The Hindu Business Line : Airport expansion plans take off

Work in progress on the new terminal building at Bajpe Airport, Mangalore… One of the main objectives of the Eleventh Plan is to provide safe and affordable air services.

Ashwini Phadnis

The Airports Authority of India (AAI) has proposed an outlay of Rs12,434 crore for the development of infrastructure at various airports around the country during the Eleventh Plan period. The Government has already stated that the main objective of the Plan, which gets over in 2011-12, would be to provide world-class infrastructure facilities, apart from ensuring safe, reliable and affordable air services so as to encourage growth in passenger and cargo traffic.

Apart from other States in the country, the AAI plans to take up work at airports in Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Port Blair, Agatti, Pondicherry and Kerala.

In Chennai, the AAI is to take up the development of the Kamaraj Airport’s domestic terminal Phase II, along with the expansion of the existing Anna International Terminal and giving a face-lift to the other terminals.

Similarly, in Madurai, the Authority plans to construct a new integrated terminal building complex which will be capable of handling 500 passengers by February next year.

While, in Tuticorin, the AAI is all set to strengthen and extend the runway so that the airport will be able to receive the 50-seater ATR-72 aircraft.

In the case of Coimbatore, the Authority plans to construct a new integrated terminal complex that can accommodate 500 passengers and cars, and a new apron for parking four Airbus A-321 and two Boeing 777-200 aircraft. The expansion and modification of the existing terminal building will also be undertaken.

In neighbouring Kerala, the Authority plans to strengthen the runway facilities for the Boeing 777-200 and Boeing 747-400 class of aircraft at Kozhikode airport by April this year. In Agatti, it plans to strengthen and expand the existing runway for airlines to operate the ATR-72 aircraft, apart from the construction of a bridge between the two islands for extension of runway and associated facilities.

At Port Blair, the AAI plans to strengthen and extend the apron and associated taxi-way for the parking of two A-310 and four A-321 aircraft, besides constructing an integrated international terminal block for 500 passengers and allotting space for 300 cars to park.

In Karnataka, airport development work is to take place in Hassan, Mangalore, Hubli, Mysore and Belgaum. While in Hubli it is proposed to construct a new terminal building complex for 400 passengers, in Mangalore the plan is to have a new terminal building which will be able to accommodate 500 passengers besides the construction of space to park six Airbus A-321 aircraft.

In Andhra Pradesh, work will be taken up in the five cities of Cudappah, Rajahmundry, Tirupati, Visakhapatnam and Vijayawada. While in Cudappah the plan is to make the airport operational for ATR 72 aircraft, in Rajahmundry the AAI plans to construct a new terminal building for 150 passengers.

In other parts of the country, the state-owned airport developer will construct a new domestic arrival block for 800 passengers, a new international terminal complex for 1,500 passengers with three boarding bridges and a new cargo complex for 20,000 tonnes of cargo at Ahmedabad.

In Rajasthan, the AAI is to take up projects in five cities including Jaipur where it is proposed to construct a new international complex building which during the first phase would be able to accommodate 500 passengers. Similarly, the existing airport will be developed at Mount Abu.

Maharashtra will see the development of airports in eight cities, including Baramati, which is being developed to accommodate ATR-72s, while in Pune the proposal is to construct an integrated international terminal building that can accommodate 500 passengers.

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