Delhi, Hyd airports get top rankings of a global body

PTI – Wed, Feb 16, 2011 7:01 PM IST

New Delhi, Feb 16 (PTI) The airports of Delhi and Hyderabad have been ranked among the top airports of the world in the airport services quality (ASQ) by the global body, Airports Council International (ACI).

While Hyderabad''s Rajiv Gandhi Airport retained the number one position for the second year in a row among 49 airports handling 5-15 million passengers per annum (mppa), Indira Gandhi International Airport came fourth in a group of 19 airports in the 25-40 mppa category.

Mumbai''s CST International Airport, run by GVK-led consortium, ranked in the 15-25 mppa category, the ACI said.

While the Indian airports ranked among the top in different categories, the ACI declared Incheon in Seoul, Changi in Singapore, airports in Hong Kong, Beijing and Shanghai Pudong as the overall top ''best airports worldwide''.

The rankings were done on the basis of a global ASQ survey by the ACI of 153 airports, including 6 Indian ones.

The survey, which gets a representative sample of flights, destinations and passenger groups served by the airport, is intended to get feedback from users on a range of service delivery parameters. ACI audits the process to ensure compliance and validates the results.

The awards will be formally presented in April at the ACI''s Asia-Pacific Regional Conference to be held here.

This was announced by P S Nair, who has been promoted as CEO (Corporate Airport Sector) of the GMR Group which leads the Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL) consortium. Till last month, he was the DIAL CEO.

In DIAL, Nair was replaced by I P Rao while the Hyderabad airport, also run by GMR-led joint venture, now has Vikram Jaisinghani as its CEO.

Nair said the Hyderabad airport has improved on its ASQ rating which now stands at 4.51 and retained the top slot in its category consecutively for the second year.

On the IGI airport, he said the ASQ ratings improved "immensely" after the plush new Terminal-3 became operational last year.

To questions, he said a few areas on which the Delhi airport was lacking included value for money, inadequate shopping facilities and the ease of reaching the airport. "We are looking to improve these areas," Nair said.

ACI Director General Angela Gittens said airports in the Asia Pacific "made clean sweep" in the category of ''best airports worldwide'' as they did last year.

CV-22 Osprey (Unusual Aircraft Collection)

The V-22 Osprey is easily the most revolutionary rotorcraft in service today, able to takeoff and land vertically like a helicopter, then transition to forward flight like a regular fixed-wing aircraft.   The CV-22 seen here is the Air Force version of the Osprey, which has aerial refuelling equipment and more radar capability than the Marine Corps' MV-22.

Compared to the Vietnam-era Chinook and Sea Knight helicopters it's intended to replace, the Osprey can fly twice as far with twice the load and at twice the speed.   It's also much quieter than a traditional helicopter, which is a significant advantage in a combat situation.

The Osprey has had a long and chequered development history, with a number of fatal crashes, but its capabilities will almost certainly make it a major asset to the military.   However there are definitely downwash problems when hovering during search and rescue missions and it's also difficult to fit it with defensive guns, making it less able to defend itself against groundfire - though its speed makes this less of an issue, anyway.