Chennai may miss out on aviation boom

16-Apr-2008

“If airport doesn’t enhance capacity, airlines will choose Bangalore and Hyderabad”

CHENNAI: Chennai is tumbling down the pecking order of airports in the south.Given the continuing congestion and infrastructure woes at the Chennai airport, coupled with the setting up of new airports with world-class facilities in Hyderabad and Bangalore, the city risks missing out on the aviation boom in the south.

In the last 10 months, passenger traffic grew by 28 per cent in Bangalore compared to 20 per cent in Chennai. Bangalore handled 84 lakh passengers during this period. The brand new facility at Devanahalli is equipped to handle more than 1 crore passengers a year. Chennai, however, is already close to operating at the full capacity of 89 lakh passengers, airport officials say.“If Chennai doesn’t enhance its capacity, airlines will naturally choose Bangalore and Hyderabad,” M. Thiagarajan, managing director of Paramount Airways, which has a 26 per cent market share in the south, told The Hindu.

After legal wrangles that delayed the airport expansion and modernisation project by almost three years, work on expanding and improving the airport’s infrastructure is set to start on April 24. But, it may take at least another three years before the parallel runway is fully operational to allow a significant growth in handling capacity.

“The modernisation has come a bit too late,” says D. Sudhakara Reddy, president, Air Passengers Association of India. “Until we are ready to handle extra loads and new airlines start coming in, they will prefer flying to other airports. Chennai has so far been the gateway to the south, but unless there is a rapid modernisation, it will lose its primacy.”

Hyderabad has the added advantage of offering cheaper aviation turbine fuel (ATF) to air carriers. The Andhra Pradesh government has reduced the cess on ATF to four per cent, as compared to 30 per cent in Tamil Nadu.

Mr. Thiagarajan said Paramount was looking at substantially adding to its flights in Bangalore and Hyderabad in the next few months to make the most of the new infrastructure. However, the airports had to quickly sort out their teething troubles such as the high user development charges and connectivity issues.

Capt. G.R. Gopinath, executive chairman of Deccan airlines, told The Hindu that if Chennai was to keep pace with the growth in the south, mere expansion of the airport was not enough: the city also needed to quickly complete its greenfield airport project at Sriperumbudur to substantially enhance the handling capacity. “With the growth we are experiencing, cities undoubtedly require multiple airports,” he said. “Chennai must learn from the mistakes [made in Bangalore and Hyderabad] and not create a monopoly.”

He urged the airport authorities to provide adequate connectivity. “We expect the greenfield airport to come up in four or five years in Chennai, and unlike what happened in Bangalore, we should make sure both the metro rail project and the airport are built concurrently.”

http://www.hindu.com/2008/04/16/stories/2008041660320700.htm