Singapore Airlines First Airbus 380 arrival at T3,Delhi,IGI Airport.

 

It was a memorable experience on May 30,when me,along with Vishal Mehra were invited by Delhi Airport for welcome ceremony of first Airbus 380 arrival at T3,Delhi Airport,IGI.

                          The event was streamed live on Youtube & covered live on CNN-IBN.

I had a chance to have a personal one on one interaction with Mr.I Prabhakar Rao(IPR),CEO,Delhi International Airport(DIAL).

Here is an Edited Excerpts of the conversation I had with IPR,

 Aviator"s Heart:Take us through some developments at IGIA over the last 12 months ? 

 

IPR: Number of Passengers(Px.) is growing,36.88 million px,DIAL got Second best airport award in world yesterday in 25-40 Million px category,Passenger satisfaction rating of 4.84 out of 5,which is remarkable.

We have OTP of 83% with 850-900 movements a day which is remarkable.

78 movements in an hour,one of the highest in world.

This is achieved by CDM,Collaborate Decision Making,involving Pilots,ATC,earlier they used to manually call ATC keeping radio busy,now they get it prior in advance via CDM.,monitors each a/c from  touch down to boarding gate .

Aviator"s Heart: Please share your thoughts on the first scheduled commercial A380 service ? 

IPR: We are very excited for same & 6 aero-bridges,one with 3 gates & one with 2 gates will be deployed to manage smooth transfer of passengers.

Aviator"s Heart: What benefits do u see for 380 operations ? 

For Airlines:-

Clubbed flights like one 380 instead of two 777 flights,

More Passengers,Luxury,More economically viable.

For Airport:-

With less ATM,more Passengers,with wide body aircraft,

More Passenger,

More economically viable.

Aviator"s Heart: What competitive benefits vis a viz other Indian airports does IGIA offer to A380 operators ? 

IPR: Airport facilities are not aircraft specific,we treat all aircrafts & airlines equally. 

 

Aviator"s Heart: AirAsia withdrew from Delhi citing high airport charges. Other airlines too complain of high charges. How is DIAL addressing these concerns?

IPR: UDF is paid by Passengers, 

Out of airlines operating cost,airport charges componet in only 2.3%,

2002-2010 after taking inflation into account,salaries raised so why not Airport charges be increased? 

>DIAl contributes 0.4% of GDP,

>40 % of Net worth of GMR investment in DIAL of 10,000 CR is eroded,we have accumulated losses of 1000 CR,we are not making money,we are in loss,still AERA doest allow us to hike tariffs,

>No one talks about ATF taxation which is 40 % cost component of airlines cost

Airlines lobby is much stronger than Pvt Airport Operators lobby,

So why make a hue & cry on airport charges.

We are still making losses!! 

Aviator"s Heart: How do you see T3 as a Hub,how successful it is ? 

In 2006,International traffic was 3-4 % when DIAL took over,now its 20% 

We are doing good as a hub.

Aviator"s Heart: Do you see FDI in Jet & a potential hub at Abu Dabhi as a threat,that T3 wont be hub for Jet Airways ? 

IPR:Yes,,everything has some merits & de-merits,

We are focusing on positives of FDI,

If FDI comes airline will grow both domestically & Internationally,

So we will ask them to have more flights from T3.

Aviator"s Heart:A380 size will stress resources like baggage handling, immigration, etc. How is IGIA dealing with these challenges ? 

IPR:We have 44 immigration counters,

In 10 mins we can clear 2000 passengers,slots allocation to airlines is accordingly keeping in mind Peak Time capacity so that passengers can clear immigration & terminal smoothly.

Also We had a chance to have an interaction with Mr. Marcel Hungerbuehler,Chief Operating Officer,DIAL.

  

                                      

Here is an Edited Excerpts of the conversation I had with Mr.Marcel,

Aviator"s Heart:Please share your thoughts on the first scheduled commercial A380 service ? 

Marcel:Great  

Aviator"s Heart:How has IGIA prepared for this A380 flight ? 

Marcel:Till now no aero-brideges were connected to upper deck,so it was critical,all our staff was well tranied for 380 ops before hand!! 

Turn around Time,2005 IST was arrival,ETA was 2010,flight landed at 2020 Next departure at 2205 so in less than 2 hrs,we will make the turnaround happen!! 

Aviators"s Heart: Who will be next 380 operator to T3,IGI ? 

Marcel:Lufthansa will be next 380 operator to T3,they have requested winter slots,its just a matter of time,

Aviators"s Heart: What about Emirates Airlines ? 

Marcel: We have not received any request from Emirates Airlines.

A moment to remember!! 

Love aditya.

A big thank you to very dear friends Vishal,Priya & Devesh Sir for this experience. 

P.S:I deeply regret & my apologies that I couldn't write this blog earlier,as was occupied with too many things.