Indian Airports

 

The Airports Authority of India (AAI) is the government authority that manages 126 airports, which include 11 international airports, 89 domestic airports and 26 civil enclaves at defence airfields.

 

The Airports Authority of India was formed on the 1st April 1995 by merging the International Airports Authority of India and the National Airports Authority with a view to accelerate the integrated development, expansion and modernisation of the operational, terminal and cargo facilities at the airports in the country conforming to international standards.

 

In 2003, the government took a decision to encourage privatization of Indian airports to upgrade and promote building of world-class airports, emulating international facilities and standards. 

 

Role of Airport Infrastructure in the National Economy

 

Airports being nuclei of economic activity assume a significant role in the national economy. The quality of airport infrastructure, which is a vital component of the overall transportation network, contributes directly to a country's international competitiveness and the flow of foreign investment. While cargo carried by air in India weighs less than 1% of the total cargo exported, it accounts for 35% of the total value of exports. Better cargo handling facilities lead to enhanced levels of imports, especially of capital goods and high-value items. Likewise, 97% of the country's foreign tourists arrive by air and tourism is the nation's second largest foreign exchange earner.

 

Developments in airport infrastructure

In 2006, the aviation sector posted a remarkable 50% growth. To deal and sustain with this kind of growth in the sector, the Government is looking at Public-Private-Partnerships to stimulate building of infrastructure in the shortest possible time, while maintaining the best of international standards.

A consortium led by the GMR group has bagged a contract to operate, manage and develop the Delhi airport.  Another consortium led by the GVK group has been awarded a similar contract for the Mumbai airport.

 

Two greenfield airports —at Hyderabad and Bangalore — are also under construction, while the work on the Navi Mumbai project is expected to start soon. There are also plans on the anvil to construct greenfield airports in 35 non-metro cities.

 

The ministry has already given in-principle approval to some of these projects including Mopa in Goa, and Navi Mumbai in Maharashtra. Among the proposals are a greenfield airport at Agra and Ajmer.

The Airports Authority of India is hopeful that all the 35 non-metro airports being taken up for development would be completed by 2010.

These airports are expected to be built with private participation. It is believed that the government is also finalising the modalities of modernisation of the Kolkata and Chennai international airports. While the Airports Authority of India is expected to develop the Kolkata airport, modernisation of Chennai airport is likely to be done with involvement of private companies, along the lines of the modernisation of the Delhi and Mumbai international airports.

 

With the airport infrastructure being upgraded, non-aeronautical revenues would be expected to contribute to almost 50% of airport revenues, in tandem with more mature international airports. Here, private players are planning malls, hospitality chains, book shops, duty-free shops, internet cafes, lounges and entertainment centres.

 

Several improvements are envisaged to sustain the tremendous growth in the Indian civil aviation sector.

 

Exclusive Airports for Cargo Operations 

 

The civil aviation ministry is framing a policy for development of airports exclusively for cargo operations. The proposal is expected to give a much-needed boost to the air cargo segment, which has lagged behind, even as the Indian aviation sector has witnessed double-digit growth. Such exclusive airports are expected to attract substantial private investments in the air cargo segment. The civil aviation ministry has started identifying the requirements of different sectors — ranging from those trading in perishable goods to consumer durables — to help formulate the policy.

 

While Nagpur is being developed as a cargo hub, the government now plans to build cargo airports at main locations or business centres, and on private land. The move is significant since a host of private companies, including Reliance, have recently shown an interest in starting dedicated air cargo services. The policy would also encourage foreign participation in the sector.

 

Present Classification of Airports

 

International Airports: Such airports are declared as international airports and are available for scheduled international operations by Indian and foreign carriers. Presently, Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Kolkata and Thiruvananthapuram are in this category.

 

Customs Airports: Such airports have cutoms and immigration facilities for limited international operations by national carriers, and for foreign tourists and cargo charter flights. These include Bangalore, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Calicut, Goa, Varanasi, Patna, Agra, Jaipur, Amritsar and Tiruchirapally, apart from the international airports.

 

Model Airports: Such airports are domestic airports that have a minimum runway length of 7,500 feet and adequate terminal capacity to handle the Airbus 320 type of aircraft. These can cater to limited international traffic, if required. These include Lucknow, Bhubaneshwar, Guwahati, Nagpur, Vadodara, Coimbatore, Imphal and Indore.

 

Other Domestic Airports: All other airports are covered in this category.

 

Civil Enclaves in Defence Airports: There are 28 civil enclaves in defence airfields.

 

Proposed classification of Airports

 

Reclassification of airports is proposed to develop the capacity of airports in accordance with the future projections of air traffic:

 

International Hubs: This category of airports will be that of International Hubs, which may cover airports currently classified as international airports, and those eminently qualified to be upgraded. These would at present cover Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata and Thiruvananthapuram. Airports at Bangalore, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Amritsar and Guwahati would be added to the list after their facilities are upgraded to the desired level. International hubs would be used for dispersal of international traffic to the hinterland. At these airports, the facilities would be of world-class standards, including convenient connections for international and domestic passengers, airport-related infrastructure like hotels, shopping areas, conferencing and entertainment facilities and aircraft-maintenance bases, among others.

 

Regional Hubs: The government is keen to encourage the development of regional airlines with fleets of small aircraft, to provide air-linkages witin the interior areas of the country. Regional hubs will have to act as operational bases for regional airlines and also have all the facilities currently postulated for model airports, including the capability to handle limited international traffic. The identification of Regional Hubs will be made on the basis of origin-destination surveys, traffic demand and the requirements of the airlines. The state government would be closely associated as co-promoters of regional airlines.

 

Other Operational airports: These would be developed so as to be cost-effective on the basis of individual needs, to meet the requirements of traffic handled by them. Airports serving state capitals would be given priority.

 

The status of individual airports may be reviewed at five-yearly intervals, on the recommendation of a committee of experts. Grant of status as International hubs would be with prior cabinet approval. It is clarified that international hubs shall have the status of an international airport for purposes of bilateral agreements.

 

Traffic:

 

Traffic statistics: 2008-09
	Domestic	International	Total
Passenger million.nos.	77.30	31.58	108.88
Cargo thousand tonnes	548	1149	1697
Aircraft movements nos.	1,035,521	270,399	1,305,920

 

87% of the total air traffic is generated by the 15 international airports*, of which a total of 84% of domestic traffic, and 93% of international traffic is generated from these airports.

The air traffic during 2005-06 has a substantial increase over 2004-05: aircraft movements have increased by 17%, passengers are up by 24%, and cargo by 10%.

Domestic air traffic grew at an impressive 46% in 2006. While passenger traffic in metros grew by an average of 31%, smaller stations like Port Blair, Nagpur and Raipur registered traffic growths of 41.8%, 94.8% and 70.3%, respectively.

According to the Airports Authority of India data, of the top 45 airports, 9 airports registered a 50% growth in passenger traffic. These include Hyderabad, Pune, Coimbatore, Mangalore, Nagpur, Port Blair, Raipur, Ranchi and Jaipur. Among the four metros, Kolkata registered the highest growth of 39.5%, followed by Chennai, Delhi and Mumbai at 35%, 27.1% and 22.4% respectively.

International airports: Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Kolkata, Bangalore, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Cochin, Trivandrum, Goa, Calicut, Guwhati, Amristar, Srinagar , Jaipur and Nagpur.