Identify land for second airports, AAI tells states

NEW DELHI: Realising that the second term of Prime Minister Narendra Modi could see unprecedented focus on infra development, the Airports Authority of India (AAI) has asked state governments to identify sites for second airports in relatively smaller cities also. And after doing so, states have been requested to impose height restrictions there so that no structures are built to a height beyond what is permitted in area around airports and impede work on secondary airports starts in these relatively smaller cities when it starts.

“Not just metros require secondary airports, even relatively smaller cities now need the same. While work has already started in some places like Delhi, Mumbai and Goa, there is a need to for the same in other many other cities. State governments are being requested to identify suitable size land for the secondary airports and notify height restrictions in those places. This will enable work to start there at a later date without any hinderance (of pre-existing tall structures),” AAI chairman Guruprasad Mohapatra said.

Some of the cities requiring secondary airports are Visakhapatnam, Jaipur, Pune, Ahmadabad, Rajkot, Patna, Kolkata, Chennai and Bangalore. A majority of Indian airports are handling passenger way beyond the built capacity of terminals. Airports in places like Patna and Guwahati are highly constrained and metros like Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore had no free slots till the Jet crisis erupted earlier this year.

“We are soon going to start work at Dholera as second airport for Ahmedabad. Bhubaneswar will also get the same. Tamil Nadu government is trying to finalise site for Chennai’s second airport,” Mohapatra said.
Meanwhile, AAI is going to award work for installing biometric-based “digi-yatra” (DY) at five of its airports (in addition to Bangalore and Hyderabad PPP ones) to enable a completely paperless boarding process for domestic flyers. “We are evaluating tenders and expect to award work by mid-July. The system should be in place by the year-end,” said the AAI chairman who oversaw a record capital expenditure program of Rs 4,000 crore last fiscal and has set a target of Rs 5,000 crore this financial year.
The five AAI airports expected to get DY include Kolkata, Ahmebadad and Vijaywada. Once implemented, a passenger’s face could be his boarding card for domestic flights. Facial biometrics will be used for DY. To be sure, only those who want a paperless boarding experience will need to get this unique ID as the existing procedure will continue to remain in place.
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References

1. ^{^} Narendra Modi (timesofindia.indiatimes.com)
2. ^{^} Airports (timesofindia.indiatimes.com)
3. ^{^} second airports (timesofindia.indiatimes.com)
4. ^{^} Tamil Nadu (timesofindia.indiatimes.com)

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