India far from having hub for airlines, say aviation experts

Mumbai: Despite having privately managed world-class airports in Hyderabad, Bangalore and Mumbai, and the world’s eighth largest terminal building at New Delhi’s international airport set to go online on 14 July, India is still far from getting an international airport hub for carriers, says industry experts.
“If the question is (about) Indian airports becoming international hubs for onward transit to Saarc (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation) and South-East Asia and Australia, that may be decades away,” said Charles Dhanaraj, an associate professor of management at the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University, Indianapolis, and an expert on the Indian aviation industry.
When Mint asked at least two dozen chief executive officers of global airlines at the 66th annual general body meeting of the International Air Transport Association about a hub in India, none were interested in such a facility, despite the fact that they are looking to increase their presence in the country and are tying up with domestic carriers.
However, Arvind Jadhav, chairman and managing director of Air India, has said he wants to make the Delhi airport an international hub, suggesting that the carrier would ideally like to do away with its Frankfurt hub.
Already, National Aviation Co. of India Ltd, or Nacil, which runs Air India, is planning to shift its networking hub from Mumbai to Delhi.
But the challenges are many, say civil aviation experts, noting that the presence of good airport infrastructure and large airlines, both of which India lacks, are prerequisites for an international hub.
A spokesperson for the GMR Group, which runs the airports in Delhi and Hyderabad, said the major obstacles to having a hub in India include an inability to attract passengers, saturated airports and the poor health of Indian airlines.
28/06/10 P.R. Sanjai/Live Mint

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Categories: Indian Aviation- In General Jun 2010