The Hindu Business Line : Airport modernisation — Thrust to growth of air travel

THERE is both good and bad news for air travellers. The good news is that even as the process of modernisation and restructuring of the Delhi and Mumbai airports enters its final stages, with the empowered Group of Ministers expected to meet in the first week of December to decide on the successful bidders, the Government is working on making at least another 35 non-metro airports world-class entities.

The bad news, however, is that it is likely to take till 2008-09 before the process is completed in all these secondary airports. The Airports Authority of India (AAI) has drawn up a plan for a phase-wise development of the non-metro airports that includes the development of passenger terminal buildings and land use, the Minister for Civil Aviation, Mr Praful Patel, told Parliament on November 24.

In Phase I, it is proposed to develop 10 airports — including those at Thiruvananthapuram, Madurai, Mangalore, Ahmedabad, Amritsar, Guwahati, Goa and Lucknow.

The cost of developing the 10 non-metro airports in the first phase has been estimated at Rs 1,874 crore. The 15 airports that could be developed during the second phase include Agatti, Coimbatore, Visakhapatnam, Aurangabad, Port Blair and Nagpur. Besides, studies are underway to identify 10 other airports which should be taken up for development.

"The 35 non-metro airports that are being developed are virtual gateways for passengers," Mr Patel said recently. The total funds required for the modernisation of the secondary airports are estimated between Rs 5-5,500 crore. The monies required will be raised through internal resources and by tapping the market.

The project for developing secondary airports will roll out in 2006-07 and be completed by 2008-09, senior Government officials said. This comes close on the heels of the Government expecting to award the contract of the development of the airports at Delhi and Mumbai by the end of this year.

However, even as work gets underway at these airports, the Government is also taking steps to ensure that flight delays are minimised and the inconvenience faced by passengers reduced.

As a part of this exercise, rapid exit-taxi-ways are being constructed at the Delhi and Mumbai airports, so that the length of time an aircraft spends on the runway is reduced and the number of aircraft handled increases.

Besides, various development works relating to extension of runways, expansion of aprons, construction of modern terminal buildings, ground lighting facilities and installation of instrument landing systems have been initiated in four airports in the North-East.

The Government has also started the process of encouraging the private sector to promote greenfield airports to complement the efforts of AAI in the development of airport infrastructure. Work has started for the development of non-operational airports in Gondia and Mysore so that small 50-seater aircraft are able to operate to these airports.

In addition, the Government is trying to promote intra-State connectivity by encouraging State governments to tie up with the state-owned Indian Airlines and lease the small ATR aircraft to operate flights within the States. Officials indicated that while an agreement with Maharashtra was almost ready, a few other States are also interested in participating in such a venture. The implementation of the proposal is likely to see State governments pay Indian Airlines for operating services within the States.

The urgency to develop airports and airport-related infrastructure can probably be best gauged from the fact that during the first three years of the Tenth Plan, the air transport sector has grown at an average of 7 per cent per annum, against the Plan estimate of 5 per cent.

In 2004-05, air transport witnessed a growth of 24 per cent convincing many in the Government that the average growth rate of 16 per cent per annum is achievable by 2010.

Officials, however, say that such growth can be achieved only with a paradigm shift in approach entailing greater liberalisation and significant private sector participation in infrastructure development.

This is probably why the Government is working over-time to ensure that infrastructure at various airports is up and running as soon as possible.

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