$100 billion opportunity in airport infrastructure: SIATI

Indian private firms can tap a $100 billion opportunity over the next five years by building and ramping up the airport infrastructure in the country to international standards, C G Krishnadas Nair, president of Society of Indian Aerospace Technologies and Industries (SIATI), told reporters here on Tuesday.

SIATI, an aeronautics companies' lobby, and the Airports Council International (ACI) are organising India's first ever airports trade fair, to create awareness about business opportunities in building and running airports, Nair said. ACI, an industry association, has 557 members who run 1530 airports in 175 countries, a release said.

The fair, "Aerodrome India," will be held here at the Palace Grounds between December 7 and 10. It will be organised by PDA Trade Fairs, an event management firm, the release said. Nair, a former chairman of Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), said it was important for Indian firms such as Larsen and Tubro, to take a lead in this sector, ""or all contracts will go to outsiders."

Building modern airports also involved planning them for much more than mere landing strips. Airports worldwide were relying less on direct revenues and more on indirect revenue-generating features. The trend was to reduce the proportion of revenues from direct fees, which included landing rights, the use of airport infrastructure by the airlines and enroute and terminal navigation.

"As you know, the Cochin airport, India's first private airport, has said it will reduce landing fees to zero by the year 2012," he said. International airports make up to 50 per cent of their money by hiring out space to businesses like hotels, duty free shops and shopping marts. "In India, we may find a few bookshops at best," he said.

Pradeep Deviah, chairman and CEO of PDA Trade Fairs, said, "In Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, they held the formula one racing very close to the airport; they now want to add race tracks, polo grounds and so on."

Other areas of importance included fast baggage handling, quick hassle-free security clearances for passengers and minimum turnaround time for the aircraft itself. "This means putting in place the best refuelling infrastructure," Nair said.

Modern airports with multiple facilities can mean employment opportunities for several thousand people, and a seminar, concurrently with the trade fair, will have sessions on human resource management issues at airports. Some 90 companies from seven countries had confirmed participation in the trade fair, Deviah said.

Among the visitors expected is a Sri Lankan delegation, led by the country's civil aviation minister "looking for joint ventures," he said. Companies that are expected at the fair include Surescan, Air Services Australia, Siemens, Malaysian Airports, Millennium Aerodynamics, Bharat Electronics Limited, Air India, National Aerospace Laboratories, Indian Airlines and HAL, the release said.

Make training CPL holders mandatory: Nair

Rampant poaching of qualified pilots between airlines will reduce if more commercial pilot's licence (CPL) holders get training, C G K Nair said. "There are 500 CPL holders right now who don't have jobs because they have don't have industry training." Commercial airlines should take them on and give them the requisite training, and the centre must make it mandatory for CPL holders to be trained by such airlines, Nair said.

For instance, graduates of ITI get mandatory training at HAL, BEL and other public sector firms. This is done "irrespective of whether the graduates are ultimately absorbed by the firms or not." While this training is a "statutory requirement for the ITI graduates, no such law exists for CPL holders."

With India emerging as one of the fastest growing civil aviation markets, at 24 per cent last year in passenger volumes, "it is time for such regulations." The DGCA had also recently stepped in to tackle the poaching of pilots by airlines, he said.