That India’s aviation minister is keen on creating hub airports in the country is no secret. And while such plans have been floating around for some time, the government has now started working on them. The aviation ministry feels that projected growth for Indian airlines and the huge market waiting to be tapped gives enough potential for the country to operate hub airports.
Hiring a consultant
India’s Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia is going ahead with his plans to convert major airports in India into hubs, starting with Delhi (DEL). The ministry has begun assessing the possibilities, engaging in talks with stakeholders, and is also looking to hire a consultant, with a report expected in the second half of the year.
Operations at major global airports like London (LHR), Singapore (SIN), and Dubai (DXB) will be considered to get an idea of what can be applied to India to create something similar. Airlines and their fleet, domestic and international connectivity are some other aspects that will be looked into as well. Mint quotes Scindia as saying,
“We are working with stakeholders to look at how we can prepare Delhi airport to become a hub. A consultant will be hired to look at international comparables to see how we can go about doing that, so that is a work in progress.
“We need a concentration of airlines, domestic to international connectivity with that airline, and minimum connect time between those airlines. We need to ensure that the vicissitudes and the volatility in terms of arrival and departures between flights are flattened out.”
Tapping the potential
Scindia is also pinning his hope on the aggressive growth plans of carriers such as Air India and IndiGo to shoulder the task of making Indian airports major hubs with extensive connectivity.
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He is also upbeat about the bounce back in Indian aviation, with daily air passenger numbers hovering between 370,000 and 440,000. He noted that India currently is in a situation “where we have our planes full, and we don’t have enough planes.”
Indeed, despite a bloom in air travel in India, airlines have managed to capture only a fraction of India’s population. It’s true that many Indians can still only dream of flying, but with the growing middle class, airlines can look forward to welcoming millions of more passengers in the coming years.
Private ownership
Meanwhile, India’s airports are increasingly being handed over to private owners to manage operations, so much so that the Airports Authority of India (AAI) is now looking for other roles as it relinquishes ownership of many airports.
Major airports like Delhi and Mumbai are managed privately, but several others have seen a change of ownership in recent times. In fact, the Indian government is keen on leasing 25 AAI-owned airports to private players in the next few years.
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The AAI is now looking to work under private owners to deploy its workforce for roles they have carried out for several years. Hopefully, such collaboration will result in more efficiently run airports in the country.
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Source: Mint, The Economic Times