Indian airports on the brink of saturation

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erIndian airports on the brink of saturation: A second wave of airport development is the need of the hour

Overview The Indian civil aviation market is one of the fastest-growing in the world

and is poised to become third-largest by 2020. During 2015, while global

passenger traffic grew at 6%, the number for India was strong 17%. Total

passenger traffic at Indian airports — domestic 168.8 million, international

54.7 million — grew 17.6% during FY2016 vis-s-vis FY2015. As is evident,

domestic traffic, which grew at 21.2%, drove this surge.

During FY2016, sufficient capacity and competent airfares — primarily on

account of lower prices of aviation turbine fuel — translated in high

demand. Large traffic volumes coupled with high degree of Passenger Load

Factors (PLF) — average PLF of

82.9% for all Indian carriers

during FY2016 — helped many

Indian carriers to make profits; In

fact, a few of them saw their

balance sheets in the green after

several years of losses. However,

large volume of traffic has

strained the airports, cargo handling, ground handling, and fixed based

operator operators. India quickly needs to nip this issue in the bud to ensure

the momentum of growth is sustained. At the same time, it will be crucial to develop required

aviation infrastructure is to cater to projected traffic in the years to come.

Aircraft induction and passenger traffic trend The passenger traffic growth achieved in the past few years can be attributed to the introduction of

low-frill airlines — Air Deccan, Go Air, Indigo, and Spice Jet — to the Indian skies 2003 onwards. Figure 1: Trend of scheduled aircraft in India

In the initial years of their operations,

these carriers offered low fares while

they continued to induct aircraft and

pump up their capacities, in a bid to

establish themselves and grab increasing

market shares. In contrast, incumbent

full-service carries of the time — Air

India, Jet Airways, Air Sahara —

dominated the market and usually

offered high fares.

Low fares coupled with well-performing Indian economy fuelled the passenger traffic growth. It

translated into unprecedented traffic volumes at Indian airports. Due to this surge in passenger and

cargo traffic, the need to upgrade and develop airport infrastructure across the country became

imperative. The Government of India privatised the airport sector under the Public Private

About the Author:

Satyendra Kumar is an Aviation expert with rich experience of Economic Regulation of Airports, Operational improvements of airport systems, Airport Strategic Planning to name a few. Satyendra has over seven years of professional experience in Aviation, Travel and Transportation. Satyendra holds an MBA (Aviation Management) and a Bachelor degree in Engineering (Electronics and Communications Engineering). Satyendra can be reached at: Satyendra.kumar@aol.com, Mobile: 9873005832

“Indian airport sector is in a need

of another wave of development

to cater to the demand driven on

account of thriving traffic,

increasing aspiration to travel by

air and expanding middle class”

Indian airports on the brink of saturation

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0 20 40 60

Bengaluru

Chennai

Delhi

Hyderabad

Kolkata

Mumbai

Passenger traffic in million Capacity in MPPA

Partnership (PPP) model in 2005 and subsequently, greenfield airports at Bengaluru and Hyderabad

and upgrade/development of brownfield airports at Delhi and Mumbai were assigned to selected

PPP players under the BOOT. The Delhi and Mumbai airports were developed by consortiums led by

GMR and GVK group respectively. The Bengaluru and Hyderabad airports were developed by

consortiums led by Siemens and GMR group.

Figure 2: Passenger traffic at Indian airports

The Government of India also decided to

upgrade 35 non-metro airports, along

with air traffic services, through the

Airports Authority of India. These

measures resulted in the creation of

state-of-the-art airport infrastructure over

2005–15, which in turn facilitated sector

growth as well as enhanced passenger

experience at the airports.

Adoption of latest technologies such as

Airport collaborative Decision Making

Systems, CUTE, and CUSS made the processes faster and efficient. Installation of ILS category III at

many airport runways, supplemented by better air space management, also resulted in achieving

higher amount of aircraft movement during a peak hour. Due to immense efforts put in to develop/

upgrade airport and supporting infrastructure and the adoption of best practices to improve

procedures of passenger processing, India could sustain a growth of 11.8% during FY2006–16.

Current passenger handling capacity In FY2016, Indian airports handled 224 million passenger with an airport capacity of nearly 250

million passenger per annum.

Figure 3: Passenger handling Capacity in India

Many Indian airports have reached their

threshold point. The current situation is

not very different from 2005 when Indian

airports handled 73 million passengers

per annum with an airport capacity of

nearly 48 million per annum and most

terminals were overcrowded and one

could stand in queues for a long time to

get through the check in/ security clearance.

Figure 4: Capacity and demand at metro airports in India

Metro airports collectively handled 67%

of total passenger traffic in FY2016. Most

of these airports have reached their

saturation level. During peak hours,

airport terminals at Bengaluru, Delhi,

Hyderabad and Mumbai are so congested

that long queues at airline check-in and

security hold areas are a given. Although,

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Other Metro airport

Indian airports on the brink of saturation

thanks to better airside and air space management, these airports have been successful in efficiently

turn around aircraft , air space congestions at many of them could be a near reality. The efforts put

in to develop airport infrastructure during the last decade helped India to amicably handle the

situation, but as airport infrastructure cannot be developed in a short period of time, a second wave

of airport development is the need of the hour. In addition to congestion at the terminals, many

airports are going to face congestion on their curb side as well as city side.

Way forward India has come a long way in airport development and the lessons and experiences of the last

decade’s development can be used to proactively avoid the impending capacity crunch and

overcrowding of airport terminals. Those airports that have reached their threshold and or about to

get saturated should be expanded using a modular approach. At a few airports, better use of space

within the terminal and adoption of best practices to process passengers faster could be a short-

term solution to overcome the current situation. Furthermore, development of second airports in

Delhi and Mumbai should be put on a fast track. Likewise, capacity expansion at Bengaluru and

Hyderabad airport should be expedite. Also, the low-cost airport development model can be

adopted at regional levels to enhance air connectivity.