Civil aviation in India has received plenty of government attention, and the numbers give an indication of the growth trajectory: between 2003 and 2005, the annual growth rates were 12% in aircraft movement, 22% in passengers and 20% in cargo. These pale in comparison with 2006-07, when the passenger numbers grew by about 29%.
Today, the aviation industry projects 280 million passengers by 2020. This calls for new airport infrastructure, and new projects are underway at Delhi and Mumbai for existing airports and also at Hyderabad and Bengalooru for greenfield ones. The Mumbai and Delhi upgrade efforts involve a financial outlay of Rs 5,316 crore and Rs 6,130 crore, respectively, both in Phase-I. Upgrading existing airports in Kolkata and Chennai are pegged at Rs 1,795 crore and Rs 2,250 crore. At Kolkata, the upgrade outlay includes Rs 1,250 crore on the terminal building, while at Chennai, the second runway is also to be extended.
The Phase-I outlay for the new airport at Bengalooru is Rs 1,930 crore and at Hyderabad, Rs 1,760 crore. Plus, as many as 35 greenfield airports are planned that should be operational by 2010. In the northeast, air traffic is growing at a clip of about 20% and greenfield airports are coming up in the capitals of Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland at the cost of about Rs 35 crore each. In all, developing airports across the country would absorb an investment of about Rs 14,000 crore.
The logic that large metropolitan areas should have competition has resulted in the adoption of the second airport idea. Navi Mumbai is soon to float tenders for a new airport, about 35 km from the existing one. Noida, east of Delhi, may get another airport to supplement the southwest one near Gurgaon. While the plans are welcome, the planning seems too disjointed to support a comprehensive vision of growth through tighter integration with the global economy that is envisioned for the country. The eastern region?s plans, for example, seem to ignore India?s ?look east? trade policy. Will Kolkata?s aviation infrastructure prove adequate for the heightened commercial activity that is foreseen? The West Bengal chief minister recently said that a deep sea port was an absolute necessity, as also an entirely new airport in Kolkata, given that the Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose International (NSCBI) airport will be unable to meet the demands of an aviation boom in the coming years (it is expected to reach saturation by 2012).
Given Kolkata?s projection of 90 million passengers by 2035, there is just not enough space to expand the NSCBI airport. A greenfield Kolkata airport can be located at a site about 35 km away from the NSCBI airport, with an air corridor offset of 17 km. This international ?hub?, with a multi-runway configuration, could serve as the aviation anchor of the government?s ?look east? policy and help in the development of the eastern and northeastern regions of the country, which remain poorly linked. Such an airport will enjoy enhanced road and rail connectivity to the nearby areas of economic activity, like ports, SEZs, major industrial hubs and centres of medical and eco-tourism.
A magnetic levitation train is also a distinct possibility. The NSCBI airport would serve as the passenger hub for air traffic to the northeastern states and also the cargo hub for the region. The eastern region could also become a centre for general aviation, bulk courier services and aircraft repair and maintenance.
The greenfield airport, on the other hand, will be the international hub for passenger services, and will cater to long-distance domestic air travel together with cargo on scheduled flights and transit bonded cargo and other avionics. A new airport is estimated to cost about Rs 14,000 crore (at 2006 prices), with Phase-I accounting for Rs 5,200 crore. But the potential economic benefits will span the entire eastern region. It would be a worthwhile investment.
?The author is MD, Consulting Engineering Services. These are his personal views