News Analysis India

Tag: Swami Vivekananda Airport

  • Five years after emergency landing, Bangladesh plane still taking up space at Raipur airport

    Express News Service
    RAIPUR: It’s been over five years for a Bangladesh-based United Airways plane that made an emergency landing at Raipur and the airport authorities apparently seems perplexed as they await feedback to their series of communication sent to officials of the private carrier and the neighbouring country for its take-off from the Chhattisgarh capital.

    Besides the letters and the sequence of e-mails to civil aviation authorities of the neighbouring country Bangladesh, the Airport Authority of India (AAI) Regional Headquarter (RHQ) contacted Bangladesh High Commission in Kolkata on September 2 last year.

    “But so far we haven’t received any concrete response or information from them as the Bangladesh aircraft remains parked since August 2015 and yet to be attended for its take-off. Though, we have been consistent in our communication”, said Rakesh Sahay, the Raipur Airport Director.

    The United Airways flight with 173 passengers on board on its way from Dhaka to Muscat made an emergency landing at Swami Vivekananda Airport in Raipur following a technical snag and failure of one of its engines. Even after the aircraft engineering team from Bangladesh fixed the problem some three years ago, there still is no message from Bangladesh regarding the stranded plane take off from Raipur.

    The aviation authorities told the New Indian Express that they were yet to see any definite action initiated to expedite the process by the officials contacted in Bangladesh for the aircraft to be flown back to Dhaka.

    The parking charges to be paid by the private carrier keep piling up. “The parking fee is Rs 320 per hour. We are pursuing with the operator for payment and for taking away the aircraft,” Sahay said. The parking charges already crossed Rs 1.54 crore.

    With the United Airways aircraft lying solitarily in the allotted parking space and apparently ignored for so long, the Raipur airport had equally faced a space dilemma and had to shift the plane to other locations within the premises.

    The airport officials here are evidently clueless on what recourse the AAI or the Director-General Civil Aviation might initiate as the Bangladesh or private carrier authorities take no notice of the high-priority messages sent to them.

    “Any action to be taken will be in accordance with the respective rules and regulations if the ongoing situation lingers on or fails to make headway,” affirmed Sahay.

  • Air passengers from Raipur increased by 15 percent, flight decreased by two percent

    These days the number of air passengers going to and from Swami Vivekananda Airport is gradually increasing. There has been an increase of 15 per cent in the movement of passengers at Raipur Airport from 8 to 14 February. However, there has been a decrease of two percent in the movement of flights.

    According to information received from aviation officials, from February 8 to 14, a total of 350 flights were operated at Raipur airport, which was two percent less than the previous week. At the same time the movement of air passengers was 40850. It has increased by 15 percent.

    For the first time such an increase in the movement of air passengers has been recorded. Now gradually the effect of corona is getting reduced in air travel. Along with this, the facilities of air travelers are increasing. However, if the movement of air passengers is compared to 2019, it is still quite low.

    Flight to Jabalpur is going to start soon from Raipur Airport. It is being told that with the commencement of Jabalpur flight, the connectivity of Raipur to Bhopal will also start. Last month, the flybig company has started air service from Raipur to Indore. Travel operators have also asked for a direct flight from Raipur to Goa. Along with this, there has been a demand to start air service from Raipur to Tirupati, Shirdi. Also, the business organization CAT has also demanded to start direct flights to Benares. A lot of traffic is being talked about for these areas.