Rs 68.97 crore expansion mooted for Vadodara Airport

E&Y AVIATION MASTER PLAN

Passenger traffic at the Vadodara airport is expected to grow by five per cent per year in the coming years.

The aviation master plan for Gujarat compiled by E&Y predicts the growth in the number of passengers at Vadodara to be next to that of Rajkot airport.

According to the report, the Vadodara airport needed an investment of Rs 68.97 crore for various development works.

At an investment of Rs 20 crore, an aircraft maintenance hangar, along with the existing proposed annex building, would be set up and the hangar project might be viable as a standalone project.

An investment of Rs 25 crore has also been suggested for the development of a passenger terminal building, while Rs 17.50 crore is required for the development of airfield pavements. The report has suggested the Gujarat Industrial Development Board to initiate talks with various airlines operators for new flights to be commenced from Vadodara airport.

"Actions like bringing in operators for inter-state/intra-state scheduled flights using smaller aircraft is needed," the report said.

At present Air Deccan operates one flight to Mumbai from Vadodara and one flight back from Mumbai, Jet Airways operates a flight to Mumbai and Delhi from Vadodara airport and Air Sahara has recently commenced its services to Mumbai and Delhi, besides similar services of Indian Airlines.

The master plan has projected passenger traffic at Vadodara to reach around 5,39,000 in 2015 from 3,61,302 in 2003.

It has suggested an aircraft maintenance hub at an estimated cost of Rs 70 crore. According to an estimation, about Rs 18 crore and Rs 25 crore are required to construct airfield pavements and passenger terminal building, respectively. E&Y has estimated an investment of about Rs 20 crore to create a maintenance hanger with annex building.

A proposal to the Airport Authority India has also been mooted to enhance the capacity at the Vadodara airport and commission a maintenance hub, bring in operators for inter-state/ intra state scheduled flights using smaller aircraft considering the destinations of passengers embarking at state airports.

The report says less than 15 per cent passengers fly to seven connected cities such as Chennai, Bangalore, Goa and Hyderabad.

According E&Y, about 56 per cent and 14 per cent of the total passenger traffic from Vadodara airport is destined to Mumbai and Delhi, respectively.

At the same time, about 39 per cent and 13 per cent of the passengers disembarking at the Vadodara airport are originated from Mumbai and Delhi, respectively.

The plan also suggests to create an aircraft maintenance hub for smaller scheduled operators flying intra-state routes to be completed by the end of 2006.