For construction of greenfield airports, addition of new passenger terminals, improving runways, building of aprons and taxi tracks and constructing new ATC towers, the Centre has lined up nearly ₹27,500 crore as it looks to boost airport infrastructure projects, most of which are scheduled for completion before the general elections next year.
These projects coincide with the recent roll out of the regional connectivity scheme, UDAN 5.0, which is into its fifth phase and aims to boost air connectivity to the non-metro airports through modified regulations.
With the exception of two projects, more than 70 projects of ₹18,000 crore are scheduled to be completed before the middle of 2024.
These include construction of a greenfield airport at Hirasar (Rajkot), extension of terminal building at Surat, extension of integrated terminal building at Goa, expansion of civil enclave at Gwalior airport, construction of ATC tower at Kolkata, to name a few.
Modernisation of the Chennai airport (part 2 of phase 2) will be completed by July 2025 while development of a greenfield airport at Dholera, Ahmedabad is underway and is estimated to be completed by December 2025, according to the annual report of the ministry of civil aviation (MoCA).
At least 16 other additional projects involving an investment of ₹6,405 crore are in the planning phase and the estimated competition date for these stretches to 2026. These include construction of new integrated terminal buildings at Srinagar and Udaipur, a new domestic terminal at Bhubaneswar, terminal building extension at Rajamundry, a greenfield airport at Kota, to name a few.
During 2022, the government completed 33 projects totalling ₹2,807 crore, as per the report.
The government estimates that India’s aviation sector will witness an investment of ₹98,000 crore by private airport operators and state-owned Airports Authority of India (AAI) over the next three years that will push the number of operational airports to over 200 from around 140 at present.
During FY23, the AAI recorded a profit after tax of ₹1,943.35 crore on a revenue of ₹10,801.69 crore. Its lease rentals revenue from eight airports was almost equal to its revenues from air navigation services. AAI manages 133 airports in the country.
The expansion of airport infrastructure runs parallel to the fleet expansion plans of airlines. As per CAPA India estimates, around 130 aircraft are expected to be added to the inventory in India in FY24 led by Air India and IndiGo pushing the total civilian aircraft inventory to over 800 by the end of the year.
The ministry’s flagship programme, UDAN, which was launched in 2016, has completed four rounds of bidding; 180 (unserved and underserved) airports including 25 water-aerodromes and 40 helipads/heliports have been identified under the scheme for operation of flights by FY24.
The ministry added that 459 such routes have been operationalised connecting 72 airports till date. About 11.3 million passengers are claimed to have flown under the UDAN scheme.
India has 27 airports that are designated major airports as per the Airports Economic Regulatory Authority of India. These include IGIA, Delhi, CSMIA, Mumbai, KIA, Bengaluru, RGIA, Hyderabad, Chennai International Airport, to name a few.