Airports Authority of India allowed to exercise mini-ratna powers

August 4th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The government plans to convert the airport regulator Airports Authority of India (AAI) into a company, a senior aviation ministry official said Tuesday. "We are working out to convert AAI from an authority to a company by next March.

July 9th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The Airports Authority of India (AAI) has lost Rs.65.58 lakh in equipment purchases for various international airports, the country's official auditor said Thursday. The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) said in its report tabled in parliament that AAI purchased X-Ray baggage inspection systems (X-BIS) that screen the luggage of passengers at airports for Delhi and Mumbai airports despite the government's efforts to privatise these airports.

July 9th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The new aviation regulator, Airport Economic Regulatory Authority (AERA), will settle all contentious issues in the aviation sector, including the airport development fee issue, Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel said here Thursday. Replying to questions in parliament, Patel said: "AERA has been constituted by an act of parliament and has started functioning.

July 6th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Out of a total plan outlay of Rs.12,165 crore for the civil aviation ministry, a sum of Rs.190 crore will be provided as budgetary support to various organisations under the ministry, the government said Monday after Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee presented the annual budget in Parliament. Out of the Rs.190 crore, India's airport developer, Airports Authority of India (AAI) has been allocated Rs.99.15 crore for development of airports.

April 30th, 2009 NEW DELHI - A planned nationwide two-day strike by 15,000 airport employees from Thursday midnight has been called off after the government agreed to discuss their grievances, a civil aviation ministry spokesperson said. 'The strike, called by the employees of the Airports Authority of India (AAI), has been called off,' the official said.

April 2nd, 2009 NEW DELHI - The Indian government Thursday asked airports around the country to adopt heightened security measures after an intelligence tip-off of a possible terror attack. Official sources confirmed that a red alert has been sounded at airports across the country, especially in the four metros, as well as in Hyderabad, Bangalore and at some international airports like Amritsar.

March 10th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Helicopters will soon get separate corridors for landing at all major airports in the country, an Airports Authority of India (AAI) official said Monday. 'This would minimise traffic chaos at the airports, where wide-bodied aircraft share their space with choppers also,' the official said.

March 6th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The international airports at Chennai, Kolkata, Thiruvananthapuram, Goa and Ahmedabad will soon get the government's nod to levy development fee on passengers to raise funds for their expansion, an Airports Authority of India (AAI) official said Thursday. 'We are doing this to bridge the capital funding gap.

March 6th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The country's airports operator, Airports Authority of India (AAI), Friday said airline operators owe it Rs.11 billion (Rs.1,100 crore), of which Air India alone has to pay RS.7 billion (Rs.700 crore). 'We are in the process of settling this issue with the airlines.

March 5th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The Airports Authority of India (AAI) has asked at least 4,000 of its employees working at the Delhi and Mumbai airports to either opt for the voluntary retirement scheme (VRS) or work at other AAI-owned airports, an official said Wednesday. The AAI official, who did not want to be identified, told IANS that the decision has to be implemented at the earliest and such VRS offers will be made to employees in some other airports also.

February 21st, 2009 THIRUVANANTHAPURAM - The Indian Air Force (IAF) has decided to shift its Maritime Air Operations (MAO) headquarters to the Southern Air Command (SAC) based here to enable quicker response to emergencies in the Indian Ocean region, it was announced here Friday. 'The new arrangements will come into effect from April 1 and are an indication of the growing importance of this command,' SAC Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief S.

February 12th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Former US president George W. Bush should be given Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian honour, for his contributions to the India-US nuclear cooperation programme, a senior Congress leader said here Friday.

February 10th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The government is likely to allow Mumbai's airport developer to charge an additional fee from passengers to help it bridge its development fund deficit, a senior official said Wednesday. It had recently allowed the airport developer in the national capital to charge a similar fee.

January 17th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Short of funds and fearing revenue losses, India's airport operator has shelved plans to upgrade the 35 non-metro airports at the same time, and target only a few big ones among them, a government official has said. 'We are now targeting 10-12 major non-metro airports to meet the deadline,' an Airports Authority of India (AAI) official said.

January 1st, 2009 NEW DELHI - A new aviation regulator - the Airports Economic Regulatory Authority (AERA) - will come into effect by March 31 this year, according to a ministry official. 'AERA has been notified in the gazette.