Silchar airport lacks basic passenger facilities

SILCHAR, Nov 29: The Kumbhirgram Airport, 22 km from here, set against scenic and idyllic Borail hill ranges and lush green tea bushes does boast of a modernized terminal building, equipped with suitable user friendly services. It can accommodate 300 passengers at a time. But, complaints are mounting from the passengers about the lack of basic amenities to their discomfort and inconvenience. Airport Authority of India which looks after the upkeep of the airport is blamed for overlooking passengers’ problems.

For security reasons, the only canteen inside the airport building has been closed down with no alternative arrangement. Official version is that AAI is the competent authority to explain the closure of the canteen. All the airports in Northeast are on high alert with foolproof security cover. As an AAI source said disruptive elements might make use of the canteen although passengers have to pass through strict check to get in. Delayed flights in particular irritate passengers as they can not get either water or refreshment. Anjan Roy Choudhury, a businessman, shares the ordeal of the passengers.

Even drinking water arrangement is not hygienic as the purifier machine is out of order. Potable water that filters through only machine installed is muddy and unfit for consumption. No signboard has been put up to caution the passengers not to use the water. Toilets both for incoming and outgoing passengers are in bad condition. Stinking and overflowing flushed out water due to poor sanitary arrangement, toilets are irritating for passengers to use. Disinfectants are hardly used. No efforts are being made to improve the situation.

Strangely enough, night landing of flights at the airport is yet to become operational even after 10 months of the building up of necessary infrastructure.

According to airport sources, the Director General of Airport Traffic Control has not given the clearance. Besides installation of required tools and equipment, the runway has been extended by another 2000 feet to accommodate airbus. Apron has also been extended by another 150 feet.

At present, Air India, Alliance Air and Kingfisher operate daily flights to Kolkata, Imphal and Guwahati from here and on an average around 1 lakh passengers are in and out bound. The delay in the commissioning of night landing of aircrafts, an insider says, is due to the non-installation of sophisticated navigational and visual aids. THE SENTINEL

Night landing at Silchar airport awaits inauguration

SILCHAR, Oct 8: Night landing facilities at Kumbhirgram Airport, Silchar, are ready for operations, but since it has not been ceremonially inaugurated by any politician, the passengers are subjected to immense harassment.

On Wednesday, IC-253 flight carrying 140 passengers, destined to Silchar, could not take off from Kolkata airport due to some technical snags. The flight was scheduled to return to Kolkata carrying 135 passengers from Silchar airport. An airport source said, the technical snag was to be corrected by Wednesday evening, but since the night landing facility was not operative in Silchar, the flight could not take off from Kolkata. It resulted into harassment for the passengers.

Meanwhile, the restaurant inside the Silchar airport has been closed since August 26 and as a result all the 135 passengers had to wait at the airport without any refreshment, supposed to be served by the airlines authorities. It was another issue of utter negligence by the authority at Silchar airport that there were about 50 chairs to accommodate 135 waiting passengers. THE SENTINEL

Funds for Modernisation of Small Airports

The Minister for Civil Aviation, Shri Praful Patel informed the Parliament today that upgradation and modernisation of 35 Non-metro Airports is on way by Airports Authority of India (AAI) by 2009-2010. In addition, 13 more airports have been taken up for upgradation by AAI. Modernisation of Kolkata and Chennai airports has also been taken up by the AAI. Besides, Delhi and Mumbai Airports have been taken up for upgradation through joint venture route.

AAI proposes to spend an amount of Rs.12434.34 crores, during the 11th Five Year Plan (2007-08 to 2011-12) for development of airport infrastructure in the country which includes Metro airports as well as non-metro airports. An expenditure of Rs. 6443.53 crores has been proposed for development of Non-metro airports whereas an expenditure of Rs. 5990.81 crores has been proposed for development of Metro and other private/ Greenfield airports.

Details of funds allocated in this regard airport-wise are as under: [name of airport and allocated funds (in Rs. crores) in respective orders

In Northern Region- Ajmer (15), Chandigarh (78), Dehradun(63), Delhi (60), Jaipur (116), Jaisalmer (15), Jammu (39), Khajuraho (78), Kullu (19), Leh (41), Lucknow (69.50),Ludhiana (23), Mount Abu (3), Pantnagar (63), Srinagar (30),Udaipur (58), Varanasi (89.18), Amritsar (109.10) and Miscellaneous works (274.48).

In Eastern Region- Behala (15), Bhubaneswar (72.95), Cooch Behar (15), Gaya (25), Jharsuguda (5), Malda (5), Muzaffarpur (5), Port Blair(Civil Enclave) (41.14), Ranchi (110) and Miscellaneous works (148.33).

In North Eastern Region- Agartala (10), Barapani (Shillong) (7), Dibrugarh (25), Guwahati (58), Imphal (15), Itanagar (Proposed airport) (21), Jorhat (10), Pakyong (Proposed airport)(25), Kohima (Proposed airport)(25.32), Passighat (10), Silchar (17.44) and Miscellaneous works (135.84).

In Western Region- Ahmedabad (224), Akola (10), Aurangabad (112), Baramati (30), Belgaum (23.41), Bhavnagar (30), Bhopal (25), Goa (40.10), Gondia (30), Indore (52), Jamnagar (3), Juhu (13), Mumbai (46), Nagpur (57), Pune (37), Rajkot (10), Vadodara (15), Surat (51.08) and Miscellaneous works (255.15).

In Southern Region- Agatti (30), Calicut (35), Coimbatore (62), Cuddapah (5), Hassan (5), Hubli (25), Mysore (55), Madurai (66), Mangalore (150), Puducherry (13), Rajahmundry (12.10), Trichy (83.32), Tirupati (52), Tuticorin (10), Vishakhapatnam (75), Vijayawada (34.27) and Miscellaneous works (309.29). Besides the above, Delhi International Airport Limited plans to spend Rs.8975 crores on first phase of development of IGI, Airport, New Delhi and Mumbai International Airport Limited plans to spend Rs.9802 crores on development of CSI Airport, Mumbai.

The planned expenditure is adequate for modernisation/ upgradation of airports. The expenditure can be adjusted subject to review depending upon the progress of individual projects. In Himachal Pradesh, the works for construction of new terminal building, apron and fire station at a cost of Rs. 14.63 crores at Kullu airport and construction of terminal building, extension and strengthening of runway, apron and other allied works with a cost of Rs. 12 crores at Kangra (Gaggal) airport have been completed.
source: http://pib.nic.in

Silchar Airport needs sophisticated navigational aids

Special Correspondent
SILCHAR, Oct 30: Silchar airport is one of the six airfields in Asom with rich legacy of World War II vintage airstrips. Keeping pace with the increase in traffic and upgradation of passenger services, Airport Authority of India after completing modified terminal building has with it the plan to extend the runway from 5857 ft to 7500 ft which is almost complete. Besides, the apron has been strengthened and has been extended by another 150 ft.

The airport with its extended runway has come a long way in accommodating Airbus-320. A year ago, it was fit for ATR and Boeing flights or B-737 class of aircraft only. In terms of density and volume of passenger and cargo traffic, the airport, 22 km from here, has been ranked fourth after Guwahati, Agartala and Imphal.

On an average, 90000 passengers embark and disembark annually at this airport and around 600 mt of cargo is handled. It is link with Kolkata, Guwahati and Imphal by daily flights. The ‘open air policy’ of the Aviation Ministry has been able to attract private air liner like Deccan Airways, now being operated by Kingfisher. Both Kingfisher and Air India operate their flights with Airbus and ATR aircrafts. As the number of passengers of late has shown declining trend, from October 28 Kingfisher has taken the lead to reduce its fare on Silchar-kolkata route from Rs 3689 to Rs. 2980 only for economy class. Air India is also likely to follow suit. In fact, the basic fare on this route is Rs 1100 only which is compounded by fuel surcharge of Rs 2350 and fees and taxes counting for Rs 239. The Airliner has taken the calculated risk to lure passengers since its 180 seater A-320 even during puja rush has not sufficient number to be near the required load factor. Quite significantly, both Air India and Kingfisher have opted for Airbus and ATR for cost effectiveness on fuel consumption. While Airbus takes 1 hour on Silchar-Kolkata route, ATR 30 minutes more.

What Silchar airport now needs are night landing facilities about which Sontosh Mohan Dev, Union Minister of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises, said it would take another two months for installation of necessary equipments. Most important, considering its location in the midst of hill ranges and long duration of rains and envelopment of mists and fogs during winter, the airport needs instrument landing system, doppler very high frequency omni range along with distance measuring equipment and precision approach path indicator. It is all the more necessary because the airport is manned by Indian Air Force which has a base close to it. The airfield is of strategic importance for both civilian and military point of view. During war with Pakistan in 1971, IAF made several bombing missions to hit targets across the border. In fact, the Air Force played crucial role in the liberation of Bangladesh .

Heavy rain falls in the very early part of October have created problem of visibility for pilots in landing their aircraft. On October 5, Indian IC-7706 flight from Imphal bound for Kolkata enroute Silchar could land at the airport after 3 attempts. In order to make it all weather air field, sophisticated navigational aids have to be installed. source: the sentinel assam