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Airports Authority of India (AAI) Chairman V.P. Agrawal spoke to
INDIA EMPIRE Editor and Publisher Sayantan
Chakravarty:
Finally we are creating infrastructure at the airports that is worth showcasing to the rest of the world…
Moving through the airport now is an experience that goes well beyond catching a flight. May I add, it is like catching a flight by the way. It is the pre-flight experience that is far superior now.
So this change is here to stay…
Absolutely. Now we have the right kind of mix, the exclusivity of the Government is gone, yet we’re competing with the private sector in terms of price. In a sensitive sector like aviation infrastructure, the private sector cannot have monopoly, but there can be a situation of a limited monopoly. This competition is healthy and creating more robust airport infrastructure.
Did you see this change coming in this particular way…
Let me put it this way. There was a time when people left the country, became NRIs because we had a larger technical manpower but insufficient capacity to absorb them meaningfully. In the absence of opportunities, they looked for greener pastures. It took time for the Government to open up the private sector, and relinquish almost absolute control and the near exclusivity it enjoyed in this critical sector. But once the shift took place, you could see that there was a marked improvement in quality. The results you see now are a result of that shift in policy.
So you are saying that airport infrastructure is one area which has been able to retain talent from leaving India…
I would like to think so. With the Government moving in the right path, and allowing private sector to play a very significant role, many qualified people are now finding it very attractive to work in India. Likewise, there are people who were abroad but now moving back in and finding opportunities to grow in India.
How cooperative are states when it comes to implementing airport projects?
States are cooperative. An airport is very important from the view point of economic dispersal, it provides easy access, it is a gateway to a state. Every SEZ, or industrial township, wants to be located near the airport. Every state chief minister sees an airport as an engine of economic progress and prosperity, and is, therefore, keen to establish more and more airports to improve connectivity both within, and with the outside world. Several state Governments are coming forward and seeking airports, they are assisting us by way of land.
Thiruvananthapuram Airport |
Mangalore Airport |
What has been the growth like in the number of airports?
Significantly enough we have shot up from 45 to 85 in a span of five years. It is a large infrastructural growth. The number of operations has doubled, in some cases trebled. We are in the process of reviving 15 airports that have been lying dormant. We see the new energy in the economy, the new drive in the states, and we are confident that by 2015, the number of airports would go up to 150.
So at the same time our passenger handling capacity through airways is going up…
Let us look at it this way. Any new building that we create now is six to eight times the size of the older buildings that were designed with reference to older area norms. The earlier norm was six square metre per person, now in some situations we are going up to 16 to 18 square metres per person. This has many implications. A bigger area means more space to manoeuvre. There is increased satisfaction at the airports and it adds to the overall experience factor that I mentioned earlier. We have also doubled our passenger handling capacity as well as cargo handling capacity. While the growth in passenger handling capacity has gone up from 8-9 per cent annually to about 15 per cent, growth in cargo that was about 7 to 8 per annum turned out to be a record 30 per cent last year.
The growth in cargo is a very good sign, a sign of an economy in progress…
That’s right. It is directly linked to industrial development. But we want to see more cargo airlines come in, that will take the growth story to another level. The growth we are witnessing today is majorly because of low-cost airlines that do not have much belly hold. But belly cargo is not so significant, the real growth spurt comes when more cargo aircraft move in. We are expecting a huge impetus on this front with some key players all set to operate in India. But at the same time we are competing with the improved highway factor. Door-to-door cargo is handled by road transport, and with conditions improving we’ll always have to compete with roadways. But we are increasing our runway length, at some places they have gone up to 9,000 feet. This will help dedicated cargo airlines.
The overall experience at airports is also a combination of passenger handling, the landing experience and better traffic management…
We are handling air traffic in two ways. One is by improving our ground infrastructure by providing more instrument landing systems (ILSs), the ground based augmentation systems (GBASs), and by improving air traffic management, bringing in more and more automation, increasing air route capacity, providing improved landing facility. Once the GPS Aided Geo Augmented Navigation—GAGAN is in place, there will be a marked difference. Right now we are in the process of phasing out ground-based technology and shifting to satellite based technology. The advantage of the space based technology is that it will make more air routes available in air space. Airports that do not have ILS will be able to handle aircraft with the help of GAGAN. Today, 60 of our airports are equipped with
ILS.
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