Jetrader - July/August 2008 - 19

Michael Platt, CIO of US-based Aircastle Advisors, LLC, noted how three years ago India had fewer daily departures in the entire country than the Kennedy Airport in New York. “Now the middle class is growing at a very rapid pace in India, and more people have disposable income, permitting tens of thousands of people to ﬂy,” Platt said. It’s only a matter of time, he said, before even more airports are built and existing airports expanded. The Unfriendly Skies However promising India’s expansion plans appear, these advances confront turbulence in regard to both passenger discontent with airport facilities and threats of strike by the Airport Authority Employees (AAE) Union. The AAE Union voiced discontent with a variety of issues ranging from pension implementation to closure of Bangalore and Hyderabad airports. Since privatization of Mumbai International Airport Ltd (MIAL) under GVR Infrastructure Ltd. and Delhi International Airport Ltd (DIAL) under GMR Infrastructure Ltd., renovations of parking structures, queue minimization and lounge upgrade remain forthcoming as the two-year anniversary of the venture approaches. Still, optimistic airline representatives expect the infrastructure at the new airﬁelds to be capable of handling current aviation trafﬁc. “Availability of runway and terminal capacity, parking bays, taxiways, night-landing facilities and other requisite equipment must be adequately present in both metro and important Tier II and III airports to provide for more convenient scheduling and connectivity,” reports Air Deccan. Control (ATC) tower. The most recent opening was expected during the last week of May. Head of Corporate Communications for BIAL, Anjana Kher Murray explained, “BIAL will offer more parking bays than HAL airport, including 42 Code C aircraft stands, eight aerobridges for boarding (one of which can serve as two aerobridges), plus nine remote bus gates.” “As the airport is completed and night parking stands are made available, we will plan to park the aircraft in Bangalore,” said Air India Corporate Communications. Serving Bangalore as one of its central stations, the airline plans to initially park six aircraft at BIAL and add more as its large Airbus order arrives. Air India/Indian Airlines Corporate Communications highly anticipate BIAL as a new airport capable of housing its new state-of-the-art ﬂeet. SH&E UK and Lufthansa Consulting (LHC) predict an optimistic passenger ﬂow of roughly 18,193,819 in 2020 and 23,444,066 in 2025 with corresponding peak hour movements of 30 and 35 aircraft per hour. “Air India expects that the modernization plans for the airports will keep pace with additional ﬂeet induction of the airlines,” reports the company’s corporate communications department. With new airports coming up in nearly all the big metros, including its hub in Bangalore, Air Deccan similarly expects the infrastructure in these cities to be capable of handling current aviation trafﬁc. “However, further infrastructure growth is crucial to support the Indian aviation’s buoyant growth pace,” the company adds. Streamlined? “In terms of check-in, boarding and baggage procedures, BIAL provides for quicker, more efﬁcient access,” Murray said. “Each of the 54 check-in counters is owned by BIAL, rather than the airlines,” she explained. This means that whenever a certain airline needs more counters, they will be available and constantly changing in relation to the times of ﬂights offered by respective airlines. Nevertheless, while the arrival procedure may be more efﬁcient, the difﬁculty of accessibility and distance from the city center still poses valid complaints. The 3,900 acre span of BIAL lies 37 kilometers away from Bangalore and 4km south of Devanhalli. A mid-March commute encountered a crowded highway and dirt roads even in absence of airport trafﬁc. Questioned on the transportation issue, Air India/Indian Airlines conﬁdently responded that the expansion of the highway to three lanes and implementation of high-tech buses and a better taxi system would pacify any potential problems within a short period of BIAL’s debut. Jetrader 19 The Master Plan While Indian airﬁelds continue to struggle to accommodate the currently growing ﬂeets, arrival of several Dreamliner and superjumbo aircraft demand not only larger runway taxi square footage and increased available terminals but also corresponding improvement to the main air piece to account for subsequent passenger ﬂow. India’s newest airports, Hyderabad International Airport Ltd (HIAL) and Bangalore International Airport Ltd (BIAL), focus on a self-titled “Master Plan” centering on handling large-capacity passenger and cargo aircraft while managing future trafﬁc capacities of 50 million passengers per year. Bangalore’s previous Hindustan Airport Ltd (HAL) serves only 11 million. While HIAL began operations March 23 with Lufthansa ﬂight 752, BIAL’s commencement date continues to be pushed back due to problems encountered during construction of the Air Trafﬁc

Jetrader - July/August 2008

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