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Airport Authority of India (AAI) plans to spend ₹5,000 crore annually on capital expenditure in the coming years with a strong pipeline of projects, AAI chairman Sanjeev Kumar told businessline.
While new terminals are being built and airside capacity is being expanded at various airports to handle extra flights, AAI is also working on a roadmap for expansion of Agatti airport in Lakshadweep.
“As against the capex target of ₹ 4,000 Crores in FY 2023-24, AAI till December, 2023 has achieved Capex of ₹ 3,416 crores. We will be surpassing the target of ₹ 4,000 Crores and touching capex of ₹ 5,000 Crores or more,” he said.
The authority is building new terminals at airports in Patna, Leh, Vijayawada, Tuticorin and has started construction of new terminal buildings in Jodhpur, Udaipur, Jammu and Rajahmundry.
“We are also adding new terminal building in Hubli, Belagavi and Kadapa Airport. Investment proposals for expanding the capacity of terminals and airside is also in pipeline for Keshod in Gujarat, Agra, Ayodhya Phase-II & Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh, Bagdogra in West Bengal and Darbhanga in Bihar,” he said.
Expansion of Agatti Airport is under discussion with union territory administration of Lakshadweep, ministry of home affairs and other stakeholders. “We soon expect a roadmap for expansion of Agatti airport,” he added.
AAI is also working with partners and stakeholders to finalize research areas at its R&D centre in Begumpet airport in Hyderabad.
Developed at a cost of ₹350 crore, the Civil Aviation Research Organisation (CARO) will serve as a collaborative research platform in air navigation services.
“We have also engaged with our employees and encouraging them to write “problem statements” for the situations faced by them with suggestions for improvement and increasing efficiency. These problem statements would become core of the development of solution by our stakeholders including start-ups either in their own premises or in CARO. We have almost finalized our architecture of processes to populate CARO with an objective to make it vibrant research & Development facility,” Kumar said.
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