airport Archives - The Gulf Indians

New airport terminal in Bahrain; Construction by 2035.

The Gulf Indians — Fri, 25 Oct 2024 08:41:28 +0000

Manama : Bahrain’s Minister of Transport and Telecommunications Mohammed Al Kaabi said that it is planned to build a new airport terminal in Bahrain within the next ten years. He said the hub, which aims to transform Bahrain into a global destination for tourism and logistics, will have a capacity of at least 40 million annual passengers, and aims for a greenfield project to develop an international airport terminal to replace the existing hub in the next decade.
The country is aiming to boost revenue despite plans to boost tourism and air travel. The goal of a new international airport will be achieved when the existing hub reaches its maximum capacity by 2035. Last year, the ministry awarded a 541,900 Bahraini dinar ($1.4 million) contract to a Netherlands airport consultant to carry out a feasibility study for the greenfield airport project. “We are studying the future requirements for the construction of the new airport to be established in the northern part of the country,” said the minister.
The maximum capacity of the existing airport is around 14 million annual passengers. “About 9.5 million passengers have used the airport this year alone. So the next 15 years will have to be planned. Whether it should be a purely government project or a partnership with the private sector. Bahrain is looking to diversify its economy away from oil production, including aviation, tourism, hospitality and logistics. Trying to develop other areas.
By the end of the year, there are also plans to launch 43 airlines connecting to 65 destinations in North America, Europe, Africa, Asia and the Far East from Bahrain International Airport. The Minister also said this month that the country’s Economic Development Board has announced that there are more than $30 billion worth of investment projects in Bahrain, focusing on logistics and tourism. The economy is expected to grow by 3 percent in 2024, the finance ministry said.
The government is accelerating efforts to diversify its revenue sources and economic sectors away from hydrocarbons. The Finance Ministry reported this month that the non-oil sector grew by 2.8 percent. Bahrain International Airport aims to connect to 100 new destinations by 2026 as part of its national air connectivity plan, Al Kaabi said at the Roots World event in Manama last week.
Gulf Air will also launch direct services to regions
including cities in Africa and the US as the Bahrain Airport company seeks to attract more airlines to the hub. There are plans to add five more airlines, including Red Wings Airlines, Smart Wings, Fly Jinnah, Ajet and Azerbaijan Airlines, Bahrain Airports Company Chief Executive Mohammed Al Binfala told The National.
He also said that 10 airlines are expected to start operations by the end of this year. She added that Bahrain aims to attract tourists from countries including China, UK, Germany and India. Gulf Air recently launched routes to the Chinese cities of Shanghai and Guangzhou.

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‘I’m carrying live bomb,’ says passenger triggering panic at Kochi airport

The Gulf Indians — Mon, 21 Oct 2024 16:47:58 +0000

Kochi: The Cochin International Airport witnessed yet another incident of a hoax bomb threat on Monday, with a passenger claiming he was carrying a ‘live bomb’. The passenger, Vijay Mandhayan, made the verbal threat before boarding his flight.

“A verbal bomb threat was received from a passenger during secondary ladder point check of Vistara flight,” CIAL said in a communique. “I’m carrying a live bomb,” the passenger reportedly said in a casual remark. The flight was scheduled to leave for Mumbai from Kochi at 3.50 pm.
Following the incident, which was declared ‘non-specific,’ a Bomb Threat Assessment Committee (BTAC) was convened. The flight departed at 4.19 pm. On Saturday, a Kochi-Bengaluru Alliance flight underwent a BTAC following a bomb threat.
The Alliance flight remained grounded for nearly five hours following the threat. In one week, nearly 100 domestic airline flights have received bomb threats at various Indian airports.Civil Aviation Minister K Rammohan Naidu said on Monday that the government has planned to place the perpetrators on a no-fly list.

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Unholy nexus in airport privatisation exposed

The Gulf Indians — Thu, 20 Aug 2020 08:49:10 +0000

The decision of the Union Cabinet to hand over the operation of the Thiruvananthapuram airport to the Adani Group for 50 years has courted controversy. Jaipur and Guwahati airports will also be leased out for 50 years. The seriousness of the controversy is heightened by the fact that the Central Government has decided to reject the State Government’s demand to handle operations of the Thiruvananthapuram Airport.

In view of the financial success of the for-profit Cochin International Airport Limited (CIAL), the Government of Kerala had requested that the operations of Thiruvananthapuram International Airport be handed over to the Trivandrum International Airport Limited formed by the State Government. It had offered to submit a tender similar to the one submitted by company formed by the Adani Group to run the airport. But the central government rejected this demand.

Cochin International Airport is a prime example of how effective the concept of public-private partnership can be. CIAL is today the fourth largest airport in India in terms of international traffic. The partnership between the public and private sectors is fully balanced and managed by CIAL. CIAL has 19,500 shareholders from 30 countries. The State Government holds 33.6 per cent stake in Cochin International Airport. Even though the shareholding is less than 50 per cent, the government has the control of CIAL.

About 90 per cent of the airports under the Airports Authority of India are being run at a loss. It is under this circumstances that the AAI decided to outsource some airports to private companies to increase revenue. CIAL is one of the most profitably run airports under the Airports Authority of India. CIAL had posted a net profit of Rs 204.5 crore in the previous fiscal. The company has achieved a profit growth of 22.5 per cent in 2019-20. Trivandrum International Airport Ltd was formed with the aim of being another company modelled on the well-functioning CIAL. The success of the CIAL model should have given first priority for the State Government when the Central Government decided on privatisation of the operations of the airport. But that is not what happened.

The move should be seen as another example of the intensification of an unholy alliance between the central government and some companies. The question of what merit the Adani Group has while rejecting the request of the State government to hand over the responsibility of the airport is quite relevant here. The deal is similar to the contract given to Anil Ambani’s company, which had no track record in the aircraft manufacturing sector, in connection with the Rafale aircraft contract.

Thiruvananthapuram is one of the six airports operating profitably in the country. The decision to hand over the airport to the owner of the Vizhinjam project, which has not even half way towards completion owing to lack of funds, is completely mysterious.

The political business alliance is clear when the terms of the tender has been changed. When the tender was called it was for 30 years and when it was awarded to Adani it was changed to 50 years.

Established in 1932, the Thrivananthapuram airport is fifth international airport in the country and the first in Kerala. It has an area of 700 acres and handles 44 lakh passengers, 35000 aircraft, 21000 MT of cargo imports and 27000 MT of exports annually. The handing over of Thiruvananthapuram Airport, one of the busiest airports in the country, to private operators with no credible track record in the field is the latest example of the Central Government’s reckless policy of selling off family silver.

It remains to be seen whether the management will eventually end up in Adani’s ownership in the face of strong allegations that ports, roads and airports are the ugly face of crony capitalism behind the group’s ownership.
The observation of former Reserve Bank Governor Raghuram Rajan that the source of wealth for the vast majority of India’s billionaires is government contracts, licenses, spectrum and land is relevant in this context. We see the business and assets of a few corporate groups close to the government growing manifold through contracts and benefits granted by the government. This crony capitalism, which does not even respect the etiquette of the market and ignores the interests of the state governments, cannot be expected to benefit the future of the country in any way.

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