, Wed, Sun Hyderabad at 10:20 Dubai at 12:20

EK528 Thurs, Sat Dubai at 15:15 Hyderabad at 20:25
EK529 Thurs, Sat Hyderabad at 21:50 Dubai at 23:50

Hyderabad - October additional flights
EK528 Mon, Sun Dubai at 15:15 Hyderabad at 20:25
EK529 Mon, Sun Hyderabad at 21:50 Dubai at 23:50

Bangalore - July additional flights
EK564 Tues, Thurs Dubai at 03:30 Bangalore at 09:00
EK565 Tues, Thurs Bangalore at 10:25 Dubai at 12:55

Bangalore - October additional flights
EK564 Mon, Wed, Fri, Sat, Sun Dubai at 03:30 Bangalore at 09:00
EK565 Mon, Wed, Fri, Sat, Sun Bangalore at 10:25 Dubai at 12:55

Source : Emirates Airlines website