New Bengal airport aims at A320 traffic

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Kolkata, Feb 5: With the premium travel segment growing by 12% in the eastern region, Bengal Aerotropolis Projects Ltd (BAPL) plans to build the Durgapur-Asansol airport with the 179-seater Airbus A320 in mind.

The Aerotropolis, which has attracted an expression of interest from Singapore’s Changi Airport Authority, will have a 3.2 km runway. However, it will begin with a runway of 1.8 km, enough for smaller passenger aircraft like the 71-seater ATR.

The Rs 10,000-crore project will have an airport along with hotels over around 2,300 acre, and is aiming for the International Civil Aviation Organisation’s 4C classification.

Raj Shekhar Agrawal, director of Bengal Aerotropolis, said, “We are looking at the 4C classification of the ICAO.”

The long-distance premium travel potential for the region in 2006-07 was around 4.02 lakh passengers annually, of which 1.84 lakh passengers are expected to use air travel.

According to a recent study done by BAPL, the premium travel potential of the region is expected to grow to 5.64 lakh passengers annually in 2010-11 from 4.65 lakh at present. The new airport expects nearly 4 lakh passengers while it gets ready by 2010-11.

While the air travel in the eastern region has grown by 15-20% since the advent of low-cost carriers since 2003-04, the air-travel density in the region is expected to touch 0.20, even higher than airports in neighbouring states like Raipur in Chhattisgarh and Ranchi in Jharkhand.