GMR Maldives CEO refutes claims of Maldives government on handover of Male airport

The CEO of GMR Male International Airport Pvt. Ltd. (GMIAL), Andrew Harrison has put out a statement refuting claims of the Maldavian government of a smooth and orderly take over of Male airport operations by the government.

I categorically refute the version of events being portrayed to the media in relation to the meeting this morning with GoM officials and outline the true meeting content as follows:

1.
I received a telephone call from a Colonel of Maldives National Defence Force (MNDF) at 1103 to advise me that the Acting Transport Minister who is also the Defence Minister is meeting with MACL at the airport and would like to call upon me personally. The meeting took place at 1145 in our Boardroom at Male' airport. The meeting was attended by the Acting Transport Minister, the Chairman of Maldives Civil Aviation Authority, our Lawyer in Maldives and 3 members of MNDF.

2.
The meeting was cordial and the Acting Transport Minister outlined the following:

• MACL would be operating the airport from Saturday morning in line with the Government of Maldives communication to GMR-MAHB.
• The Minister would like a smooth transition as the airport operations should not be affected and suffer in any way. Passengers should not be inconvenienced and therefore all activities including Duty Free would be allowed to continue as is.
• According to their legal advisors he injunction issued by Singapore High Court does not prevent them from taking over the airport and the injunction cannot be applied to a sovereign state.
• They propose offering 100% employment in MACL to all staff currently working for GMIAL and an announcement to that effect would be made tomorrow by the MACL Board. The offer includes both local and foreign staff at their existing terms and conditions including salary.

Our position, which I communicated to them, remains crystal clear. The Singapore High Court has issued an injunction which clearly prevents MACL or the Government of Maldives or any of its agents from taking any action that interferes with GMIAL operating the airport. The injunction clearly prevents them from taking the action outlined in their notice issued to us stating that the airport would be taken over at the end of the 7 day period. We remain resolute in our position and there is no question of an offer being made and certainly no question of any alleged offer being accepted as we will simply not agree to our rights nor the injunction being undermined in any way.

Our Lawyer further clarified that the injunction was to be honoured as their representatives and Attorney General were party to those proceedings and were present during the proceedings in the Singapore High Court. Further to this we have issued a communication to their lawyers to confirm that their client (MACL/GoM) will not ignore the injunction and outlining the consequences as well as the disturbing media reports that they will ignore the injunction and take over the airport as planned.

The Acting Transport Minister explained that he was not a legal person and he would therefore arrange for his legal team to meet our Lawyer tomorrow to go discuss the legal matters and in the meantime he stated that we should maintain dialogue. We will always maintain dialogue but our legal position is very clear and we will not compromise on our legal position which is clearly supported by the injunction.

Any version of the meeting being described any differently to my response is categorically untrue and we maintain that we have been granted the right to continue operating the airport in line with the injunction. There is and has never been any change in our position.

Regards,

Andrew Harrison
Chief Executive Officer
GMR Male' International Airport Pvt. Ltd.

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Comptroller and Auditor General of India report on PPP at Delhi Airport

In a report titled "Implementation of Public Private Partnership, Indira Gandhi International Airport, Delhi" the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) has found faults in almost every step of implementation of the Public Private Partnership (PPP) model in the brownfield privatisation of New Delhi's Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA).

While acknowledging the PPP was the correct method to follow and praising the airport operating company Delhi International Airport Ltd., (DIAL) owned by a consortium headed by GMR Group,

It is acknowledged in this report that there have been significant improvements in services at the airport for the travelling public. The new terminal T3 was completed within time for the Commonwealth Games. The airport has been adjudged as the second best in the world in the category of 25-40 million passengers per annum by Airports Council International.

the report is probably the most damning indictment of former civil aviation minister Praful Patel and the ministry he led during the period of the airport privatisation.

Many observations in the present report would indicate that whenever DIAL raised an issue regarding revenue to accrue to it or expenditure to be debited to Government in contravention of the provisions of OMDA, the Ministry and AAI interpreted the provisions always in favour of the operators and against the interest of the Government.

The report accuses the Ministry of Civil Aviation, headed by Mr. Patel, of violating laws, and providing post contractual benefits to DIAL, to the detriment of the government as well as the travelling public.

Ministry of Civil Aviation and later AERA allowed DIAL to collect Development Fees amounting to Rs. 3415.35 crore. The order of Ministry in February 2009 allowing that was in contravention of the OMDA, AAI Act and the AERA Act.

Contrary to the provisions of OMDA, DIAL was allowed to use the amount collected as Development Fees to meet the project costs. In fact, only 19 per cent of the project cost came from equity, approximately 42 per cent came from debt. The remaining project costs were met from security deposits and Development Fees.

The report also highlights where DIAL was given benefits significantly over and above Government departments

It was noted that the concept of upfront fee was used to lease out an additional land of 190.19 acres for a paltry one time payment of Rs. 6.19 crore. Other Government offices like Director General of Civil Aviation and Bureau of Aviation Security were given a much harsher treatment when 7.60 acres of land was leased out to them at a license fee of Rs. 2.41 crore per annum.

The report highlights how by omitting the phrase “mutual agreement and negotiation of terms” which was present in the note approved by the Union Cabinet, but removed in the concession agreement OMDA, DIAL has unilateral rights to extend the concession period for an additional 30 years at the original already grossly under-rated terms of the OMDA.

The decision to adopt the joint venture route was taken based on the Cabinet Note of September 2003. While seeking approval for restructuring of the Delhi and Mumbai Airports, this Cabinet Note specifically envisaged an initial concession period of 30 years which could be extended by another 30 years subject to "mutual agreement and negotiation of terms". However, in the draft OMDA which formed part of the bid documents, the important condition "subject to mutual agreement and negotiation of terms" was omitted. The OMDA, which was signed in April 2006, did not contain any provision of mutual agreement and fresh negotiations before extension of the concession period. This is not only a violation of the commitment in the Cabinet Note but is also a unilateral and unfair advantage given to DIAL which is detrimental to Government interest as it does not provide the Government any scope for review of any of the conditions.

The report also highlights the liberal manner of how the OMDA is written to favour DIAL.

The possibility of any JVC event default in the small window of 5 years between 20th and 25th year is remote. Such a sweeping provision, without any scope of review at any time during the currency of the concession period, has effectively granted DIAL the sole right to operate the airport for a period of sixty years with the terms and conditions frozen in the OMDA.

Editor's note: The relaxation of requirements or confining performance to an extremely narrow window is a common thread found in virtually every India PPP airport concession agreement, all of which were signed during the tenure of Mr. Patel as civil aviation minister.

The report alleges the virtual give-away of land to DIAL, accusing the Ministry of giving DIAL land worth more than Rs. 24,000 Crore for a sum of Rs. 31 lakhs, and an annual payment of Rs. 100 only.

The projected earning capacity of this land in terms of license fee over the concession period of 58 years was indicated by DIAL itself as Rs. 681.63 crore per acre in a letter to the Joint Secretary, MOCA. Thus for the entire area of 239.95 acres, the potential earning from the land, according to the calculations worked out by DIAL itself, amounts to Rs. 1,63,557 crore. Audit would like to draw attention to the fact that this area is part of the entire area of land that has been handed over to DIAL at the lease rent of Rs. 100 per annum.

It has been ascertained from AERA [Airport Economic Regulatory Authority] that the current valuation of the land made by M/S Merrill Lynch in the report of 26th August, 2011 has been worked out at the rate of Rs. 100 crore per acre. Thus even in terms of this conservative estimate, the total current value of the land available to DIAL for commercial exploitation, would amount to approximately Rs. 24,000 crore.

Audit is constrained to observe that against the aforementioned calculations, MoCA [Ministry of Civil Aviation] allowed DIAL to use 239.95 acres of land for commercial exploitation at a consideration for one time payment of Rs. 31 lakh (5 percent of Rs. 6.19 crore) and an annual payment of Rs. One hundred only.

Both DIAL and the Ministry of Civil Aviation have refuted the observations of the CAG. In a release DIAL said

The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has tabled a report on the Implementation of Public-Private Partnership at Indira Gandhi International Airport before the august Houses of the Parliament.

This report pertains to an audit conducted by the CAG on the performance of the AAI with particular reference to the privatization process of Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA). Therefore, the appropriate and competent authority for redressal of all queries on this issue is the Airport Authority of India (AAI) or the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MOCA).

Even though many of these issues have already been discussed between the ministry and auditors and were responded to in detail, they have not been reflected in the final report. Even the former Secretary Civil Aviation had expressed this view in a separate letter to the Audit Authority.

Hence, we feel sad that a showcase airport created with dedicated efforts and a well-thought-out policy of the national government has come in for adverse remarks. We have also noted with concern that the reputation of this company has been questioned regularly in the media based on incomplete and inaccurate facts. Hence, purely in order to put the records straight, we would like to state the following without prejudice to our rights:

1. Delhi International Airport Private Limited (DIAL) has NOT received any undue benefits from the government before, during or after the bidding process. The entire process of the privatization and selection of Joint Venture was based on a transparent, international, competitive bidding which was guided and presided over by competent bodies and has been upheld as such by the Hon’ble Supreme Court in 2006.

2. It is alleged that with the airport modernization project DIAL was effectively handed over land valued at Rs. 1,63,557 Crore for only Rs. 100 per year.

a. The purpose of leasing the airport land by AAI to DIAL was neither sale of land nor earning of a rental income from it.

b. The basis of providing the concession to operate the airport was the revenue share quoted by the bidders to AAI.

c. The entire commercial land available with DIAL neither has any immediate commercial value nor can be put to use and therefore cannot be monetized immediately. Thus, just using value of one acre and extrapolating the same for the entire land parcel is at best an arithmetic exercise and not practical.

d. In fact, using the same method of calculation, AAI will receive Rs. 3 to 4 Lakh Crore from DIAL as revenue share over the 54 years.

3. The allegation that Airport Development Fee (ADF) was an afterthought and done only to benefit DIAL is absolutely untrue:

a. ADF is allowed as per section 22 A of AAI Act 1994 as amended in 2003 – long before the bidding process – and hence was known to all bidders

b. AAI Act is the primary governing legislation for the concession as provided in the transaction documents

c. The levy of ADF was upheld by the Hon’ble Supreme Court vide its order dated 26th April 2011

4. The concession period of 30 years with 30 years extension being an unfair advantage to DIAL is also not true:

a. Such long concession periods are quite normal in infrastructure projects where the investment is large and gestation period is long

b. Moreover, as this was a bid condition known to all bidders, they had already considered this condition while quoting the bids

The Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA), Delhi is a shining example of the success of PPP model of infrastructure development in India. IGIA is currently rated as the second best airport in the world in the 25-40 million passengers per year category. The current Airport Service Quality (ASQ) rating of IGIA stand at 4.73/5.00 which far exceeds that stipulated in the concession agreement - at 3.75/5.00. It is currently the largest airport in India - catering to 36 million passengers per annum (mppa), handling 600,000 tonnes of cargo and managing over 300,000 aircraft movements every year. According to NCAER, IGIA contributes 0.45 per cent to the national GDP and 13.53 per cent to state GDP of Delhi. It has also created 15,78,000 jobs which is 25.9 per cent of Delhi’s total employment and 0.34 per cent of national total employment.

The Ministry said

Ministry of Civil Aviation has gone through the report of the CAG on Indira Gandhi International Airport, Delhi as tabled in Parliament today and strongly refutes the loss figures and other allegations as made in the report.

The calculation of presumptive gain from the commercial use of land at the Delhi Airport is totally erroneous and misleading as it simply adds the nominal value of the projected revenue, without taking the net present value. In fact the net present value of the figure quoted by CAG is Rs 13795 crores only. CAG has further failed to appreciate that 46% of this amount would be payable to AAI as revenue share.

It is also pointed out that the levy of Development Fee is under Section 22 (A) of AAI Act, 1994 and was in the knowledge of all the bidders prior to the bidding process. Hence, contrary to what the CAG has said, the levy of Development Fee by DIAL was not a post contractual benefit provided to DIAL at the cost of passengers. Further, the levy of the Development Fee has been upheld by the Supreme Court, which has already examined and rejected all the issues now being raised by CAG in its report.

On the issue of lease of Airport land, it is clarified that the land has not been given to DIAL on rental basis. Rs100 is just a token amount for the purpose of the Conveyance Deed. The determining factor for grant of concession to the bidder was the Gross Revenue share quoted by the bidders. As a result, Airports Authority of India (AAI) now receives 45.99% share of Gross Revenues of DIAL and 26% of all Dividends. Benefit to AAI is likely to be more than Rs 3 lakh crores in this process during the entire Concession period. AAI has already got its revenue share of Rs.2936 crores in the last 6 years and likely to get Rs. 1770 crores in the year 2012-13 and Rs. 2287 crores in the year 2013-14. The AAI share of revenue from DIAL is further going to constantly rise every year in the balance concession period.

It may also be noted that the right to use 5% of Airport land for commercial purpose was also defined in the bid and known to all bidders.

The decision to restructure and modernize Delhi and Mumbai Airports was a policy decision of the highest body i.e., the Cabinet following the broad policy formulations of Policy on Airport Infrastructure, 1997. The modalities of modernization/ restructuring were as per the Cabinet decision and were frozen in the Transaction Documents finalized and approved by the Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM), based on which the bidding process was completed. The issues now being highlighted in the CAG report, viz. Concession Period, Right of First Refusal (ROFR), Upfront Fee, Commercial exploitation of land, and Lease rental of land were part of these documents and were symmetrically known to all bidders before bidding and during the bidding process. These documents were later converted into different agreements, like Operation Management and Development Agreement (OMDA), State Support Agreement (SSA), Shareholders Agreement (SHA), Lease Deed Agreement, CNS-ATM Agreement, and State Government Support Agreement (SGSA), and there has been no change in these documents ever since.

All decisions including the entire bidding process and the approval of the OMDA was monitored by EGoM and subsequently approved by the Union Cabinet. The bidding process has also been upheld by the Supreme Court.

All Aeronautical and Airport assets created by DIAL will be transferred back to AAI as per agreement at the end of the concession period.

It is further stated that the views of Ministry of Civil Aviation and AAI have not been incorporated in the final report of the CAG and there are aspects mentioned in the final report which were neither included in the draft audit report nor were discussed with the Ministry of Civil Aviation at any point in time.

It is pertinent to mention that CAG in its report has itself acknowledged the significant improvement in the services for travelling public, new terminal T-III being completed within the time frame for Common Wealth Games and Delhi Airport being adjudged the second best in the world in the category of 25 to 40 million passengers per annum by the Airports Council International.

India has few world class Airports achieved in a very short span of time. Reports like these would damage the process of PPP and stunt infrastructure development in the country.

The brief parawise comments to the CAG report on IGI Airport are attached as Annexure and are also available on the website of Ministry of Civil Aviation.

Click here to see Annexure

You can download the entire CAG report on DIAL here. Do read it, and share your thoughts.

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No airport fee relief for Delhi passengers in Supreme Court ruling, only Mumbai impacted

Earlier today passengers cheered hearing that the Supreme Court of India ruled that the charging of Airport Development Fee (ADF) by the private airport operators was incorrect.

The initial cheer of air passengers flying out of Delhi though is short lived. A detailed reading of the record of proceedings of the case (read page 42 onwards) allows the operators of Delhi airport, GMR led Delhi International Airport Ltd. (DIAL) to continue charging the ADF of Rs. 200 and Rs. 1,300 on each domestic and international departing passenger respectively since it has received an interim order from the Airport Economic Regulatory Authority to charge such a levy. Unfortunately for the GVK led Mumbai International Airport Ltd., it has received no such permission and therefore will have to stop charging the Rs. 100 and 600 ADF it levies on departing domestic and international passengers.

Supreme Court of India CA 3611 .2011 ADF MIAL DIALpdf
In lay persons terms, the Supreme Court has said, the levy of the fee was not as per law, but now there is an interim order and so Delhi can continue charging the fee. How about the refund of the fee unlawfully collected? Tough luck. We cannot trace each passenger and refund the fee. Just in case the extremely learned counsels are not aware, each ticket, especially international, contains detailed passenger information, including payment information. Just refund it via the same means the original fee was paid.

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Supreme Court quashes Airport Development Fee at Delhi and Mumbai airports

The Supreme Court of India has ruled that the private consortia running the Delhi and Mumbai airports will not be allowed to charge an airport development fee (ADF) on passengers.

The stock prices of both the GMR group which leads Delhi International Airport Ltd. (DIAL) and GVK Group which leads Mumbai International Airport Ltd. (MIAL) were hammered on the stock exchanges. The New Indian Express reports

At 12.30 p.m., shares of GVK was down 3.62 per cent to Rs 25.60 and GMR was down 3.29 per cent to Rs 38.25

DIAL charges an ADF of Rs. 200 from domestic and Rs. 1300 from international passengers embarking from its airport, while MIAL charges Rs. 100 and Rs. 600 respectively.

A bench comprising justices R. V. Raveendran and A. K. Patnaik ruled in favour of Consumer Online Foundation, a non-governmental organization which had filed a public interest case against the levy of the fee on passengers.

The court is reasoning that only the Airports Authority of India (AAI), not private companies, has the rights under the law to levy a fee payable in advance of an airport construction.

Under the OMDA agreement with AAI, in order to compensate the private companies for their expenses and investments in the development of the airports, the AAI allotted them land in the vicinity of the airport.

However, passengers should not expect this as a relaxation of the User Development Fee or UDF which is currently charged at the Bangalore and Hyderabad airports. UDF is levied after an airport has been constructed and is based on the paid project cost and incomes.

Since the airport project at Delhi is completed, DIAL will be able to move from an ADF to a UDF regime very quickly. However, GVK will be impacted since the project at Mumbai is expected to complete only in 2012.

GVK has also gained control of Bengaluru International Airport Ltd., and has announced an expansion of Terminal 1. While this expansion is not expected to be impacted, today's ruling of the Supreme Court is bound to impact the financial flows and planning of the GVK group and this raises the question -- will the long term expansion of the airport i.e. Terminal 2 and the second runway (27L/09R) be impacted?

What is your view? Post a comment.

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Why SpiceJet should choose Bangalore to commence it's Bombardier Q400 regional flights

Low fare carrier SpiceJet is expected to announce commencement of their regional operations using their recently ordered 15 Bombardier Q400 turb0-prop aircraft which are expected to start arriving from end June onwards.


It appears SpiceJet will commence their regional operations from Hyderabad using their first four or five aircraft and then commence another hub from Bangalore in late 2011 or early 2012 using the next four or five aircraft.

It is a good move that SpiceJet is commencing regional operations in the south. Most northern tier two cities are well served thanks to geographic and political closeness to the nations capital which ensure very good train and air links. Also SpiceJet is heavily north centric and has been steadily loosing eye-balls and brand recall in the south to fellow low cost carrier IndiGo, as the latter aggressively expanded its fleet and operations in the south.

Due to stake-holder fragmentation, prior to being acquired by media baron Kalanithi Maran, SpiceJet was unable to find internal cooperation for much needed fleet expansion. The acquisition provided much needed ownership consolidation and SpiceJet has since ordered 30 Boeing 737-800s whose deliveries will commence in 2014. The rapid delivery of the Bombardier Q400's is a smart move allowing SpiceJet to rapidly expand its footprint in the south, and bring passengers from tier two cities to its operational presence at the tier one cities.

However, Bangalore is a far more attractive hub when compared to Hyderabad. Bangalore is the largest city for domestic air traffic in the south, almost twice the size of Hyderabad, and well ahead of Chennai. Unlike Chennai and Hyderabad which are head-quarters to the Southern and South-Central Railways respectively, Bangalore is very poorly serviced by rail which only adds to the air traffic potential.

Thanks to the legacy thinking of the government of India which favoured the four metro concept, Air India under-serves Bangalore, and the financial difficulties of Kingfisher forced it to focus on Mumbai and Delhi. Jet Airways is Mumbai centric and has traditionally favoured Chennai over Bangalore, while IndiGo has an all jet Airbus A320 fleet which cannot operate to many of the small airports of tier two cities targeted by SpiceJet's regional service.

From Bangalore, destinations like Hubli, Mangalore, Kochi, Trivandrum, Calicut and Mysore are crying out for a low cost carrier, while Belgaum, Vishakapatanam and Vidyanagar (serving the world heritage site of Hampi) have no flights at all.

Just as an example, Hubli has only one flight a day, and Kingfisher rakes it in on this route with 100% loads at fares over Rs. 6,000 one-way (compare to Mumbai which is going Rs. 3,800). Travellers between Mangalore and Bangalore routinely complain of being at the mercy of incumbent operators due to a lack of adequate capacity.

Bangalore also has one more advantage over Hyderabad the airline should consider. India is already known as a price sensitive market, and in tier two cities the price sensitivity only increases. Bangalore airport charges passengers a user development fee of Rs. 265 compared to Rs. 475 at Hyderabad.

For sub-80 seat aircraft as per government policy of promoting regional aircraft, the landing charges are virtually nil at both airports, and aviation fuel for these smaller aircraft is a declared good and therefore subject to the same 4% local sales tax (compared for 28% normally) and will therefore cost the same at both airports.

However, apparently, GMR Group, the owner-operator of Hyderabad airport, has agreed to partially rebate the UDF of Spicejet's regional operations at Hyderabad for a brief initial period, may be six months. (I wonder how that would stand up to a legal challenge in front of the AERA).

GMR also operates Delhi airport, the home base of SpiceJet, and the airline may want to curry favour with GMR at Delhi, by making Hyderabad the "launch" airport for its regional operations.

Do you feel SpiceJet is further loosing market opportunity by delaying a regional hub at Bangalore? Post a comment.

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Delhi IGIA to get world's 2nd largest air terminal

India can boast of having the second largest airport terminal in the world when the third terminal building at the Indira Gandhi International airport (IGIA) here comes up in 2010.

The terminal building alone will come up on 20 acres of land, with the entire seven-storey structure providing a total space of about 5,20,000 square metres and having a capacity of handling 34 million passengers a year.

The Terminal-3 or T3 of IGIA would be the second largest after the new terminal T3 at the Beijing Capital International airport (BCIA), constructed before the recent Olympics, which has a total floor area of 9,86,000 square metres.

Giving details of the mega project underway at the Delhi airport, CEO (Airport Development) of Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL) Prabhakar Rao said: "Our focus is on three Ms -- men, material and machinery. That is helping us giving shape to this major project."

In an interview to PTI, he said several factories were functioning at the project site, producing materials ranging from concrete and steel pipes to air-conditioning ducts. "Almost a thousand trucks bring in bulk materials like steel, stones and bricks every night to the site, without disturbing traffic anywhere on the near by national highway."

Deadline challenges

Maintaining that it was a "challenge" for DIAL to complete the mega project in the stipulated time of 37 months, Rao said major airports like Changi in Singapore took 76 months for completion, while Heathrow's T5 and Beijing's new terminal took 60 months. IGIA's T3, which would be able to handle the largest aircraft Airbus A-380, is expected to be completed by March 2010, ahead of the Commonwealth Games. About 24,000 workers belonging to 44 contractors are working day and night to build the integrated terminal which will cater to 34 million domestic and international passengers every year. Also, on the 24x7 job are about 100 foreign experts, who are racing against time to meet the deadline.

Maintaining that Delhi fell in the high damage risk or Zone IV of quake-prone area, the DIAL airport CEO said "Keeping in mind the occurrence of earthquakes here, we are constructing the building to meet the requirements of a higher risk level, that of Zone V or very high damage risk." He said the new steel and glass terminal would be an environment-friendly "green building", which would have complete natural lighting, an intelligent air conditioning system and efficient waste-water treatment facility.

The building needs a massive 2,50,000 square metres of air-conditioning ducts, which when kept in a straight line would cover a distance of 500 kilometres, Rao said.

As various aspects of the construction process were going on parallel in order to save on time, "we have asked the selected bidder, ETA of Dubai, to set up a plant in the country." And "now India's largest air-conditioning duct manufacturing plant is functional at the site," Rao said, adding that the chillers were being imported from the US.

78 aerobridges, 168 check in counters

The four piers of the terminal building would have 78 aerobridges, six exclusively for big planes such as Airbus A-380, for boarding and disembarking. Each pier would be about 1.2 kilometres long but the passengers would not need to walk as they can reach their boarding gate by any of the 98 travelators, Rao said.

Also for the convenience of the passengers, there would be 168 check-in counters, 49 immigration counters, 48 emigration counters and a 61-room hotel, apart from various lounges.

The terminal would also have an intelligent car parking facility for 15,000 cars -- 6,000 at Multi-level car parking (MLCP) and 9,000 at surface level.

The MLCP would be a fully automated one, from generation of parking slip to allotment of slot, no person would be required but still people could park their vehicle without a hassle, the DIAL CEO said.

Ambitious growth plans


Video from wdp4 on YouTube.

The promoters DIAL have chalked out very ambitious growth plans for the airport, calling for new terminals T4, T5, and T6 over the next 20 years. As per the IGIA website the time-table for the airport is :

New Terminal Building (T3)

T3 Project (New Runway and Associated Taxiways Completion by 15th August, 2008)

1.Construction of new code F(A380 Compatible) Runway (11R/29L) of length 4430 mt with CAT IIIB Airfield lighting
2.A Parallel taxiway two cross field taxiways
3. 10 No. Additional remote stands for T2

Phase 1B
T3 Project (New Integrated Passenger Terminal Building and associated works Completion by 31-Mar-2010)

1.Construction of New Terminal building of capacity 27 MPPA, area of 4.4 Million Sq.Ft ,55 Contact stands,16 remote stands, piers, fixed links and aerobridges.
2.Aircraft parking stands for contact and remote stands.
3.Cargo expansion
4.Additional maintenance hangars
5.New GSE areas
6.Fuel farm expansion
7.Expansion of the existing Sewerage treatment plan
8.Providing a Multi level & surface car park
9.Metro Connectivity
10.New landside roads & up gradation of existing road system
11.Expansion of the existing Catering facilities
12.Provision for GA facilities

Phase 2 (2012)
1.Additional remote stands near T3
2.Cargo expansion
3.New flight forwarders area near cargo
4.Additional parking stands for cargo
5.New central transportation corridor
6.Catering facility expansion
7.Additional MRO

Phase 3 (2016)
1.New terminal T4
2.Expansion of T3 including piers
3.Contact stands for T4
4.New runway (11L/29R)
5.Parking facilities in front of T4
6.New ATC tower and complex
7.Cargo expansion
8.Fuel farm expansion
9.GSE area expansion
10.MRO expansion
11.Catering facilities expansion

Phase 4 (2021)
1.New Terminal T5 (Low cost)
2.Expansion of T3 and T4 piers and concourses
3.Remote stands for T5
4.New straightened runway 09/27
5.Cargo facilities at north (relocated)
6.Additional GA facilities·
7.Additional MRO·
8.New fire station·
9.Catering facility expansion·
10.Landside developments in front of T4 & T5 including parking
11.New metro station
12.Fuel farm expansion
13.GSE expansion

Saturation phase (2026)
1.New Terminal T6·
2.New pier for T5 & contact stands
3.Additional MRO
4.Catering facilities expansion
5.GSE expansion
6.Cargo expansion

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GMR to copy Memphis airport model to increase non-aero revenues

The volatility in aviation turbine fuel (ATR) has triggered GMR Hyderabad International Airport (GHIAL) to change gear from aero to non-aero operations.

Currently, revenues from aero operations contribute to three quarters of us total revenues. The rest comes turn non-aero operations. GHAIL is looking at reversing this ratio to offset the turbulence in global ATF prices. It is trying to emulate best practices adopted by some of the leading international airports in the world such as Memphis airport, which get a large chunk of their revenues from non-aero operations.

As part of its new strategy, the airport is exploring a tie-up with Agriculture and Processed Food Export Development Agency (APEDA) and freighter companies to enhance revenues from this segment according to a senior official in GMR.

“Our teams have gone to Memphis airport In the US, the global cargo centre, to study the cargo operation models. They will submit a detailed report after studying other airports in the US and Europe in the coming three months. We will rope in a consultant to design a plan to take the idea forward,” he said. With the presence of Federal Exchange and the largest cornea bank in the world, Memphis airport is the nerve centre of cargo operations across the world. For instance, 5,000 faulty laptops are brought to Memphis each day and airlifted overnight after repair at the airport. The GHIAL is exploring such a model here.
The airport will also open a separate website to facilitate banking transactions and cargo operations online. The Greenfield airport in Hyderabad has seen a drastic dip in air transport movements (ATM5) during the last few months due to the volatility in prices of aviation turbine fuel (ATF).

The airport had 260 to 270 ATMs a day in Jun-08. This has dropped to 210-220 in August, leading to a dip of 50 ATMs a day. Several airlines planning to start new trips have also defined their plans. “British Air for instance, has postponed new trips from Hyderabad from October to December this year said a GMR official

‘According to him, the airport expects a 15% increase in passenger traffic this year against 35% last year “ATF sale volumes have also come down from 800-850 kilo liters a day to 500 kilo liters a day in August” he said. Although the state-owned oil marketing companies cut ATF prices by over 16% on Sunday, this may not translate into cheaper airfares. The airport currently records eight million passengers a year and it is forecast to reach l2 million by20l0.

(c) Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation.

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