The greenfield airports in Bangalore and Hyderabad are aiming to use the model of the SEZ-aerotropolis, which is a popular model to generate non-aeronautical revenues. But this can’t work without proper connectivity to city centre.
The Indian government too has invoked the model of SEZ-aerotropolis and has provided the greenfield airports in Bangalore and Hyderabad with large parcels of land for real estate development.
Says a Ernst & Young report ‘The Tough Will Get Going: New Paradigms For success in Indian Aviation’: “Besides non-aeronautical revenues, AAI and other Indian airport operators also need to improve airport connectivity, as it is central to the development of an airport as a destination.”
Both private airports, which have come up in Hyderabad and Bangalore, have been built about 40 km from the city centres, with limited and constrained connectivity and have neither any existing intermodal connectivity nor do they have any plans to achieve it in the future, laments the report.
Such short-sightedness on the part of airport developers will hamper the growth and development of airports as potential shopping destinations and recreation centres, added the report.
Such supplementary incomes provide the airport operator with a cushion to offset costs and funds for future growth and modernisation and in due course make it self-sustaining.
Meanwhile, the upsurge in the demand for air transport has necessitated the improvement and development of airport infrastructure in the country.
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Over the past few years, the aviation industry has been witnessing a shift in consumer pattern, with the Asia-Pacific region outpacing the traditional leaders, North America and Europe.
Europe still continues to be the single largest region in terms of passenger revenues, though the Asia-Pacific region is expected to take a premier position by the end of 2009.