BRIEF ABOUT AIRPORTS AUTHORITY OF INDIA

Airports Authority of India (AAI) is a leader in building airport infrastructure along the length and breadth of the country including remote and far flung areas. AAI came into being on 1.4.1995. AAI manages 115 airports including 23 Civil Enclaves. In addition, AAI also provides CNS-ATM facilities at 11 other airports. About 2.8 million nautical square mile area of the national airspace covering the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea has been assigned to AAI for provision of Air Traffic Services.

India witnessed unprecedented growth in Air traffic during the period 2003-04 to 2007-08 of over 20% and keeping in view, the long gestation period in developing Airport Infrastructure, recent dip in traffic and an opportunity to match the demand and capacity, Airports Authority of India has undertaken massive plans to upgrade infrastructure at its airports across the country. In terms of Capital Expenditure Outlay, AAI has increased it from Rs. 3534 crores in the Xth Five Year Plan to Rs. 12,964 crores in the XIth Plan. The annual expenditure of Rs. 2742 crore during 2009-10 is estimated to go up to Rs. 3600 crore in 2010-11.

Development at four major airports i.e. Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore & Hyderabad has been undertaken under a Special Purpose Vehicle, i.e. Delhi & Mumbai airports through a Joint Venture route and Bangalore & Hyderabad Airports as Greenfield airports, involving a planned expenditure of more than Rs. 30,000 crores by various Joint venture partners of respective Airport consortium.

Modernisation of Kolkatta and Chennai airports has also been undertaken by AAI at an estimated cost of Rs. 4340 crore (Rs. 2325 crore for Kolkata & Rs. 2015 crore for Chennai). These projects are likely to be completed by the year 2011.

Development of another 58 airports in the country has been taken up by AAI, which includes 35 Non-metro Airports and 23 Airports in three-tier cities. Out of these 58 Airports, work has been completed at 27 Airports, i.e. Ahmedabad, Amritsar, Aurangabad, Agartala, Agra, Dehradun, Jaipur, Mangalore, Nagpur, PortBlair, Trichy, Udaipur, Vizag, Dibrugarh, Srinagar, Kullu, Hubli, Belgaum, Cuddapah, Shillong(Barapani), Cooch-Behar, Mysore, Akola, Gondia, Surat, Calicut and Pant Nagar. These terminals have modern state-of-the-art passenger facilities besides comfortable lounges, user friendly amenities and good ambience.

Work is in progress at Chandigarh, Lucknow, Khajuraho, Ranchi, Bhubaneswar, Raipur, Bhopal, Goa, Indore and Rajamundry Airports. Construction of New Terminal Building is also planned at Leh, Port Blair, Vadodra, Jammu, Jaisalmer, Coimbatore, Pondicherry and Tirupati airports.

In the area of CNS-ATM, considering the current trends and growth forecast and to meet the future challenges in an efficient manner AAI has taken up and drawn the Master Plan for implementation of FANS (Future Air Navigation System). This includes shift from Voice Communication to Digital Data Communication, from Ground Based Navigation to Satellite Based Navigation ( i.e. , GAGAN – Indian SBAS), Modern Radar coverage with ADS-B, Multilateration etc. The implementation of the CNS-ATM Master Plan will put India amongst the elite group of countries having an efficient ATM System supported by a strong and robust CNS Infrastructure consisting of Digital Data Unit, Integrated ATM automation network, SWIM (System Wide Information Management) Separation Management System.

The Master Plan is to be implemented in three phases, Short Term – over a period of 2-3 years and works are already in progress; under Medium-Term the activities are planned to be completed upto the year 2012-15 and under Long –Term objectives are to be achieved through emerging new technology based on the Research & Development in the Industry as an ongoing process.

The motto is to provide a Safe, Efficient, Cost Effective and Environment friendly ATM services applying Gate to Gate approach and to achieve a “ Collaborative and Co-ordinated Global Approach” to ensure harmonization and adoptions of the technological solutions that would be cost effective and uniform ultimately to be part of the future global ATM System.

On the Human Resource Development front, AAI has skilled manpower in the areas of Engineers, Architects, Communication, Air Traffic Controllers, MBA’s etc. To impart training on continuous basis AAI has dedicated Training Institution in the area of CNS-ATM (i.e. CATC Allahabad), General Management (NIAMAR) and Fire Services (FSTC Delhi & Kolkata). ICAO is the apex body of UN so far as Civil Aviation is concerned and both CATC-Allahabad and NIAMAR- Delhi are equipped with the ICAO’s STP development units under TRAINAIR, and have successfully contributed to the Global pool of STPs in the areas of Airport Operations, Airport Engineering, Terminal Management etc.

AAI has also established a National Flying Training Institute in collaboration with CAE, Canada as a Joint Venture with the objective of setting up a world class institute in the country to provide qualified and well trained pilots. The institute is named after the Late Prime Minister of India as Rajiv Gandhi National Flying Training Institute (RGNFTI). The institute became operational in September, 2008.

Overall, AAI is a Mini-Ratna PSU aspiring to attain the Nav Ratna status soon.