The aviation landscape in India will see dramatic change before the end of the decade, with substantial investments to build new airports and modernise existing ones.
The upgraded airport infrastructure will be key to handling the revival of air travel expected to take place once the COVID-19 pandemic is brought under control. Planned investments aimed at reviving the civil aviation sector include investments to the tune of INR 91,000 crore. The three Public Private Partnership (PPP) airports at Delhi, Hyderabad and Bengaluru are already amid major expansions worth INR 30,000 crore, which is expected to be completed by 2025. Apart from this, according to data released by the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA), the development of new Greenfield airports will be undertaken under the PPP model, which will require investments of INR 36,000 crore.
‘In-principle’ approval has already been accorded to set up 21 Greenfield airports by MoCA, and eight have already been operationalised - Shirdi in Maharashtra, Durgapur in West Bengal, Pakyong in Sikkim, Kannur in Kerala, Orvakal in Andhra Pradesh, Kalaburagi in Karnataka, Sindhudurg in Maharashtra and Kushinagar in Uttar Pradesh. In addition to these investments, the Airports Authority of India (AAI) will spend INR 25,000 crore over the next five years for expansion and modification of existing terminals, building new terminals, expansion or strengthening existing runways, aprons to handle larger aircraft and also modernise Airport Navigation Services and Air Traffic Control towers to cater for growing flight movements.
Building For Growth
Creating Greenfield airports requires strong Government will to overcome challenges related to land acquisition, proximity to existing airports, defence infrastructure, and other facilities required for aircraft operations like availability of Aviation Turbine Fuel, trained personnel, etc. Progress is being made, and eight of 21 Greenfield airports are already operational, with six being operationalised over the last three years - Kannur Airport in Kerala (2018), Pakyong Airport in Sikkim (2018), Kalaburagi Airport in Karnataka (2019), Kurnool Airport in Andhra Pradesh (2021), Sindhudurg Airport in Maliarashtra (2021) and Kushinagar Airport in Uttar Pradesh (2021).
The airports that remain to be operationalised are Mopa in Goa, Navi Mumbai in Maharashtra, Bijapur, Hassan and Shimoga in Karnataka, Datia (Gwalior) in Madhya Pradesh, and Noida (Jewar) in Uttar Pradesh, Dholera and Hirasar in Gujarat, Karaikal in Puducherry, Dagadarthi, Bhogapuram and Hollongi (Itanagar) in Arunachal Pradesh. The construction of airports at Navi Mumbai in Maharashtra, Mopa in Goa, Hirasar in Rajkot, Jewar (Noida) in Uttar Pradesh and Hollongi in Itanagar, Arunachal Pradesh, have all commenced over the last three years.
According to the information given by the Minister of State in the Ministry Of Civil Aviation, Gen. (Dr) V. K. Singh (Retd), the estimated project costs for ten of these Greenfield airports are - Mopa (INR 3000 crore), Navi Mumbai (INR 16,250 crore), Bijapur (INR 150 crore), Hassan (INR 592 crore), Shimoga (INR 220 crore), Data (INR 200 crore, Jewar (INR 8,914 crore -Phase I), Karaikal (INR 50 crore), Dagadarthi (INR 293 crore) and Bhogapuram (INR 2,500 crore). In addition, AAI’s development of airports at Hollongi and Hirasar has an estimated project cost of INR 646 crore and INR 1,405 crore, respectively, while the development of the airport at Dholera (Gujarat) will cost INR 1,305 crore (Phase I).
For these airports, AAI has been vested with the responsibility of implementing projects, including funding the projects along with the respective airport developers and State Government (in case the State Government is the project proponent). AAI owns 136 airports, including seven JV partners (Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Nagpur, Kanpur, Kannur and Chandigarh).
Monetising Airports
As part of the National Monetisation Pipeline, the AAI has earmarked 25 airports for asset monetisation between 2022-2035. These include Bhubaneshwar, Varanasi, Amritsar, Trichy, Indore, Raipur, Calicut, Coimbatore, Nagpur, Patna, Madurai, Surat, Ranchi, Jodhpur, Chennai, Vijayawada, Vadodara, Bhopal, Tirupati, Hubli, Imphal, Agartala, Udaipur, Dehradun and Rajahmundry.
The AAI recently transferred six airports (Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Lucknow, Guwahati, Thiruvananthapuram, Mangaluru) under the PPP model for Operations, Management, and concession period of 50 years. However, AAI will remain the airports’ owner. These airports will revert to AAI once the concession period is over.
Seaplane Operations
The Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS), also known as the Ude Desh ka Aam Nagrik (UDAN) scheme, will also look towards growing seaplane operations from water aerodromes. The Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways (MoPSW) will now develop water aerodromes, and MoU has already been signed between MoCA & MoPSW. Under UDAN-3, 14 water aerodromes have been identified in the states of Gujarat, Assam, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Andaman and Nicobar Islands and Lakshadweep. Twenty-eight seaplane routes have been awarded to Spice Jet and Turbo Aviation. The UDAN scheme now encompasses 393 routes that connect 62 unserved and underserved airports, including two water aerodromes and six heliports. According to MoCA, 42 airports/airstrips have been operationalised in the last three years.