Hospitals, convention centres in airports soon?
India may soon boast of having hospitals and convention centres on airport land, enabling people quick access to these places to and from airports.
By Saurabh Sinha, TNN |
NEW DELHI: India may soon boast of having hospitals and convention centres on airport land, enabling people quick access to these places to and from airports. The aviation ministry has asked the government to enlarge the scope of commercial activities on airport land by relaxing land use norms that are currently restricted to passenger-related things like hotels, restaurants, cargo and money exchange facilities.
Apart from easy access, the move is aimed at making airports commercially viable, especially in smaller cities where the state-owned Airports Authority of India (AAI)-run facilities perpetually lose money. At present, land use is decided by the AAI Act and is limited mainly to flier-related activities.
"The idea is to maximise revenue from land use and it's essentially aimed at smaller cities where AAI would then be able to cross-subsidise its aeronautical operations. At present, many airports in smaller cities are not making money, but are important from connectivity point of view. We want them to become commercially viable," aviation minister Praful Patel said.
The relaxed land use being sought would allow commercial activities like corporate hospitals, convention centres, leisure activities and aviation-related offices for airlines and freighters. The ministry expects this to be a win-win move as greater commercial activities would generate more traffic for airport and also the resources required to keep currently loss-making airports viable.
Since allowing this would mean either amending the existing AAI Act's land use clause or enlarging its interpretation, the ministry wrote to PMO for resolving this legal issue. The PMO has now decided that the Pranab Mukherjee-led group of ministers on aviation, that's also handling the issue of national carrier Air India's survival, will take a call on this as well. Highly placed sources said the law ministry has now been taken on board this GoM for the purpose.
Apart from easy access, the move is aimed at making airports commercially viable, especially in smaller cities where the state-owned Airports Authority of India (AAI)-run facilities perpetually lose money. At present, land use is decided by the AAI Act and is limited mainly to flier-related activities.
"The idea is to maximise revenue from land use and it's essentially aimed at smaller cities where AAI would then be able to cross-subsidise its aeronautical operations. At present, many airports in smaller cities are not making money, but are important from connectivity point of view. We want them to become commercially viable," aviation minister Praful Patel said.
The relaxed land use being sought would allow commercial activities like corporate hospitals, convention centres, leisure activities and aviation-related offices for airlines and freighters. The ministry expects this to be a win-win move as greater commercial activities would generate more traffic for airport and also the resources required to keep currently loss-making airports viable.
Since allowing this would mean either amending the existing AAI Act's land use clause or enlarging its interpretation, the ministry wrote to PMO for resolving this legal issue. The PMO has now decided that the Pranab Mukherjee-led group of ministers on aviation, that's also handling the issue of national carrier Air India's survival, will take a call on this as well. Highly placed sources said the law ministry has now been taken on board this GoM for the purpose.
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