Mumbai’s new flight plan
IT’S 2 pm on a Wednesday, lean time at India’s busiest airport, when B.S. Keshav, an architect with Patni Computers, steps into the airy, light-filled, chrome-and-glass wonder that is the brand new Terminal 1B at Mumbai’s domestic airport. Keshav is a frequent flyer, spending 72 hours a week shuttling between airports, and every visit to the Mumbai airport in the last 15 months – since its operations were privatised – makes him feel a little better about his travel experience.
HE POINTS to the baggage trolleys neatly stacked near the entrance. “At some airports, it’s a pain to find trol- leys, especially when you have family and luggage together,” he said. The 45-year-old, who often blogs his experiences at vari- ous airports, collects both his to and fro boarding passes from the airport for his day-long business trips. “It’s easier here,” he said. “We have 80 check-in counters, unlike Delhi where one still has to queue up during peak hours. Also, we have boarding-pass kiosks where you just need to key in the PNR number and choose your seat.” Before you think the shining, new domestic terminal – reno- vated for Rs 380 crore by Mum- bai International Airport Ltd, a private consortium led by the GVK group – is a vision of the future, stop. It’s a temporary facility to be demolished , in phases between 2015 and 2020: India’s busiest airport will get a combined Rs 7,500- crore domestic and international terminal. Even that will not be enough. Mumbai is expected to handle 25 million air passengers a year by March 2008, or 68,493 every day That figure will almost dou- . ble by 2012. Five years from today, by the time the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority and the airport management finish building a six-lane elevat- ed approach road (and the Metro rail station planned there comes up), the pressure on the airport will be too much. A second airport at Panvel could ease some of the burden (see: What’s Up With the New Airport in Panvel). However, none of this will make life simpler for the global business traveller. For him, an internationally popular con- cept called aerotropolis’, literally meaning airport city’, could be the answer. Conceived by John Kasarda, director of Carolina Entrepreneurial Initiative at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, it offers the business traveller the op- tion of not leaving the airport at all. He can check in at a ho- tel near the terminals, finish his meetings and other work there and leave without ever entering the city. Look no further than Ams- terdam’s Schiphol Airport. About 58,000 people are em- ployed here, and the passenger terminal – a mix of shopping, dining and entertainment ar- cades – doubles as a suburban mall accessible to air trav- ellers and the general public. Amsterdam residents regu- larly shop and relax in the public areas, especially on Sundays, when most city stores are closed. “Currently, it is difficult to comment (on) whether an aerotropolis is possible,” said a GVK spokesperson. “The master plan is still being worked out.
We are ac- quiring land in Sahar.” It is happening elsewhere in India. Pragati 47, a Delhi infrastructure firm, will build an aerotropolis in Andul, about 175 km from Kolkata, within three years. “It will not only make air travel more time-efficient, but will create a revenue- making machinery of its own,” said Raj Shekhar Agarwal, managing director of Pragati 47. Kasarda, during a recent visit to the up- coming Rajiv Gandhi International Air- port in Hyderabad, said it has the poten- tial to become an airport city. Back at Mumbai’s domestic terminal, the changes contin- ue. Recently, some budget air- lines launched the roving check-in facility: Airport staff with hand-held devices print out your boarding pass on Bluetooth-enabled mobile printers. Two new rapid-exit taxiways have cut down take-off time, and daily take-offs and land- ings have crossed 700, around 100 more than in May 2006. If architect Keshav has time on his hands, he can now wan- der the 30 stores selling food, accessories and books. Coming soon is a huge duty-free shop- ping area. The airport is wi-fi-enabled, so Keshav can also fine-tune a presentation or blog. For now, it will have to do. It still takes nearly two hours to get to the airport from downtown Mumbai, and don’t even think yet of how you will get to the new airport in Panvel, when it is built. So, for now, enjoy the changes at Mum- bai airport. Just don’t dream of Amster- dam, Bangkok or Shanghai. S
oubhik.mitra@hindustantimes.com
Global comparison
A S FOREIGN money pours into Mum- bai’s businesses and more interna- tional firms set up shop here, getting into the city from the airport and to the airport from the city is a nightmare for the global busi- ness traveller. An international concept called aerotropolis’, literally meaning airport city’, could be the solution. Conceived by John Kasarda, director of Car- olina Entrepreneurial Initiative at the Univer- sity of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, it talks about unique infrastructure development within airports. If we have that, a business traveller need not leave the airport limits at all. He can simply check in at a hotel near the terminals, finish his meetings and other work and leave without ever entering the city. This is a concept popular around the world, and catching on in India too: Pragati 47, a Del- hi infrastructure firm, will build an aerotrop- olis in Andul, 175 km from Kolkata, within three years. “It will not only make air travel more time-efficient, but will create a revenue- making machinery of its own,” said Raj Shekhar Agarwal, MD of Pragati 47. Kasarda, during a recent visit to the upcom- ing Rajiv Gandhi International Airport in Hy- derabad, said it has the potential to become a massive airport city’. The airport is being developed by the GMR group, which is also modernising Indira Gand- hi International Airport in Delhi. Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport is a successful airport city About 58,000 people are employed . by it, and its passenger terminal – containing a mix of shopping, dining and entertainment arcades – doubles as a suburban mall that is accessible to air travellers and the general public. Amsterdam residents regularly shop and relax in the public areas, especially on Sundays, when most city stores are closed. Another example is Lantau Island, where the newly-opened Hong Kong International Airport is spawning highly visible business and residen- tial clusters. In late 1999, Walt Disney Company announced that it would open its third theme park (Hong Kong Disneyland) on Lantau to take advantage of the airport and its high-speed rail and expressway links to Hong Kong. Another aerotropolis is booming at Incheon, Korea, where the government is creating a 24-hour aviation city on Yongjong Island, about 80 km west of downtown Seoul. The new international airport anchors an expansive urban agglomeration comprised of commercial, industrial, residential and tourism sectors. Its centrepiece is Media Val- ley, Korea’s version of Silicon Valley .
Reality check: What’s up with the new airport in Panvel?
COMMERCIAL ARTIST Manjula Gemnani leaves her Bandra home at 7 am for the airport. But it’s 9.30 am before she manages to step into the international terminal at Sahar. If she spent Rs 50 on toll charges, she would reach the upcoming air- port near Panvel in less time. “The only bottleneck to Panvel is Dhar- avi. Once you pass that, it’ll be a dream ride,” she said. Mumbai’s second airport seems to be heading rapidly towards the runway after a three-month wait in the parking bay. Already, four developers – Scott Wilson (UK), Louis Berger (US), Maunsell (Singapore) and Mott Mc- Donalds (India) – have been short- listed from 151 developers for the prime consultant’s job in develop- ing the Rs 10,000-crore facility. The new airport will be con- structed on 1,140 hectares near Panvel, 35 km from the Mumbai airport. City and Industrial Develop- ment Corporation (Cidco) still needs to acquire 295 hectares of private land. The state will chip in with 225 hectares. “The final plan will need to be approved by Cidco’s board, after that the state govern- ment and finally the Centre,” said Cidco spokesperson Buddha- bhushan Gaikwad. Teams from Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) and Pune-based Central Water and Power Research Station are working on two differ- ent studies on the barren, dusty site. While IIT-ians are doing an en- vironmental impact study, the Pune agency is conducting a hydrological survey, a mandatory requirement before construction. Union Aviation Minister Praful Patel has set December as the dead- line to wrap up the bidding process. The first phase of the airport is expected to be complete by 2012. It is forecast that Mumbai will handle 25 million air passengers a year by March 2008. That figure is likely to go up to 91 million a year by 2030-31. The existing airport, af- ter its extension, will be able to handle only 40 million passengers. That’s why a new airport is needed at Panvel. Panvel: The numbers game The new airport in Navi Mumbai will be located 35 km from the existing Mumbai airport. Phase 1 (2008-12): Capacity of 10 million passengers a year at a cost of Rs 4,200 crore. Phase 2 (2015-2017): Raising capacity to 20 million passengers a year at a cost of Rs 1,896 crore. Phase 3 (2020-2022): Capacity of 30 million passengers a year at a cost of Rs 1,600 crore. Phase 4 (2026-2028): Capacity of 40 million passengers a year at a cost of Rs 2,272 crore. Total cost: Rs 10,000 crore
Mumbai’s shiny, new domestic terminal will be demolished in phases between 2015 and 2020, as a new combined domestic and international terminal is built. It won’t be enough:
Traffic at India’s busiest airport will have more than doubled by then. Relief could come from the new airport at Panvel. Four developers have already been shortlisted. Is this enough?
PROBLEM 1 Get the slums out, find homes Mumbai airport is spread over roughly 2,000 acres, of which 200 are encroached upon by slums that have come up over the past 40 years. An estimated 80,000 people live in seven slum clusters spread across a curve from Kurla to Andheri. Even 15 months after a private consortium took over the airport’s management, slumdwellers backed by political parties and social organisations allege that the consortium is yet to initiate a dialogue with them. About 80 per cent of the slumdwellers make their living off the airport. Most of them work as trolley retrievers, bird scarers, cargo handlers or repairmen. So, their main demand is to get new homes, near the airport. The airport management and state government are struggling to find land nearby, with the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA), the nodal agency for slum rehabilitation, managing to offer only 5,000 flats from its kitty.
PROBLEM 2 How do we get there? The MMRDA and the airport management are jointly building a six-lane elevated approach road, but it will be at least five years before it is completed. The airport is expected to handle 25 million passengers a year by March 2008, making it the 40th busiest airport in the world. There is a Metro rail station proposed near Hotel Leela to ease road traffic to the airport, but that too will take another five years.
PROBLEM 3 Will it be too late? By the time the roads and Metro are in place, passenger traffic will have risen to 40 million a year. Will both together be able to handle the pressure?
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Published on November 28 2007, Page 10
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