Improved aviation infrastructure is imperative for India as it is right now experiencing a tourism boom with foreign arrivals registering a growth of nearly 15% annually. Cargo movements and charters are also on the upswing. The open sky policy has not only resulted in more foreign airlines flying to India but also increase in their frequencies. About seven/eight LCCs have already dotted the Indian skies and their same number is due to start operations within a year or so. About 500 aircrafts are on order with above 50 of them having been already added in the last 12 months. The new Tourism Minister Mrs. Ambika soni has set a target of about 10 million foreign tourists by 2010 adding nearly 5-10 million in the next 5-10 years with medical tourism, adventure tourism, spiritual, rural and sports tourism rising at an unexpected space. WTC says demand in tourism industry is likely to grow by 8.6% per annum between 2006 & 2015. When the Indian economy is all set to integrate itself into the global economy, the upgradation and modernization of infrastructure and its efficient use have assumed critical importance. Moreover airports represent a country’s window on the foreign passengers who form their first impression of the country only on the basis of their quality, facilities and maintenance. And as it is said, “You never get a second chance to make a first impression”. Besides the importance of airports is evident from the fact that there are many inaccessible areas in the country which are accessible only through air transport. There are 449 airports/airstrips in the country. They include international airports which are available for scheduled international operations by Indian and foreign carriers. Presently Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Kolkata and Thiruvananathapuram are in this category. International status is also in the offing for airports in Amritsar, Jaipur, Hyderabad and Bangalore and the projects for the same are in various stages. There are also Custom airports which have customs and immigration facilities for limited international operations by national carriers and for foreign tourist and cargo charter flights. These include Bangalore, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Calicut, Goa, Varanasi, Patna, Agra, Jaipur, Amritsar and Tiruchirapally. All other airports which are operational fall into the category of domestic airports. There are also 28 civil enclaves in Defence Airfields. It is ironical to note that quite a good number of the above airports are not in use and only a dozen of them are reportedly making profits. It is however, a matter of satisfaction that while work on upgradation and modernization of airports in metro cities – Delhi and Mumbai – is already on, the Centre has identified about 36 non-metro airports for upgradation and a budget has already been allotted for this purpose. There is congestion at the international airports, particularly at Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Bangalore, Goa, Ahmedabad, Cochin and Mangalore. The traffic connecting around certain airports, specially the metropolis has given rise to the situation where some airports are bursting at the seems to accommodate traffic whereas there are others which handle hardly any passenger/cargo traffic.
The reasons for the congestion and its uneven distribution.
Limited Terminal and Apron Capacity
Bunching of Flights
Delay in Passenger Clearance
Major airports also suffer from availability of parking bays and convenience slots etc. (All this sometimes make aero planes hover over the airports for 15 minutes to half an hour or more to find space for landing which results in not only inconvenience to passengers but also waste of costly fuel which escalates their operational charges.) Quality of infrastructure as well as lack of facilities for passengers leaves much to be desired. Deficiencies in respect of ground handling night landing systems, cargo handling at some airports. Lack of security apparatus and systems. (These drawbacks and deficiencies will become all the more glaring if no immediate steps are taken in view of the projected growth in air traffic which will have a quantum jump in the traffic in the next 20 years – i.e. four times in passenger and six times in cargo traffic. It is therefore, absolutely necessary to take a host of measures so that the ground infrastructure keeps pace with the growth of traffic as well as cargo traffic).
Each state should be encouraged to have its own airport – and steps should be taken to connect it with railways and surface transport. This will not only ease the traffic at the metro airports but also provide employment to millions of unemployed youths and eradicate poverty from the country. In this endeavour, there should be a partnership between the private and the Government agencies. At present financing has been predominately based on internally generated resources of the AAI. This is why there has been no much progress. These projects should be funded through external assistance, external commercial borrowings, loans, equity etc. (which had been negligible so far). Massive economy is also required in expenditure by manpower optimization, cost reduction, elimination of duplication and increased productivity etc. The DGCA also needs to be strengthened. Steps should be taken to install at all major airports High Intensity Runway Lighting systems, proper navigation and radars to ensure safety and security of passengers. Setting up of and monitoring of performance standard and determining tariff caps are some other issues which need to be addressed. There is a definite worldwide movement from monopoly state ownership of airports to corporatization, in the first place, with the final aim of privatization of ownership and management. India has to be part of this global transition. While already some fiscal incentives are available to those involved in infrastructure projects, the same should be intensified and increased to attract private investment in these projects which are otherwise not very attractive due to a large element of sunk cost, a very long gestation period, highly uncertain returns on investment based on several assumptions of traffic growth that may fail to materialize due to reasons beyond human control. Domestic hub and international hubs concept needs to be introduced with conversion of Mumbai into international airline hub by treating it as Special Economic Zone (SEZ). Fuel can be provided at international prices to encourage many international airlines to touch down in India. This also helps in improved air connectivity and increased tourist arrivals. Use of airspace marked for Defence and Civil Aviation should be rationalized for more commercial transport operations. It should be possible to have flexible areas of airspace (of defence) for civil purposes at places like Agra, Goa, Jaisalmer, Bikaner etc. All the airports, where charters are now operating, need to be converted into international airports for scheduled commercial flights. Foreign airlines be given permission to operate their flights to places like Agra, Bodhgaya, Jaipur, Bhubaneswar, Goa, Aurangabad, Pune and Ahmedabad to avoid congestion in the 4 metropolitan cities. Introduce shuttle and helicopter services at the airports in metro cities. There should be a separate airport for cargo handling in all the metro cities. There should be a secondary airport in all the metro cities, specially for turbo aircrafts, helicopters, low cost airlines etc. Secondary airport could also be used as an alternative site in case of any emergency. More trained personnel and more tourism oriented immigration & customs officials should be posted at airports to ensure better service to tourists. The need to meet shortage of pilots should be met not by appointing pilots from abroad but by training them at institutes to be set up within the country for this purpose.
