After some initial delays and glitches, modernisation work for both Lucknow and Varanasi airports in Uttar Pradesh has picked up pace and is likely to be completed within the next six months. The timing would also coincide with the hopeful lifting of recession in most parts of the world, thereby boosting domestic as well as international air travel.
In fact, once the modernisation process of these two airports is complete, which is part of the government?s ambitious plan to upgrade 35 non-metro airports, these would be ready to handle the increased air traffic. At present, apart from handling domestic travellers, Lucknow airport provides direct flights to the Gulf and also runs special Haj flights, while Varanasi airport is the focal point for foreign tourists who come to visit the Buddhist circuit. Already Mihin Lanka has started operating a weekly flight from Colombo to Varanasi and Jet Airways, too, is slated to begin its Bangkok-Varanasi bi-weekly flights soon.
Among other things, the modernisation plan involves airside works including construction of new integrated terminal buildings at both the airports and extension of apron for parking of aircrafts. The terminal buildings will include features such as modular design; vertical air-conditioning system; aero-bridges, walkways; in-line baggage screening for check-in; escalators, etc.
Apart from this, the ministry is also finalising the tender process of the city side development of both these airports, which will be done through the public private partnership mode. The proposal for city-side development involving the setting up of commercial hubs near the airport based. Apart from this, the Lucknow airport will also install category II (CAT-II) instrument landing system, which will allow an aircraft to operate even when visibility is 350m.
Lucknow airport director Atul Dikshit said, ?At present, the apron can accommodate only six airplanes. Its capacity is being enhanced to accommodate at least 14 commercial aircraft and four bays will be for VIP aircraft. This work for the apron will be completed by November this year.?
While the Lucknow airport project, which entails an estimated investment of Rs 176 crore, has been awarded to a joint venture company called IPL Brahmaputra Infrastructure, Hyderabad-based Lanco Infratech has bagged the Rs 83-crore contract to develop and modernise the Varanasi airport.
?Almost 80% of the work on the new terminal building is done and we expect the new terminal building, the apron and the runway extension to be operational by the first quarter of next year. With everything in place, we expect our air as well as passenger traffic to grow by at least 10%,? said Varanasi airport director SK Siddh.
Traffic at Varanasi airport has grow phenomenally in recent years. On a daily average, the airport handles 1,400 passengers and 10-12 aircraft movements.
The same is the case with Lucknow airport, which clocked 82,779 passenger movements in May 09 as compared with 65,446 in the previous year, a growth of 26.5%. This was despite the fact that aircraft movements showed a marked decrease from 1,107 in 2008 to 1,027 till May 2009. ?This year too, we expect the growth in passenger traffic to be anywhere between 19-20%, while 9.8% growth in projected in aircraft movement,? says Dikshit.