Airport Authority of India eyeing global market
7 Aug 2015 6:04 AM IST
“AAI has the expertise and capability in airports development. Besides developing and managing its own airports, it has also helped some Gulf airports in the past in the development works. We now want to leverage our expertise to other international markets at a bigger scale,” highly placed sources in the company said. Of the 125 AAI-managed airports, 18 also cater to international traffic, 78 are domestic, seven customs airports and 26 civil enclaves at defence airfields. “We have recently modernised and developed several airports including those in Kolkata, Chennai, Lucknow, Jaipur and Chandigarh on our own. These are all modern airports and reflect our expertise and engineering capabilities in the area,” they said.
Moreover, AAI also has the advantage of a vast pool of manpower, which can be best utilised in executing overseas projects, sources said. AAI has a <g data-gr-id="22">work force</g> of over 18,000 people. AAI employees union, which is opposed to further privatisation of airports in the country, has several times in the past alleged that the handing over of four more airports--Chennai, Kolkata, Jaipur and Ahmedabad--to private entities could result in mass <g data-gr-id="23">lay-offs</g>. As of now, private players GMR and GVK groups, which run Delhi, Hyderabad, Mumbai and Bangalore airports under a joint venture agreement with AAI, are present in overseas markets. While the GMR group is developing <g data-gr-id="24">Mactan Cebu</g> International Airport in the Philippines in collaboration with a local partner, GVK group is executing two airport projects in Indonesia.
“We have not yet decided which market to begin with and are exploring several geographies globally. But any decision in this regard would be based on the growth potential in that region,” sources said. Sources also said that AAI is open to various business models while undertaking projects abroad which include <g data-gr-id="21">development</g> of Greenfield airports as well as management contracts.
India clocks 16.3% June growth in passengers
India clocked a healthy 16.3 per cent growth in domestic air passenger traffic in June, the
highest among seven major international markets including the US and China as the airlines kept their fares low to stimulate demand coupled with improved economic climate during the period, an IATA report said on Thursday.
The global domestic traffic during this period grew by 6.5 <g data-gr-id="49">per cent</g> during the period with China clocking 12.1 per cent followed by Russian Federation, which posted a sub-10 per cent growth in June, International Air Transport Association (IATA) said.
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