Need Of The Hour Is To Optimise Existing Airport Resources

Kapil Kaul - New Delhi

The exponential growth in start-up airlines planned for the Indian market in the next 12 months promises to transform India's aviation system. Upto 14 low-cost carriers (LCCs) are preparing to launch services in India in 2005 and 2006, with another 5-6 currently in the planning stage. That is more than the total number of LCCs operating in the whole of the Asia Pacific region and the Middle East in 2004.

According to Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation (CAPA), the Indian commercial aircraft market will increase from 190 to over 450 by 2010. The domestic passenger market size will increase from 19 million to 45-50 million by 2010. This kind of growth will bring with it high risk as well as opportunity. Skilled manpower shortages and infrastructure limitations are looming as serious potential constraints on development, even before the multitude of new operators takes to the skies.

As demand for air transportation continues to grow, it will become increasingly difficult to accommodate the resulting traffic levels without significant investments in expanding airport infrastructure. The efficient use of our current infrastructure is also of critical importance.

The major airports have shortages but other airports are under-utilised. However, the issue of airport infrastructure needs to be addressed with a rational thinking by all the concerned stakeholders. The government has a declared roadmap for airport development in India. Modernisation plans of metro airports (except Hyderabad and Bangalore) and 32 non-metro airports are likely to be implemented. The process of finalising the consortium for Delhi and Mumbai will be completed by 2005 (Hoping the other concerned departments clear it). Chennai and Kolkata are next on the government's agenda with Greenfield airports in Hyderabad and Bangalore receiving all the necessary clearances to begin construction.

India is expected to have world class airport infrastructure by 2008.The difficult period is between 2005-08 and this can have a major impact on the future of our aviation sector. The government needs to give increased attention to the infrastructural lags during this phase and have a strategic plan for addressing these constraints during the next 2-3 years. Work on the second runway at Delhi needs to be put on priority as well as building night parking bays at the metro airports. I think we can build an additional 60-70 night parking bays at Delhi, Mumbai and Chennai.

Except for Mumbai, there is no land problem in Delhi and Chennai. We need to develop airports like Nagpur, Ahmedabad, Kochi and Jaipur as these airports can become hubs for LCCs. Other airports which have strategic locations need to be put on our development agenda.

Our airlines need to think beyond Delhi, Mumbai and other metro airports. This can help in reducing pressure on major airports. We need to strengthen our aviation system planning process and coordination of system planning and development decisions at individual airports must be improved. This will require a better understanding of the issues that system planning must address and the value of improving the way they are addressed; it will also provide objective ways to measure both the effectiveness of system planning and the aviation system's performance in meeting user needs.

The government needs to develop a long-term vision for the sector and its role in the economy, and forward looking aviation sector policies and a regulatory framework that will support private sector participation in the future in air transport services and infrastructure. A comprehensive strategy for the sector is required based on careful demand, financial and economic analysis. Indian aviation will have explosive growth and we need to be aware of it and prepare to accommodate this growth.

(The author is CEO - Indian Sub-continent and Middle-East, CAPA)