Indian airports to get ‘smarter’

Country is on track to become third biggest global aviation market by 2020

Dubai — India is on track to become the third biggest aviation market by 2020 with an enhanced airport system that can handle 336 million domestic and 41 million international passengers, a senior aviation official said on Thursday.

To tackle the big traffic surge, India, currently the ninth largest aviation market in the world, is planning to introduce more systems to enhance the passenger experience.

“In order to eliminate long queues, we will be introducing self service, pre-validation, QR code and automation,” Pradeep Panicker, executive vice president and chief commercial officer, Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL), said.

Speaking at the ‘Future of Airports’ session at a conference organised by the General Directorate of Residency and Foreigners Affairs in Dubai (GDRFA-Dubai), Panicker said the aviation industry in India was undergoing major infrastructure transformation with airports modernisation and expansion under focus.

DIAL is a subsidiary of GMR Infrastructure, which is one of the world’s leading airport developers. He said GMR is hopeful of adding five more airports to its operations portfolio by 2018.

DIAL is a joint venture company among GMR Group, Airports Authority of India, Fraport and Malaysia Airports Holdings Berhad.

GMR currently operates Delhi and Hyderabad international airports. Delhi airport’s passenger handling capacity has grown to 40 million. Rajiv Gandhi International Airport in Hyderabad, operated by GMR, has grown two-and-a-half times in nine years.

Last year, Delhi airport passenger traffic grew seven per cent to 37 million, while it jumped four per cent to nine million in Hyderabad airport. GMR owns 54 per cent stake in the Delhi International Airport and 63 per cent of the Hyderabad Airport.

Panicker said the Indian government had envisaged an investment of $12.1 billion in the airport sector during 12th plan period, of which $12.1 billion will come from the private sector.

This investment would help in the modernisation and development of airports. The government’s move to privatise airports at Jaipur, Ahmedabad, Kolkata and Chennai has generated interest among the airport infrastructure developers, including GMR.

All these airports are currently under the state-owned Airports Authority of India (AAI) and the government plans to offer them for operation, management and development to private sector companies through the PPP model.

According to a report by global consultancy KPMG, India’s fast-growing civil aviation sector, already among the top 10 globally, could be number one worldwide by 2030.

The $16-billion sector is on a high-growth track thanks to large untapped potential, it said, noting “access to aviation is still a dream for nearly 99.5 per cent” of India’s 1.2 billion population. The US airplane maker, Boeing, projected demand for over 1,600 new airplanes in India over the next 20 years, valued at $205 billion.
Traffic data from AAI shows that passenger numbers in the year to March 2014 reached 169 million, an increase of six per cent on the previous 12-month period. This makes the Indian air travel market slightly bigger than France, whose airports handled just over 161 million passengers during 2013.

All of India’s top 15 airports reported growth. India’s two largest airports in Delhi and Mumbai grew by around seven per cent, with Delhi handling almost 37 million passengers.

India’s airports reported passenger growth of 7.3 per cent to over 46 million in the second quarter of 2014. Domestic demand has risen by 7.4 per cent to about 34 million, while international traffic has increased by seven per cent to 12.3 million. Mumbai was the fastest-growing among India’s top six busiest airports, seeing passenger numbers rise by 9.2 per cent to 8.8 million in the period April to June 2014.

— issacjohn@khaleejtimes.com