Proliferation of Airports after 2014

by Feb 26, 2022Business & Infrastructure0 comments

With its goal of creating and modernizing the country’s infrastructure in various sector, the Ministry of Civil Aviation, through Airports Authority of India (AAI), is upgrading the airports all over the country from time to time depending on the availability of land, commercial viability, socio-economic considerations, traffic demand/ willingness of airlines to operate to/from such airports.

AAI and other Airport Developers have targeted capital outlay of approximately Rs. 91000 crore in airport sector in the next five years for expansion and modification of existing terminals, new terminals and strengthening of runways, among other activities.

Under the Greenfield Airports Policy-2008, Government of India has so far accorded ‘in-principle’ approval for setting up of 21 Greenfield Airports across the country namely Mopa in Goa, Navi Mumbai, Shirdi and Sindhudurg in Maharashtra, Kalaburagi, Bijapur, Hassan and Shimoga in Karnataka, Datia (Gwalior) in Madhya Pradesh, Kushinagar and Noida (Jewar) in Uttar Pradesh, Dholera and Hirasar in Gujarat, Karaikal in Puducherry, Dagadarthi, Bhogapuram and Oravakal in Andhra Pradesh, Durgapur in West Bengal, Pakyong in Sikkim, Kannur in Kerala and Hollongi (Itanagar) in Arunachal Pradesh.

Out of these, eight airports namely Durgapur, Shirdi, Sindhudurg, Pakyong, Kannur, Kalaburagi, Oravakal and Kushinagar have been operationalized.

In Bihar, AAI had projected a land requirement of 108 acre for development of a Civil Enclave at Bihta Airport. The land (108 acre) has already been handed over by the State Government of Bihar to AAI. However, AAI has projected an additional land requirement of 191.5 acre for runway extension & installation of approach light and 8 acre for city side development to accommodate wide bodied aircraft for international operations at the airport.

The additional land at Bihta airport is yet to be handed over to AAI by the State Government. In case of non availability of land, the central government would like the State Government to identify an alternate site for construction of a Greenfield airport meeting the requirements for operation of international flights.

Government of India granted ‘in principle’ approval to Government of Uttar Pradesh for setting up a new greenfield international airport at Jewar, Noida. The Uttar Pradesh government appointed Yamuna Expressway Industrial Development Authority (YEIDA) as the implementing agency for the project under Public Private Partnership (PPP) mode. GoUP has awarded the project to M/s Zurich Airport International AG for development of the airport.

The UP government has informed that the task of acquisition of 1334 hectare of land for Phase-I of the project has been completed and the possession of the land has been obtained.

As per the Master Plan submitted by YIAPL, the forecast for initial year traffic is 4 Million Passengers Per Annum (MPPA) for the airport against the initial capacity of 12 MPPA for Phase I. The estimated project cost for Phase I is Rs. 8914 crore including the land acquisition cost. As per the Concession Agreement, the scheduled completion date of airport is 29th September, 2024.

Besides, it may be noted also that 27 additional domestic air cargo terminals have been built by AAICLAS after 2014.

Till the year 2014, there were 11 Domestic Air Cargo Terminals and 19 International Air Cargo Terminals in India. Airports Authority of India (AAI) / AAI Cargo Logistics and Allied Services Company Limited (AAICLAS) has created another 27 Domestic Air Cargo Terminals.

In addition, there are Joint Venture (JV)/ Public Private Partnership (PPP) and State Government Airports which are also engaged in the process of establishment of Domestic as well as International Air Cargo Terminals. Thus, the Cargo handling potential has been considerably enhanced to facilitate faster movement of goods.

AAICLAS says that it is committed towards creation of cargo handling facilities through establishment of domestic cargo terminals including in the Tier-II and Tier-III cities depending upon the feasibility for volume of cargo. As a result, additional 27 domestic air cargo terminals have been created by AAICLAS after 2014 at Amritsar, Madurai, Mangalore, Visakhapatnam, Chennai, Indore, Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Raipur, Aurangabad, Bhubaneswar, Guwahati, Vijayawada, Bagdogra, Jammu, Leh, Surat, Bhopal, Dehradun, Rajahmundry, Tirupati and Hubballi.

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