Hyderabad: Though a glamorous sector either for employment or investment, the airports sector has been on a bumpy runway and is struggling to take off.
Dotted with small and unviable airports making it difficult for the large airports to chart a proper business plan, the key piece of infrastructure is also affecting the related sectors including airlines.
The country has 454 operational and non-operational airports/airstrips. The Airports Authority of India (AAI) operates 125 of these, while several of them are way below the viability levels. Only 14 international and 80 domestic airports cater to the majority of air travel segment.
“There is no problem with the viability of airports per se. There are investors keen on investing since most of the airports can be made commercially more attractive. We hope the Budget will bring in some clarity on several key issues that have remained unresolved for all these years,” a senior official of an airport company said.
11/02/13 KV Ramana/Daily News & Analysis
