Ailing airport sector spells the ground reality

Last week an international airline landing at Sahar Airport in Mumbai had to circle the sky for more than an hour before it was allowed to land. The flight captain told the exasperated passengers this is a perennial problem of the Mumbai airport as they have only one runway. At Chicago or London airport flight takes off and land every minute as there are more than five-six runways perhaps this lack of adequate runway is bleeding the Indian airline industry as precious fuel is wasted circling the sky.
For decades, nobody bothered about our airports. Airport activities were largely confined to four metros as there were just two airlines Air India and Indian Airlines both controlled by the government. They operated fewer flights, covered fewer destinations as fewer people could afford to travel by air. But liberalisation and entry of private operators changed the whole ball-game. What particularly boosted the airport sector was the introduction of low-cost fare.
22/04/10 CNBC-TV18/Moneycontrol.com

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Categories: Airports Apr 2010