Friday, January 18, 2019

IATA finds mid-2020 target for Navi Mumbai airport 'ambitious'

Mumbai: The mid-2020 deadline for the Navi Mumbai airport is an ambitious one, said Alexandre de Juniac, director-general of the International Air Transport Association (IATA), a global trade body representing 290 airlines.

Implying that CM Devendra Fadnavis’ deadline was impossible to meet, he said constructing an airport is not a process that “can be hurried”. “Constructing an airport in five years itself is ambitious,” said Juniac.

Construction of the much-delayed Navi Mumbai airport hasn’t begun. Acquisition of 1,160 hectares is still on and the contract for construction of the Rs 16,000-crore airport is expected to be awarded in a month or two.

Juniac held up Istanbul’s new airport, completed in four years, as an example of work in record time. It is considered an extremely challenging project given that it will eventually accommodate 200 million passengers.

Size is important for India as domestic passenger traffic has been registering double-digit growth for four years now. Juniac said it isn’t easy to sustain a 15% growth. “Even in terms of infrastructure, it puts an enormous pressure on all stakeholders. If the Indian government wants to sustain this level of growth, big decisions have to be made quicker and faster and implemented more rapidly. That isn’t easy for any country, not just India,” he said.
18/01/19 Times of India
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