NEW RUNWAY AT KEMPEGOWDA INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT FULLY OPERATIONAL
The IAF is ever ready and geared up to meet all the emerging needs of the nation and to support the ongoing war against the COVID-19 Pandemic.
A new type of virus known as the CoronaVirus, also dubbed as COVID-19 has spread across the world leaving a large number of nations including India, in a state of total paralysis. The lockdown at the national level imposed by the Government of India commencing on March 25 is still in place. The effect of the COVID-19 pandemic has crippled practically all segments of the Indian economy, especially the Indian airline industry, as all domestic and international flights have been stopped. It will be difficult to predict the timeframe in which the airlines can hope to get back on their feet and the nation can hope to effect economic recovery. In this issue, Wing Commander R.K. Yadav gives us an overview on the impact of COVID-19 on the Indian Airlines industry.
Another segment that has been adversely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic is the Business Aviation sector. This issue of SP’s Aviation carries a detailed analysis of the problem by Rohit Kapur, the former President of BAOA. He has catalogued the plight of this sector and has made a number of practical suggestions to solve the problem, clearly bringing out the steps that the government needs to take.
In the prevailing situation, the Indian Air Force (IAF) has stepped in to provide the much needed relief by transporting medicines, medical equipment and medical personnel on a large scale to every part of this country and even abroad. A report by Air Marshal B.K. Pandey (Retd) on the role of the IAF in the battle against the COVID-19 is also included.
March 14, 2020, will be marked as a landmark day for the MRO sector in India when the GST council, in an attempt to boost the Indian MRO industry, reduced the GST on MRO services from 18 to 5 per cent. This is seen as a huge support for the floundering Indian MRO sector and hopefully make India as a MRO hub, at least in South Asia. The current MRO scenario in India is catalogued in this issue by Anil Chopra while there is an analysis by Pulak Sen on the effect of this reduced GST on the sector.
In this issue we have interviewed Gerald Steinhoff, Sr. Vice
President, Corporate Sales, Asia Pacific, Lufthansa Technik, the global leader in MRO services, who completes 25 years of providing flawless services. Even during this torrid Corona crisis, Lufthansa Technik continues to provide reliable services and fulfillment based on a solid network of global MRO operations in the Americas, EMEA and Asia Pacific and a vast network of subcontractors.
A major event in the global aerospace and defence industry earlier this year has been the merger of Raytheon and United Technologies Corporation. This historic merger has created the world’s most advanced aerospace and defence systems provider known as Raytheon Technologies Corporation. This new enterprise is expected to transform the aerospace and defence landscape the world over and is expected to become a dominant global supplier to military and civil customers. A detailed report by Ayushee Chaudhary on the merger has been included in this issue of the magazine.
All this and more in this issue of SP’s Aviation. Wish you better days ahead without the menace of the COVID-19 global pandemic and many happy landings when the Indian civil aviation industry is back on track!
Jai Hind!
Even during this torrid Corona crisis, Lufthansa Technik continues to provide reliable services and fulfillment based on a solid network of global MRO operations in the Americas, EMEA and Asia Pacific and a vast network of subcontractors
The new runway, called the South Runway, at the Kempegowda International Airport (KIA) which was restricted to limited operations since its commissioning in December last year, is now equipped to handle both arrivals and departures. When it was commissioned on December 6, 2019, it was only handling departures and in the initial days the operations were confined to second half of the day. “The South Runway will begin with limited landings and takeoffs before gradually scaling up flight operations. The runway will initially have CAT I certification and, as operations stabilise, will progressively manage CAT III B operations, enabling landing and takeoff in extremely low visibility conditions,” the airport operators had said when the runway was commissioned. However, now it has been handling both arrivals and departures.
In the years following the liberalisation of the Indian aviation sector, a number of private airlines emerged on the scene beginning in the mid 1990s. This led to a rapid growth air traffic through the major cities including Bangalore where civil flights operated through Bangalore airport that was jointly managed by two other agencies namely the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) and the Indian Air Force. As the space available at HAL airport for operations of civil flights was extremely limited and there was no scope for expansion, it reached saturation point very soon. It was clear that in the context of the rapid growth of civil air traffic, the civil enclave at HAL airport was inadequate and the city needed a much larger airport to be used exclusively for civil flights. Thus it was that a new international airport at Devanhalli was sanctioned by the Government, fortunately without any dithering and delay. Construction of the airport, now known as Kempegowda International Airport (KIA), commenced in July 2005 and the airport with one runway, was operational in May 2008, in less than three years at a total cost of ` 1,930 crore. It was a remarkable achievement indeed especially in terms of time frame!
KIA was initially designed to handle 4.5 million passengers; but by the time construction began, the anticipated traffic had risen to 6.7 million. Thus the necessary changes in design were made and when KIA was commissioned in 2008, it had the capacity to handle 11 million passengers annually. KIA was the third airport in India to be built under the Public Private Partnership programme of the Government.
Having made the new runway operational, Bangalore International Airport Limited (BIAL), the company in charge of the management of KIA, has a number of plans to upgrade and enhance the capability of the airport through other programmes under the ` 13,000 crore expansion plans that are underway. Apart from strengthening and upgrade of the existing runway, taxiways, tarmac for parking of aircraft and development of new facilities/associated infrastructure, the most notable item on the list is to upgrade the capability of the old runway in use since May 2008, to CAT III standard which will enable it to operate flights in very low visibility conditions and to be on par with the new South runway. A Request for Proposal has already been issued for the installation, testing and commissioning of Cat-III system for the old runway. However, this work will entail closure of the runway to operations up to at least the end of the current year by which time the upgrade of capability to CAT III standard is expected to be completed. However, unlike in 2017 when large scale repair work on the runway and taxiways was undertaken, this time around, there would be no impact on airport operations as flights can be conveniently diverted to the new South runway.
Alongside the new South runway, KIA is to get the second terminal as well, located on the Southern side of the new South runway. This new terminal will enhance the passenger handling capacity of the airport by another 25 million per annum. In 2018-19, the KIA had handled well over 33 million passengers, maintaining its position as the country’s third busiest airport.
But the ambitions of the people of Karnataka do not seem to rest here and for good reason. There is now a clamour for the third runway at KIA for a variety of reasons. Firstly, the annual air passenger traffic through KIA is expected to cross 75 million in not too distant a future. The rate at which passenger traffic through KIA has been growing in recent years, the figure of 75 million could well be reached by 2025. A written request for the third runway at KIA has been projected to the Government of Karnataka by the Bangalore Political Action Committee (BPAC) headed by Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, Chairperson and Managing Director of Biocon Limited who the President of BPAC and T.V. Mohandas Pai, the Vice President who is the Chairman of Manipal Global Education, Manipal University.
The letter to the Karnataka Government by the luminaries from BPAC highlights the recent study released by Airports Council International that ranks KIA as one of the fastest growing international airports in the country and hence it is imperative to plan for a third runway to cope with the growing air traffic. It also emphasises that given the rapidly growing air traffic, KIA will need to have two runways operational all the time and the availability of a third runway will ensure that the operational efficiency of KIA is never compromised.
It was on December 01 last year that a new type of virus of unknown origin that caused symptoms in human beings that were somewhat similar to Pneumonia, was first reported from Wuhan, the capital of Hubei province in Central China. Transmitted easily through close human-to-human contact, this new health hazard that turned out to have a high fatality rate especially in the elderly and those with pre-existing diseases such as diabetes and high blood pressure, was dubbed as Coronavirus abbreviated as COVID-19. With no drug available for treating specially this affliction, the infection spread rapidly like wild fire not only within China, but all across the globe, virulently engulfing large sections of the population of nations especially in Europe such as Italy, France and the United Kingdom (UK). Surprisingly, the United States (US) which is located far away from China, has been one of the nations that has been severely affected by this virus. India too has not been spared, but quite fortunately, with distinctly lower numbers infected and lower fatalities as compared with the nations mentioned above. This is attributable largely to the very timely and stern measures adopted by the central government under directions by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in consonance with the state governments including even those with different political affiliations.
The Government of India has issued comprehensive instructions to the IAF directing the service to make available all the required support and assistance to the civil administration
By the end of January this year, the COVID-19 outbreak was initially declared a Public Health Emergency of International Concern by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and later a “Pandemic” on March 11, 2020. The Government of India resorted to a “Junta Curfew” on Sunday March 22 this year that was followed by a country-wide lockdown for 21 days commencing on March 25, 2020. During the period of the lockdown, people were required to remain confined to their homes and numerous preventive measured were put in place which included cancellation of all rail and air services, imposition of restrictions on travel by road and any kind of congregation by people for religious or any other purpose, was prohibited. Educational institutions, shopping malls, department stores, gyms, clubs and cinema halls were all ordered to close down. All these measures led to a near total paralytic state for the nation.
The Pandemic has also been described in some quarters as the “Third World War” waged by China. While it may take some time and effort to validate this theory, the fact is that the nation today is faced with a grave situation that could be compared to one during a war thus necessitating intervention by the Indian Air Force (IAF) to battle the threats and impediments arising out of the extended lockdown. The Government of India has issued comprehensive instructions to the IAF directing the service to make available all the required support and assistance to the civil administration that is engaged efforts to keep the situation arising out of COVID-19 under control.
AIRLIFT CAPABILITY
A major requirement of the nation in this unprecedented crisis has been the need for transportation of large quantities of medicines and medical equipment to all parts of the country especially to the remote areas of the country that even under normal conditions, are not easily accessible. As surface transport by way of goods trains or trucks were not permitted to ply, air transportation by civil aircraft of medical supplies was an option. Unfortunately, the capability of private airlines as also of the national carrier Air India to transport cargo to various locations across the nation, is somewhat limited, deteriorating further under the existing lockdown conditions. Under these circumstances, the fleet of transport aircraft available with the IAF proved to be the most appropriate and convenient solution. The available fleet of C-17 Globemaster III strategic heavy lift aircraft as well as the C-130J Super Hercules tactical transport aircraft were utilised for this purpose.
ENTER THE IAF
Involvement of the IAF to provide proper and speedy response to the COVID-19 crisis and to fight a new enemy, was very professional. The IAF had set up a Crisis Management Cell at Air Headquarters in New Delhi as well as at the different
Command Headquarters across the nation to monitor the prevailing situation and provide immediate response and assistance that the situation required. The IAF has been supporting the battle against COVID-19 by airlifting essential medical supplies and commodities to equip the state governments and other supporting agencies to combat the deadly virus effectively. In addition, the IAF is employing smaller aircraft such as the Dornier to carry samples for testing and medical teams that need to be sent to different locations on an urgent basis. The medical supplies include personal protective equipment (PPE), hand sanitisers, surgical gloves, thermal scanners along with the required medical personnel. Regular airlifting of COVID-19 test samples from various locations to Delhi is also being carried. For this task, all transport aircraft of the IAF including An-32. AVRO and Dornier aircraft of the IAF are being employed on ‘as required’ basis. The IAF is adequately geared up to meet all the emerging demands.
The required supplies have been regularly airlifted across the nation extending from Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh in the Northern Region to Prayagraj, Gorakhpur, Bareilly and Agra in the Central region and to Guwahati, Dibrugarh, Mohanbari, Manipur, Nagaland and Gangtok in the North East. Apart from these, there are a number of destinations in South India to which the required medical supplies have been airlifted. The IAF has been playing a critical role in the fight against COVID19 in Ladakh that remains cut off from the rest of the nation due to snow bound passes in the Himalayas. IAF aircraft are constantly ferrying in medical personnel as well as the needed medical supplies and emergency equipment to Leh and flying out blood samples for COVID-19 testing to Chandigarh and Delhi. Ladakh has reported several positive cases, including the first soldier from the Indian Army to suffer this infection.
The IAF has airlifted critical medical supplies even to Male, the capital of the Maldives in an exercise dubbed as Operation Sanjeevani. Maldives has been suffering from shortage of essential medical supplies as its connectivity with India which its main source of medical supplies, was disrupted after lockdown on account of COVID-19.
QUARANTINE FACILITIES
Apart from providing air transportation for medical personnel and supplies, the IAF has created nine quarantine centres at the major IAF stations across the country with capacity of each facility ranging from 200 to 300 personnel. In addition, every station also has a quarantine centre with a capacity for 50 to 60 persons which can be expanded further. Also, the Command Hospital Air Force at Bengaluru located on the Old Airport Road, has been designated as the first laboratory in the IAF to undertake COVID-19 testing. This will significantly enhance the nation’s ability to carry out quick testing of suspected cases and allow prompt and timely intervention where required. The IAF continues to take measures to provide all possible assistance to the civil administration across the country in containing the spread of COVID-19. Quarantine facilities created at IAF bases across the country continue to be functional.
EVACUATION OF PERSONNEL
The Government of India has undertaken evacuation from several countries in the wake of the COVID-19 outbreak to bring back Indian citizens as well as nationals from other countries. While a significant part of this task is and has been handled by the Air India, the transport fleet of the IAF has also lent a helping hand. On February 26 this year, a C-17 Globemaster III aircraft of the IAF evacuated 112 passengers from Hubei province in China. Among these, 76 were Indian citizens and the remaining 36 were citizens of Myanmar, Bangladesh, Maldives, China, the US, Madagascar and South Africa. On the way out to Wuhan, as a goodwill gesture, the IAF C-17 aircraft had carried 15 tonnes of medical supplies for COVID-19 victims in China.
On March 10, 2020, a C-17 Globemaster aircraft of the IAF airlifted 58 Indian pilgrims, all evacuees from COVID-19 hit Iran, arrived at the IAF base at Hindon. All 58 passengers on board were quarantined at Hindon where the IAF had established the required facilities to provide adequate care and support and had activated the necessary medical protocols. The C-17 aircraft had also brought 529 samples for investigation.
THE FINAL WORD
The IAF is ever ready and geared up to meet all the emerging needs of the nation and to support the ongoing war against the COVID-19 Pandemic.