A student of Agriculture by education, a banker by profession now retired and an International Air Transportation Association (IATA)-qualified and certified resource person by choice, Janakish Badapanda has a special interest in documentation and augmentation of civil airports in various parts of the globe. He intermittently pens articles and columns in various newspapers and periodicals on the subject. He leads ‘Shift the Airport’ movement since last 14 years in the interest of Bhubaneswar city, growth and prosperity of air connectivity in the State. In an interview to The Pioneer, Badapanda spoke to Sugyan Choudhury on the issues relating to the Biju Patnaik International Airport at Bhubaneswar.
What are the impediments for the Bhubaneswar airport to be an international oneIJ
First, I would like to inform your readers regarding the history of the Bhubaneswar airport. April 17, 1962 was a historic day. Regular air connectivity resumed from here on this day. The airport, which was established for military use by the US Air Force during the 2nd World War, was declared an international airport in October 2013. July 10, 2015 will be remembered as another historic day when the Air India had started its regular international flights. After getting international airport tag by the Union Government, the airport received its first international charter jet from Spain carrying 12 Spaniards on May 3, 2014. It received its second international charter jet from carrying 19 passengers on May 28, 2014. The third international charter jet arrived from Toronto carrying five passengers on December 4, 2014 and the fourth international charter jet from Beijing on March 26, 2015. All these were charter flights. From July 10, 2015, the airport has commenced regular international operation to Dubai via New Delhi. Coming to your question, I would say the only impediment is the style of functioning of our Odisha Government. Neither they have prepared any roadmap for increasing air-connectivity nor cooperated with the Union Government’s plans and policies. Infrastructure development needs huge planning, backward and forward linkages. Unfortunately, our State Government lacks in each segment. Unless the State provides required extent of land, expected infrastructure can never be created by the Airport Authority of India (AAI).
Can you make a comparison of the Bhubaneswar airport with other major airports of IndiaIJ
Although the length of the runway is not necessarily a measure of excellence of an airport, longer runways, that is, runways that are 12,000 ft or more long, can handle practically any kind of large, wide-bodied aircrafts. Runway length of 9,000 ft is not an international standard and this length is only a requirement for naming an airport as an international airport. Generally, Boeings take around 5,500 feet of runway for landing on a dry runway. But in cases of a wet runway, it takes around 1,000 feet more. The DGCA considers if the touchdown is beyond 1,000 ft, there should be enough length for the aircraft to stop. This is the reason why 9,000 feet is considered a safe limit. However, the Bhubaneswar airport is no doubt a safe one for domestic operations but unfit for international operations with bigger wide-bodied jet aircrafts like Boeing 747 or 304. The Indira Gandhi International Airport, New Delhi is the largest Indian airport having three runways and a spread over more than 5,000 acre of land. The newly-built airport at Shamshabad (Hyderabad) is spread over 5,400 acre of land and has the second longest runway in India. The Bengaluru International Airport is one of the swankiest in India. It has the third-longest runway and covers more than 4,300-acre land.
How can we overcome the inadequacy of the Bhubaneswar airportIJ
This airport spreads over about 900 acre of land. The AAI has asked for more land to expand the runway so that Code-D aircrafts can land. But this was easier said than done. They requested to provide only 64 acre for this purpose. But the State Government is not in a position to provide the land adjacent to the airport. The State Government suggested the AAI for developing an international airport at Malipada near Jankia and simultaneously using the present airport for domestic purposes. The AAI has disagreed with the proposal to allow two airports within a distance of 150 km with runways parallel to each other. Hence, the possibility of construction of a new International airport near Jankia has gone to the cold store, for which one may blame the State Government. An international airport serves a particular geographic area and a cluster of domestic airports. It is unwarranted that the existing bonsai airport, which has a very limited lifespan, is being renovated without any roadmap. Bird hits frequently take place as residential colonies surround the airport. Increasing the spread area is almost impossible at the present location. It restricts developing facilities for maintenance of aircrafts, hangars, airport hotel, recreation facilities, etc., required for an international airport. The existing airport can hardly cater to the growing aviation needs for another 20 years. After that, the airport shall demand shifting and there may not be any more available land to house an international airport elsewhere. The civil society is keen to know the roadmap of the State and Union Governments to place the State in the international airport map. It is high time the AAI came out with its plan of action without creating further confusion.
What are your suggestions for making the Bhubaneswar airport economically viableIJ
India is the 9th largest aviation market in the world with 90 operational airports. But in Odisha, we have only one operational airport, out of total 17 airstrips and 16 helipads. The airport at Jharsuguda is shortly becoming a full-fledged domestic airport. We have to quickly develop greenfield airports at Rayagada, Paradip, Angul and Kalinganagar to boost intra-State and inter-State aviation. The existing aerodromes at Jeypore, Rangeilunda, Barbil and Rourkela can also be upgraded to cater regular operations. Unless we develop a number of domestic airports around an international airport, the latter can never be viable. The Union Government has started daily international operation from Bhubaneswar to Dubai via New Delhi. No passenger will like to travel by air if they have to wait at New Delhi for hours. International passengers prefer nonstop flight at convenient timing and affordable price tag. As tickets are booked online, a route and schedule should be announced in advance. Tour operators and travel agents can avail the facility and design package tour programmes to market the same. Odisha expecting to double tourist footfalls to about two crore sounds a tall claim since the State Government failed to create the minimum infrastructure at the tourist points. While our ancient Hindu temples are open to orthodox Hindus only, the golden sea beach at Puri and other locations have ill reputation of being unhygienic. The tribal areas have turned restricted zones because of Maoist activities. The road shows undertaken by the Tourism Department in different overseas tourism conclaves failed to sell our tourism products. So, commencement of daily international scheduled flight may not as such attract any foreign tourist to Odisha. We have to transform Odisha as a clean, green, safe, and tourist-friendly State. Hence, to make the Bhubaneswar airport sustainable, Air India flights from the Gulf countries should pick passengers via Mumbai, and Mumbai-Delhi-Singapore-Kuala lumpur flights should go via Bhubaneswar initially. International flights via Delhi ares never helpful for us. As the Odisha Government has waived VAT on ATF for carriers connecting Bhubaneswar with foreign destinations, both domestic tourists going abroad and incoming foreign tourists should be given certain incentives, if they purchase air tickets through the OTDC portal. By this, more and more traffic will be attracted to the State. Our exporters may come forward to book their consignments through the cargo facility being developed at Bhubaneswar.