Mention India and scenes of colour, contrasted with masses of human chaos spring to mind. Empty airports do not.
While the country's main hub airports are often congested and bursting at the seams, there is also a sizable number of undertilised aerodromes, some of which are simply standing empty.
Located in less well-known cities or townships, such Tier II or III regional airports have been termed by the local media as "ghost airports" - facilities that are fully operational, but without any passenger activity.
Last year, the Narendra Modi government outlined plans to develop 200 low-cost airports in smaller towns and cities across India over the next 20 years.
According to the Airports Authority of India (AAI), the country currently has 18 international airports, of which 12 are under its care. The remaining six airports - Delhi, Nagpur, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, and Kochi - are privately owned. AAI also operates 44 domestic airports.
On its website, it also lists 33 "non-operational" airports. They include Kishangarh, Palanpur, Satna, Panna and Tezu.
AAI's non-operational airports
Airports Authority of India
WHY 'GHOST AIRPORTS' EXIST
Rajiv Chih, director of aerospace and defence at PricewaterhouseCoopers says poor government planning is a major reason for these unutilised airports.
“The government should have carried out a market survey from airlines and the township, before making decisions. If it makes business sense for the airline, then yes, build the airport. It is not a good idea for an airline to fly to a under-demand destination. Unfortunately, national carrier Air India is already stretched flying to various (under-demand) states in the Northeast.”
Chih adds that most Tier II and III airports lack even basic facilities to support their airline counterparts.
“The small ones lack basic facilities like hangars. This causes aircraft and helicopters to be parked out in the open. Most of these airports also do not have adequate night-landing capabilities, thus constricting the timings available for general aviation aircraft.”
Besides poor planning, Amber Dubey, head of aerospace and defence at KPMG in India attributes the rise in number of “ghost airports” to various factors including political pressure to set up such facilities in the hinterland, lack of direct subsidies for airlines flying to these destinations, as well as the low capita income of the population.
Dubey says the government has placed “undue onus” on domestic carriers to fulfill regional connectivity obligations “without due consideration of operational constraints and costs of providing such services”.
WHAT AIRLINES SAY
Low-cost carrier SpiceJet says that while it is keen to connect to the lesser-known airports, seeing the opportunities of an untapped market, certain regulations have held it back.
“We see a large section of railway passengers from these sectors who can be shifted to air travel. But various taxes on fuel and airport charges make it difficult for us to offer even lower fares that will attract railway passengers,” explains the airline.
Besides reducing airport fees and taxes on fuel, SpiceJet says there is also a need for more refuelling facilities at these airport. These improvements, it believes, will help the airline stimulate demand in remote regions.
Citing the high number of non-operational airports in the country and the presence of close to 400 airstrips, the carrier says it sees no need for more airports to be built. Rather, "proper policies" should be put in place to fully utilise these existing aerodromes.
New entrant Vistara meanwhile rules out expanding its network to connect with these underutilised airports.
The Singapore Airlines and Tata Sons joint-venture says its network expansion, among other things, is dependent on “customers’ demand" and "commercial viability".
While it believes that incentives alone "will not suffice in providing connectivity in these regions", it agrees that subsidised landing, parking, as well as aeronautical charges, will make these routes more "appealing and commercially viable" for airlines.
OVERCROWING AT MAIN HUBS
In contrast, India's metro airports are most often overcrowded.
Analysts say the situation is "reaching saturation", with traffic growing at an annual compound growth of 7%, resulting in delays and cancellations.
Delhi and Mumbai are the country's biggest airports, both handling over 35 million passengers last year. Overcrowding is prevalent at these metro airports as they are often land-constrained without room for further expansions.
These congested airports also puts a strain on airlines, says Vistara: “If the infrastructure is poor or inadequate such as non-availability of check-in counters, lesser office space, crowded baggage areas, limited availability of x-ray machines and manpower for screening passengers and baggage and lack of aerobridges, it adversely impacts the operational efficiency of airlines."
To help airlines improve their on-time performance and aircraft utilisation, Vistara suggests that airport operators improve designs of exit ways and build more taxiways.
GOING FORWARD
Managing director of Airbus India, Srinivasan Dwarakanath (Dwaraka) lauds the government for expanding into regional airport development.
“There is a correlation between growth in the overall country and its regional areas. Things are looking positive [for the Indian aviation industry], but infrastructure has to grow and improve in accordance with the number of airlines and planes.”
With the entry of AirAsia India, Air Pegasus, Air Costa and Trujet, among the growing list of new players, analysts also believe that these regional carriers will eventually bring connectivity to the under-served regions.
The real challenge, however, lies in making these regional airports sustainably viable. Analysts say the issue has to be tackled on two fronts: supporting the development of low-cost airports and supporting airlines' operations there to ensure the airports' sustainability.
“Skewed policies, high fixed cost of operations and a multitude of taxes have made this a high-cost and high-risk industry. In order to make the regional airports viable and profitable, a collaboration between airlines and airports is essential," says Dubey.
KPMG suggests that the government provide a “viability gap funding” (VGF) for a period of three to five years. The VGF can be funded by a 2% levy on all domestic and international tickets sold in India, and various state-governments have also proposed underwriting a number of seats, it adds.
To support infrastructure developments, Dubey says the regional airports' non-aeronautical assets can also be monetised to generate cash flows, as successfully demonstrated by larger airports.
"But if that too doesn't work, it's better to lock up the airport and redeploy staff to other airports."
Source: Cirium Dashboard
