Infrastructure Library

Civil Aviation and Airports

Civil Aviation is the fastest growing arm of India’s transport infrastructure and it plays an increasingly important role in providing connectivity.   The projections for both passenger and cargo traffic growth, coupled with the deficient and lagging airport and allied infrastructure, calls for an urgent need to build and augment India’s Aviation Infrastructure.

Cumulatively, the five international airports handled 359,143 tonnes of export cargo during April - December 2006, which was 1.3% lower than the corresponding period of the previous year. Further, 281,432 tonnes import cargo was handled at these airports during this period registering a growth of 19.6% .The growth rate failed to match that of 13.1% during April-December 2005. International terminals handled 137.10 lakh passengers at these airports, which was 11.8% more than 122.61 lakh passengers handled during the corresponding period of the previous year. The domestic terminals handled 294.20 lakh passengers during this period, which recorded a growth of 37.0% over 214.73 lakh passengers handled during April - December 2005. The growth rate has significantly improved in comparison to 21.9% during April-December 2005.

The Eleventh Plan growth targets for this sector include, modernization and redevelopment of 4 metro and 35 non-metro airports; construction of 7 Greenfield airports; Constructing 3 airports in North East and Upgrading CNS/ATM facilities. The estimated investments in this sector are projected at Rs. 40,821 crore at 2006-07 price level (or US$ 9.96 billion) during the Eleventh Plan. This comprises Rs. 17,102 crore to be invested in four Metro airports; Rs. 6,090 crore in 35 specific non-Metro airports; Rs. 12,439 crore in Greenfield airports (including Bangalore and Hyderabad); Rs. 610 crore in airports in the North-East; and Rs. 4,580 crore in upgrading CNS-ATM and other equipment.