The Airports Authority of India is planning to upgrade many of its airports through transfer of technology in areas like terminal design and passenger flows, airport commercialisation, architecture, design and land and apron side planning, said AAI Chairman, K Ramalingam.
Speaking at a Confederation of Indian Industry seminar on 'Opportunities for Indian-Canadian partnership on airports', Ramalingam said that Rs 5,404 crore (Rs 54.04 billion) had been earmarked in the 10th Plan for the upgradation of airports.
AAI is gearing up to improve airport infrastructure and the new terminals coming up in the country will have modern facilities, he added.
Outlining AAI's initiative to attract private players, Ramalingam said that to encourage civil aviation and tourism, AAI had done away with airport charges for aircraft having a seating capacity of less than 80 passengers and had also reduced landing charges by 15 per cent.
He added that restructuring of the Delhi and Mumbai airports was being carried out and the new airport in Bangalore was in its final stage of take-off.
The Hyderabad airport was also making headway, he noted. Among other initiatives, he said there was a proposal for 18 new terminal buildings at a cost of Rs 500 crore (Rs 5 billion) and 25 airports had been selected for upgradation.
Cyrus Guzder, chairman of CII's civil aviation committee also spoke on the occasion and said that AAI needed to work towards eliminating bottlenecks like shortage of runways, as it was critical for the growth of the sector. Peter Nesbitt, regional manager of Export Development Canada said that EDC was bullish about its business prospects in the country.
He added that EDC's strategy was relationship driven and was committed to promote the Indian success story across the world.
He added that EDC was encouraged by reforms in the aviation sector and offered their expertise to further improve Indian airports.
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