Intrusion of US aircraft being examined — Minister

NEW DELHI, MARCH 24: The case of intrusion of an American aircraft into Indian airspace was being "closely examined" and report...

NEW DELHI, MARCH 24: The case of intrusion of an American aircraft into Indian airspace was being "closely examined" and reports from various investigating agencies including Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) were expected within a week, Civil Aviation Minister Ananth Kumar said here today.

"I don’t want to part with piecemeal information. Air traffic security is an important matter," Kumar told reporters at the civil aviation headquarters when asked about detention of the turboprop two-seater aircraft at Ahmedabad since March 17.

To a question whether the air intrusion was similar to the Purulia arms dropping case, he said, "Ahmedabad case is a freak incident and all aspects are being examined. I can get back to you only after it is completed".

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The American private survey plane was impounded and its two-member crew taken into custody at the international airport at Ahmedabad on charges of intruding into Indian airspace on March 17 without permission.

Captain of the aircraft G C J Cooper whoholds a British passport and its female occupant J N Konzag, who has an Australian one, claimed during interrogations that the DGCA had cleared them when they landed in Calcutta on March 16.

They told their interrogators that they took off from Calcutta for Karachi at 8.52 pm on March 16 and landed at Ahmedabad because of heavy winds, and in order to re-fuel.

Earlier, at a function at the civil aviation headquarters, the Minister received a dividend cheque for Rs 39.23 crore from Airport Authority of India chairman D V Gupta.

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Kumar said programmes for upgradation of all the 120 airports in the country were on the anvil. The decision to corporatise airports in New Delhi, Mumbai, Calcutta, Chennai and Bangalore would attract more direct foreign investment, he said. Steps were being taken to open airports in Hyderabad, Thiruvananthapuram, Ahmedabad, Amritsar and Guwahati to foreign traffic, he added.

The AAI made a record profit of Rs 316.19 crore in the fiscal year 1997-98 on a total turnover of Rs1279.64 crore. Last year, AAI made a contribution of Rs 26.42 crore to the Government.