South-side Story

After all the good news on India being the fastest growing aviation market in the world, here comes a bit of a reality check: a report by Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation (CAPA) indicates that airline infrastructure in the South may not be keeping pace with burgeoning demand. This is especially true for Tamil Nadu and its capital Chennai.

Yes, other cities in the south like Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Kochi fare much better than most others in the country, but even they are plagued by problems. Lack of long-term planning and land acquisition issues are the major worries.

“South India is interestingly placed in some areas and in others it is not,” says Kapil Kaul, CEO of CAPA India. “Chennai is going to saturate by fiscal 2018 — even though it may have terminal capacity — other airports in the state have saturated or are reaching saturation levels. We see this is as a biggest risk to Tamil Nadu’s economy. Development of a second airport (in Chennai) is critical.”

 Deepak Shastri, the Chennai Airport Director disagrees. He feels that the present airport can manage traffic up to 2030 after expansion plan II which is expected to be completed by 2021-22.

“While a second airport is not required immediately, as a long-term plan it will be a necessity by 2030. It takes nearly 10 years to start planning to build a greenfield airport,” he points out.

But B Govindarajan, Chief Operating Officer of Tirwin Management Services (P) Ltd, a Chennai-based aviation consultancy, says there is little doubt that it is better to plan right now for a greenfield airport for Chennai.  He, however, says that it is likely to remain a dream given the lack of political will.

In neighbouring Kerala, the situation is no better. The state has three airports at Thiruvananthapuram, Kozhikode and Kochi, while a fourth at Kannur is getting ready for commissioning later this year. With 2 million Keralites living abroad — mostly in the Gulf — the infrastructure at Thiruvananthapuram and Kozhikode airports is bursting at its seams.

KV Muraleedharan, President, Kerala Association of Travel Agents, says the development of the terminal at Thiruvanthapuram is critical.  “The terminal should be expanded to accommodate both international and domestic flights, with the needs of the next 20-25 years in mind.”

 However, land acquisition is the biggest barrier. The Thiruvanthapuram airport needs at least 20 acres more for the project but local residents and politicians are opposed to land acquisition.

The situation in Kozhikode is slightly different. Two years ago, the authorities decided to carry out extensive work to strengthen the runway, so that it would be safe for wide-bodied aircraft. But the authorities warned that this would lead to partial shut down of the airport for 15 months.

 A year on, the runway-strengthening work is almost over. “Still, the airport is not  receiving wide-bodied aircraft,” points out EM Najeeb, President of the Confederation of Kerala Tourism Industry. “Now they are saying that the runway needs to be extended before allowing big aircraft to land,” he adds.

 CAPA also calls for both Bengaluru and Hyderabad to start planning for second airports as the existing ones are likely to reach saturation in the next 10 years.

“Both need to plan for second airports especially identifying land for the second airports,” says Kaul.

G V Sanjay Reddy, Managing Director, Bangalore International Airport Limited earlier said that BIAL, which operates the Kempegowda International Airport Bengaluru (KIAB), is building a second runway and another terminal (T2).

“This is expected to be completed in phases to handle 20 million additional passengers by 2021.  The second terminal (T2) is likely to handle 35 million passengers a year. The T1 and T2 combined could potentially handle 55 million passengers.”

A senior official of the Karnataka Infrastructure Development Department told BusinessLine that air connectivity in the state still remains a dream. Currently airports are functional in Mangaluru, Mysuru, Huballi and Belagavi.

In addition, the State government has identified five tier II cities — Kalaburagi, Ballari, Vijaypura, Hassan and Shivamogga. But even here work has been delayed due to a variety of reasons.

When it comes to Telangana, apart from the privatisation of Hyderabad airport, nothing much has moved. The State was seeking one more airport at Shamirpet, but this is not tenable because it’s too close to the Hyderabad airport.

The K Chandrasekhar Rao government had written to the Centre seeking its nod and support for setting up airports at Adilabad, Warangal, Kothagudem, Nizamabad and Shamirpet. Again, there’s been little progress.

The only ray of hope seems to be Andhra Pradesh, which has taken several measures to develop new airports, including announcing a new civil aviation policy. The State is looking to develop new airports in its Tier II cities/towns.

Earlier this year, the Centre gave its nod for a greenfield airport at Bhogapuram, about 40 km from Visakhapatnam along with two no-frills airports at Nellore and Kurnool.

Of these, the Bhagapuram airport is set to take off. The land acquisition process is underway and steps have been initiated to achieve financial closure for the airport by the end of the year, supported by a loan from Hudco.

Apart from expanding the existing airport at Gannavaram near Vijayawada, close to the new capital city of Amaravati, the Airports Authority of India has also upgraded the Tirupati airport runway and terminal and has added night landing facilities. It has also commissioned a new small airport at Kadapa.

(With inputs from KPM Basheer, Anil Urs and V Rishi Kumar)