Besides AAI projects, we find several opportunities with private airports
The National Infrastructure Pipeline (NIP) programme envisaged the requirement of 250 brownfield and greenfield airports in India. Covid had a major impact on aviation sector and affected development plans to an extent. However, post Covid, domestic traffic showing a robust growth has encouraged both government and private sector. Several new airport projects have been announced both of brownfield and greenfield; activity is picking up. It will get further benefited once government comes out with its planned bid for 13 airports privatization.
Pankaj Vatsa
Executive Director, Highways, Buildings and Aviation, Egis India
How are the government's infrastructure development initiatives under NIP programme pushing the revival of airports infrastructure in India?
The National Infrastructure Pipeline (NIP) programme envisaged the requirement of 250 brownfield and greenfield airports in India.
Covid had a major impact on aviation sector and affected development plans to an extent. However, post Covid, domestic traffic showing a robust growth has encouraged both government and private sector. Several new airport projects have been announced both of brownfield and greenfield; activity is picking up. It will get further benefited once government comes out with its planned bid for 13 airports privatization.
What is your view on the current Indian aviation market scenario?
Aviation market is stable with work in progress in Jewar, Bhogapuram, Navi Mumbai etc. Announcement of greenfield airport in Chennai is a positive development and besides that, the Airports Authority of India (AAI) has brought out capacity augmentation projects in Jammu, Gwalior and Jodhpur.
What are the key design & technology innovations evolving in airport development?
Airport operations are evolving through innovation and technology development. Remote towers or digital towers have emerged as an alternative to visual control towers. By installing cameras and sensors in the airport vicinity, the airport controllers' environments are replicated in a remote centre. A controller can then, sat remotely from the airport's location, control aircraft at their designated airport or potentially at multiple remote airports at the same time (known as multi-mode operations). This multi-mode operation has the potential to deliver economies of scale; whilst on its own, a new remote centre could provide more flexible and resilient staffing options as well as lower maintenance costs for new infrastructure.
Government has brought in the air connectivity to smaller cities through its regional connectivity scheme UDAN.
UDAN scheme has successfully completed five years and resulted in flying over 10 million passengers. Several more routes are being operationalised and it has improved regional connectivity significantly.
Which are the key airport projects involved by the company in India and what kind of services and solutions do you provide for these projects?
Egis is providing design and project management services for expansion of three major airports, i.e. Lucknow, Pune & Trichy. Egis scope includes architectural, structure, systems and MEP design; bid process management for selection of contractors and construction supervision.
What is your outlook for airports sector for the next five years?
We are excited about the aviation sector in India. Both domestic and international traffic has seen robust growth and with government focus on manufacturing and tourism, it will also have a positive impact in near future. As per National Monetisation Pipeline (NMP), 13 airports are to be privatised and Egis is keen to be an airport operator having experience of running 17 airports globally. Besides AAI projects, we find several opportunities with private airports for design and project management as augment airport capacity, build additional cargo terminals and develop city side.
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