Photos: New Delhi airport - aerial views of the ramp, Jet's A330 fleet, Blue Dart and Kenya Airways freighters

by Devesh Agarwal

Once again the kind friends at Delhi International Airport (P) Ltd. (DIAL), the company which operates the Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA), supported the Aviation Photographers India Foundation by giving access to the airside, after they had received permission from the DGCA.

Yours truly, got on to a Rosenbauer turn-table ladder (TTL) of the airport fire-fighting team, and took some aerial shots of the airport in the dawn's early light.

Readers compliment us on the quality of photographs. It is possible due to supporters like DIAL, their management, their air-side chief Ashutosh Kulshreshtha, their fire chief Mr. Kadam, and all their respective team members. Some dare-devilry on my part after being up for 36 hours straight shooting through the night, was the spice added to this mix.

Enjoy the three aerial views and then continue scrolling down to see a photo of me in the TTL bucket way up in the sky, thanks to Praveen Sundaram.

This photo is of the old Terminal 2, which is now used exclusively for Haj flights. The ramp is being used as a large parking lot for the Jet Airways Airbus A330 fleet, and some aircraft from the Kingfisher fleet. Five A330-200s and one new A330-300 are parked. The seventh A330 is parked on the remote ramp, visible in the second picture. Six A330-200s are almost half the Jet Airways fleet. One has to question why are they parked up in Delhi and not being used. There are rumours that Jet is going to lease them to Etihad. More Jetihad.



The remote ramp of the mega Terminal 3. This photo has two rare events in one. First is the Kenya Airways Cargo Boeing 737-300, not seen before this date. Second, is a rare daylight confluence of four Blue Dart freighters of their fleet of six aircraft. Two 757s parked, one 757 taxiing out, and the sole 737-200 near the top right of the photo, waiting to line-up and take-off.



Normally performed by an Airbus A340-300, this day Finnair flight AY021 non-stop from Helsinki, was performed by a Boeing 757-200 with winglets. Unfortunately this aircraft OH-LBT went technical and could not perform the return flight.



And here I am ....... way up there. Let me say, despite the supports on the trucks, the bucket wobbles and sways. It was scary and one has to be very gentle in their movements. Hats off to these fire-fighters.

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Image: Early morning contrails - Blue Dart Boeing 757-200PCF

Blue Dart Aviation is a dedicated freight only airline in India, and the only operator of the Boeing 757 in India.

Aircraft name 'Vision VIII' registration VT-BDM is a Boeing 757-200 PCF (passenger converted freighter) and here it is coming to to land on runway 27 at the Bengaluru International Airport in the early morning of June 14th.

My friends often ask me what pleasure do I get from airplane spotting, the answer is this photograph.

See more of my spotting pictures on JetPhotos.

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DHL and Blue Dart open integrated terminal at Bangalore airport

Logistics majors, DHL Express and Blue Dart Aviation inaugurated a $25 million integrated terminal at the Bangalore International Airport. The 220,757 sq. ft facility will integrate the South Indian domestic and international businesses of both companies.

The facility, which was expected to bring synergies in operations, was said to improve services by reducing throughput time by 60 minutes.

Malcolm Monteiro, senior vice president and area director South Asia, DHL Express Asia Pacific, said that the Bangalore facility, would be followed up by similar facilities in the near future.

“Every time we have an opportunity like this, we will use it. Hyderabad is the next one in line. We are also looking at Mumbai, Delhi and Kolkata within a short period of time. The kind of investments that will go into these facilities will depend on the airports and the throughput in these areas,” said Monteiro.

In reference to the market slowdown, Monteiro said, that the express industry, which had grown at the rate of 19% last year, was expecting a growth of 10% - 12% this fiscal. The company, however, he said, was growing above the market due to the choice of its investments.

The company, which had increased market share by 1% to 2% last year, was expecting similar figures this year, said Monteiro.

The company, which had an employee base of 10,000 employees in India, was likely to experience a slowdown in recruitment but was not looking to cut jobs. “We will continue to recruit, but at a slower pace,” he said.

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