K Srinivasan
CIVIL Aviation Minister Kinjarapu Rammohan Naidu recently set the cat among the pigeons when he said that the old Hyderabad Begumpet airport (the city’s principal airport till the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport (RGIA) started operations at Shamshad) was likely to be revived soon. The Deccan Herald reporting on the minister’s press conference in Hyderabad said: ‘’On plans to re-launch commercial operations from the Begumpet airport in Hyderabad, Naidu said that the air passenger demand was fast picking up in all metros and many states have been looking for second airports. It is in this context that he said the Begumpet airport may open for commercial operations.’’
Thank God that he, at least, made his intention known in advance, allowing the ministry officers and RGIA officials to tell him that doing so would violate the terms of the agreement entered into by the Government when a brand new airport was set up in Hyderabad. Perhaps, the minister was poorly briefed. There is no way that Begumpet can commence operations when there is a watertight agreement with the RGIA that gives it exclusivity for handling operations in the city. If the Government tries and GMR (the RGIA operator) goes to court, the former will certainly lose the case.
Different scenarios
Some people will proffer the example of Mumbai or Delhi. Let’s not forget that both these cities are getting new airports where the right of first refusal (RoFR) was with the existing airport operators – in the case of Mumbai with GVK (which was operating the airport when the bid took place) and in the case of Delhi, with GMR. For the RoFR to be operational, one has to be within the 10 per cent range of the highest bidder. In the case of Mumbai, GVK qualified; but in the case of Delhi, GMR did not and, therefore, Jewar is an independent project.
Begumpet does not fall into that category. So, it’s a bit of a surprise that the minister spoke about reviving operations there. Also, both the existing airports in Delhi and Mumbai had ‘no objection’ to a new venture when the proposals came up. Hyderabad’s case is different. It is a world-class airport with enough capacity to handle all the traffic.
Hindon flights
Strangely, in the case of another airport – the Indian Air Force-operated Hindon airport in Ghaziabad – the Ministry of Civil Aviation did not even bother about their agreement with Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL), which operates the IGI Airport, but went ahead and launched flights from Hindon. Initially, they were UDAN (Ude Desh ka Aam Nagrik) flights to stations like Jalandhar. However, starting March 1, Air India Express launched its operations from Hindon airport with 40 weekly flights to cities across the country. The inaugural flight to Goa was on March 1. The airline will offer direct connections to Bengaluru, Chennai, Goa, Jammu, and Kolkata.
After writing and protesting to the Ministry of Civil Aviation, GMR filed a case in the Delhi High Court against the Government for permitting commercial flights to operate from Hindon. The court has asked the ministry to respond.
Ironically, Delhi International Airport Ltd (DIAL, which includes the Airports Authority of India (AAI) as a shareholder, is right when it says that the Government’s decision violates aviation regulations. According to the terms under which Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru and Hyderabad airports were set up, a new airport cannot function within 150 kilometre of an existing one unless there is demonstrable passenger demand. Hindon is 30 kilometre from Delhi airport and the passenger demand is dubious.
