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As skies congest, airlines grab parking slots

Moreover, the airlines later on request for change in routes depending upon the demand in future, which is easily granted, aviation experts reveal

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Apprehending unavailability of operational slots in near future due to congestion at some of the major airports in the country, most domestic airlines are seeking additional slots for those routes even though they might not actually need them.

This has not only resulted in overcapacity on certain such routes but is also helping the passengers get lower fares due to the intense competition.

According to the aviation experts, Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, etc, are some of the most important trunk sectors, having huge demand. For example, most of the airlines have a flight almost every hour on Mumbai-Delhi route during the peak hours, generating greater number of seats on offer for travelling.

"At congested airports, the airlines tend to preempt slot booking and use it later," said Rajeev Jain, CEO of Mumbai International Airport Limited (MIAL) which runs Mumbai's Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport (CSIA).

Moreover, the airlines later on request for change in routes depending upon the demand in future, which is easily granted, aviation experts reveal.

According to Jain, MIAL has set up a route rationalising mechanism under which it accesses the demand upon getting of an application for a slot and gives priority to unserved/underserved routes.

"We are rationalising the slots, not refusing the slots," Jain added.

CSIA is considered among the most congested airports in the country, handling around 19% of the total traffic. The tremendous passenger growth in recent years, which primarily happened due to low fuel cost, has even took the airport operators by surprise. For example, projections by MIAL for 2015-16 had put passenger traffic at 35 million. What the airport handled though was 41.6 million, which is over 6 million more than what was estimated. According to the estimate, Mumbai airport's passenger traffic would have crossed 40 million only in 2018-19.

The issue raises severe concern as Indian aviation industry is touted to become the largest by 2026, replacing UK claims an IATA report. The country will see the crossing of 100 million domestic fliers by March 2017.

According to a Bloomberg report published in July, at least 709 planes are on order for the next few years as almost all airlines in India have placed huge orders, based on future estimated growth potential of aviation in the country.

Jain continued that in order to encourage airlines to deploy more wide-bodied airlines on major routes, MIAL has come up with attractive tariffs for the same. Further, it aims to increase the number of flight operations per hour to around 60 from 48 at present. He further added, "All major airports in the country will get constrained in next 4-5 years including Delhi which still has some expanding capacity left. With more aircraft which are on order now, coming in it will be a nightmare".

GVK, which recently won the bid to develop Navi Mumbai airport, now hopes things to improve when the airport gets completely ready in next 4-5 years.

P S Nair, Group CEO, of GMR airports which runs Delhi's Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) said that the industry needs a clear roadmap for further growth.

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