Govt defers decision on Centaur land transfer to DIAL as Air India objects
27 Feb 2017 5:49 PM GMT
The Civil Aviation Ministry has deferred a decision on handing over of the Centaur Hotel land to DIAL for airport expansion till next year after Air India raised "objection" over the issue. The Centaur in Delhi is one of the two hotels operated by Hotel Corporation of India (HCI), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Air India.
The property is on the land leased from Airports Authority of India (AAI) and the lease period is to end in 2032. As part of its revised Master Plan for IGI Airport, which has already been approved by the Civil Aviation Ministry, DIAL has proposed further development of landside, terminals and airside facilities to correspond to the projected traffic growth in next 20 years.
It also proposes expansion of passenger handling capacity of the IGI Airport from the existing 62 million passengers per annum (MPPA) to 109.3 million MPPA in a phased manner. Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL) had last year written to the ministry for taking possession of the hotel land as part of these plans.
"Following this, the ministry asked Air India to vacate the building complex at the earliest. However, Air India wrote back to the Ministry, saying that since it is already working on plans to revive the hotel, it will not be feasible to transfer the property at this stage," official sources said.
The ministry has accepted Air India's plea and accordingly deferred a decision on the issue till the first quarter of the next calendar year, they said. DIAL is a joint venture between GMR-led consortium and Airports Authority of India. In the JV, while GMR group holds 64 per cent stake, mini-ratna Public Sector Undertaking AAI has 26 per cent ownership. The rest 10 per cent is with German airport operator Fraport.
"Delhi Airport has been witnessing unprecedented air traffic growth in the last two years. To meet this growth, DIAL has prepared a comprehensive master plan which has been approved by MoCA and AAI in 2016. Among other areas, the land parcel on which Centaur Hotel is located is required for the development of various aviation facilities as per the master plan and these facilities are to be ready for use by 2021," a DIAL spokesperson said.
Besides, as per OMDA (operations, management and development) and the lease deed executed between DIAL and AAI, the Centaur Hotel and its adjoining land is part of the existing leases, which are required to be transferred to DIAL whenever required by it for development of aviation facilities, the spokesperson said.
"In view of the airport development requirement, AAI had issued the Termination Notice on 08.11.2016 to Centaur Hotel and advised them to vacate and hand over the land to AAI within the notice period," the airport operator said.
DIAL is abiding by the terms and conditions laid down in the OMDA and lease deed executed with AAI, he added.
AI keeping options 'open' for 5 wide-body aircraft
Government-owned Air India is keeping all options "open" on the type of wide-body aircraft, which it plans to lease, including the latest jetliner from Airbus, A350. The European aviation major Airbus is scheduled to a give a formal presentation to the national airline early next month in this regard, sources have said.
At present Air India has wide-body planes from the US aircraft maker Boeing Inc, while its narrow-body fleet consists of Airbus planes. The airline used to operate wide body A330 till a few years ago. However, it phased them out after inducting Boeing 787-800s in the fleet.
The Air India Board has recently given approval to the airline to lease five wide-body planes in the fleet, which are to be inducted between January and March next year. "We have not yet decided about the manufacturer. We are keeping all options open on this. Some time back, Airbus had given us an initial proposal for its newest jetliner A350. We are evaluating this as well," a highly placed Air India official said.
Airbus is likely to give a detailed presentation on the performance of its wide-body products including A350 to Air India on March 8, the official said. The official added that the airline would consider all parameters including fuel efficiency as well as lease rentals before choosing the type of aircraft.
As part of its domestic and international capacity augmentation plans, Air India is expected to induct 34 aircraft including five wide-body planes over the next two years.
Ealier last week, Air India has put into operations its newly leased Airbus A320 Neo with its maiden flight arriving here from New Delhi.
The first A320 Neo aircraft with 161 passengers on board touched down at the Chennai International airport from the Indira Gandhi International Airport at 2030 hours on Thursday, the airline said in a release.
The national carrier had inducted the latest fuel-efficient aircraft from European aviation major Airbus in its fleet on February 16.
The A320 New Engine Option aircraft is configured with 162 seats, including 12 in the business class.
Air India has plans to induct a total of 29 A320 Neos into its fleet by March 2019.
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