Need for Improvement in Airside Infrastructure

Speaking at the International Aviation Summit in New Delhi, Alexandre de Juniac, Director General and CEO of International Air Transport Association (IATA), called on the Indian government to address on priority, infrastructure constraints that limit growth as also government policies that impose excessive costs on aviation. IATA is an airline industry body representing some 290 airlines comprising 82 per cent of global air traffic. The International Aviation Summit in New Delhi was held to commemorates the approaching milestone of 50-straight months of double-digit domestic aviation growth in India. Indian aviation already supports about 75 lakh jobs and contributes about 3000 crore or 1.5 per cent of GDP. By 2037, India’s air passenger traffic is expected to treble.

While praising the upgrades in terminal infrastructure, De Juniac said that infrastructure must not be the choke point to fulfilling the needs of passengers. He called for immediate improvement in four priority areas namely the development of a comprehensive and strategic master plan for India’s airports, removing all obstacles to successfully commissioning of the new airport at Navi Mumbai as soon as possible, modernise airport processes using technology in line with global standards and flexibly in the use of military airspace to expand airspace capacity for civil operations. For the new Greenfield airports, De Juniac cautioned the government not to blindly chase high concession fees, highlighting bitter experience in Brazil, Australia and other countries.