Tag Archives: AAI

Government of Jharkhand, Airports Authority of India (AAI), and Defense Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) signed a tripartite MoU for development of Deoghar Airport in Deoghar district of Jharkhand. The existing Deoghar Airport will be developed for operations of A-320 and C-130 aircraft. Signing of MoU took place in a ceremony held at the CM residence. The Govt. of Jharkhand has acquired 600.34 acres of land which will be handed over to AAI apart from the existing 53.41 acres Deoghar Airport land. DRDO, Jharkhand Govt. and AAI will provide Rs. 200 crores, Rs. 50 crores respectively to develop, operationalise and maintain the airport. The time frame given to develop and operationalise the Deoghar Airport is two years. Chief  Minister of Jharkhand Raghubar Das,  Minister of State for Civil Aviation Jayant Sinha,  Minister of Transport, Govt. of Jharkhand C.P.Singh,  MP Ram Tahal Chaudhaury and  MP Nishikant Dubey graced the occasion. Dr. Guru Prasad Mahapatra,  Chairman AAI,  Rajbala Verma, Chief Secretary, Govt. of Jharkhand, Amit Khare, Development Commissioner, Govt. of Jharkhand, Sudhir Raheja, Member Planning AAI, Sanjay Jain, RED (ER), AAI, H. S. Chaudhry, Additional Director of DRDO, Anil Vikram, Airport Director, Ranchi, senior officials of State Govt. of Jharkhand and AAI were also present on this occasion.

The Airports Authority of India (AAI) has issued directions to the respective car parking licensees across all AAI controlled airports for evolving a mechanism of e-payment transactions in the form of debit/credit cards, digital wallets (PayTM, Freecharge, Mobikwik, Reliance Jio etc.). This was revealed by Jayant Sinha, Minister of State for Civil Aviation, in Lok Sabha, AAI has also keep sufficient change of currency in small denomination of Rs.10, 20, 50 & 100 to smoothen the process of parking at all airports. Besides Car Parking Licensees, AAI is evolving a mechanism so that digital payment alternatives through various modes is available at all concessions providing passenger facilitation services at airports (such as Food & Beverage Outlets, General Retails, Car Rentals, Pre-paid Taxi Services etc.

The Union Cabinet has approved leasing out of Airports Authority of India (AAI) land measuring 4050 sq. mtrs. to Assam Industrial Development Corporation for Centre for Perishable Cargo at Lokpriya Gopinath Bordoloi International Airport, Guwahati. This will be utilised for setting up of Centre for Perishable Cargo (CPC) and its future expansion at Lokpriya Gopinath Bordoloi International Airport (LGBI Airport), Guwahati. The land is to be leased by AAI on a token licence fee of Rs.1/- per annum for a period of seven years subject to signing of Lease Agreement. After expiry of initial period of seven years, the future lease period will be made afresh as per AAI policy in-vogue. North Eastern Region (NER) in India is rich in flora and fauna. Revenue from export of agriculture and horticulture items will improve economic conditions of NER. There is a need for promotions of perishable cargo export from this region, which will generate employment opportunities directly or indirectly. Facilities for air upliftment of perishable cargo from Guwahati are required to be more effective. Therefore, it has been decided to lease land measuring 4050 sq. Mtrs. to AIDC, by AAI for setting up of CPC and its future expansion at LGBI Airport, Guwahati.

The Civil Aviation Ministry is all set for a green makeover and has thus planned 146 MW of solar-power generation at airports, with 30 MW already in the pipeline. Ashok Gajapathi Raju, Union Minister of Civil Aviation, has reviewed the progress of energy and water conservation measures at Airports Authority of India (AAI) airports across the country. The important review meeting was attended by Jayant Sinha, Minister of State, Civil Aviation and Secretary of the Department, besides Chairperson AAI and other senior officers. Airport Directors of 12 important airports also attended the deliberations so that they could be sensitized to implement these initiatives at their respective airports. AAI has already installed solar power plants at 16 airports with a total capacity of 5.4 MW. So far, 51 lakh energy units have been generated from these plants leading to a reduction of 4,600 metric tonnes in carbon emissions. By December 2016, additional 24.1 MW of solar power plants will become operational at 11 more airports. Infact, the perspective plan of AAI targets augmenting the solar power generation to 116 MW by including 16 more airports. During the meeting, the Airport Director, Jaipur dwelled at length on the energy conservation measures recently undertaken at the airport. These include maximum use of LED lighting, installation of efficient air-conditioning equipment, provision of energy efficient pumps and motors, a roof top solar power plant of 1 MW capacity and a 1.8 MW ground-based solar power plant under implementation. All Airport directors were encouraged to adopt similar initiatives, some of which have a payback period of as low as two years. The status and scope of water conservation, water-recycling and sewage treatment plants at the airports …

The Minister of Civil Aviation Pusapati Ashok Gajapathi Raju welcomed the budget provisions aimed at reviving the unserved and under-served airports in the country for increasing regional connectivity. The Union Budget 2016 provides that the Central Government will partner with the State Governments to develop some of these airports and airstrips in the country. The Minister shared the action plan for revival of such airports. In the financial year 2015-16, Airport Authority of India (AAI) proposes to revive 10 non-operational airports. These airports are initially unviable and would require budgetary support from the Government. He said that Service Tax exemption under Deen Dayal Upadhyay Grameen Kaushalya Yojana will enable, firstly, training providers to set up training institutes across the country. Secondly, it will attract youth for cargo and ground handling from rural areas of the country. Exemptions for assessing bodies empanelled centrally by Directorate General of Training will also promote setting up of training institutes and attracting youth towards civil aviation sectors. About the increase of Excise Duty on Air Turbine Fuel from 8% to 14% the Minister said that the decrease in ATF base price over the last 13 months is around 25.04%. The increase in ATF prices due to increase in excise duty from 8% to 14% comes to around 6.56%. He said that the Budget 2016-17 has paved the way for developing India as a Maintenance, Repair and Overhauling (MRO) hub of Asia.