Tuesday, May 10, 2011

SVPI rolls out red carpet for international airlines but none have started flights from Ahmedabad

Ahmedabad: When will new international flights start operations from Ahmedabad airport? This is the Rs400 crore question on the top of the minds of Ahmedabad airport officials and the Airports Authority of India(AAI). AAI has invested nearly Rs400 crore for improving infrastructure at the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport (SVPI) in the past couple of years.
A large part of this money - Rs300 crore - was spent on building the new terminal building, which is of international standards. Large sums were also spent for the airport's makeover, including improving passenger and operational facilities. Infrastructure at the airport is fully in place and it is all ready to welcome more international airlines.
International airlines have been regularly visiting the airport to check the possibility of launching flights. In fact, over the past couple of months, officials of KLM Royal Dutch Airlines and Air France have visited and shown interest in starting their operations from Ahmedabad.
During their visits, the airlines collected data related to international and domestic flight movements at the airport, passenger movement, ground and air facilities, among others. But, their plans have not taken any concrete shape as yet.
"The airlines have shown interest, but they are yet to take a concrete decision with regards to starting flights," said Ahmedabad airport director, Anuj Aggarwal.
In terms of infrastructure, the airport now provides the facilities international airlines would need.
09/05/11 Satish Jha/Daily News & Analysis
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