THE YEAR THAT WAS/ It’s been a long haul, but they’ve done it

New Delhi: The year 2006 saw India’s private carriers come into their own most emphatically for the first time since the monopoly of national carriers was ended with a pathfinding, liberal move in 1994.
Twelve years along, in October 2006, private carriers accounted for 80.1% of the domestic market against 70% last year. All carriers together carried nearly 29 million domestic passengers till November 2006, growth of 47% over the corresponding period of 2005 (domestic traffic had grown by 29.59% in 2005-06). The number of scheduled airlines operating in the country also increased considerably.
Two new airlines started operations in 2006, Indus Airways and Inter Globe Aviation Pvt Litd (Indigo Airlines). Thus, the number of domestic scheduled airlines now stands at 14 compared with 7 just two years back. Though weak infrastructure remains a major cause for concern in the sector, initiatives have been taken to upgrade and modernise airports and air navigation systems.
In a landmark decision, the government in February allowed the two international airports in Delhi and Mumbai to be modernised through public-private partnerships using a the joint-venture route. In the joint ventures, Airports Authority of India (AAI) holds 26% equity and the remaining 74% are held by strategic partner GMR consortium for the Delhi airport and GVK consortium for the Mumbai airport.
It has been estimated that an investment of Rs 7,961 crore and Rs 6,131 crore will be required for Delhi and Mumbai airports, respectively, over a period of 20 years, in four stages of five years each.
Now, the government is according priority to examining the modernisation programmes for the Chennai and Kolkata airports.
Atreyee DevRoy/Financial Express

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