An Overview
The government owned Airports Authority of India (AAI) operates 125 airports and civil enclaves out of a total of 449 airports and airstrips located throughout India. The cities of Bengaluru, Delhi, Hyderabad, Kochi and Mumbai are served by privately (or joint-venture) operated airports. All operational airports handled a total of 143.3 million passengers (105.5 m domestic and 37.9 m international) in the year ended March 2011. Passenger throughput has increased by almost 16 % in the first half of 2011-12 to 78.4 m. The total number of aircraft movements amounted to 1.31 million and freight handled exceeded 2 million tons in 2010-11.
Delhi Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) - © Timir Mozumder
Privatization and Airport Modernisation
The airports at Delhi and Mumbai handled 29.9 million (11.85 m in Apr-Jul '11) and 29.1 m (10.24 m in Apr-Jul '11)passengers respectively in 2010-11 (Apr-Mar). The modernisation costs for the two airports has been estimated at Rs 89 bn (phase I) for Delhi and Rs 76 bn for Mumbai. A greenfield airport located in Navi Mumbai is being planned for Mumbai as the scope to expand the current airport at Santa Cruz is limited in the long run due to its location amidst dense urban habitation and lack of available land for expansion requirements.
Delhi Airport Terminal 3 - Flight Information Displays
The Airports Authority of India (AAI) signed an initial 30-year OMDA (Operation, Management and Development Agreement) with GMR-Fraport AG and GVK-ACSA (Airports Company of South Africa) led consortiums for the development and expansion of the airports at Delhi and Mumbai. The Mott MacDonald Group was appointed as the technical advisor for the Delhi airport modernisation project. HOK International was appointed to design the airport. The 480,000 m² integrated terminal 3 with 48 incontact (six of which are designed to accomodate Airbus A380 aircraft) and 30 remote stands at Delhi has a capacity to handle upto 34 million passengers per annum. Terminal 3 was inaugurated in July '10. A third ILS Cat. IIIb runway (11R/29L and 4,430 m long) is operational. A low-cost carrier (July onwards) domestic terminal (1D) located in the old domestic area of the airport is used by SpiceJet, IndiGo and GoAir. A highspeed metro rail link connects the airport with New Delhi station. The domestic 1D and integrated T3 terminals will be connected by metro rail in 2016. Delhi airport handledr 818 aircraft movements per day in Sep '11.
Mumbai's Sahar airport is being modernised and expanded to cater to the growing number of passengers. An integrated terminal with a total floor area of approx. 400,000 m², 52 aerobridges and a capacity to handle 40 m passengers annually is currently under construction. The international and domestic sections of the terminal are expected to be operational by Aug '13 and Aug '14 respectively. The opening of the new domestic terminal (1C) located between the existing 1A and 1B domestic terminals increased the number of in-contact gates on the domestic side 11. The 1C terminal has six aerobridges and a floor area of approx. 27,500 m² and is connected to terminals 1A and 1B through escalators and walkways. The airport handled 684 commercial and military/general aviation landings and takeoffs a day in Sep '11.
Kolkata NSCB International Airport (VECC/CCU) - Takeoff and Initial Climb - Runway 19R - © Timir Mozumder
Navi Mumbai International Airport, a new greenfield airport to be located at Navi Mumbai is projected by CIDCO (City and Industrial Development Corporation of Maharashtra) to be opened by late 2014.
Kolkata, Ranchi, Tiruchirapalli, Bhopal, Jaisalmer, Indore, Raipur, Amritsar, Varanasi, Chandigarh, Lucknow, Khajuraho, Jaipur, Aurangabad, Udaipur, Mysore, Dehra Dun, Ahmedabad, Mysore, Dibrugarh, Surat, Srinagar, Leh, Madurai, Port Blair, Goa, Vadodara, Jammu, Coimbatore, Nagpur and Thiruvananthapuram are some of the airports where passenger terminals are in use or under construct. A new 35,000 m² international terminal has replaced the old terminal at Kozhikode's Karipur airport. The terminal features inline x-ray machines for the first time in India. Visakhapatnam's airport now includes a new integrated passenger terminal with an annual handling capacity of 3 m passengers and a total floor area of ca 20,000 m². Vizag's airport like Goa's Dabolim, is controlled by the Indian Navy. A new Rs 1.5 bn integrated passenger terminal at Mangalore's Bajpe airport was completed in 2010. A new 17,500 m² terminal is under construction at Madurai airport which like many other small and medium-sized airports (passenger volume wise) across India has witnessed significant growth rates during the past couple of years. A new greenfield airport at Pekyong in the north-eastern state of Sikkim, the only Indian state currently without air connections, is under construction. The airfield will be capable of handling upto ATR turboprop sized aircraft.These are examples of a plan by AAI to modernise and expand 35 non-metro and various other airports at an estimated total cost of Rs 124 bn (including Kolkata and Chennai airports) during the next five years. Other planned greenfield airports include Bikaner and Ajmer, both in Rajasthan.
¹ ACI Annual Traffic Statistics - 2006
Kolkata and Chennai Airport Upgradation
Kolkata airport is being modernised at an approx. cost of Rs 25 bn. An integral part of the modernisation plan is a new 180,000 m² integrated passenger terminal with a capacity to handle 20 million passengers a year (Kolkata's present terminals were designed to handle 5 m passengers a year). The new terminal is expected to be ready by the end of '12. The terminal is designed by RJMM. The airport's air traffic control and surveillance systems will also be modernised and the secondary runway will be extended to 3 239 m. Chennai's airport modernisation is underway with an investment of approx. Rs 18 bn including a new domestic terminal (67,700 m²) and international terminal (59,300 m²) with a total capacity to handle 23 m (7 m international and 16 m domestic) passengers annually. Total terminal floor space will add upto almost 190,000 m² once the expansion is completed. A new cargo terminal that will feature an automated storage and retrieval system (ASRS) is also under construction. A proposed new greenfield airport located at Sriperumbudur is also under study in Chennai.
Private Airports
Bengaluru International Airport
The Bengaluru International Airport (BIAL), located approx. 40 kms north of Bengaluru city at Devanahalli off the NH 7 highway began commercial operations on May 24th '08. Construction of the estimated Rs 25 bn airport, spread over an area of over 3,800 acres, began in 2005. Equity shareholders in the airport include Siemen Project Ventures GmbH (40% stake), Unique Zurich Airport (17%), Larsen & Toubro (17%), Airports Authority of India (13 %) and the Govt. of Karnataka through KSIIDC (13 %). The rectangular shaped modern integrated terminal has a total floor space of 71,000 m² making it one India's largest passenger air terminal buildings. The apron can hold upto 42 aircraft at a time, including nine in-contact stands. Although the airport has a capacity to handle 11.4 million passengers a year, expansion of passenger facilities could follow very soon oncer the airport begins operations. Bengaluru's HAL airport handled 9.94 million passengers in 2009-10.
A fleet of modern buses provide transport on several routes covering all the major points in the city. The buses are operated by BMTC (Bengaluru Metropolitan Transport Corporation). Dedicated airport taxis also serve passengers. A high-speed 34 km long rail corridor linking B R V Grounds (off MG Road in central Bengaluru) with the airport has been proposed but will only be operational earliest 2012 or so, that is if the the project gets rolling and actual implementation proceeds without too much delay. An Oberoi Trident hotel located neart the passenger terminal will be ready by the end of the year.
Hyderabad International Airport
The Rajiv Gandhi International Airport covering a total area of 5,495 acres at Shamshabad near Hyderabad began commercial operations on March 23 '08. The cost of the first phase is estimated at Rs 23 billion. HIAL's stakeholders include the GMR Group, Malaysia Airports Holdings Berhad, AAI (Airports Authority of India) and the Govt. of Andhra Pradesh. The airport's initial passenger handling capacity is 12 million, which is roughly double the the number of passengers handled (6.78 m in 2007) at the old Begumpet Airport. The integrated terminal covers an area of 105,000 m² (roughly the size of Mumbai airport's terminals 2A and 2C combined). The apron includes 42 airplane stands of which 12 are in-contact (aerobridge). The runway is currently South Asia's longest at 4,260 meters. As with the soon to be opened new Bengaluru airport, airport access to the new airport at Hyderabad, located around 25 km's from central Hyderabad, could pose as a serious transit bottleneck as proper road access to the airport is still under construction. A dedicated fleet of 30 buses provides transport from four pick-up points in the city. The bus service is provided by Raj Airport Express. Public taxis arel also be available. An elevated expressway aligned along NH 7 is under construction and when completed should ease access to the airport. An 308 room Accor Novotel hotel is coming up next to the airport. Air-India and Lufthansa Technik are building MRO (Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul) facilities at the airport.
News Videos on HIAL:
>> IBNLive: Hyderabad's new airport gets ready for takeoff
>> IBNLive: Hyderabad gets new airport but no roads to get there
Cochin International Airport
Cochin International Airport (CIAL) is currently India's sole privately run airport.The airport handled around 112 aircraft movements per daily and 1.59 m passengers during the four month period from April to July 2011. The total floor area of the terminals is ca 54,000 m². A new 93,000 m² international terminal is planned to be commissioned in 2014.
Above pics: Cochin International Airport (CIAL) as seen shortly after take off. A 3,400 m long parallel taxiway, not seen in the image, is now operational. CIAL handles the fourth most international air passengers (1.77 m in 2007-08) among all the Indian airports. The domestic terminal, although compact, is clean and well organized (nice shopping arcade) handled an average of 112 daily arrivals and departures in December 2010. CIAL handled a total of 3.34 million passengers in the same year making it India's seventh busiest airport. 25 airlines serve the airport. A maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) facility and aviation training academy are being planned for the future. A perishable goods cargo center was inaugurated in Feb '09.
| Major Airports of India Data (under construction) | |
|---|---|
| Mumbai - Chhatrapati Shivaji International | |
| IATA/ICAO Code: | BOM/VABB |
| Elevation: | 11 m |
| Runways (intersecting): | Heading 27-09 asphalt 3 489 x 45 m (11 446 ft) ILS CAT-I Heading 14/32, 2 925 x 45 m (9 596 ft), ILS CAT I, asphalt |
| Terminals: | Terminal 1A, 1B, 1C, T2 sections B and C (A demolished), new terminal under construction |
| Aircraft stands: | 90 |
| Aerobridges (Intl/Dom): | 11/11 |
| Operators (Type of aircraft): | Air Arabia (320), Air France (B777), Air India/Air India Express (A310, B747, B737, B777, B767), Air Mauritius (767), ANA (B737), British AW (B747/B777), Cathay Pacific (777), EgyptAir (A330), El Al (767), Emirates (A330), Ethiopian (757), Etihad (A340), Gulf Air (B767, A320), Indian (A320), IndiGo (A320), Iran Air (747SP), Jazeera AW (A320), Jet AW (A330, B777, B737, ATR), Kenya AW (B767), Kingfisher (A320), Korean (A330), Kuwait (A300), Lufthansa (B744), Malaysia (B777), Northwest (A330), Oman Air (B737), Pakistan Int'l (B747), Qatar (A320), Royal Jordanian (A320), Saudi Arabian (B747), Singapore (B777), South African (A340), SriLankan (A320), Swiss (A330), Thai (A330), Turkish (A310), Yemenia (A330) |
| Direct Routes (International): | Abu Dhabi, Addis Ababa, Amman, Amsterdam, Bahrain, Bangkok, Brussels, Cairo, Colombo, Damman, Darwin, Detroit, Doha, Dubai, Frankfurt, Hong Kong, Istanbul, Jeddah, Johannesburg, Karachi, Kuala Lumpur, Kuwait, London, Los Angeles, Madinah, Mauritius, Muscat, Nairobi, Newark, New York City, Paris, Riyadh, Sana'a, Seoul, Sharjah, Singapore, Sydney, Taipei, Tehran, Tel Aviv, Tokyo and Zurich |
| Direct Routes (Domestic): | UC |
 A bird's eyeview of the domestic terminal complex at Mumbai's Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport. from a height of 930 m. Image © 2010 Digital Globe and © 2010 Google |
|
| Delhi - Indira Gandhi International | |
| IATA/ICAO Code: | DEL/VIDP |
| Elevation: | 237 m |
| Runways (parallel): | 10/28, 3 810 x 46 m (12 500 ft), Rwy 28 ILS CAT-IIIB, Rwy 10 ILS CAT-I, asphalt 09/27, 2 813 x 46 m (9 229 ft), Rwy 27 ILS CAT-I, asphalt 11/29, 4 430 x 60 m, ILS CAT-IIIB, asphalt |
| Terminals: | Terminal 1D, T2 (inoperative): 71 000 m², 3 (Dom and Int'l): 480,000 m² Terminal 3: All airlines excl. Spicejet, Indigo and Go Air Terminal 1D: Spicejet, Indigo, Go Air |
| Aircraft stands: | 69 (excl. T3 stands) |
| Aerobridges (Intl/Dom): | T2: 9, T3: 48 contact stands/78 aerobridges |
| Operators (Type of aircraft): | Aeroflot(IL9), AeroSvit, Air Astana (B757), Air China (B767), Air France (B747), Air India (B747, B777, A310, A320, CRJ), Air India Express (B737), Air Mauritius, JetLite (CRJ,B737), American, Ariana, Asiana (B777), Austrian (B767), British AW (B747/B777), Cathay Pacific (A330), China AL, China Eastern, China Southern, Continental (B777), Druk Air (A319), Emirates (B777), Etihad, Ethiopian (B767), Finnair (A330), GMG (MD82), Gulf Air (A320, B767), IndiGo (A320), JAL, Jazeera AW, Jet AW (B777, B737, ATR, A330), Kam Air, Kingfisher (A320,A321, ATR), KLM (B777), Kuwait AW (A300), Lufthansa (A330, B744), Mahan Air (A320), Malaysia (A330), Oman Air, Pakistan Intl (B737, B747), Qatar AW(A330), Royal Jordanian (A310), Royal Nepal (B757), Saudi Arabian, Singapore (B777), SpiceJet (B737), SriLankan (A320), Swiss, Tajikistan, Thai AW, Turkish, Turkmenistan (B737), Uzbekistan, Virgin Atlantic (A340) |
| Direct Routes (International): | Abu Dhabi, Addis Ababa, Almaty, Amman, Amsterdam, Ashgabat, Bahrain, Bandar Abbas, Bangkok, Beijing, Bishkek, Brussels, Chicago, Colombo, Damascus, Damman, Dhaka, Doha, Dubai, Dushanbe, Frankfurt, Guangzhou, Helsinki, Hong Kong, Istanbul, Jeddah, Kabul, Karachi, Kathmandu, Kiev, Kuala Lumpur, Kuwait, Lahore, London, Madinah, Mauritius, Milan, Munich, Muscat, Moscow, Newark, New York, Paro, Paris, Riyadh, Seoul, Shanghai, Singapore, Taipei, Tashkent, Tehran, Tokyo, Vienna and Zurich |
| Direct Routes (Domestic): | |
 A full bird's eyeview of Delhi IGIA airport from a height of 7.3 km. The international terminal is located near the bottom left corner and the domestic terminal 1D on the rightside sandwiched between the two parallel runways (9/27 is the upper runway while 10/28 is the lower one). New rapid taxiways have been constructed to facilitate speedier ground movement of aircraft. A new integrated terminal 3 was opened in 2010. Image © 2010 GeoEye and © 2010 Google | |
| Chennai | |
| IATA/ICAO Code: | MAA/VOMM |
| Elevation: | 16 m |
| Runways (intersecting): | 07/25, 3 658 x 45 m (12 001 ft) (ILS available on runway 07), asphalt 12/30, 2 032 x 45 m (6 666 ft), concrete/asphalt/macadam |
| Terminals: | International: 22 000 m², Domestic |
| Aircraft stands: | 37 |
| Aerobridges (Intl/Dom): | 5/3 |
| Operators (Type of aircraft): | Air Mauritius, British AW (B777), Emirates, Gulf Air (B767), Kuwait, Lufthansa (B744), Malaysia, Oman Air, Qatar AW, Saudi Arabian, Singapore, SriLankan, Thai AW, Tiger AW |
| Direct Routes (International): | Bahrain, Bangkok, Colombo, Damman, Doha, Dubai, Frankfurt, Jeddah, Kuala Lumpur, Kuwait, London, Mauritius, Muscat, New York, Riyadh and Singapore |
| Direct Routes (Domestic): | |
 A full bird's eyeview of the terminals and the approx. 900 m wide apron area of Chennai airport as would be seen from a height of 830 m. The international Anna terminal is located to the left of the Kamaraj domestic terminal. Image © 2010 GeoEye and © 2010 Google | |
| Bengaluru - HAL | |
| IATA/ICAO Code: | |
| Elevation: | 888 m (2 914 ft) |
| Runway: | 09/27, 3 306 x 61 m, ILS |
| Terminals: | - |
| Aircraft stands: | 13 |
| Aerobridges (Intl/Dom): | 2 |
| Operators (Type of aircraft): | no commercial operations |
| Direct Routes (International): | no commercial operations |
| Direct Routes (Domestic): | |
 A bird's eyeview of the Bangalore International Airport located at Devanahalli to the north of the city from a height of 5.4 km. Commercial airline traffic ended on May 23rh 2008 at the old Hindustan Airport with the opening of the new Bengaluru International airport. Image © 2010 Digital Eye, © 2010 Digital Globe and © 2010 Google | |
| Kolkata - Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose International | |
| Short Video Clips - Copyright Timir Mozumder
| |
 A bird's eyeview of the Kolkata NSCB airport. A daylight departure on runway 19L would give a better view of Bidhan Nagar and even central Kolkata if the destination of the flight happens to be to the west or north of Kolkata as the aircraft changes. Great vistas await the air traveller on a flight to eg Yangon, Port Blair or Bangkok once the awesome Sundarbans (abode of the Royal Bengal Tiger) river delta area comes into view some minutes after take-off. Image © 2006 Digital Globel and © 2005 Google | |
 An air traveller arriving at NSCB can enjoy the extremely lush and verdant landscape as view the densely populated low-rise residential suburban municipalities incl. Barasat, Madhyamgram and New Barrackpur along the flight path as the aircraft makes a final approach toward runway 19L. The busy Jessore Road hugs the boundary of the airport. © 2005 Google | |
| IATA/ICAO Code: | CCU/VECC |
| Elevation: | 5 m |
| Runways (parallel): | 01R/19L, 3 627 x 46 m (11 899 ft), 19L-ILS Cat II, asphalt 01L/19R, 2 839 m (further extension to 3 240 m is underway) x 46 m (9 350 ft), asphalt. ILS Cat I has been proposed on the secondary runway. |
| Terminals: | International - 30 000 m² Domestic - 23 000 m² |
| Aircraft stands: | 24 |
| Aerobridges (Intl/Dom): | 1/3 |
| Int'l Operators (Type of aircraft): | Bangladesh Biman (F28), China Eastern, Druk Air (A320), Emirates (A330), GMG Airlines (MD82), Lufthansa (A330), Singapore Airlines (B777), Thai (A300/330) |
| Domestic Operators (Type of aircraft): | Air India/Indian, Jet Airways, JetLite, Kingfisher, Paramount, SpiceJet, Indigo |
| Direct Routes (International): | Dhaka, Dubai, Chittagong, Paro, Kathmandu, Kuming, Yangon, Bangkok, Singapore, Dubai, Muscat, London, Frankfurt, Bahrain |
| Direct Routes (Domestic): | |
 A bird's eyeview of the Kolkata NSCB airport terminal complex from a height of 375 m. The bottom lower one is the domestic terminal, opened in 1995. NSCB airport is nowadays a lot busier than it was a couple of decades ago (known as Dum Dum airport at the time) when it handled less than half of its current traffic (170-180 movements/day). Twenty or so aircraft can be seen parked on the apron prior to peak hour departure periods. Domestic carriers must also use the international apron as bays are limited on the domestic apron. © 2005 Google | |
| Hyderabad - Rajiv Gandhi International Airport | |
| Elevation: | |
| IATA/ICAO Code: | HYD/VOHS |
| Runway: | 09/27, 4,260 x 60 m, ILS Cat I |
| Terminals: | Rajiv Gandhi Int'l: 105,000 m² |
| Aircraft stands: | 42 |
| Aerobridges (Intl/Dom): | 12 |
| Operators (Type of aircraft): | Emirates, Kuwait, Lufthansa (A340), Malaysia, Oman Air, Qatar AW, Saudi Arabian, Silk Air, SriLankan, Thai AW |
| Direct Routes (International): | Bangkok, Colombo, Doha, Dubai, Frankfurt, Jeddah, Kuala Lumpur, Kuwait, Muscat, Riyadh, Singapore |
| Direct Routes (Domestic): | |
| Hyderabad - Begumpet (closed for commercial operations) | |
| Elevation: | 531 m |
| IATA/ICAO Code: | -/VOHY |
| Runway: | 09/27, 3103 x 45 m (10180 ft), asphalt |
| Terminals: | Rajiv Gandhi Int'l: 16 000 m², NTR domestic: 11 500 m² |
| Aircraft stands: | 9 |
| Aerobridges (Intl/Dom): | 2/2 |
 A bird's eyeview of the Rajiv Gandhi Internation Airport at Shamshabad to the south of Hyderabad. © 2010 GeoEye © 2010 DigitalGlobe © 2010 Google  A bird's eyeview of the terminal (previously Rajiv Gandhi international and NTR domestic) area of Hyderabad (Begumpet) airport which is now closed for commercial operations © Timir Mozumder. | |
| India's 25 Busiest Airports (Apr 2010 - Mar 2011) - Update underway! | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Airport | IATA Code | Passengers (in millions) |
Aircraft Movements | Aircraft Movements/day | Cargo in tons ('000) | |
| 1. Delhi | DEL | 29.94 | 600 | |||
| 2. Mumbai | BOM | 29.07 | 670 | |||
| 3. Chennai | MAA | 12.05 | 389 | |||
| 4. Bengaluru | BLR | 11.59 | 223 | |||
| 5. Kolkata | CCU | 9.63 | 130 | |||
| 6. Hyderabad | HYD | 7.60 | 78 | |||
| 7. Kochi (CIAL) | COK | 4.34 | 41 | |||
| 8. Ahmedabad | AMD | 4.04 | 28 | |||
| 9. Goa (Dabolim) | GOI | 3.08 | 7 | |||
| 10. Thiruvananthapuram | TRV | 2.53 | 39 | |||
| 11. Pune | PNQ | 2.81 | 28 | |||
| 12. Kozhikode | CCJ | 2.06 | 22 | |||
| 13. Guwahati | GAU | 1.93 | 9 | |||
| 14. Jaipur | JAI | 1.66 | 9 | |||
| 15. Coimbatore | CJB | 1.24 | 7 | |||
| 16. Lucknow | LKO | 1.58 | 4 | |||
| 17. Nagpur | NAG | 1.24 | 9 | |||
| 18. Bhubaneswar | BBI | 1.04 | 3 | |||
| 19. Srinagar | SXR | 1.04 | 2 | |||
| 20. Indore | IDR | 0.88 | 5 | |||
| 21. Mangalore | IXE | 0.85 | <1 | |||
| 22. Patna | PAT | 0.84 | 3 | |||
| 23. Amritsar | ATQ | 0.77 | 6 | |||
| 24. Tiruchirapalli | TRZ | 0.76 | 2 | |||
| 25. Agartala | IXA | 0.75 | 7 | |||
| ¹ 2010-11: April 2010 - March 2011 |
||||||