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All stake holders converged at Aerodrome India
2012 to brainstorm on airport infrastructure and
security, to network with Airport authorities
and key-decision makers of the aviation industry.
Aerodrome India 2012, with its aim to provide
a platform for manufacturers of hardware, consultants
and service providers related to airport infrastructure,
security and aircraft maintenance to interact
/ network with a core critical audience comprising
of key decision makers of regulatory boards, civil
aviation authorities & airport management, concluded
on a positive note despite the gloomy scenario.
With Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport
(CSIA), Mumbai being one of the busiest airports
in India, the need to upgrade infrastructure in
Mumbai to match the growth in passengers in the
future is exceedingly important – this was indicated
by Gordon Griffiths, Saxenaassistant director,
IATA, Singapore, during the inaugural session
of Aerodrome India 2012.
Commenting on the need of the proposed airport
at Navi Mumbai, Griffiths said, “The upgradation
and extension of the airport at Mumbai was difficult
as the work had to be done along with day to day
operations. However, it was successfully done.
Given the annual growth rate of passengers in
Mumbai, time is pressing for Navi Mumbai (the
airport should be developed with urgency.)” He
also emphasised that the development of the airport
was crucial as congestion at the existing international
airport will continue to prevail. The proposed
international airport at Navi Mumbai is expected
to handle 40 million passengers by 2030.
G. K. Chaukiyal, Member, Operations, Airport
Authority of India (AAI) said that the since 72
per cent of the traffic is handled by six major
airports in India, it is time to shift the focus
on tier 2 and 3 cities. He said, “90 per cent
of Indian Airports are making losses. We need
both the Central and the State governments to
participate in developing airports, at least till
the time the traffic picks up.” Of the total 60
non-metro airports in the country, the AAI has
completed 35 airports.
Discussing the investments made by HAL at Ojhar
airport and the long waiting time, overcrowded
cargo hubs are some of the apt adjectives that
describe the plight of the major metropolitan
airports of India today. Removing such inefficiencies
demand alternate cargo nodes that not only decongest
the major hubs, but also prove to be cost-efficient
for the ultimate customer… filling this void is
the recently developed Ojhar air cargo hub at
Nashik. PV Deshmukh, MD – MIG, HAL, says, “Ojhar
airport is extremely well equipped and capable
of handling AN-124, which is the heaviest aircraft
in the world. We have invested a lot to upgrade
the existing infrastructure, like creating additional
parking space, enhancing the Fire Category from
CAT V to CAT X, which, as per ICAO standard for
airports, is the maximum fire category that any
airport has, apart from offering medical facilities,
etc., thus making Ojhar a desired destination
for air cargo services.”
Air traffic control systems, airfield lighting,
baggage handling, baggage management and tracking,
data processing hardware, ground support equipment
and services, information technology and software
were projected to the business fraternity.
Navigation aids, passenger guidance systems,
passenger handling, passenger information technology,
parking, cargo, cargo management, conveying equipment,
loading systems, mobile cargo handling systems
were also a part of the exhibition.
Special attention needs to be given to the speedy
handling of cargo and reducing its dwell time.
The objective will be to reduce dwell time of
exports from the present level of 4 days to 12
hours, and of imports for the present level of
4 weeks to 24 hours to bring India in line with
internationally achieved norms. Cargo clearance
will be on 24-hour basis. And infrastructure relating
to cargo handling like satellite freight cities
with multimodal transport, cargo terminals, cold
storage, automatic storage and retrieval systems
have to set up.
The support & involvement of the entire industry
provides the ideal platform for the manufacturers,
suppliers, service providers to network, interact
& benefit from the business potential the growing
Indian airport sector in India. Terminal 3 – the
world’s sixth largest passenger terminal building
recently opened as part of a massive, ongoing
expansion plan at Delhi Airport.
The aviation fraternity gathered at the event
discussed the up gradation and modernisation of
Chennai and Kolkata airports and the major ongoing
expansion / up-gradation of CSI Airport in Mumbai.
Construction of 12 Greenfield airports in different
parts of India which includes two projects at
Durgapur in West Bengal and Ludhiana in Punjab
and development of Chandrapur, Amravati, Jalgaon,
Dhule, Phaltan, Karad and Solapur airports by
Maharashtra Airport Development Company Ltd. apart
from developing Shirdi, Solapur, Amravati, Gadchiroli,
Rajgurunagar airports are attempts made by the
government to link smaller towns and make environment
friendly airports.
Ravi Radhakrishnan, GM-Business Development,
Reliance Infrastructure, said a non-metro airport
has traffic of less than 300,000 passengers per
annum and the longer breakeven periods made it
unattractive for private investors.
“I believe the way forward is close coordination
with airlines, both scheduled and charter, along
with airport industrial parks for Reliance Airport
Developers (RADL’s) five airports,” he said. Development
of Yavatmal, Nanded, Osmanabad, Latur and Baramati
Airports in Maharashtra by Reliance Airports,
new Jaipur Airport being developed by Rajasthan
Aviation Infrastructure (India) P. Ltd., development
of Tezu Airport in Arunachal Pradesh and development
of Hassan, Shimoga, Gulbarga, Bijapur, Bellary,
Hubli, Belguam, Karwar and Bidar Airports in Karnataka,
indicated the success story of private and public-private
partnerships in the sector.
Umesh Kumar Baveja, founder and chairman of
Regional Airports Holding International, said,
“We aim to encourage the demand for air travel
between tier-II and tier-III cities. The government
does not have enough funds to build, develop and
maintain airports at all regional hubs and this
is where this model would boost the sector. We
will build the airports at a budget of about 40
million USD each.
Speakers emphasised that mechanised transportation
of cargo, computerisation and automation needed
to be set nup on top priority basis. Such facilities
have to come up at smaller places too. The Electronic
Data Interchange systems will be developed and
linked amongst all stake-holders in the trade.
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