The Hindu Business Line : As air traffic soars, airports to take wing

THE urgency to get work started on upgrading infrastructure connected with the aviation sector was best illustrated by the Minister for Civil Aviation, Mr Praful Patel, telling Parliament that in the next three years airports in the four metros would see a big jump in the number of domestic and international flights they handle. Replying to a question, Mr Patel said that while Mumbai is likely to handle 46,805 international and 118,177 domestic flights in 2005-06, these could touch 50,081 and 127,631 respectively in 2006-07, and 52,585 and 1,35,289 the next year.

The trend should be the same for Delhi too. From 41,482 international and 90,411 domestic flights in 2005-06, the capital's airport may need to handle 44,800 and 97,644 movements in 2006-07, and 47,936 and 103,503 flights in 2007-08.

Chennai is projected to handle 19,922 international and 47,434 domestic flights in 2005-06 and this is projected to rise to 21,914 international and 52,178 domestic flights the following year. For 2007-08 it could be 23,667 and 57,395 respectively.

Bangalore is also seeing much growth. It is projected to handle 8,369 international and 54,375 domestic flights in 2005-06 rising to 9,875 and 60,900 the following year, and to 11,060 and 66,990 respectively in 2007-08.

The infrastructure at these and other airports will only be strained as airlines plan to add to their fleets. While Air India plans to add 68 aircraft, Indian Airlines proposed to acquire 43 and the private sector airlines are to add 275 more.

These plans of airlines in India and the keenness of international airlines to fly to India were highlighted by the Civil Aviation Secretary, Mr Ajay Prasad, at a recent seminar in Delhi. He said that by 2010, Indian airports were likely to handle 90-100 million passengers including 59 million domestic and 35 million international passengers. They will handle about 33.6 lakh tonnes of cargo.

In expectation of this enhanced traffic, the authorities have taken up various measures to upgrade airports across the country. These include, apart from strengthening the Air Traffic Management services, integrated terminal buildings, modern passenger amenities, strengthening and extension of runways, aprons, aircraft parking stands, taxiways and aerobridges.

The Government has also started the process of modernisation and restructuring of the airports in Delhi and Mumbai and given the nod for greenfield airport for Hyderabad and Bangalore. Simultaneously work has begun on the development of non-metro airports while financial consultants and technical advisors have been appointed for the city-side development of ten airports in Ahmedabad, Lucknow, Thiruvananthapuram, Amritsar, Madurai, Udaipur, Goa, Jaipur, Guwahati and Mangalore. Architects have been appointed for designing international/domestic terminals at Ahmedabad, Thiruvananthapuram, Udaipur, Jaipur and Dibrugarh.

The authorities have also undertaken several short-term measures at Delhi and Mumbai airports. In Delhi, the area in terminal 1-B has been increased from 11,700 square meters to 21,000 sq. m. and peak hour passenger handling is being doubled to 1,200. The number of check-in counters, conveyor belts, lifts and escalators is also being increased. Officials indicated that with these improvements, the saturated terminal 1-B would be able to meet the average growth of 12 per cent per annum till 2010. Similarly, in Mumbai as a short-term measure in terminal 1-B an additional building area of 7,000 sq. m. has been added and the number of check-in counters is being increased from 45 to 70.

Meanwhile, the Committee set up in the Ministry of Civil Aviation to develop a blueprint for the modernisation of air traffic infrastructure and increasing the handling capacity of the air traffic management and airport systems has submitted its report. The report suggests that as a short-term measure there should be the construction of parallel taxi-ways, exit-ways and additional parking stands at least in Delhi and Mumbai and that routine runway maintenance should be curtailed to the minimum and completed in a shorter time.

If these plans work out, then a trip through an airport anywhere in the country could soon become a pleasant experience.

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