The Covid-19 pandemic has created a highly unprecedented situation, compelling the world to adapt to a “new normal”. The Airports Authority of India (AAI) has been at the forefront in the fight against the pandemic. At a recent conference organised by Indian Infrastructure, Anuj Aggarwal, chairman, AAI, elaborated on the initiatives taken by the authority amidst the pandemic, as well as its capacity building plans going forward…
During the crisis, AAI has significantly contributed to the Lifeline UDAN Initiative of the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA). More than 940 tonnes of essential medical supplies and food supplies were handled by AAI between March and May 2020.
Responding to the nationwide lockdown starting March 23, 2020 AAI carried out various charitable measures such as food relief drives, distribution of sanitisers, hand gloves, masks, shoes and full PPE kits to Covid warriors across the country. AAI also donated Rs 15O million from its CSR Fund, while AAI employees raised Rs 200 million as their contribution to the PM CARES Fund.
After the resumption of flight operations, AAI personnel have worked hard to quickly adapt to this new normal and have come up with innovative solutions to make airports compatible with the new social distancing norms. With round-the-clock sanitising and other precautions taken at all Indian airports, air travel bolstered its position of being the safest means of travel during the pandemic. Various AAI airports leveraged technologies such as sensor-based luggage disinfection systems and auto hand sanitisers.
With undeterred efforts, AAI has been successful in gaining the trust of passengers in air travel again. Domestic flight operations have been increased in a calibrated manner, as per directives from MoCA. At present, the capacity of domestic flight operations has been increased to 80 per cent. Despite the halt in construction activity during the lockdown, most airport projects in Tier II and Tier III cities are progressing at a fast pace and are expected to be commissioned within their respective deadlines. The first-ever water aerodromes were inaugurated by the government on October 31, 2020 at Kevadia and Sabarmati riverfront in Gujarat for operationalisation of seaplane services. Water aerodromes are also expected to be operationalised within a year in the Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Lakshadweep, Andhra Pradesh and Assam.
In order to strengthen the security system and enhance passenger convenience, new in-line baggage screening systems were introduced at Srinagar, Chennai, Goa, Kolkata, Ahmedabad (domestic), Lucknow, Varanasi, Jaipur, Trivandrum and Calicut airports.
The development of cargo infrastructure at airports is among AAI’s key focus areas. Cargo operations have almost reached normalcy. New domestic cargo operations have been commissioned at the Surat, Bhopal and Dehradun airports, while cold storage facilities have been operationalised at the Chennai and Varanasi airports. New cargo facilities are coming up at Amritsar, Madurai, Bagdogra, Chennai, Varanasi, Udaipur and Jaipur, among other airports.
There has been a major thrust by the government towards public-private participation in the airport sector. In the first round, Adani Enterprises won bids for all the six airports on offer. Three airports (Mangaluru, Lucknow and Ahmedabad) have already been handed over while the remaining three (Jaipur, Guwahati and Trivandrum) will be handed over within the next six months. In addition to these, six airports (Raipur, Amritsar, Trichy, Indore, Varanasi and Bhubaneswar) have been identified for the next round, for which consultations are being held with various stakeholders. Further, AAI is considering bundling smaller airports with these six airports to improve regional infrastructure.
Future plans
Despite the ravages of the pandemic, the authority expects to meet its capex targets for 2020-21. Over Rs 1 trillion is planned to be spent on airport infrastructure in the next five years, of which AAI plans to spend Rs 250 billion. AAI will spend over Rs 60 billion in 2021-22 on runway expansion and strengthening, new terminal construction, etc. Under the UDAN regional connectivity scheme, 25-30 airports have been added in the past two years. Over 50 more are planned to be added in the next two to three years. AAI is also planning to offer various concessions to maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) service providers in order to incentivise them to open up and operate facilities at airports. Moreover, in order to mitigate the current shortage of pilots, AAI is working on operationalising flying training facilities at six airports to begin with.