More is no longer merrier at our airports

MUMBAI: Long queues and delays at airports are par for the course for air travellers in the country and frequent fliers have learnt to factor these into their flying times these days. Problems have been compounded due to the secondary checks and tightened security at the airports.

However, the latest Airport Authority of India (AAI) data highlights the issue with information that metro airports are literally bursting at their seams with operations up to 30% higher than their rated capacities.

Airport capacities are defined in terms of `rated’ capacities, a measure that takes into account the runway and terminal capacity, keeping in mind the type of aircraft and weather conditions at a particular airport. By this measure, four of the six largest airports are operating way beyond their rated capacities.

The situation is worst at Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore and Hyderabad, where domestic operations are far in excess of the saturation points. The situation is getting bad for the international terminals which are also likely to be saturated soon.

The rush at the airports is directly proportional to the increase in passenger traffic. ``Traffic has been growing at a phenomenal pace and growth during May ’06 was an unprecedented 41% over the same month last year,’’ says DP Singh, general manager, AAI. The AAI has revised its traffic growth projections for 2006-7 to 35 to 40% over last year.

At Mumbai’s Chatrapati Shivaji domestic airport at Santa Cruz for instance, the rated capacity of the airport built in the seventies is 10 million passengers, whereas it handled 11% more passengers than the capacity in 2005-6.

For Delhi, the rated capacity is 8.4 million but the airport handled 10.5 million people. The situation is worse at airports in cities like Hyderabad where the capacity is saturated for both domestic and international operations. Air traffic growth in the city was among the fastest growing in the country last year, with a 45% growth in traffic.

Aviation sources say India needs to quickly increase capacity and improve air traffic control at the country’s two major airports Delhi and Mumbai to ensure safety and sustain the country’s air travel boom.

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) director general Giovanni Bisignani said earlier this year that the association expects air travel in India to expand about 15% annually over the next four years, but that growth could falter if the country’s airport infrastructure doesn’t catch up. “There is an emergency situation. I really believe the government has to act very quickly, within the next one year,” Bisignani said.

The two major airports handle 63% of India’s air traffic, and flights are often forced to circle in the air while waiting for a landing slot. Airline sources say about one-third of all planes must wait at least 15 to 20 minutes after landing until getting approval to head to the terminal.