Boosted by the influx of private investment and new greenfield builds, airport cities are springing up across India, writes Oliver Clark.

It is just six years since GMR, GVK and their partners won concessions to operate India's principal airports of Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Bangalore, but work has already begun to transform these gateways into thriving airport cities backed by business parks and commercial development.

GMR is in the process of creating a 1,000-acre aerotropolis around Hyderabad's Rajiv Gandhi International Airport, incorporating a 250-acre special economic zone (SEZ), four maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) hangars and is reported to be in talks with the Apollo Group to build a hospital on airport land.

A 250-acre aerotropolis is under development at Delhi's Indira Gandhi International Airport, to consist of several "ports" linked to the gateway, including seaports, cargoports and an entertainment port, according to Kamesh Rao, COO of GMR.

At Mumbai, GVK is looking to spend US$2 billion developing 200 acres into mixed-use commercial properties, including retail, hospitality and convention facilities over the next 8 to 10 years.

Last year, it was reported that Bangalore International Airport Ltd (BIAL), which operates Bengaluru International Airport, intends to develop 515 acres of commercial real estate near the gateway with a view to generating 60% of revenue from non-aeronautical sources.

In November 2008, a 321-room Trident Hilton Hotel opened near Bengaluru, and UK company Gleeds is involved in developing convention facilities around the airport perimeter.

Impressive as these projects are, many are still at an early stage, but India's first fully fledged aerotropolis is due to open next year at Durgapur in West Bengal.

Built on 650 acres of virgin land in Barddhaman district around a single runway airport, the development will be an airport city in its most literal sense, including residential blocks, schools, colleges, hostpitals, golf courses and even theme parks.

"The airport will act as an economic engine and will be a catalyst for growth for the entire region, which is currently starved as far as air traffic movement is concerned," says Subrata Paul, director & CEO of Bengal Aerotropolis Projects Limited (BAPL), the consortia that is developing the aerotropolis.

According to Paul, the Durgapur Aerotropolis will be equipped with a science and technology park to attract high-tech and R&D companies to settle in the area.



A logistics park will foster greater trade and flow of goods between northeast and south Bengal, to Bangladesh and central and southern India. Green technology companies, light manufacturing industry and health tourism are all expected to spring up, boosting the local economy.

"The aerotropolis will ignite the real estate sector. Real estate developers within the Asansol Durgapur Planning Area (ADPA) are looking at a growth story within the Durgapur catchment area, with a lot of development expected to happen," enthuses Paul.

In the southern state of Kerala, the privately-owned Cochin International Airport is busily developing a 450-acre airport city, based around aeronautical support operations and making the airport a business destination in its own right.

Airport operator Cochin International Airport Ltd (CIAL) has unveiled a master plan that calls for the building of an aviation academy, a 35-acre industrial park, catering to IT, ITES and biotechnology companies, several hotels, an 18-hole golf course, a convention/exhibition centre, an amusement park and a 'cultural village.'

Late last year the airport opened two 2,750m narrowbody MRO hangars to "fill the current vacuum" for a dedicated MRO servicer in India's southern peninsula.

Cochin has acquired government clearance to introduce an SEZ around the airport to incentivise companies to locate there.

Phase two will see the construction of two more narrowbody hangars, allowing CIAL personnel to work on a maximum of six aircraft at a time.

In partnership with UK-based Alpha, CIAL has constructed the biggest duty free shop in India with three shops totalling 15,000sqft dotted around the international terminal.

"The airport cannot sustain itself without non-aeronautical revenue; being an airport with 15,000 stakeholders we have to invest in property to provide a return for stakeholders, and we can ensure that with these projects," explains Venkiteswaran Ranganathan, executive director of finance at CIAL.

Construction work has also begun on a helipad facility to act as a hub for a regional helicopter transport service.



The greenfield Chandigarh International Airport being developed by the Greater Mohali Area Development Authority (GMADA) in the state of Punjab will be the centre of a 1,000-acre mixed use "aerocity" , divided into several thousand individual plots for commercial and residential uses.

Also within Kerala, the proposed Kannur International Airport will be developed as a private airport on the Cochin International Airport model by a government led consortium.

Built on 2,060 acres of land and equipped with a single runway, the project will be implemented on a Public-Private-Partnership (PPP) basis and a Build-Own-Operate (BOO) model.

"The Kannur International Airport project includes plans to build commercial non-aeronautical projects that range from cargo and logistics facilities, golf courses, and business parks," says KS Shibu Kumar, deputy project engineer for Kannur International Airport.

"We intend to link the airport to Kannur via rail link. Preliminary discussions have been held with Indian Railways to discuss setting up Kannur Airport Railway Station within the airport premises. We also plan to set up a international convention centre for conducting business meetings and accommodating conference delegates," adds Kumar.

Designed to be a low-cost carrier and multi-modal hub, a new international airport at Jaipur is expected to play a key part in the wider Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor, a 1,483km strip where freight chains from six states will converge.

A multi-modal hub and aerotropolis, Jaipur will play a big part in the developing Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor, where freight links will converge and pass through the states of Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Haryana, Rajasthan, Gujarat and Maharastra.

So what about the future? More airport cities and aerotropolis can be expected to develop in the coming years. Some 61 regional airports have either been completed, are in development or are soon to begin, according to the Airports Authority of India (AAI).

Richard Chinn, director of aviation India at Mott Macdonald, says a rich source of future aerotropolis development will be the 14 greenfield airports that have been approved by AAI.

According to Chinn, airports operators are looking to subsidise construction and running costs through SEZs and many of the private developers who are involved in these projects are more interested in the 2,000-3,000 acres that surround the airports because of their commercial value.

"A lot of the funding for these non-metro airport projects is going to come from revenue from commercial land development," says Chinn.

"But the problem is these ambitions don't always match the connectivity and the need; you require a lot of surface access to make these projects a success," he adds.

Last year, Minister of Civil Aviation, Praful Patel, said he was going to recommend the Airports Authority of India Act 1994 be amended to allow public and private airport operators to pursue more non-aeronautical land development projects. So watch this space.