Aerospace Diary

Posted by- Neelam Mathews Aug 20, 2012 Lufthansa has opened its new lounge at Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport, designed according to the airline’s new global design concept . The Lounge spreads across 3,767 square feet and seats 131 travellers. It is situated near the boarding gates in the main atrium of Terminal 3. “Delhi is a key gateway for Lufthansa in India. We have introduced our fleet’s latest aircraft here last week with the B747-8, along with Lufthansa’s new Business Class on board. ….”, Axel Hilgers, South Asia Director for Lufthansa, said.

Neelam Mathews May 1, 2012 Delhi’s Terminal-3 became the first to get the 787 commercial flight by Japan Airlines from Narita, Tokyo. Introduction of this new aircraft by Japan Airlines is going to enhance its flight operations to India seven flights a week from October. Currently, the carrier operates five flights a week between New Delhi and Tokyo with a Boeing 777 aircraft. As a start, JAL will start the 787 service on 4 out of the 5 weekly flights between New Delhi and Narita, Tokyo. On April 22 this year, Japan Airlines debuted 787 service to the U.S, thereby launching the first-ever non-stop flight between Boston and Asia. Now JAL has introduced the 787 on the New Delhi Tokyo route. The Boeing 787 is the first airplane to provide both long distance capabilities with mid-size capacity, allowing airlines to open new, non-stop routes preferred by the traveling public. Sixty customers have 868 Dreamliners on order. Yasushi Isomura, Country Manager, Japan Airlines, said, “Wit...

Neelam Mathews June 29, 2011 Flights were delayed by around 15-30 minutes following the back-office system  of check-ins defaulted with airlines having to check-in manually.     “We are working at getting things stabilized, after which we will have inquiry into the reason this occurred,” an official of the Delhi International Airport told Aerospace Diary. Last year, DIAL delayed the opening of Terminal 3 in part due to information technology (IT) problems.  It is not clear whether power problems led to the shutdown. ARINC installed passenger systems in 2010 at T3 and completed a similar project in 2009, for IGIA’s domestic Terminal 1D.  The T3 project is massive, involving deployment of more than 550 ARINC passenger check-ins and ARINC’s Baggage Messaging. ARINC also worked in partnership with Quantum Aviation Solutions to install 90 hand-held scanners for the automated baggage reconciliation system (BRS) to handle 12,800 pieces of baggage...

Airports Aviation Daily Aug 16 , 2010 , p. 16 Neelam Mathews The planned shift of most domestic carriers to the new Terminal 3 at New Delhi Indira Gandhi International Airport on Aug. 27 has been delayed to mid-September. In a review of the terminal, the civil aviation minister and his team found that “the power supply is erratic, which is affecting the sophisticated baggage-handling and security equipment.” The DAILY reported earlier that the new terminal was facing major issues with its information technology systems. To meet the extra power requirement arising out of the additional load that will be taken up by domestic operations, the commissioning of a 220 KVA sub-station—which has been delayed—is an imminent requirement. It is expected to be set up by mid-September. Another issue is that the water supply continues to be erratic. There is no comment from the ministry on how this issue will be resolved. “The domestic airlines were to shift within a fortnight. How is ...

Aviation Daily July 08, 2010 air trafic management The Airport Authority of India (AAI) has started looking at upgrading air traffic management (ATM) facilities and reviewing methods to improve safety, mostly in Delhi, where a new Terminal 3 was dedicated July 3 at Indira Gandhi International Airport. As India’s traffic grows and monsoon season starts, increasing the risk of accidents, Honeywell has offered its Enhanced Ground Proximity Warning System to avoid controlled flight into terrain. Responsible for managing the 2.8 million-sq.-nm Indian airspace, AAI controls all airborne operations. Having anticipated the traffic growth, AAI has installed the Air Traffic Service automation system in Delhi. The system has built-in capabilities, such as arrival manager, mediumterm conflict alert, minimum safe altitude warning, shortterm conflict alert and remote monitoring. Reduction of horizontal separation to 50 nm from 80 nm has been planned on a trial basis under the ICAO regiona...

Airports Aviation Daily Jul 08 , 2010 , p. 02 Neelam Mathews Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport (DIAL) has delayed the opening of Terminal 3 for international flights from July 15 to July 28 and domestic flights from the end of July to Aug. 27, in part due to information technology (IT) problems that The DAILY reported earlier. DIAL says it is “committed to ensure hassle-free transition to T3, and the ‘proving flights’ will enable all stakeholders to make a smooth and confident transition for commercial operations.” Senior officials at the dedication cautioned that initial glitches can be expected. One main issue continues to be IT. An official told The DAILY that while manual backups were there, it could cause great commotion for baggage-handling, ground-handling and passenger check-ins. “Given the size and scale of T3, DIAL has carefully analyzed the commissioning outcome through extensive trials and also the experience of many other new terminals across the globe...

Airports Aviation Daily Jul 07 , 2010 , p. 08 Neelam Mathews The new Terminal 3 at Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi, which was dedicated on July 3, has highlighted the lack of adequate airport facilities in Mumbai. “Mumbai, India’s financial capital, needs a second airport. Its present one is saturated,” says Praful Patel, minister of civil aviation. A new Navi Mumbai airport, which was cleared for development in 2006, has not been given environmental clearance. News reports from India say local officials are meeting with environment ministry officials to speed the process. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh says the Indian aviation sector has the potential to absorb up to $120 billion in investments by 2020, while Patel says Delhi has now become the No. 1 airport in terms of passenger traffic and flights, overtaking Mumbai. T3, built by a public/private partnership, can handle 34 million passengers a year and opens ahead of upgrades to 35 airports planned by the Airpo...

News AWIN First Jun 23 , 2010 Neelam Mathews NEW DELHI The $2.8 billion Terminal 3 at Delhi Indira Gandhi International Airport, which will be capable of processing 34 million passengers per year, is set to be inaugurated July 3. The integrated terminal, which will handle international and domestic traffic, will become the world’s sixth largest terminal after Dubai, Beijing, Singapore, Bangkok and Mexico City. International traffic will start operating from the terminal on July 15 and domestic traffic from July 30. Budget carriers SpiceJet and Indigo will continue to operate from the present terminal. Around 12,800 bags will be handled every hour. With frenzied work on finishing touches, the airport seems to “want to avoid a problem like Heathrow’s T5 did for baggage handling,” according to an official. “The first bag will be on the belt within 15 minutes of arrival,” he promises. For the past six months, the Operational Readiness and Airport Transfer (ORAT) team has been...