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The CBI has registered an FIR against a senior manager of the Airport Authority of India for allegedly siphoning off more than Rs 232 crore into his personal accounts through a complex trail of fictitious accounting entries in three years during his posting at the Dehradun airport, officials said. The alleged embezzlement by Rahul Vijay, senior manager, finance and accounts, was detected in an internal audit, which flagged abnormal capitalisation of assets in the financial records between 2019-20 and 2022-23, they said. The Airport Authority of India (AAI) constituted a committee to verify the findings, which highlighted a complex trail of fictitious accounting entries, asset inflation, and unauthorised fund transfers from the authority's accounts to Vijay's personal accounts. Chandrakanth P, senior manager (finance), AAI, filed a formal complaint with the CBI on August 18, which became the basis of the FIR to be probed by the Economic Offences Unit of the agency. Vijay's alleged .
As many as 4,291 positions are lying vacant at aviation regulators DGCA and BCAS as well as at state-owned Airports Authority of India but the shortfall has not impacted the functioning of these organisations, the government said on Monday. Many posts were also created in recent times at the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) and AAI. Nearly 50 per cent or 823 sanctioned positions at DGCA are lying vacant while 441 posts, including 426 technical positions, were created between 2022 and 2024, raising the total technical posts at the regulator to 1,063, as per the official data. In 2024, 84 operational posts were created during restructuring of BCAS, Minister of State for Civil Aviation Murlidhar Mohol told the Rajya Sabha. At AAI, 840 posts of Air Traffic Controllers (ATCOs) were created recently. Details about the sanctioned posts at BCAS and AAI could not be immediately ascertained. "Keeping in view the current and future expans
Airports Authority of India (AAI) on Friday said it has completed airspace design and flight procedures for the two upcoming airports in Navi Mumbai and Noida. Both the Navi Mumbai International Airport and Noida International Airports at Jewar in Uttar Pradesh are scheduled to become operational from April this year. Airports Authority of India said the completion of the airspace design and flight procedures underscores AAI's expertise in managing complex airspace configurations, especially for airports situated near some of the busiest aviation hubs in the country. This will help in enhancing operational efficiency at these new airports, paving the way for future growth in one of the world's most dynamic aviation markets, it said. AAI, which provides air navigation services to the airports pan-India, will be managing these services at the two facilities. These procedures are designed to optimise flight efficiency, with significantly reducing emissions, track miles, and flight ti
The cumulative capex (capital expenditure) of Indian airports is expected to grow 12 per cent at Rs 60,000 crore in the three years through FY27 from Rs 53,000 crore during 2022-2024, to add required infrastructure for about 65 million passengers per annum, ratings agency CRISIL said on Thursday. CRISIL said 70 per cent of this capex is expected to be funded through debt. The ratings agency said its projections are based on a study of 11 private airports in the country that account for 60 per cent of the total passenger traffic in FY24. In addition to the expected growth in passenger traffic, increase in tariffs and spending within the airport ecosystem will lift revenue of private Indian airports at an average growth rate of 17 per cent between FY25 and FY27, it said. That, coupled with improved funding access and a predictable regulatory regime, will support the strong credit profiles of private airports. "The number of passengers at Indian airports is expected to clock a compou
The Airports Authority Of India is all set to celebrate 100 years of flight operations at Kolkata airport, officials said on Sunday. Flight operations in Kolkata airport started in 1924. "The Airports Authority of India proudly celebrates 100 Glorious Years of #KolkataAirport @aaikolairport, a gateway that has seamlessly bridged the world with the soul of #WestBengal. Originally known as #DumDumAirport, this Iconic Airport stands as a testament to Timeless Brilliance, where History Whispers, Culture Thrives & the Skies Unite," AAI Kolkata Airport said in a post on X. "A Century of Excellence, welcoming the world to the City of Joy!" it said. According to sources at the Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International (NSCBI) Airport, the celebrations will begin from the third week of December and will continue till March end next year. There is a possibility that Union Civil Aviation minister Kinjarapu Ram Mohan Naidu will be present at the inauguration of 100 years celebrations of the ..
State-owned AAI has issued a show cause notice to Delhi airport operator DIAL seeking an explanation on certain structural weaknesses detected during the study by an IIT Delhi team following the roof collapse incident at the old departure forecourt of Terminal 1 in June this year, according to a senior official. Delhi International Airport Ltd (DIAL) is the operator of the Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA), the country's largest airport. It is operated under a public private partnership. When contacted, a DIAL spokesperson told PTI that its team of experts is currently preparing a comprehensive response to the queries raised by the Airports Authority of India (AAI). Following the roof collapse incident at T1 on June 28 that also killed one person, the civil aviation ministry had asked structural engineers from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Delhi to carry out an assessment. The senior official in the know told PTI the study by IIT Delhi found weaknesses in the p
The concessionaire agreement between the AAI and Adani Thiruvananthapuram International Airport Ltd is not a 'transfer of business', but supply of services and hence is liable to GST, the Kerala-bench of the GST Authority for Advance Ruling (AAR) has said. The Kerala AAR ruling is contrary to the rulings passed by the Rajasthan and Gujarat Appellate Authority for Advance Ruling (AAAR) in the case of transfer of Jaipur and Ahmedabad airports and Uttar Pradesh AAR in the case of Chaudhary Charan Singh International Airport in Lucknow. These authorities had exempted such transfers from goods and services tax (GST). The Airports Authority of India (AAI) in its application before the AAR said it has entered into a concessionaire agreement with Adani Thiruvananthapuram International Airport Ltd for the operation, management, and development of the airport for 50 years. The AAI sought rulings from the AAR on a set of queries, including whether the agreement involves transfer of business an
Airports Authority of India (AAI) has received passenger fees totalling about Rs 2,032 crore till June this year from the private partners operating six airports that were leased out in 2019. The airports at Lucknow, Ahmedabad, Mangaluru, Jaipur, Guwahati and Thiruvananthapuram have been leased out to Adani group under the Public Private Partnership (PPP) since 2019. "Private partners of these airports have paid approximately Rs 2,032 crore to AAI as Per Passenger Fee (PPF) till June 2024. "AAI has also received an amount of approximately Rs 2,758 crore from the private partners of these six airports in the form of upfront fee towards the capital expenditure incurred by AAI at these airports," Minister of State for Civil Aviation Murlidhar Mohol told Lok Sabha on Thursday. According to him, these airports were leased out for better operations, management and development for 50 years. The minister also said in a written reply that as per the National Monetisation Pipeline (NMP), 25
Airports Authority of India (AAI) is expected to report the highest-ever profit of Rs 5,000 crore in the financial year 2023-24, a senior official said on Monday. In recent years, the number of airports has gone up, especially with the regional air connectivity scheme, amid rising domestic air traffic. AAI Chairman Sanjeev Kumar said the organisation surpassed the capital expenditure target at around Rs 5,250 crore in the fiscal ended March 2024. In 2023-24, the turnover is expected to be around Rs 15,000 crore and the profit before tax at Rs 5,000 crore, which will be the "highest ever in our history," Kumar said. He was speaking at the 29th annual day of the AAI. At the function, Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia said the number of airports, heliports and waterdromes has increased to 157 from 74 in the last 10 years. Efforts are on to increase the number to 200, he added.
Delhi airport operator DIAL has won an arbitral award against Airports Authority of India (AAI) with respect to revenue share obligations during the coronavirus pandemic period. Under the Operation, Management and Development Agreement (OMDA) for the Delhi airport, DIAL had invoked arbitration against the AAI seeking certain reliefs as eligible to it on account of the occurrence of force majeure event during the coronavirus pandemic period. In a regulatory filing, GMR Airports Infrastructure Ltd said an arbitral tribunal passed the award on January 6. Mentioning about key aspects of the award, the company said DIAL has been "excused from making payment of Monthly Annual Fee (MAF) for the period from 19th March 2020 to 28th February 2022 due to existence of force majeure". The amount of MAF paid by DIAL to AAI for the period March 2020 to December 2020 was ordered to be refunded along with interest, the filing submitted to the stock exchanges late Sunday said. As per the filing, DI