Indian Airlines interest breathes life in Nagpur multimodal hub project

Reports that the Nagpur airport is being considered as a possible hub for domestic cargo operations by Indian Airlines and that private sector Air Sahara too has shown keen interest in using it as a passenger hub have breathed fresh hope into dreams of the airport eventually being developed as a multi-modal international passenger and cargo hub (MIHAN).

Mohan Agrawal, president of Vidarbha Industries Association (VIA), said that the airport already offers custom clearance facilities and its upgradation should now not be much of a bother.

"I don't see any reason why it should be delayed any further. When Indian Airlines and Air Sahara can see logic in expanding operations and considering Nagpur as a hub, why shouldn't MIHAN be a reality soon," he said.

Agrawal said that once MIHAN becomes a reality it will spawn unprecedented economic activity in the region.

"We will have jumbo aircraft coming here, the airport will be upgraded, tourist attractions around Nagpur will be more aggressively promoted. Nagpur has also been proposed as the Tiger capital of the country. Imagine the way tours and travel operators, the hospitality sector, transport...all will grow and add to the region's economy," he said.

Agrawal said the special economic zone (SEZ) proposed at Butibori near here, will also then be accorded priority by the Centre.

Maharashtra Airport Development Corporation (MADC), which is executing the MIHAN project, is already in talks with Indian Airlines (IA) regarding the infrastructure it would need for starting the cargo operations from here. R C Sinha, managing director and vice-chairman of MADC, said that he is in regular touch with IA regarding the facilities desired at Nagpur.

"They will need a lot of storage space and other infrastructure. MADC has to make preparations for that," he said.

According to Sinha, IA's cargo operations would be restricted to courier services which the airline would run by itself or through a joint venture.

It plans to use five or six Boeing aircraft, which its subsidiary Alliance Air will be phasing out by the year-end, exclusively for carrying cargo.

The aircraft would originate from the four metro cities, unload their cargo at Nagpur, take in new cargo and return back to their respective cities. The consolidated cargo from the four cities would be sorted out and despatched to their destination from Nagpur.

Later on, flights from more cities will be started.

The plan is on the lines of the Night Air Mail Service (NAMS) which was in existence in the 1960s and '70s. The service connected the metro cities with Nagpur as the hub.

Depending on the success of its domestic cargo hub, IA could extend the concept to passenger operations too. In fact, private sector Air Sahara is toying with the idea after a presentation made to it by MADC, Sinha said.

"I met Sahara group chief Subroto Roy in Lucknow a few days back and listed the advantages of Nagpur as a passenger hub," he said.

At present, all cities in the country are not interconnected. For example, if someone wants to travel from Patna to Bangalore, he has first to go either to Delhi or Kolkata.

However, with Nagpur as the hub, the passenger comes to Nagpur and boards the Bangalore flight. This flight also gets passengers coming from other cities such as Bhubaneshwar, Ranchi, Bhopal, Raipur, Kanpur and Guwahati. This way, the passengers benefit and the airlines too get sufficient passenger load," he said.

Sinha said Roy liked the idea and said he would be considering it. MADC is willing to set up all facilities that Air Sahara would want to start the hub operations, he said.

The concept of having hub operations is followed throughout the world. Connecting flights, at hub centres, need not necessarily be of the primary airline which first brings a passenger to the hub.

Other small operators (such as Air Deccan) take over from larger fleet operators and reach the passenger to the destination point. Air Deccan is also contemplating introducing more flights in the country and Nagpur is on Air Deccan chief G R Gopinath's radar screen.