DIAL appoints agency to forecast air traffic for NCR

The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), an intergovernmental body that helps plan and develop global air transport to ensure safe and orderly growth, has been asked to study if the National Capital Region (NCR) centred around New Delhi needs a second airport.
Delhi International Airport Pvt. Ltd (DIAL), which operates the Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport in New Delhi, has commissioned ICAO to forecast air traffic for the region, two aviation ministry officials said, requesting anonymity.
The decision follows a spat between DIAL and the Uttar Pradesh (UP) government, which wants to construct another airport in the Greater Noida area, on the outskirts of the national capital.
DIAL has informed the aviation ministry that it had hired ICAO to conduct the study. The ministry had earlier asked the airport operator and the UP government to reach an agreement on the traffic projections for NCR, but they were unable to do so.
DIAL has protested the plan to build the Taj International Aviation Hub at Jewar, Greater Noida, as competition will hurt the airport operator that’s investing Rs12,700 crore to ramp up IGI Airport for handling 60 million passengers annually.
Traffic at IGI Airport was 26 million in 2009, and DIAL says the expansion is sufficient to meet future traffic growth, based on a study by UK-based consultancy Mott MacDonald.
Under aviation rules, a second airport cannot be built within 150km of an existing airport, though exceptions are allowed on a case-by-case basis. The proposed airport falls within the limit.
30/06/10 Tarun Shukla/Live Mint

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Categories: Airports Jun 2010