Inaugurating the two day international conference on ’Indian Airports: The Emerging Opportunities’, organised by Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) in association with the ministry of civil aviation, Chawla said, “We are keenly pursuing the setting up of an Economic Regulatory Authority for Indian airports to ensure a level-playing filed for all stakeholders in airport development. The Bill envisaging the creation of the regulatory body is in Parliament and I expect the regulator to be in place by October 2008.”

He further said, the civil aviation sector was recording high rates of growth. In the last four years, the growth indices for all segments of the sector have doubled. The next four years would see another doubling of growth, as a result of the sustained high growth rate of GDP.

While the aviation sector is growing by three times the growth of GDP, this would not be the case over a 20 year time frame. “Nor is this order of growth desirable. Even a multiple of two would be considered high and give rise to enormous opportunities for private sector investment and pose challenges to the government, “ Chawla said.

Dr Dinesh Keskar, chairman, FICCI civil aviation committee and senior vice president sales, Boeing commercial airplanes, in his theme presentation, pointed out that over the next 20 years, India would require as many as 911 commercial aircrafts costing US $ 86 billion. He said, by 2026, the number of airplanes operating in Indian airports would almost quadruple. Airport business would be massive and an investment of Rs 203,600 crores would be required over the next 10 years.

Capt GR Gopinath, co-chairman, FICCI civil aviation committee and executive chairman, Deccan Aviation, expressed confidence that the two-day conference would evoke meaningful discussions amongst the corporate sector, government and international organisations and highlight the emerging business opportunities at Indian airports.

Dr Amit Mitra, secretary general, FICCI, noted that in view of the fast growing air traffic and number of aircraft in the country, efficient ground handling, air traffic control, safety, security, airport operational and administrative processes have assumed critical importance.

FICCI, he said, envisages India to be the world’s fastest growing aviation market over the next 20 years, not only in terms of passenger and cargo traffic but also in the areas of equipment supply, technology upgradation maintenance, repair and overhaul, and other non-aeronautical revenues.

Hemant Bhattbhatt, senior director, Deloitte Touche, presented the key highlights of the FICCI-Deloitte paper. He said, the initiatives of the government had opened up huge opportunities for various entities in the areas of equipment supply, technology upgradation, maintenance and repair operations, training, ground handling and cargo handling operations.

However, lack of adequate infrastructure, inadequate support systems, technology bottlenecks, taxation issues, reduction of various surcharges and shortage of manpower would have to be addressed to realise the anticipated growth in the airport sector, Bhattbhatt added..