Air India planes are parked at Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi. File photograph
| Photo Credit: AP
Indian airlines await the supply of almost 1,500 plane over the following 7 to 12 years. But at half that fleet dimension right this moment, they usually grapple with parking challenges for their plane.
Two of the most important airports in Delhi and Mumbai have a mixed parking capability of 364 plane for the almost 700 planes, amongst numerous airlines.
Recent orders of 500 plane by IndiGo and 470 by Air India, together with a three-digit order by Akasa, imply that by the tip of the last decade, when a big chunk of those planes arrive, the enlargement of airport capability should hold tempo with house for parking these planes.
With 233 parking stands in Delhi for narrowbody and widebody planes (in keeping with Aeronautical Informational Publication) and 131 for narrowbodies in Mumbai, an airline government mentioned that airlines akin to Air India, IndiGo and Vistara, that management 85% of the market share, are capable of avail solely about half the parking capability of what they want to have so as to have the ability to plan all their flights in a commercially viable method.
The lack of evening parking stands usually forces airlines to fly the final flight of the day to smaller cities akin to Ahmedabad (different airport for Mumbai) and Lucknow (different for Delhi), that are unlikely to file excessive seat occupancy or command as excessive airfares at these hours as they might on metro-to-metro flights.
“Forced measures”
“These are some of the forced measures we use and are an additional financial burden on the airline as only the most price-sensitive customers will opt for such flights,” mentioned an government within the community planning staff of an airline.
Alternatively, airlines additionally deploy their plane for in a single day flights to Gulf nations by scheduling a late-evening departure and an early-morning arrival.
Another aviation business veteran sounded extra optimistic, whereas acknowledging that airlines have been usually pressured to plan flights to smaller cities so as to overcome the parking challenge at Mumbai and Delhi.
“Aircraft are meant to fly, and they should be in the air. They don’t require more than 2.5 hours of ground time for maintenance checks,” the particular person mentioned.
“The parking challenge may continue to worsen as more deliveries happen in the course of this decade, and could also impact an airline’s network planning. They will continue to be forced to explore extra rotations (flying to and fro) from the main airports just to ensure they can find parking stands. The regulator (AERA) may also raise parking fees in the coming years. We may also see airlines choosing to park outside India which may not be the most optimal from a commercial or operational perspective. So, the question is whether infrastructure will develop at pace with fleet growth at important airports, and at what cost this growth will happen,” Arvind Chandrasekhar, Head of the Network and Fleet Management observe at Lufthansa Consulting advised TheHindu.
On enlargement mode
Several airports across the nation although, are on an enlargement mode. Delhi will see Indira Gandhi International airport add Terminal four by September 2023, and Noida International Airport in Jewar will develop into operational by 2024 finish and supply 25 parking stands.
Mumbai is predicted to get Navi Mumbai airport, and Bengaluru airport has additionally been quick enhancing its capability the place 92 stands for narrowbodies in 2018 have climbed to 142, and can additional go up by one other 56 by 2028.
Kolkata and Chennai will see new terminal buildings and Hyderabad airport will see an enlargement of its terminal constructing together with further infrastructure on landside and airside.
“So, the question is whether infrastructure will develop at pace with fleet growth at important airports, and at what cost this growth will happen”Arvind ChandrasekharHead of the Network and Fleet Management
