BUDGET - BMR Advisors

AVIATION INFRASTRUCTUREAs India’s economy has captured world imagination, Indianaviation sector too is experiencing an unprecedented growth.The domestic passenger carriage, cargo movement andinternational air traffic have shown exponential growth. Thebenefits of growth are attributable to the policy of increasedliberalization both on domestic and international sectors. Theyear 2007 has been remarkable with regards to the growthwitnessed in passenger traffic. During the year 2007 (January toSeptember), domestic airline passenger traffic has registered agrowth of 36.74 percent. Further, the scheduled domestic airservices are now available to / from 82 airports as against 75 in2006.Developments during the yearInternational operationsThe Government decided to open the India-Gulf route to eligibleprivate schedule carriers with effect from January 1, 2008. JetAirways has been permitted to operate international services tocertain destinations in the Gulf region from January 1, 2008.Development of airport infrastructureDevelopment of airport infrastructure is being undertakenthrough the public-private partnership route in major metro citieslike Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore and Hyderabad. Furthermodernization of the Kolkata and Chennai airport are also beingundertaken.Modernization of Delhi and Mumbai airportThe International airports in Delhi and Mumbai have beenrestructured and are being modernized through private sectorparticipation. The construction of first phase of Delhi airportstarted in January, 2007 and is likely to be completed by March,2010. The cost of first phase of development is approximatelyRs 88.9 billion.The construction work of Mumbai airport also started in January,2007. The airport will be saturated by 2014 with capacity of 40million passengers per annum. The cost of development is Rs70 billion approximately.indiaBUDGET200823