Indian Airports

Indian airport operators are projected to report 26 per cent rise in revenues at USD 3.9 billion in the next financial year, aviation consultancy CAPA India said on Wednesday. For 2023-24, air passenger traffic, including domestic and international, is expected to be 395 million, it said while presenting the outlook for the airports. Out of the total, domestic air passengers will rise to 320 million from 275 million this fiscal. During this period, the international air passenger count will increase to 75 million from 58 million. "India is forecast to see domestic airport pax rise to 700 million passengers, and international airport pax to 160 million passengers by FY2030," CAPA India said. It said Indian airports' revenue of USD 3.9 billion (Rs 32,390 crore) in the next fiscal will be 26 per cent higher than anticipated in 2022-23. The outlook was presented at the CAPA India aviation summit here. Stefano Barconi, Director General of ACI Asia Pacific, said airports' health was ..

India overall lacks aviation capability, he said

"Our business case is based on the premise of growth. It is in our interest and everyone else to see growth in domestic and international traffic," he said

Adani Airports chief Arun Bansal on Wednesday said the cost of operating airports has to come down by 30-50 per cent in the coming years as he highlighted the growth potential of the Indian aviation market. Currently, the company is operating seven airports and is building another one. Bullish on the Indian market, Bansal said it would like to operate more airports and eventually become a leading airport operator in the world. Adani Airports is investing in physical and digital segments, and is committed to building the capacity, he added. Indian aviation had been taken for granted for the last 20-30 years and the cost of operating airports should come down by 30-50 per cent in the coming years, he noted. Adani Airports is bullish on the country's aviation market and wants to "do more airports", Bansal said, adding that under the first phase, Navi Mumbai airport will start operations by December 2024. The passenger handling capacity will be 20 million in the first phase of Navi M

In the last round of airport privatisation by the government, Adani Airports won bids to operate six airports

The world's fastest-growing aviation market aims to boost the number of airports to 220 by 2025 from the current 148, for which private builders will invest about $9 billion

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday said the aviation sector is bringing people closer and boosting national progress with more airports and better connectivity. The prime minister shared a tweet by Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia about domestic air traffic touching a new post-COVID high of nearly 4.45 lakh on February 19. "More airports and better connectivity...the aviation sector is bringing people closer and boosting national progress," Modi said in a tweet. Prior to COVID, the average daily domestic air passenger number was 3,98,579. In a tweet on Monday, Scindia said domestic air passenger movement scales a new high post-COVID. As many as 4,44,845 passengers were flown by domestic airlines on Sunday. "Yet another milestone! Indian civil continues to soar!," Scindia had said. Currently, there are 147 operational airports in the country. The prime minister is scheduled to inaugurate the newly-constructed airport at Shivamogga in Karnataka on February 27. Th

The Civil Aviation Ministry has drawn up plans to boost air connectivity by taking the total number of airports operating in the country to over 200 over the next five-six years under its vision of increasing the 'width and depth of air penetration,' Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia said here on Saturday. Scindia, here on a brief visit, said in its 67 years of independence the country saw only 74 new airports being built while in the last 8.5 years it has been increased to 147 under the Prime Minister Narendra Modi rule. "We are just one short of doubling that number. The 148th airport will be also completed this month itself which means that what India took 66-67 years to build and under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi that has been done in a period of nine years." he told reporters. Scindia said the Ministry has envisaged to take the number of airports operating in the country to over 200 in the next five to six years. "Another 50 additional airports, waterdromes and

The government on Wednesday said 50 additional airports, heliports, water aerodromes and advance landing grounds will be revived for improving regional air connectivity in the country. The announcement was made by finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman while presenting the Union Budget for 2023-24. Over the past few years, the government has been taking various initiatives, especially the UDAN (Ude Desh ka Aam Naagrik) scheme, to boost the regional air connectivity. "Fifty additional airports, heliports, water aerodromes and advance landing grounds will be revived for improving regional air connectivity," Sitharaman said in her Budget speech. Besides, she said that 100 critical transport infrastructure projects, for last and first mile connectivity for ports, coal, steel, fertiliser, and food grains sectors have been identified. "They will be taken up on priority with investment of Rs 75,000 crore, including Rs 15,000 crore from private sources," she added. UDAN flights have transp

Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Tuesday approved a proposal for creation of 50 posts of fire service personnel in different ranks for four airports under the Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS) UDAN scheme. These airports are Jharsuguda, Utkela, Rourkela and Jeypore. Of the 50 posts, 9 each will be deployed at Utkela and Jeypore and 16 each at Jharsuguda and Rourkela, an official said. Recently three fire stations have been made functional at three premier medical colleges of state, namely Cuttack, Berhampur and Burla. Besides, two more fire stations have been made functional at Tihidi in Bhadrak and Baruan in Jajpur districts. These stations were running by rationalisation of personnel at different other fire stations. Recently, 16 fire service personnel have been deployed at Rourkela Airport in December 2022.

Sardar Vallabhbhai International Airport (SVPI) at Ahmedabad has planned a slew of development and expansion projects to cater to future passenger traffic demand, the private airport said on Tuesday. The facility, owned by Adani Group, currently has the terminal capacity of 8-million passengers annually, while it is expected to handle 20-million passengers per annum by 2025-26 thereby necessitating the expansion work, which include a new integrated terminal building and refurbishment of existing terminals, it said. According to the company, while the majority of the capex projects are related to development of airside and terminal capacity matching with projected exponential passenger growth, it is also pertinent to understand that the existing terminal infrastructure is not fully sufficient to handle the current and extraordinary growing demand. In the current financial year, the passenger movement at the SVPI is expected to be around 12-million, the company said. In addition t

Customs sleuths at the Mangaluru International Airport (MIA) have seized a total of 3,677 grams of smuggled gold worth Rs 2,01,69,800 between Jan 1 and 18 this year

DGCA said operations are normal at all airports in India, and "there does not seem to be a cause for concern" amid air traffic in the US getting affected due to a technical failure in the system

Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant will hold a meeting with stakeholders to review the functioning of the newly inaugurated Manohar International Airport (MIA), state Minister Rohan Khaunte said on Sunday. The first flight landed at MIA on Thursday, after which the airport commenced domestic operations. It's been three days since the airport started functioning. There are bound to be some teething problems. We are gathering all the information about these problems and will meet chief minister on Tuesday, Khaunte told reporters in Mapusa town. State Transport Minister Mauvin Godinho will also be present for the meeting, which will also be attended by the stakeholders of the new facility, he said. When asked about a viral photograph showing taxis charging passengers whopping fares at the airport, Khaunte said he has taken a note of the photo showing a taxi charging Rs 4,000 for journey between the airport and Benaulim. We have asked for the details about the bill. We must also find ou

The financial performance of BIAL is registering strong growth as passenger volumes in recent months have gone back to pre-Covid levels

The roll-out of 5G in India, which was kicked-off in October 2022, is happening at a much faster scale in India compared to 4G or 3G and millions of people will soon have an agile and faster streaming

The recent 'Guidelines for International Arrivals' were followed accordingly, and 110 international passengers were tested randomly on day 1 at the Delhi IGI, Genestrings Diagnostic Centre said

The government of India has accorded an 'In-principle approval' for the setting up of 21 Greenfield Airports across the country

Acquisition of land in their villages, for setting up a greenfield airport at Parandur, would lead to 'destruction' of agriculture and eliminate the region's 'self-reliant' economy, farmers opposing the project in their backyard said in a representation to the Tamil Nadu government. The project area covers 'bird migration routes' and it is closer to INS Rajali Naval Air Station and hence not suitable for airport, they said. The flow of water of a natural water channel, that carries surplus flood waters to Kosasthalai river, would be prevented leading to inundation of 30 surrounding villages and 'incalculable farm and economic losses' considering flooding. The project would lead to complete displacement of people in five villages, including the ancient Ekanapuram village. "We will be left with grief and pain," as there will be no suitable livelihood opportunities elsewhere, they said. Listing out several such factors against setting up the airport in their neighbourhood, farmers of

Delay causes some to miss connecting flights; DIAL sources said zero cancellations or diversions from airport on Tuesday