A city around airport

The aviation sector has seen much transformation after liberalisation. From being government-owned, the domestic airline industry is now dominated by privately owned full-service airlines and low-cost carriers. In the past ten years, private airlines have changed the rules of the game, and they now account for more than 75% of the domestic air traffic.
The rapid growth of the airline industry leaves vast scope for airport infrastructure to develop and modernise. In India, metropolises have flourished as the nerve centres of all major economic and commercial activities. Poor air connectivity at tier-I and tier-II cities have made them inaccessible, and consequently, less attractive for prospective investors. This has led to an imbalanced growth of the urban economy.
However, with the population in key metros rising beyond permissible limits, tier-I and II cities have to prepare for the future. The aviation industry, which was limited to major cities, has now spread its wings to smaller cities, as they hold vast untapped potential.
A key plank of airport development was privatisation. Though the government has taken many initiatives in alliance with the private sector for capacity augmentation, such as modernisation and upgradation of existing airports and development of greenfield airports, project implementation is woefully tardy.
20/10/10 Subrata Paul/Financial Express

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Categories: airports Oct 2010, New Oct 2010