23 airports to get 380 parking bays

The increasing number of flights and congestion at busy airports has compelled the Airport Authority of India to plan for 380 additional parking bays at 23 airports in the country.

NEW DELHI:  The increasing number of flights and congestion at busy airports has compelled the Airport Authority of India to plan for 380 additional parking bays at 23 airports in the country. Most of these parking bays will come up within the next two-three years. While Kolkata airport will get 46 parking bays — the largest number — Ahmedabad will get 40, which will come up latest by December 2020. Similarly, Jaipur will have 32 additional parking bays and Lucknow will have 38. 

These parking bays are also being planned at airports in Delhi (39), Bengaluru (36), Chennai (7), Amritsar (10), Trichy (13), Patna (6), Ranchi (6), Hyderabad (22), Kochi (11) and at few more places. The aviation sector has witnessed continuous growth, barring turbulence in the last few months. According to the International Air Transport Association (IATA), with more people preferring air travel, India is one of the fastest growing domestic aviation markets in the world for five years.

However, the growth turned negative in April mainly due to flight cancellations and subsequent grounding of Jet Airways. The negative growth in the Indian market is temporary, said IATA. At present, nearly 600 aircraft are in operation in the country and 900 more are scheduled to be inducted in the next few years. Officials said the additional parking bays have been planned to keep in mind the rising number of flight operations due to growth in air passengers.

Many airports in the country are running out of parking spaces resulting in a lack of flying slots. Many operators trying to expand their fleet sizes have to struggle for parking spaces and flying slots. A senior official said the aviation market has seen significant growth in the last few years from nearly 380 aircraft in 2008 to 600 aircraft now.

Considering this, the Airports Authority of India (AAI) has embarked upon a Capital Expenditure (CAPEX) plan of Rs 25,000 crore for next five years for development and modernization of terminal buildings of AAI airports.