Traffic is booming in India, but there is a danger expansion will be held back by a lack of capacity, particularly at its congested Mumbai and New Delhi hubs
There is a sharp contrast between the world’s two fastest growing aviation markets when it comes to providing the runway and terminal space needed to cope with steeply rising traffic. China, on the one hand, has embarked on a multi-billion dollar airport building campaign, putting in place the infrastructure demanded by domestic and foreign carriers. India, on the other hand, is struggling to boost capacity at its increasingly congested main hubs at Mumbai and New Delhi and air traffic control delays are common.
India’s booming air transport market is being driven by the rapid influx of domestic and low-cost airlines, and a mushrooming of international services prompted by a string of liberalised air service agreements.
Traffic rose by over 20% last year and passenger numbers are forecast to nearly double to 100 million by the end of this decade. According to RJ Treasuryvala, executive director of operations at the Airports Authority of India (AAI), which manages all 13 of the country’s international and 81 domestic airports, the surge in domestic traffic is particularly due to new low-cost carrier operations. “We never anticipated this tremendous growth, suddenly aircraft numbers are increasingly very rapidly,” he says.
Keeping pace with rapid market growth is a challenge for the Indian authorities. “You can buy a plane just like that but it takes time to construct,” Treasuryvala says, adding: “We’re alive to the situation.”
IATA has also recognised that the situation in India has reached a critical point and is focusing more resources on this developing market. It has hired former senior AAI executive Robey Lal as its country manager and taken on the former head of India’s air traffic control operation to expand its Indian team.
The association is moving India’s infrastructure concerns rapidly up its agenda. In a recent speech to the Confederation of Indian Industry in New Delhi, IATA director general Giovanni Bisignani spelt out the association’s view that more needs to be done, and quickly. “Airport and airspace capacity must be expanded to fully gain the benefits of a vibrant airline sector,” he said. “Without massive change, infrastructure will not be able to handle growth. Airports in Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkatta and Bangalore are not adequate. Among them, Mumbai is the worst with poor service levels and insufficient capacity.”
The worry is that if immediate action is not taken, the industry’s rise could be held back. At the recent Jet Airways annual general meeting, chairman Naresh Goyal noted that there has been progress at some airports, but was clear on the need for further initiatives: “This is clearly a priority, because without the proper infrastructure in place, the projections for high growth in the domestic aviation sector may never be achieved.”
The problems at Mumbai were highlighted in early October when an Air Sahara Boeing 737-400 overshot the airport’s main runway and got stuck in wet ground. The incident closed this runway for four days while the aircraft was removed, forcing carriers to use the airport’s secondary runway. However this runway has no parallel taxiway causing aircraft to backtrack to the terminal once landed, severely reducing the number of possible movements. Over 500 flights were delayed causing chaos at an airport that is essentially slot-constrained.
Even when it is operating on normal single-runway operations, Mumbai only manages modest runway usage. “The infrastructure constraints are very serious – air traffic control can only handle 27-28 flights an hour,” says Goyal. For comparison, London Gatwick’s sole runway can handle on average 45 hourly movements during the busy morning period.
In his meeting with Indian civil aviation minister Praful Patel, IATA’s Bisignani stressed the need for rapid action at Mumbai and offered the association’s help to identify some quick fixes. It was agreed that IATA would establish a task force to suggest a range of short-term practical measures to increase capacity. These will include air traffic control improvements and airside enhancements such as rapid-exit runway taxiways. The aim is to boost movements quickly into the 40 an hour range, says IATA.
Short-term fixes
The AAI is taking other measures at Mumbai over the coming months, says Treasuryvala, including the addition of 11 more parking stands. The airport’s domestic terminal is being upgraded too. At Delhi, rapid-exit taxiways, the creation of a taxiway parallel to the airport’s second runway to allow simultaneous operations on both runways and 16 more parking stands are planned over the next six months, he says. “Indian carriers believe these short-term recovery measures are essential,” a delegate from one of the country’s airlines said at the recent Routes network planning event in Copenhagen in late September.
However, the prospect of significant improvement to either airport seems to lie in the potential privatisation of both airports, holding out the promise of significant investment. “Mumbai airport has been refurbished and is at least nicer than before but this privatisation of the airports is a must,” says Goyal. “The infrastructure is a major concern, and hopefully this will happen now.”
The nation’s airlines have been waiting for a long-term plan for the country’s main gateways for years. The plan is for both airports to be modernised through a public–private partnership (PPP). This will mean selling each airport to a private joint venture company holding a 74% stake with the Indian government and AAI retaining 13% shares each. Foreign companies will be allowed up to take up to 49% in the venture. India already has experience of a PPP venture following the development of Cochin International Airport, while PPP projects are under way for greenfield airports at Bangalore and Hyderabad.
Six consortia have submitted bids for the Mumbai PPP, while five of these have made proposals for Delhi. Each features an Indian firm and an international airport group, such as Malaysia Airports Berhad or Germany’s Fraport. However, in a disappointing move for the government, some high-profile groups have withdrawn, such as one led by India’s Bharti Enterprises and Singapore Changi airport, and another that involved Piramal Holdings and German airport developer Hochtief. Despite this setback the government is pressing ahead and the winning bidders are expected to be announced by year-end, says Treasuryvala.
The intention is that private investment will bring faster capacity enhancements to both airports. But Mumbai, in particular, has physical constraints that prevent its expansion. Delhi has room for the construction of a third runway, but housing right up to the perimeter of Mumbai airport means a third runway is impossible, says Treasuryvala. This has led AAI to propose the building of a new Mumbai airport – Navi Mumbai – in the state of Maharashtra. However, the prospect of this new airport is years away.
The focus of carriers on the country’s two main hubs frustrates AAI. “Everybody wants to fly to Delhi and Mumbai only, but except at these two airports we have spare capacity everywhere,” says Treasuryvala. “We’d like carriers to look at the other airports and not only concentrate on Delhi and Mumbai.”
But the demand for extra capacity at the main hubs is unlikely to diminish and will be crucial if Indian carriers are to make effective use of the billions of dollars of new aircraft they have on order.
MARK PILLING/LONDON
Source: Airline Business
