Last month, the tyres on an Indigo flight from Tirupati to Hyderabad burst on touchdown — leading to thousands of passengers being stranded in airports across the country for up to seven hours. Every day, though, delays of half an hour or more, which have a cascading effect on schedules country-wide, are par for the course — a result of soaring passenger traffic, and stagnation in planning and expansion of airports to handle the footfalls.
Airports in India — from the busiest like Delhi and Mumbai to smaller ones in Patna and Guwahati — have become synonymous with queues, delays and congestion. On the airside, failure to add runways and parking bays has meant airports are unable to clear airlines’ requests to add more flights.
“If a flight gets delayed at another city like Delhi or Mumbai, there are delays in all the other sectors. This is beyond our control,” said an airline official. In December, for instance, 45% of flights were delayed at Mumbai.
India has recorded double-digit growth in domestic air passenger traffic for the past 42 months, shows data from International Air Transport Association (IATA), a trade body of global airlines. Passenger traffic at Delhi airport grew 14% in 2017 compared to the previous year, making it the fastest growing airport in the world, according to Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation (CAPA), a global consultancy firm.
It’s the same across the country. Hyderabad airport was meant to handle 12 million passengers per annum, but footfalls crossed 18 million in 2017. Last year, Kolkata’s Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport handled 19.5 million passengers — the terminal can manage 20 million passengers and will run out of space this year. Even at Patna airport, passenger traffic hit 29 lakh last year — a 48% increase over 2016 numbers — when the airport can handle just 7 lakh passengers a year.
Prakash Singh avoids flying in or out of Patna on holidays. “The queue to enter the airport can stretch into the car park,” he said. “There are two baggage scanners, which means you spend a long time completing security check. The airport is the same as it was 20 years ago though the number of flights has shot up. Patna airport can give a bus stand a run for its money,” said Singh, who lives in Noida and travels to his hometown frequently.
Mumbai, India’s second busiest airport, does not feature among the world’s top 20 fastest growing airports. It’s telling because till 2012, Mumbai was the busiest airport in India. “Infrastructure shortages played a critical role in this displacement,” said Kapil Kaul of CAPA. Air travel growth out of Mumbai will remain the same till a second airport comes up.
Airport capacity is measured by two parameters: passenger handling capacity of its terminal buildings and air traffic handling capacity of its runways. And both are in jeopardy at most airports. Last September, Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) — responsible for passenger and bag checks — sounded a warning about adding more flights without infrastructure. “Total passenger traffic at all airports has increased by 65% in the last five years… Despite this huge increase, security infrastructure and manpower have remained the same, resulting in congestion and undue pressure on security personnel for speedy clearance,” CISF told the government. “Our airports may turn unmanageable… Planning has to be proactive and futuristic rather than reactive,” it added.
01/05/18 Times of India
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Airports in India — from the busiest like Delhi and Mumbai to smaller ones in Patna and Guwahati — have become synonymous with queues, delays and congestion. On the airside, failure to add runways and parking bays has meant airports are unable to clear airlines’ requests to add more flights.
“If a flight gets delayed at another city like Delhi or Mumbai, there are delays in all the other sectors. This is beyond our control,” said an airline official. In December, for instance, 45% of flights were delayed at Mumbai.
India has recorded double-digit growth in domestic air passenger traffic for the past 42 months, shows data from International Air Transport Association (IATA), a trade body of global airlines. Passenger traffic at Delhi airport grew 14% in 2017 compared to the previous year, making it the fastest growing airport in the world, according to Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation (CAPA), a global consultancy firm.
It’s the same across the country. Hyderabad airport was meant to handle 12 million passengers per annum, but footfalls crossed 18 million in 2017. Last year, Kolkata’s Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport handled 19.5 million passengers — the terminal can manage 20 million passengers and will run out of space this year. Even at Patna airport, passenger traffic hit 29 lakh last year — a 48% increase over 2016 numbers — when the airport can handle just 7 lakh passengers a year.
Prakash Singh avoids flying in or out of Patna on holidays. “The queue to enter the airport can stretch into the car park,” he said. “There are two baggage scanners, which means you spend a long time completing security check. The airport is the same as it was 20 years ago though the number of flights has shot up. Patna airport can give a bus stand a run for its money,” said Singh, who lives in Noida and travels to his hometown frequently.
Mumbai, India’s second busiest airport, does not feature among the world’s top 20 fastest growing airports. It’s telling because till 2012, Mumbai was the busiest airport in India. “Infrastructure shortages played a critical role in this displacement,” said Kapil Kaul of CAPA. Air travel growth out of Mumbai will remain the same till a second airport comes up.
Airport capacity is measured by two parameters: passenger handling capacity of its terminal buildings and air traffic handling capacity of its runways. And both are in jeopardy at most airports. Last September, Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) — responsible for passenger and bag checks — sounded a warning about adding more flights without infrastructure. “Total passenger traffic at all airports has increased by 65% in the last five years… Despite this huge increase, security infrastructure and manpower have remained the same, resulting in congestion and undue pressure on security personnel for speedy clearance,” CISF told the government. “Our airports may turn unmanageable… Planning has to be proactive and futuristic rather than reactive,” it added.
01/05/18 Times of India
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