How many airports can a city afford to have?

Planning can make the difference; Western examples may not work

The public sector Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. (HAL) and public opinion in Bangalore have suggested the retention of the existing HAL airport for the city, even after the new greenfield airport becomes operational on April 2, 2008 at Devanahalli. The distance from the core city seems to be the main criterion for voicing this demand. Such a move obviously has major consequences and may violate the terms of agreement reached with the consortium developing the new airport ̵ 2; the Bangalore International Airport Ltd (BIAL).

At the heart of this debate lies the central issue — how many airports can a city have? Aviation officials and infrastructure consultants offer diverse views. “It is not such a simple or straight forward answer that we can give. It depends on the city, the traffic potential, and the distance between the two airports if there are two of them,” reasons a senior official at the Airports Authority of India (AAI).

Passengers and airline officials certainly prefer an airport that is located closer to the city centre, and in the case of Bangalore, the HAL airport takes the cake — it may be just 9 km from the core city, while the new airport may be over 35 km away. Aside from the cost of transportation, what weighs of these two constituents is obviously the time taken. For a passenger flying from Chennai to Bangalore, takes a maximum of 45 minutes by a turboprop aircraft. But it may take much more time to reach the city from the new airport.

Infrastructure consultants say that it may not suffice to point to western examples to suggest that London or New York has two or more airports to handle the traffic. These decisions are taken on the basis of traffic and aircraft movement, not just on distance. “The most convenient differentiation relates to domestic and international airports, when a city goes for more than one. But the basic requirement is that the two must be well connected by a public or even a dedicated transport system that provides immediate connections to passengers coming from one flight and going to catch another in a different airport,” explains R. Menon, a consultant with an airport developer.

At a time when Bangalore and Hyderabad are in the process of getting their new greenfield airports ready, Chennai has sought not just a major expansion of the existing airport at Meenambakkam, but another new airport near Sriperambudur, about 40 km from the city centre and at least 25 km from the old airport. Whether it is viable to develop two airport projects simultaneously remains to be seen.

Traffic projections

Those involved in the development of new airports now have no doubts. They insist that the terms of agreement read very clear — the existing airport will be closed down when the new one becomes functional. Civil Aviation Ministry sources say that in the case of Delhi and Mumbai, a major redevelopment project is under way.

The Maharashtra Government even proposes another airport at Navi Mumbai. “All these are based on traffic projections over the next 5-10 years. Our earlier projection was about reaching 100 million passengers in our airports by 2010. Given the current rate of growth, which is averaging 25 to 30 per cent every year, we may achieve it even earlier. So, there is no doubt on the need to speed up expansion and redevelopment of airports around the country,” he says.

Bangalore debate

On the Bangalore debate, he says that without the concurrence of the BIAL, there can no be change in the plans. One option that needs to be considered, even a little later, may be to designate the existing HAL airport as the low cost airlines’ terminal. In addition to HAL’s activities, a maintenance and repairs establishment will also come up there.

Of course, HAL will lose about Rs. 150 crore that it now earns from user charges from airlines and other levies. The low cost airlines may also feel the pinch of the additional travel cost to their passengers if all operations get shifted to Devanahalli. The HAL airport just cannot handle the growth in Bangalore’s air traffic.

According to AAI sources, Mumbai handles nearly one-third of the passenger traffic in the country, followed by Delhi at a close second. Among the southern airports, Chennai tops, followed by Bangalore and Hyderabad. Bangalore’s growth has been constrained because of the airport’s limitations.

The Authority manages over 125 airports in the country. The Planning Commission has estimated that about Rs. 40,000 crore may be required to upgrade, expand and modernise the airports to deal with the projected growth in traffic.