PM pitches for $120-bn investment in aviation

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Sunday said the government is working towards a regulatory and policy framework, which will be attractive enough to absorb investments worth $120 billion (Rs 5.59 lakh crore) in the aviation sector by 2020.

Singh was speaking at the inauguration of the new airport terminal building - T3 - in Delhi, which has catapulted India among the global big boys with a capacity to handle over 34 million passengers annually.

"Our regulatory and policy framework also needs to be aligned with the needs of the civil aviation industry to encourage serious investment in the sector. We are working to achieve these goals," said Singh at the Delhi airport. He said Indian aviation has the potential to absorb investments of up to $120 billion by 2020.

Elaborating on how the inauguration of the new terminal would rewrite the history of Indian airports, Singh said Delhi airport has improved its ranks sharply in terms of service quality to 21 in 2010 from 101 in 2007.

"After the opening of this new terminal, we are hopeful that the Delhi airport will soon rank within the first 10 airports of the world."

It is estimated that domestic traffic could reach 160-180 million and international traffic in excess of 50 million by 2020. Currently, the total passenger traffic in the country is around 44 million per annum.

Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel said the Airports Authority of India would complete work on upgrading 35 non-metro airports by the next year. The inauguration of the new terminal building at the Ahmedabad airport is on July 5, 2010.

Patel stressed the need of a second airport in Mumbai, as the existing one is on the verge of reaching saturation.

"Mumbai, our financial capital, needs to have a second airport fast as the existing one is coming to a point of saturation. Equal amount of support is required on the (aviation) infrastructure front," he announced in front of the prime minister.

T3, built at a cost of Rs 12,700 crore (Rs 127 billion) in a record 37 months, has four boarding piers with 48 boarding gates and 78 aerobridges, which is the highest for a terminal of its size.

Three aerobridges would cater exclusively to the Airbus 380 aircraft. It is ranked eighth in terms of space, across the world, and is bigger than such well known facilities as Singapore's Changi terminal 3. It will also handle more passengers per annum than Changi, which handles 22 million passengers annually.

T3 also has many firsts to its credit. It would have 89 travelators, eight of which would be inclined - a first-of-its-kind in India. The 118-metre travelator would be the longest in Asia. The terminal would also have 63 elevators and 31 escalators. The airport is being built by DIAL, a consortium led by Bangalore-headquartered GMR Group, comprising Airports Authority of India, Malaysian Airport and Frankfurt Airport.

The terminal has an eight-storied main building housing 168 check-in areas and 95 immigration counters. The other floors would have a 100-room hotel, lounge exclusively for industrialists, airline offices, floor for baggage handling and two arrival-departure floors. It would also boast of an advanced five-level secure in-line baggage handling system with latest security systems by Siemens.

The terminal would commence commercial operations from July 14. The first aircraft to land will be of Air India from New York. The shift to T3 will be in a phased manner and all international passenger operations will shift from Terminal 2 on July 14.

Air India (domestic), Kingfisher and Jet Airways and their low-cost subsidiaries will shift to the terminal on July 30 and 31. Budget carriers IndiGo, SpiceJet, GoAir and Paramount Airways will operate from Terminal 1D (Departure) and Terminal 1C (Arrival).