UK Airport Sector Mission to India: New Delhi, Mumbai & Chennai

10 February 2014 - 13 February 2014 India

UK Trade & Investment (UKTI) commissioned BAG to coordinate an Airport Sector Mission to India which took place from the 10 - 13 February 2014 and which visited New Delhi, Chennai and Mumbai. The primary objective of this visit was to promote British skills and technology in the airport sector as well as to provide an opportunity for participants to build on existing contacts and establish new relationships with key India airport sector contacts and to learn about the opportunities for their products / services at airports in India.

The Market

The civil aviation traffic in India has been growing rapidly. The number of total domestic and international passengers by Indian airports in 2012- 13 was nearly 160 million. By 2020 Indian civil aviation is expected to handle about 450 million passengers. The Airport Authority of India (AAI), the key organisation for development of airport infrastructure, has taken several steps to cater for the growing demand.

AAI, which owns 128 airports, in recent years, undertook modernisation of 35 airports and plans to continue modernising more airports. Five International airports have been taken up through Public Private Partnership basis which includes the development of Cochin, Hyderabad and Bengaluru and the modernisation of New Delhi and Mumbai international airports.

According to the Planning Commission of India, an investment of US$30 billion is envisaged towards airport infrastructure by 2020.

India's major cities will need expansion of capacity with the traffic set to almost treble by 2020. The second phase expansion of New Delhi and Bangalore are planned. A second, Greenfield International Airport is planned in Mumbai. Navi Mumbai International Airport (NMIA) will have an initial capacity of 10 million passengers per year reaching the final capacity of 60 million passengers by 2030 through phase-wise expansion. The Phase-1 is estimated to cost £1.1 billion and will be developed through Public Private Partnership on an international competitive bidding basis. The project is being developed on an area of 1160 hectares accommodating two parallel runways for independent operations and will be designed to ICAO aerodrome code 4-F. CIDCO, the city planning authority of Navi Mumbai and the project developed for the Navi Mumbai International Airport project is shortly expected to come out with "Request for Qualification (RFQ)". This is going to be the largest, Greenfield airport project in India and foreseeable future.

In addition to Navi Mumbai International Airport, a number of new greenfield airports such as Kushinager, Agra, Goa, Pune, Kunnur, and Arunmula are being planned on the Public Private Partnership basis and will offer opportunities for UK companies as these projects move from planning to execution stage.

In line with the Government of India's plan to increase the role of private sector in the Indian Airport sector, AAI has recently invited bids for selection of Operation & Maintenance contractors for six of its existing operational airports (Chennai, Kolkota, Ahmedabad, Lucknow, Jaipur and Guwahati). The capacities of these airports range from 2 million to 12 million passengers per annum. The bids will open up opportunities for interested airport operators to undertake O&M contracts without making major capital investment in setting up new airports. Going forward private sector involvement in O&M will offer opportunities for training and innovative solutions for passenger handling and airport management.

There will be further opportunities in airport development in India including partnering with potential Indian bidders, offering design & engineering expertise, programme management skills and supply of equipment & systems.