Question : Capacity Constraints at Airports

(a) the number of airports handling flight services beyond their capacity at present;

(b) whether there are any “capacity constraints” in the existing airports with air traffic growing by over 20 per cent, if so, the details thereof;

(c) whether the Union Government is implementing regional air-connectivity scheme, UDAN to provide connectivity to all of India’s major cities, if so, the details thereof;

(d) the number of operational airports in the country and the extent to which their number would be increased by implementing the UDAN scheme;

(e) whether the Union Government has significantly stepped up investments in airports for their expansion and if so, the details thereof, airport-wise;

(f) whether disruption in mass transport is on the cards with companies such as Hyperloop proposing new-age rapid-transit options, if so, the details thereof; and

(g) whether such proposals might lead to disruptions in regional air-connectivity schemes and if so, the response of the Union Government thereon?

The Minister of State in the Ministry of CIVIL AVIATION
(Shri Jayant Sinha)

(a) & (b): Four airports namely Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru and Goa are handling flight services beyond their capacity on account of airspace constraints. According to the passenger traffic handled during the year 2016-17, 13 airports namely Rajkot, Nagpur, Patna, Leh, Dehradun, Bagdogra, Jammu, Port Blair, Imphal, Agartala, Guwahati, Jaipur and Coimbatore have handled more passengers than their terminal capacity.;

(c) & (d): The primary objective of Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS)-UDAN is to facilitate / stimulate regional air connectivity by making it affordable. In order to implement the scheme, Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs has approved a budgetary provision of Rs. 4500 crores for revival of un-served/underserved airports/airstrips in the country. The revival of airstrips/airports is ''demand driven'', depending upon firm commitment from airline operators as well as from the State Government for providing various concessions. ;

Presently, there are 98 operational airports (with and without scheduled flight operations) in the country. Airports Authority of India (AAI), the implementing agency of RCS-UDAN has identified 43 airports (31 unserved & 12 underserved) in the 1st round of bidding and 30 airports (25 unserved & 5 underserved) in the 2nd round of bidding for operation of RCS flights.;

(e): Expansion/development of airports is a continuous process, which is undertaken by AAI from time to time depending on the traffic demand, operational requirements, availability of land etc.
Recently, AAI has taken up the upgradation/development work of airports at Surat, Kolkata, Dimapur, Amritsar, Tezu, Port Blair, Hubli, Belgaum, Kishangarh, Gorakhpur, Jammu, Calicut, Pakyong, Agartala, Guwahati and Trivandrum. Further, AAI has planned to invest Rs. 20,178 Crores for the period 2016-17 to 2021-22 for upgrading airport infrastructure and services. Further, a comprehensive aviation capacity expansion program, NABH (NextGen Airports for Bharat) Nirman, as announced in the Union Budget 2018, intended at developing sufficient airport and air space capacity. NABH Nirman, a multi-year program, envisages to expand India''s aviation capacity over five times to serve a billion passenger trips a year. This program includes overall passenger growth projections, detailed passenger forecasts for all major airports, new regulatory approaches for greenfield and brownfield airports, collaborative urban and land planning frameworks with various states, and necessary financing to build out aviation capacity.;

Government of India (GoI) has also granted "in principle" approval for setting up of the 19 Greenfield airports and has further granted "site clearance" approval for setting up of the another 7 Greenfield airports.

(f) & (g): The Regional Air Connectivity Scheme is planned to connect remote areas to major cities whereas the rapid transport system aims to connect major cities. Hence these are complementary to each other.