Delhi's refurbished British-era runway is now open for business

Delhi International Airport Limited has completed refurbishing work on the 09/27 runway at Indira Gandhi International Airport and handed over the facility to ATC for commercial operations in late December, which will help in reducing the runway operations time, a release said on Wednesday, January 5.

The newly rehabilitated runway, which was constructed during the British period, complies with Category-I (CAT-I) Instrument Landing System (ILS), which assists pilots during landing an aircraft in low visibility conditions, it said.

DIAL undertook the rehabilitation work of runway 09/27 (first runway) as part of Delhi Airport's phase 3A expansion project.

The refurbished runway of Delhi Airport. (Image Courtesy - Hindustan Times)

According to the private airport operator, the British constructed the 2,816 meter-long and 60 meter-wide runway in the pre-Independence era and used it during World War II.

DIAL said it undertook major rehabilitation works, including milling down the entire length of the runway's flexible pavement to a depth of 60 mm and overlaying it with Polymer Modified Bitumen (PMB), which can withstand heavy-duty traffic and extreme weather conditions.

DIAL has successfully completed the rehabilitation work of Runway 09/27 and its taxiways.

The British-era runway was rehabilitated and made operational for commercial operations as part of DIAL's effort to enhance the infrastructure and passenger experience at Delhi Airport to make it future-ready, said I Prabhakar Rao, Dy Managing Director, GMR Group.

He said the newly rehabilitated runway will have a design life of 20 years and would be instrumental in handling the increased air traffic movements (ATMs), once pre-pandemic level traffic returns to Delhi Airport.

Runway 09/27 is on the northern side of Delhi Airport, and has a network of nine taxiways, out of which, 6 are connecting taxiways and 3 are rapid exit taxiways (RETs), DIAL said, adding it has also realigned a new 3.5 km-long taxiway, parallel to runway 09/27.

This will reduce the Runway Occupancy Time (ROT) and help in improving the traffic flow. As part of the rehabilitation project, DIAL said it has also upgraded the Airfield Ground Lighting (AGL) system for runway 09/27 with a duct and pit system.

Moreover, all the existing lights of the runway and taxiways (around 850) have been upgraded to an LED system for higher efficiency and reliability as a part of rehabilitation work, DIAL said.

Post completion of Phase 3A expansion work, Delhi Airport's passenger handling capacity is expected to increase to 100 million passengers per annum (MPPA), and the airside capacity will enhance to handle 140 MPPA, it said.

Runway 09/27, which is on the northern side of Delhi airport, comprises a network of nine taxiways of which six are connecting taxiways and three are rapid exit taxiways (RETs). DIAL is constructing drains (around 7.3km-long) on both sides of the runway, to cater for the runoff water from the newly rehabilitated runway and its associated taxiways.

The middle east major is seeking $618 million in damages from the manufacturer, Airbus in a dispute over untimely erosion of the surface of some of its A350s, according to the court documents.

Additionally, Qatar Airways intends to bill Airbus to the tune of $4 million every day until 21 of its A350 airplanes remain grounded by Qatar's regulator over the skin damage, which includes erosion and gaps in a layer of lightning protection.

The European jetliner's largest customer moved to a London court to officiate the claim in December, saying Airbus had failed to provide a full root-cause analysis needed to satisfy its questions over the airworthiness of some 40% of its A350 fleet. Other A350 customers are also understood to have identified similar, although less severe, issues. No other airline has grounded their planes.

Not long ago, Airbus had escalated the long-running dispute, saying it will seek an independent legal assessment of claims by Qatar Airways about the quality of surfaces on its A350 widebody aircraft. The European aeroplane maker did not name the Qatari carrier but referred to recent claims about the quality of the paint and other surface issues on the A350.

Airbus is understood to have identified certain solutions to the problems, some of which have been implemented. Qatar was unavailable for comment on Thursday evening. Al Baker claimed last month Airbus still did not have a solution.

Because they still don’t know what?.?.?.?has happened”. “It is always better when there is a problem to admit, not to put your customer in a corner and blame them for something that is actually your own problemCEO Al Baker

The airline operates 53 A350s, although 20 of the jets have been grounded on the instructions of the Qatari Civil Aviation Authority. Qatar has another 23 on order but has halted further deliveries during the dispute. Singapore Airlines is the biggest operator of the A350.

Air traffic between Kashmir and the rest of the country remained affected for the second consecutive day on Wednesday due to inclement weather as intermittent snowfall was reported from most parts of the valley over the past 24 hours, officials said here.

"Flight operations have not been possible at Srinagar airport today due to inclement weather. Four flights have been cancelled so far," a senior official of the Airport Authority of India told PTI. He said the resumption of air traffic would depend on the weather conditions.

It has been snowing in most places of the valley intermittently over the past few days but the arterial Srinagar-Jammu national highway is open for vehicular traffic, an official of the Traffic Department said. He said motorists have been advised to exercise caution while travelling on the national highway because of the snowfall. The suspension of air traffic has resulted in hundreds of tourists getting stranded in the valley.

"Poor visibility due to light snow prevails at our airport. Following flights have been cancelled till now:- Indigo 137 to Delhi, Indigo 6738 to Jammu, Indigo 2015 to Delhi, Indigo 2364 to Delhi, GoFirst 358 to Delhi, GoFirst 193 to Delhi, GoFirst 267 to Delhi and Vistara 611 to Jammu," a tweet from Srinagar Airport said.

Officials in the Tourism Department said a good number of tourists had arrived in Kashmir for celebrating New Year and were planning to return home now. The snowfall has resulted in warmer-than-expected nights in the valley but the weatherman has forecast colder days for the next two days.

Srinagar Airport (Image Courtesy - Greater Kashmir)

Srinagar recorded the minimum temperature of 0.8 degrees Celsius, up from the previous night's 0.6 degrees Celsius, the officials said. Gulmarg, the famous skiing resort in north Kashmir, recorded a low of minus 4 degrees Celsius, up from the previous night's 5 degrees Celsius.

The officials said Pahalgam, which serves as the base camp for the annual Amarnath yatra, recorded a low of minus 0.4 degrees Celsius, up from minus 1.2 degrees Celsius the previous night. They said Qazigund, the gateway town to the valley, recorded a minimum of 0.8 degrees Celsius, while the nearby south Kashmir town of Kokernag recorded a low of 0.1 degrees Celsius.

The mercury in Kupwara in north Kashmir settled at a low of zero degrees Celsius. The MET Office has forecast widespread snow/rain spells of moderate to heavy intensity till January 8. Heavy snow is expected at some places during the period as well, it said.

Snowfall in Kashmir Valley, road, air links snapped

Kashmir valley is currently under the grip of the 40-day harshest winter period known as 'Chilla-i-Kalan' which began on December 21. 'Chilla-i-Kalan' is a period when a cold wave grips the region and the temperature drops considerably leading to the freezing of water bodies, including the famous Dal Lake here as well as the water supply lines in several parts of the valley.

The chances of snowfall are the most frequent and maximum during this period and most areas, especially in the higher reaches, receive heavy to very heavy snowfall. The 'Chillai Kalan' will end on January 31, but the cold wave continues even after that in Kashmir with a 20-day-long 'Chillai Khurd' (small cold) and a 10-day-long 'Chillai Bachha' (baby cold).

A total of 24 gold biscuits worth a whopping INR 1.37 crore was unearthed from a passenger seat of an IndiGo Airlines plane after it touched down at Bengaluru’s Kempegowda International Airport (KIA) from Dubai.

Investigators suspect that the gold was strategically placed by the smuggler as part of a smuggling plan for the pieces to be retrieved from the aircraft at a later stage of the flight possibly by another gang member.

Customs officials seized the gold and further probe is underway. Sources said that the gold biscuits weighing a total of 2.80 kg arrived concealed on IndiGo airlines flight 6E 096 from Dubai to Bengaluru.

The flight packed with passengers from UAE landed at KIA around 10:30 AM on Tuesday, January 4 and all passengers disembarked the plane.

Following a tip on the presence of large quantities of gold being smuggled on the aircraft, sleuths of the Air Intelligence Unit (AIU) of the Bengaluru Customs at the KIA terminal boarded the plane and combed it thoroughly to spot two bar-like items sealed in grey-coloured duct tape stuck to the bottom of a passenger seat.

Officers removed them and cut it open to find a total of 24 numbers of 10 Tola gold bars which were later weighed by officials and ascertained to be 2800 gms. Investigators suspect that the passenger who smuggled the gold into Bengaluru on the IndiGo plane from Dubai had pasted the biscuits under the seat possibly for another gang member to retrieve it later.

(Image Courtesy - Hindustan Times)

International smuggling gangs often deploy the modus operandi of placing gold under passenger plane seats of international flights to be removed at a later period when the plane switches from its international leg of the journey to domestic after reaching Indian ports namely Bengaluru.

The Bengaluru Customs team seized the gold biscuits estimated to be worth INR 1.37 crore in its present market value in India and a probe is underway to track down the passenger who was travelling on the plane seat from where the gold was unearthed, sources added.

Wings are an essential part of an airplane, producing the necessary lift and that's a given. Have you ever noticed though, they are never flat and are either angled or upward sloping?

The tips of airplane wings are adorned with all types of winglets, sometimes featuring a distinct curve, like the Airbus A350 or Boeing 787. Passenger jets without winglets are becoming increasingly rare.

So, what are winglets and what function(s) do they perform? Winglets, or Wingtip devices, are touted to help with fuel efficiency by reducing the drag caused by airflow patterns over the wingtip and increasing range for more efficient travel.

A brief history

Although been around since the early days of aviation, researchers at NASA are officially credited for the research and development of these innovative design features.

Dr. Richard Whitcomb | Baltimore Sun

Dr. Richard Whitcomb, an aerospace engineer at NASA Langley Research Center, tested winglets — vertical airfoils on the tips of wings — compared to longer wings in a wind tunnel. Whitcomb showed that the winglets would improve cruising efficiency by 6-9%; tests by the NASA Dryden Flight Research Center using a military version of the Boeing 707 showed an increase in mileage of 6.5% for the same amount of fuel.

How do they work?

Winglets are basically "mini-wings". Hence it is imperative to have an understanding of how wings work to grasp how they function.

 The wing shape generates lift by exerting downward pressure on the air mass it is travelling through, causing a pressure difference below the wing compared to above; there is less pressure on the upper surface of the wing and more on the lower surface.  This pressure difference, the air below the wings rolls up and wraps around the top of the wing, causing a whirlwind named a wingtip vortex.

Phys.org

Now, wingtip vortices are notorious for increasing drag and reducing lift that results in less flight efficiency and higher fuel costs. Winglets produce “lift” as well, but because they are tilted upwards, that lift results in forwarding movement inside the vortex and reduce the strength of that vortex.

There is, however, a trade-off though. As is with everything, winglets also add to the overall weight and drag- around 500 pounds on average. But all said and done, the aerodynamic benefits outweigh the additional weight and drag. That’s why most jetliners made today come from the factory with winglets.

Some common types of winglets

1. Raked

The Points Guy

Raked wingtips feature a “raked” shape by curving backwards. Many aeroplanes, including the Boeing 787, feature raked wingtips. In the case of the 787, those raked wingtips also have a slight upward curve

2. Canted

Wikimedia Commons

Canted winglets are short, upward-sloping wedges; they can be found on Airbus A330 and A340 aircraft and on the Boeing 747-400.  It’s believed that the use of canted wingtips increased the range of the Boeing 747-400 by over 3%. These winglets are likely to disappear from view as the current models of the A330 go out of production and new wing shapes are developed

3. Blended

Victor Tango Aviation

They feature a much smoother transition from the wing itself to the winglet, which produces additional efficiencies compared to a canted winglet or wingtip fence. Mostly seen on many models of the Boeing 737.

4. Winglets on the Boeing 737 MAX

Eurocontrol

The Boeing 737 MAX has winglets that look similar to the split-scimitar ones, but they are slightly different and come as standard equipment with every MAX

5. Split-scimitar winglet

Houston Chronicle

Found on many Boeing 737 aircraft, they are either delivered with new airplanes, or retrofit by Aviation Partners Boeing; the former appears on Boeing 737-900ERs flown by Delta, and the latter on many United Airlines 737s. They are a cross between a blended winglet and the wingtip fence, essentially blended winglets with an added airfoil below the wing.

6. Wingtip fences-An Airbus innovation

The small winglets that are seen on many Airbus variants are called wingtip fences. This type of winglet was meant to address the wingtip vortices that originate from the bottom of the wing, and therefore have a physical barrier below and above the wing. Spotting them is an easy way to differentiate between a Boeing 737 and an Airbus A320 family aircraft.

Did you know? The newer Airbus A320-family aircraft also sport blended winglets that look very similar to the winglets on the Boeing 737 — except they’re called "sharklets". The name is simply a unique way of marketing.

The Flying Engineer

SOURCE(s)

COVER: FlightGlobal

The Air India Express cabin crew have decided to launch an indefinite strike from January 15 if the management does not address their concerns. Over 500 cabin crew under the Air India Express Employees Union (AIXEU) are likely to strike work. They allege that the management has shown discrimination while issuing contracts. 

"The contract period for cabin crew was reduced to one year from five years. At the same time, the contracts of other staff and new recruits are for five years. We met the management nine times in the presence of the central labour commissioner to resolve the issue but we didn’t get any positive response.The labour commission had ordered to offer a ground staff job to the cabin crew member who got injured. Instead, the management terminated his contract. This is an unfair labour practice."Vijaykumar KK, President, Air India Express Employees Union AIXEU (BMS)

The crew under the Air India Express Employees Union have sent a strike notice to the airline's CEO and will proceed with their plan if the management does not reply favourably. Air India Express cabin crew form over 70% of the union members. The strike, if it does happen, will affect flight operations.

"We have raised our concerns and have put forward our demands to the management. The strike notice was issued in December 2021. No reply has been received so far," said a cabin crew member.

Over 500 cabin crew under the Air India Express Employees Union (AIXEU) are likely to strike work.

He said that they had staged a national-level protest in front of the Air India Express headquarters in Kochi last month, raising their demands and citing the unfair labour practices followed by the management.

The AIXEU has raised two issues with the management. One, to reconsider the contract period of the cabin crew members. The second, to offer a job to a cabin crew member who got injured and is currently in a wheelchair.

The AIXEU represents about 500 cabin crew personnel, and any strike would significantly impact aircraft operations.

The employee protest at AI Express comes at a time when a change of ownership is just around the corner for the airline. While the carrier’s handover to the Tatas has been delayed slightly over some regulatory approvals, it is still very much on track.

The Tatas have been keeping a close eye on protesting employees of the Air India group and would want the airline to fix these issues before the official handover. Furthermore, with reports of a possible merger of AI Express with AirAsia India, the Tata Group would want to resolve any pending issues with employees for a relatively smooth transition.