New airports coming up in Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai
What's the story
India's four metros are all set to get second airports soon to tackle the growing traffic. While plans for new airports in Delhi and Mumbai are on in full swing, the Aviation Ministry has written to Tamil Nadu and West Bengal seeking plots. "They have promised that they will find alternatives….by December or January," said Airports Authority of India (AAI) Chairman Guruprasad Mohapatra.
Delhi
The new airport in Delhi is coming up at Jewar
A greenfield airport in Jewar in Greater Noida was conceived in 2001. It was approved in June this year. 3,000 hectares of land has already been notified for the airport. It will be operational in five-six years. It will provide connectivity to 30-50mn passengers in 10-15 years and will relieve Delhi that expects 91mn passengers by 2020 and 109mn by 2024.
Mumbai
GVK is building the second airport in Mumbai
The Navi Mumbai International Airport, proposed in 1997, will be built in the Kopar-Panvel area, 40km from the Mumbai airport. It was delayed by problems in buying land and gaining government permissions. In February'17, GVK won the contract for the project. The first phase will be operational in 2019 to handle 10mn passengers annually. At full capacity by 2030, it will handle 60mn passengers.
Chennai
Chennai's current airport will handle traffic well only till 2030-35
The AAI expects the current Chennai airport to handle traffic well by 2030-35; the plan is to increase its capacity from 28 aircraft movements an hour to 40. But the city will "require a second airport thereafter". Think-tank CAPA estimates a new airport will cost $500mn. It hasn't yet been decided whether it will be built on a PPP model or by the AAI.
Kolkata
The Kolkata airport doesn't have enough runways or parking bays
The problem with the Kolkata airport, officials say, is the lack of alternative runways (it has two but doesn't support simultaneous operations) and parking bays (though more have been planned, they will be saturated in a couple of years). The WB government suggested building a new one at Durgapur, but the AAI wants a plot nearer to Kolkata; Durgapur is 200km away.