Kolkata airport to expand its duty free shop size from 150-sqm to 600-sqm

Kolkata airport to expand its duty free shop size from 150-sqm to 600-sqm Kolkata airport has drawn up plans to expand its duty free shop size from 150-sqm to 600-sqm. It is, at present, most uninspiring because Mumbai has a duty free shopping zone of 4650-sqm - it caters to about 35,000 international passengers every day. Delhi also has a huge duty free shopping zone - it is 4380-sqm and it caters to nearly 31,000 international passengers.
In contrast, Kolkata handles about 6,000 international passengers daily and, during the tourist season, the figure rises by a few thousand. Hence - its duty free shop was only 150-sqm in area. Many people have complained about the lack of trained sales personnel in the duty-free outlets and have commented that some of them do not even know how to pack a liquor bottle properly.
This has been reported in telegraphindia.com dated 12 January 2016.

But, this is poised for an upgrade - from a handful of outlets packed into a 150sq m format it is going to expand to a 600sq m spread of stores that would be selling top international brands at competitive prices. The contract has gone to Flemingo International, a Dubai-based global duty-free and retail operator in the travel sector. It has won a seven-year contract to run the stores.
They would be bringing in products like sunglasses and watches that weren't available so far. Moreover, there would be more choices in liquor, chocolates and perfumes as well. The new stores is expected to be would be operational in about two months.
Incidentally, the duty-free zone cannot be increased beyond 600sq m because of lack of passengers.

(Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org

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Bengal Global Business Summit - only four private aircraft landed at Kolkata airport

#BengalGlobalBusinessSummit #mamatabanerjee #kolkata Bengal Global Business Summit called by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Bsnerjee saw only four private aircraft land at Kolkata airport - 60 parking bays had been kept ready in anticipation of huge numbers of aircraft that would arrive. But, that did not happen.
The summit is being touted as a stupendous success by the state government and, for the records, investment proposals of Rs 250,253.74 crore (2.5 lakh crore) are believed to have been received - but, the picture at the airport on that day was miserable. Only four aircraft in 60 parking bays indicated the level of big business's interest in the two-day event that ended.
This has been reported in telegraphindia.com dated 11 January 2016.

The four aircraft were Mukesh Ambani's Airbus 319 - it was in bay number 43. The other three, all medium-sized business jets, were of steel maker Sajjan Jindal, media magnate Subhash Chandra and a politician: Union minister Nitin Gadkari.
Compared to this, at the last Vibrant Gujarat Summit a year ago, Ahmedabad airport had to really struggle to find space for the 60-plus private planes that touched down.Most of these aircraft had brought in industrialists. The aircraft had to be accommodated in nearby airports and had to return to pick up the guests.
The situation is similar in Delhi, Chennai and Bangalore are similar - during such business summits, planes have to be parked at nearby airports.
Incidentally, while Kolkata boasts of a new terminal sprawling across 2.33 lakh square metres, it receives few passengers and flights. About 22,000 fliers use the terminal on an average day compared with 84,700 in Delhi and 73,700 in Mumbai. Moreover, the city has lacked direct air connectivity to Europe for nearly four years now since German airline Lufthansa pulled out of the city in March 2012. British Airways had withdrawn its Calcutta operations in March 2009.

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Kolkata wants Europe flights to return – chief minister talks to civil aviation minister

Once upon a time the Kolkata airport had several International Airlines like BOAC, Lufthansa, Japan Air Lines apart from Air India operating services to different European countries – but, the absence of enough passengers and, more importantly, high-value business travelers led to their departure. Kolkata became a low-priority destination for European airlines.
However, chief minister Mamata Banerjee wants them to come back and, hence, she had a meeting with civil aviation minister P. Ashok Gajapathi Raju who has indicated that he would request Air India to consider reintroducing direct flights to Europe from Calcutta.
This has been reported in telegraphindia.com dated 25 September 2015.

In the course of a meeting held in Nabanna with chief minister Mamata Banerjee, the civil aviation minister remarked that the state government's major concerns were direct flights to Europe and inactive airports in the state. He agreed to take up the matter of direct flights to Europe with Air India.
He also added that Air India have to follow a system to follow but, everyone has to work together to motivate the airlines in order to bridge the gap. Air India, British Airways and Lufthansa had the permission to operate direct flights between Calcutta and Europe – they would require sufficient number of business-class passengers to get motivated.
Air India had withdrawn its direct flight between Europe and Calcutta in 2007 for "commercial and operational" reasons – a euphemism for lack of passengers.
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Mamata Banerjee to waive tax on ATF for airlines that operate direct flights to Europe

On the eve of her departure for London to woo investors, chief minister Mamata Banerjee has indicated that Bengal is ready to will waive tax on aviation turbine fuel (ATF) for any airline that is willing to operate direct flights from Calcutta to Europe.
This has been reported in telegraphindia.com dated 27 July 2015.

She had a meeting with senior airport officials and bureaucrats in her entourage before she board Air India's Calcutta-Delhi-London flight where she made this announcement. She has asked the airport director to start the ball rolling and approach airlines with this unique offer.
However, how far this would appeal to airlines is a matter of debate – as officials of several international airlines feel that such flights would be viable only if there was a steady flow of business fliers who weren't "price-sensitive" and who were frequent travelers. That is, sadly, not there because Kolkata offers very few business-class passengers to airlines. The reason is the lack of industry. There used to be at least two European carriers, British Airways and Lufthansa that have left the city because of low yield.
Incidentally, the Bengal Global Business Summit held in last January could not attract any international airline to provide direct connectivity to Europe and/or the US.
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Buffalo hits SpiceJet Boeing-737 aircraft on Surat airport runway – 146 passengers safe

A buffalo hit a SpiceJet Boeing-737 aircraft on Surat airport runway as it was about to take-off for Delhi – fortunately, the 146 passengers on board were safe due to the timely evasive action taken by the pilots.
A high-level meeting convened by aviation minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju Pusapati have discussed the issue of stray animals at airports which is a common occurrence in India. Both the DGCA and Airports Authority of India are investigating this serious incident.
The aviation ministry has taken an immediate decision to send teams to all airports to inspect the perimeter fences and boundaries and ensure replacement of all barbed wires fences by boundary walls to prevent animals from straying into airports for grazing.
The target set is next three months – whether this timeframe is for dispatch of teams or for constructing boundary walls is not very clear.
It has also transpired that there are fish ponds in the vicinity of the runway – these attract birds and lead to another menace for aircraft because bird hits can destroy aircraft.
Animal intrusions at runways have been a common affair. Last month a jackal was trapped from near the Kochi runway. In May, 2012, a pig on Nagpur runway prevented an IndiGo aircraft from landing and the plane had to go around. Incidents of animals on runways in 2008 at Kolkata and Bangalore airport – initially the quartet of jackals looked like dogs from the cockpit of an aircraft readying for takeoff and it resulted in two other planes to hover above the airport for an extra 15 minutes and burn fuel worth about Rs 63,000 each.
On March 27, a Kingfisher Airlines aircraft ran into a dog on the runway of Bangalore airport during take-off – it resulted in the collapse of the nose landing gear. The crew evacuated the 25 passengers on board after the aircraft screeched to a halt.