Faizan Haidar writes on the Delhi government, city politics, transport, aviation, and social welfare. A journalist for a decade, he also tracks issues such as trafficking and labour exploitation in Delhi and other states.
Articles by Faizan Haidar
Airport security takes stock of internal risks
Globally, agencies overseeing security at airports have come around to the view that the movement of employees working at airports need to be tracked, an official at the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) said, requesting anonymity.
Updated on Sep 15, 2019 06:50 AM IST
Hindustan Times, New Delhi | Faizan Haidar and Neeraj Chauhan
Money collected from big airports to help expand CISF security cover
As of now, of the 100 operational airports, 61 are covered by the CISF while the rest are covered by the local police, which, say security experts, is not ideal.
Published on Sep 15, 2019 01:01 AM IST
New Delhi | Faizan Haidar
Travel industry hopeful of demand during festive season
Factors like India’s large migratory workforce heading back home to be with family for the festive season and people maximising home visit via an extended weekend with Gandhi Jayanti, followed by the Durga Puja/Navratri week and Dusshera promise lucrative days for travel sector.
Updated on Sep 25, 2019 08:24 PM IST
Hindustan Times, New Delhi | Faizan Haidar
Oil companies restore fuel supply to Air India; airline assures payment of Rs 100 crore per month
The supply at six airports was stopped on August 22. Air India had a meeting with the oil companies and has proposed to pay Rs 100 crore every month of the Rs 4,400 crore debt and it has agreed to pay daily for fuel it is taking for operations.
Updated on Sep 07, 2019 08:44 PM IST
Hindustan Times, New Delhi | Faizan Haidar
Soon, hire a guide to board Air India flights
An Air India official aware of the development said the services could cost between ₹2,500 and ₹5,000 per passenger, depending on the facilities availed.
Updated on Sep 06, 2019 05:21 AM IST
Hindustan Times, New Delhi | Faizan Haidar
2 IndiGo pilots suspended for 2 months for flying plane with tail support attached
During loading or unloading of any kind of cargo in an aircraft, the tail support or ‘tail prop’ is used to prevent the plane from tipping over backwards.
Updated on Sep 06, 2019 08:05 AM IST
Hindustan Times, New Delhi | Faizan Haidar
40 new Vande Bharat Express trains by 2022
Two rakes of Vande Bharat Express are currently available for operations and one of them runs between Delhi and Varanasi.
Updated on Sep 05, 2019 12:27 AM IST
New Delhi | Faizan Haidar
Aspiring pilot barred for life over cheating, another gets 2-year ban
In a similar case on July 24, an aspiring pilot appearing in Hyderebad was caught with mobile phone. He has been barred for two years.
Updated on Sep 05, 2019 12:09 AM IST
New Delhi | Faizan Haidar
Half of Indian airports are ‘single-use’ plastic free now
Various steps have been undertaken by Airport Authority of India to eliminate the single-use plastic items at passenger terminals. These steps include banning of single-use plastic items like straws, plastic cutleries and plastic plates
Updated on Sep 04, 2019 10:11 AM IST
Hindustan Times, New Delhi | Faizan Haidar
Aviation body to allow off-duty pilots to travel in cockpits
On July 13, an off-duty Air India pilot, who was flying to Bengaluru as an additional crew member because the plane was full, was grounded after he failed a breath analyser test for alcohol consumption . Following this, the DGCA barred pilots from travelling in cockpits if they are not on duty.
Published on Sep 04, 2019 06:44 AM IST
Hindustan Times, New Delhi | Faizan Haidar
In new order, DGCA allows off-duty pilot to travel in cockpit
The pilot community had opposed the move as the airline’s manual allows pilots to travel in the cockpit as an additional crew as they might have to join duty from the next station.
Updated on Sep 03, 2019 06:30 PM IST
Hindustan Times, New Delhi | Faizan Haidar
4,000 stations under railways’ free Wi-Fi network, Tinsukia in Assam latest
Free Wi-Fi is among the six Indian Railways projects that are part of 100-day agenda of the Union government.The project other than providing Wi-Fi networks, is to test a new signalling technology that will improve safety and increase capacity by reducing the distance between two trains.
Updated on Sep 03, 2019 11:14 AM IST
Hindustan Times, Delhi | Faizan Haidar
Govt to spend Rs1,000 cr on three J&K airports
The Airports Authority of India, which expanded and modified the terminal of Jammu airport in September 2017, has now started work on extending the runway at the airport and sought more land from state government for a new terminal.
Updated on Sep 03, 2019 07:58 AM IST
Hindustan Times, New Delhi | Faizan Haidar
IRCTC restores service charge, online tickets to become costlier
IRCTC will levy a service charge of R15 on a ticket for non-AC classes and R30 for AC classes, including first class, according to an order. The Goods and Services Tax (GST) will be applicable separately.
Updated on Sep 01, 2019 12:39 AM IST
Hindustan Times, New Delhi | Faizan Haidar
Oil firms threaten to stop fuel supply to AI at 2 more airports
Hyderabad and Raipur will on September 2 join the airports in Ranchi, Mohali, Patna, Viisakhapatnam, Pune and Cochin where Air India flights will be denied refuelling facilities by the oil companies, officials said.
Updated on Sep 01, 2019 11:20 AM IST
Hindustan Times, New Delhi | Faizan Haidar
Air India’s problems rise as firms ‘threaten’ to down fuel supply at Hyderabad & Raipur too
Air India is in the grip of a major financial crunch and on August 22, Indian Oil Corporation stopped fuel supply to the airline at Ranchi, Mohali, Patna, Vizag, Pune and Cochin airports, owing to nonpayment of dues.
Updated on Sep 01, 2019 11:19 AM IST
Hindustan Times, Delhi | Faizan Haidar
Indian Railways identifies 12 more stations for redevelopment, ties up with IRCON
IRSDC has signed a Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) with IRCON for redevelopment of 12 railway stations including Ghaziabad, Yeshvantpur, Karnal and Thiruvananthapuram Central.
Updated on Aug 31, 2019 06:45 PM IST
Hindustan Times, New Delhi | Faizan Haidar
Fed up of airport frisking, man cries bomb, ends up missing flight to Bangkok
According to officials at security agencies, because of a high-leve alert being sounded, they had put in place secondary ladder point checking (SLPC) under which passengers, despite being checked by the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) before entering the departure area, are checked again by airline staff just before they board.
Updated on Aug 30, 2019 09:39 AM IST
Hindustan Times, New Delhi | Faizan Haidar
‘Determined to privatise Air India’: Hardeep Singh Puri
The government’s biggest attempt to privatise Air India ended on May 31, 2018, as a deadline for prospective bidders lapsed with no one showing interest in the airline.
Updated on Aug 30, 2019 01:46 AM IST
Hindustan Times, New Delhi | Faizan Haidar
‘Whoever gets it will be very fortunate’: Minister makes Air India’s sales pitch
The Parliament on August 3 passed Airports Economic Regulatory Authority of India (Amendment) Bill, 2019, that increases threshold of annual passenger traffic for major airports to over 35 lakh with Civil Aviation stating that government was committed to privatisation of Air India as its debt has become totally unsustainable.
Updated on Aug 29, 2019 07:57 PM IST
New Delhi | Faizan Haidar
Air India goes eco-friendly, introduces wooden cutlery for flyers
As the national carrier aims to eliminate plastic usage as much as possible, Air India express and Alliance Air would go plastic free immediately, however, some of the flights of Air India will still continue to use the plastic products due to operational issues.
Published on Aug 29, 2019 02:17 PM IST
Hindustan Times, New Delhi | Faizan Haidar
‘Neo aircraft safe to fly’, says DGCA after emergency meet with IndiGo, Go Air
There have been 19 incidents of inflight shut down/mid-air turn back/rejected take off since 2017, nine of which happened this year, due to issues in the main gear box (MGB) and low pressure turbine (LPT) of Airbus Neo aircraft.
Published on Aug 28, 2019 07:56 PM IST
Hindustan Times, New Delhi | Faizan Haidar
DGCA calls urgent meeting with GoAir, IndiGo over Neo planes with engine snags
In March 2018, the DGCA had banned 11 A320 Neo aircraft from flying because of problems with their engines, which led to a number of flight cancellations.
Updated on Aug 28, 2019 12:29 PM IST
Hindustan Times, New Delhi | Faizan Haidar
DGCA assesses bird hit threat near Delhi airport
On Monday afternoon itself, a Kalitta air cargo plane declared an emergency and landed at IGI due to a suspected bird hit, which damaged the engine. A few days ago, the plane carrying Rahul Gandhi and other dignitaries had to do a go-around due to bird suffered by another plane.
Updated on Aug 29, 2019 08:09 AM IST
Hindustan Times, New Delhi | Faizan Haidar
Why 2019 is a year of runway misadventures
Aviation safety expert Mohan Ranganathan said the increasing number of runway excursions also shows a lack of training and understanding of pilots regarding correct landing procedures.
Updated on Aug 27, 2019 09:36 AM IST
Hindustan Times, New Delhi | Faizan Haidar
DGCA suspends helicopter relief operations in Uttarakhand after crash
After a meeting with the Uttarakhand Civil Aviation Development Authority (UCADA), State Disaster Relief Authority (SDRA) and representatives of two helicopter operators part of the relief operation, the DGCA has said the operations will remain suspended till the state government comes up with a standard operating procedure .
Updated on Aug 24, 2019 10:14 PM IST
Hindustan Times, New Delhi | Faizan Haidar
Government may go for 100% stake sale in cash-strapped Air India
Air India is in the grip of a major financial crunch and on Thursday, Indian Oil Corp stopped fuel supply to the airline at Ranchi, Mohali, Patna, Vizag, Pune and Cochin airports, owing to non payment of dues.
Updated on Aug 24, 2019 09:45 AM IST
Hindustan Times, New Delhi | Faizan Haidar
Buses carrying passengers of IndiGo, SpiceJet collide at Delhi airport
DGCA is now investigating the matter and asked operators to ensure such incidents are not repeated.
Updated on Aug 24, 2019 09:54 AM IST
Hindustan Times, New Delhi | Faizan Haidar
Soon, officials could visit Japan for India’s bullet train project
India is also working with Japan to make key technical changes to the bullet trains so that they can handle extreme heat and high levels of pollution.
Updated on Aug 18, 2019 11:57 PM IST
Hindustan Times, New Delhi | Faizan Haidar
Government plans GPS tracking to prevent rogue drones
One possible solution is to have a GPS (global positioning system) trackers installed in all privately owned and operated drones that are registered for use.
Updated on Aug 18, 2019 08:23 AM IST
Hindustan Times, New Delhi | Faizan Haidar
