Airliners-India.com

sabya99

Sabya’s home coming to New Jersey from Kolkata (2013 ):

The majestic terminal: I was heading for the NSCBI airport from unusual direction over Jessore Road. Once upon a time this area was Kolkata’s industry hub but now all are closed. Run down factories, heaps of uncollected garbage, stray dogs are all but left here. Even traffic islands are empty without any polices to control the traffic. There was a profound sense of lawlessness and anarchy. Suddenly from a distance I noticed the shining façade of new terminal. A relief at last not all is lost. We entered through a nice flyover which clearly marked the entry point to international terminal. I also noticed a large crowd gathered in front of domestic terminal gates. If I recall correctly front side of this airport resembles BOM Sahar airport but may be large in size. I noticed a standby mechanical ladder replacing broken glass panel as and when needed!! That day President Pranab was in Kolkata and no visitors were allowed inside the terminal, only passengers.
I entered the terminal under the watchful eyes of Bangla alphabets painted on the ceiling. I became very emotional. We Kolkata NRIs debated , shouted for this terminal over last three decades. At last Kolkata got something equal to India’s any other major terminal. Here under the watchful eyes of Bangla alphabets we could talk to our children about the long lost Golden Bengal. Although those glory days will never come back but I live on as a living symbol of those days.
This terminal is L shaped; one side facing east runway is for domestic passengers. International passengers are from south side across the IA hangar complex. There were few stores, duty free shops in the international area, but more are setting up. Air India has spacious check in counters. At this time Air Asia flights to KL, AI flight to Dhaka, AI 23 to DEL,EK flight to DXB and another flight to Bangkok was about to take off.
I noticed as incoming aircrafts park in their respective bays two mechanical step ladders are attached, all passengers are collected in a nice bus and transported to the arrival terminal. An hour later glass aero bridges are attached to the parked aircraft and departing passengers are allowed to get in. Later on during my departure I learned entry point to arrival lounge from aero bridge tunnels are still closed as construction activity still going on inside the arrival area. All the international parking bays are B747-400 compatible. There are up to date mechanical equipments available for aircraft taxing including modern push tugs. Across the southern apron area I could see IA maintenance/repair workshop. One A319 undergoing repair inside huge hangar. An IndiaPost aircraft parked outside on the static bay for engine testing. I was please to see such high tech maintenance/repair activity of NSCBI airport.
I noticed a large number of passengers are going to KL by Air Asia, a surprise for me. It seems most are pleasure traffic. Among Dhaka traffic I noticed a few wheel chair bound passengers. AI 23 passengers were mostly NRI; aloof and indifferent probably long term residents of west. But my biggest surprise came from Emirates flight. It was mostly west bound techies both babus/bibis and could not find blue color oil field workers as you get from BOM. A large crowd of about 300/400 has gathered around gate 11 to board huge EK A330 aircraft. Emirates operate this flight 12 times a week from Kolkata. Now one could imagine why western airlines have been knocked out of Kolkata sky.
The construction of the terminal is far from over and I could find two glass aero bridges lying on the apron area for installation. There is a huge walkalator inside the international security hold. Clearly five gates are ready here but a few more might come up. International security hold is separated from domestic security (East side ) hold area by glass partition. The domestic security hold is so large, I could not see the other side of it and a large crowd has gathered here.
Departure from NSCBI airport : The new AI departure lobby has about 16 counters equipped with computers. For the first time in my life I was presented with boarding pass for CCU-DEL and DEL-JFK, no question asked. Perhaps our old Dum Dum airport has come up to international level so boarding pass of faraway places could be issued.
I boarded AI23 at 8.00PM, it was a A321 and was completely full. We were pushed back to the center of the south apron area then taxing down the Fox taxiway. Airfield was full of multi color sign boards. Domestic area had about five aircrafts parked. As we approached old international terminal I got a look into Kolkata’s past . Old domestic terminal empty, dark and parking bays are free of parked aircraft. Only five MI-8 choppers of IAF parked there probably for President Pranab’s visit. Nearby in the brightly illuminated cargo apron area a Blue Dart B757 loading up who knows what !
A sign came in 19R ( black over yellow) , we entered secondary runway. Then a big sign K ( Red over white ) as we are entering Kilo taxiway. Pilot entered Kilo taxiway in seconds and took a right turn on main runway south facing. We took off in no time and I could see the lights of the high rise complexes of New Town area. Kolkata marching towards East and nobody could stop that. Aircraft zoomed over the Salt Lake City area, then took a right turn and rapidly vanished in dark sky before I could notice any land mark below. Inside the aircraft completely full, dinner was served. Chicken Marcella, rice, dal, salad, laddu, coffee. Two hour later we landed at DEL on runway 29 under Cat 1 condition. Landing was hard ( ? ), then we taxied over blue lighted taxiway to T3.
Transshipment at DEL: I would say this part of my trip was most organized event. Handlers posted at regular interval escorted us over the walkalator to a check in area. Here they marked down the boarding gate number on my boarding pass under the watchful eyes of smiling Buddha. After another round of security check and two hours later we boarded the AI 101 ( VT-ALL ) at 1.30 AM. Take off from DEL was uneventful as all of us were tired . We crossed into Pak airspace and a small snack was served between Jalalabad and Kabul. A vegi sandwich ,cheese sticks, Chocolate bar and coffee. Soon we all fell asleep and cabin light was dimmed.
Atlantic crossing: I woke up about four to five hours later. Our aircraft taking complex turns over city of Moscow. It was bright sunny early morning; down below I could find numerous lakes but all frozen solid. Morning sun reflecting over the frozen surface. As a result of the complex turns our cruising latitude became 68 degree north . Now I could see Baltic ocean, also frozen solid .Then came jagged mountain cliffs of Western Norway and then blue water of Atlantic ocean. Heavy cloud cover obscured my view. Most passengers are still asleep, I closed the window. Two hours later we have passed over the southern tip of Greenland entering Labrador channel. The southern part of the channel ice free , water color somewhat green. But northern part is frozen solid as if large mountain sitting over the channel. This is Baffin Bay area , birth place of all the icebergs of North Atlantic ocean.
Suddenly it strike my mind that last year over this area Air India served us delicious Ross Malai. Whats going on this year? Minutes later cabin crew announced that early lunch will be served. At about 7.00AM lunch came in ;mutton curry, rice, palak paneer, salad, golab jamun, kheer and coffee. While we were enjoying lunch we entered Canadian land mass near Labrador City. It was all snow free. Then came blue water St.Lawrence river in East West direction also snow free. We are rapidly heading for US border. Passengers are restless but calm.
Heading for JFK: Upon entering US airspace aircraft stayed mainly over Hudson River valley. One could easily recognize flow of Hudson river in North/South direction with its numerous bridges. As we approached NYC, aircraft took many D loop turns; I could see lower Manhattan with its bridges. Aircraft then crossed Brooklyn and then to Jamaica Bay area. I could see four runways of JFK airport. One runway launching a little red aircraft! Now aircraft took a few wide circular turns. Our altitude was reduced .I could see ships on New York harbor. In the mean time pilot Jyotindra Singh locked up with ILS. Aircraft landed very smoothly over to runway 31L-13R, the same runway I departed two weeks ago. Within five minutes we parked to gate 5 of terminal #4.
Home coming: Air India cabin crew gave us good by with folded hands. At the immigration check point, inspector asked me why I need to visit India so often? I replied mom sick. My Kolkata sandesh crossed the US customs check point with flying color. Two hours later I was home with my family. Life became normal very quickly. But when I close my eyes those huge Bangla alphabets painted over the ceiling of new Kolkata terminal appears before me. Perhaps it is time for another trip to Kolkata! Very Happy

Simultaneously posted on Sabya’s facebook wall. Travel date 6th May 2013.
_________________
Sabya99

sumantra · Member Joined: 28 Oct 2007 Posts: 4685 Location: New Delhi

Thanks for yet another lovely trip report, Dr. Ganguly! I hope it was successful in that you got to meet your Mummy, and we all hope and pray that she is much better now.
The report started off with a poignant reminder of what Calcutta is now: the depressing environs amidst crumbling infrastructure, something one does not see in any other metro - Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Hyderabad or Bengaluru. It is nice that the terminal building is relatively nice, though the mysterious falling panels is an issue that the authorities will have to take care of, in addition to ill-maintained washrooms. Thanks for the detailed description: I look forward to my next trip there. Did you take any photographs yourself? You have posted links to many on your thread, but it will be nice if you could post some of your own, too!
Did you have an in-line check-in at CCU, or did you have to get your bags X-rayed manually?
AI seems to be doing AI 23 right, with a full A321 (they had a A319 for lean seasons), this is doing exactly what is needed for the DEL hub to work out. The food sounded nice, too Smile

I am also happy that you got your favourite Kilo taxiway Smile

AI seems to have done a food cut on AI 101 - Hmm...it still is much better than most other carriers, I guess - from the description you have given.
I also enjoyed your usual detailed description of the geography below you - it had the signature Dr. Ganguly touch to it!
Thank you once again for posting a nice report, it leaves us yearning for many more, too!
Cheers, Sumantra.

sabya99 · Posted: Sun May 26, 2013 4:32 pm Post subject:

Sumantra, thanks for your comments. I had to do X-ray inspection manually. I was happy with Kilo taxiway, but I was aiming for a departure from 01R ,the south end of main runway! Years ago my family got into trouble with CISF while taking picture inside old international airport. Since then I stopped taking pictures of Kolkata airport myself. AI 101 food was OK with me, it was a very peaceful flight. I am looking for your Kolkata trip report.
_________________
Sabya99

Nimish · Posted: Mon May 27, 2013 6:06 am Post subject:

Lovely report - thanks for posting. Good to see that EK is doing well at CCU - DXB or FRA or LHR or CDG or DEL - a hub is a hub is a hub! And if EK can manage to fill their flights and make money from CCU - great for both EK and the folks at CCU.

About the transit at DEL - you mentioned it was very organized. Can you provide a little more detail? Did you land in the "international" part of the terminal, or the "domestic" part? Was there anyone at the gate specifically for transit pax? Or were you able to follow the signs posted (assuming there were at least signs posted)? Did you clear immigration/ customs at CCU or at DEL?
_________________
We miss you Nalini!

sabya99 · Posted: Mon May 27, 2013 4:41 pm Post subject:

Nimish, yes there was a tall guy just outside the aero bridge at DEL. I asked him about AI 101, he pointed me to a walkalator . About 3 walkalator later another guy pointed me to a small check in area. Here somebody had passenger list, checked me in ,wrote down gate number .About two walkalator later I arrived in front of smiling Buddha statue. My gate was 22 and here my hand bag was X-rayed, body searched with metal detector. But my passport was not stamped again. Both immigration and customs check were done at Kolkata. I am happy to receive DEL-JFK boarding pass from Kolkata. I think DEL T3 is a very well managed airport now.
_________________
Sabya99

Nimish · Posted: Mon May 27, 2013 9:21 pm Post subject:

^^ Awesome - this is good to hear that AI/ DIAL are managing to make this work out. Flying the international connector from CCU implies it's a simple/ seamless transfer at DEL.

AI should start more international connectors across India - to coincide with their international banks.
_________________
We miss you Nalini!

sumantra · Member Joined: 28 Oct 2007 Posts: 4685 Location: New Delhi

sumantra · Member Joined: 28 Oct 2007 Posts: 4685 Location: New Delhi

Nimish · Posted: Tue May 28, 2013 2:55 am Post subject:

PAL@YWG · Posted: Wed May 29, 2013 9:34 am Post subject:

sabya99 · Posted: Wed May 29, 2013 6:07 pm Post subject:

Mr.Pal thanks for going over my TR.
_________________
Sabya99

stealthpilot · Member Joined: 19 Dec 2006 Posts: 2325 Location: BLR, DXB

Great TR very very well written!!
Glad the DEL transit was easy- that's what they need to do funnel everyone thru DEL. Non of this AMD-EWR or ATQ-BHX/YYZ rubbish. Connect the BLRs and CCUs etc to DEL and make the transit easy. Sounds like they are learning how to do a good job, that's an improvement.
_________________
eP007

jbalonso777 · Posted: Thu May 30, 2013 9:06 am Post subject:

Nice set of TRs sir!
Your vivid descriptions of the 'unknown part' of Kolkata (for me at least) were amazing, followed up the geographical information, CCU/DEL airport and of course, the whole flight details, all of them.

I hope all is well in your part!

Regards
Jishnu
_________________
http://www.youtube.com/c/JishnuBasu777

sabya99 · Posted: Fri May 31, 2013 12:25 am Post subject:

Stalthpilot / Jishnu thanks for reading my TR. Very Happy

_________________
Sabya99