Take-off cleared for Mumbai’s Airport II

NEW DELHI, AUGUST 19: Mumbai is on the road to becoming the first city in the country to have two world-class airports with the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) clearing the proposed greenfield airport at Navi Mumbai.

This was a major hurdle after fears were raised that the project may not be technically feasible. The main concern was that flight approach to the old and new airports will be the same leading to traffic interference.

ICAO was commissioned to do a study. After nearly six months, its report has recommended that it is indeed feasible to have two international airports in Mumbai. So just like New York, London and other major cities in the world, Mumbai can have more than one international airport.

Armed with this clearance, the Civil Aviation Ministry and the Maharashtra Government are all set to start the process of identifying consortia to build an international airport on the lines of Bangalore and Hyderabad.

A similar move by West Bengal for Kolkata is, however, still to be decided. The point being made there is that the current airport has not exhausted its capacity and that the projected traffic still does not call for a second greenfield airport. This logic will have to compete with the political compromise of allowing AAI to run the current airport while getting private players involved in the second airport.

The case of NOIDA airport is also waiting in the wings. Here again political pressure from Samajwadi Party is pitted against the fact that Delhi airport needs to first reach saturation point. However, a NOIDA airport for just domestic operations can be looked at. Now, both these issues will have to be addressed as the Ministry approaches Cabinet.

The model for Navi Mumbai: 74% stake with private consortia while the rest evenly split between the state government and Airports Authority of India.

At Rs 2500-3000 crore, this will be the biggest greenfield airport to be constructed with two runways connected by the 22.5-km Sewri-Nhava trans harbour link.

With no scope to expand the present Mumbai airport, Navi Mumbai was seen as the only answer to address the needs of the country’s financial capital.

ICAO had to devise some complicated air traffic control procedures to resolve the technical questions. It has finally suggested that both airports must have a single radar to control approaching aircraft.

The airport will be built over 950 hectares, of which 95 per cent land has already been acquired by the City Industrial Development Corporation for this purpose. Now that the clearance has come and the site is also more or less clear, the Civil Aviation Ministry is expected to approach the Cabinet soon.

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