Notwithstanding the soaring aircraft orders placed by Indian airlines, which touched 849 with SpiceJet’s order for 205 Boeing planes last week along with opening up of 190 new regional routes, experts say that airport capacity constraints, cost pressures and sub-optimal passenger load factor could mean the Indian aviation market growth may run into headwinds.
While the government has been pushing for better connectivity of smaller cities and has thrown in several incentives for the airlines, it is expected that 45 new airports will get added to the existing list of 73 operational airports.
Even as the plane orders and purchase rights reflect the need to serve the double-digit growth in the domestic market, lack of airport infrastructure can emerge as one of the key hurdles. This comes on the face of a rising passenger traffic in India which is set to cross 10 crore by March-end, making India the third-largest aviation market after the US and China, taking over from Japan.
“Capacity constraints at India’s metro airports have already become visible. The situation at key metros such as Mumbai and Chennai is particularly acute as these airports are fast approaching saturation. But slot constraints and congestion are an issue at most of the metro airports and are expected to remain so in the near term as new terminals and runways will take 2-3 years to develop,” Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation (CAPA) said in its India Aviation Outlook for 2017-18.
The report further says that India faces the prospect of an airport capacity crisis. Delays in developing a long-term national airport plan could jeopardise economic growth. “Based on projected growth rates, most of the 40 largest airports in the country will exceed their design capacities within the next decade. However, it is a serious concern that there is no long-term vision for India’s airport capacity requirements,” it said.
India currently has 1,632 aircraft registered in the Civil Aviation Registry, which include planes manufactured by Boeing, Airbus and other smaller companies. According to data provided by Airbus, India’s largest airline by passenger traffic — IndiGo — alone had 406 pending deliveries as of December 31.
21/01/17 Sunny Verma & Pranav Mukul/The Indian Express
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While the government has been pushing for better connectivity of smaller cities and has thrown in several incentives for the airlines, it is expected that 45 new airports will get added to the existing list of 73 operational airports.
Even as the plane orders and purchase rights reflect the need to serve the double-digit growth in the domestic market, lack of airport infrastructure can emerge as one of the key hurdles. This comes on the face of a rising passenger traffic in India which is set to cross 10 crore by March-end, making India the third-largest aviation market after the US and China, taking over from Japan.
“Capacity constraints at India’s metro airports have already become visible. The situation at key metros such as Mumbai and Chennai is particularly acute as these airports are fast approaching saturation. But slot constraints and congestion are an issue at most of the metro airports and are expected to remain so in the near term as new terminals and runways will take 2-3 years to develop,” Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation (CAPA) said in its India Aviation Outlook for 2017-18.
The report further says that India faces the prospect of an airport capacity crisis. Delays in developing a long-term national airport plan could jeopardise economic growth. “Based on projected growth rates, most of the 40 largest airports in the country will exceed their design capacities within the next decade. However, it is a serious concern that there is no long-term vision for India’s airport capacity requirements,” it said.
India currently has 1,632 aircraft registered in the Civil Aviation Registry, which include planes manufactured by Boeing, Airbus and other smaller companies. According to data provided by Airbus, India’s largest airline by passenger traffic — IndiGo — alone had 406 pending deliveries as of December 31.
21/01/17 Sunny Verma & Pranav Mukul/The Indian Express
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