Airport Capacity Challenges India

Airport capacity is a challenge for Indian aviation that may never go away; it is clear that in coming decades, India will need one of the world’s mightiest systems of aviation ground facilities. But the problem is finding land.
The 12.5% annual growth in passenger numbers forecast by the Ministry of Civil Aviation for the coming decade implies that Indian airport capacity must double every six years. If the industry grows at more than 15%, as it has recently, then the airports must double every four or five years. Across the country, airports large and small are engaged in development programs that in many cases will triple or quadruple passenger capacity.
Airport investment for the next five years will total 400 billion rupees ($8.5 billion), around three-quarters of which will be in developments financed by both the public and private sectors, according to the government’s Committee on Infrastructure. New Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport has a capacity of about 18 million passengers a year. That will rise to 60 million with the opening of a new terminal this year, and the ultimate capacity is intended by 2026 to reach 100 million, more than any airport is handling anywhere in the world now.
Similarly, Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport at Mumbai is growing to 40 million passengers from 16 million, with a possible stretch to 45 million. Capacity at Hyderabad International Airport will also rise, to 40 million from 12 million.
Looking beyond the big cities that dominate the Indian economy, the government plans to upgrade 35 so-called non-metro airports, which analysts expect will be served mainly by hub-and-spoke connections to the biggest facilities. With such expansions going on, there is little concern about a nationwide capacity crunch in the next few years.
14/06/10 Bradley Perret

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Categories: Airports Jun 2010