INDIA: International status for Jaipur airport

The Government of India has recently granted international status to the domestic airport in Jaipur, Rajasthan, India. With this, Jaipur becomes the 14th International Airport of the country. The airport belongs to the Airport Authority of India (AAI). It is one of the 12 modern airports where passenger-friendly facilities have been upgraded and modernised by the AAI. There has been a long-term plan for undertaking construction of a new international terminal building, which can cater to about 1,000 passengers in an hour. There is also a plan to extend the runway to 12,000 feet and construct nine parking stands with aerobridges.

  BAHRAIN: Bahrain airport terminal work set to start

Work on doubling the size of Bahrain International Airport's passenger terminal is to start this year. The BD 80-million project is part of a massive, three-phase expansion, which will eventually enable the airport to handle around 45 million passengers a year. A group of private investors will also develop a multi-storey car park and a business-cum-entertainment centre opposite the airport building, at a cost of BD 20 million. All the facilities at the airport will be doubled so that it would have a capacity to handle up to around 18 million passengers a year.

SOUTH AFRICA: 'African Airports 2006' conference slated for next month

African Airports 2006 will take place from February 28-March 3, 2006, at the Sandton Convention Centre, Johannesburg, South Africa. The conference is running for its 3rd year. The conference programme includes Masterclass I and Masterclass II. Airport safety and security has always been a very important issue for airports, even more since the September 11 saga. Just like any other airport, African airports are also at risk and need to improve safety and tighten their security. Masterclass I will deal with 'Airports Safety and Security'. Masterclass II will address 'Project Finance'.

Results of the 2005 Airport IT Trends Survey, presented to industry leaders at the ACI World Conference in New Zealand, provide strong evidence that investment in new information technologies such as check-in kiosks, wireless connectivity and biometrics, promise to make the experience for the four billion passengers travelling through airports each year faster, safer, and more productive, SITA said in a statement.

Self-service check-in kiosks: at least 50 per cent of airports globally have already deployed some form of self-service kiosk and the results show that, over the next two years, this figure will rise to 75 per cent.
WiFi access: over 90 per cent of airports surveyed will offer public access to a WiFi network within the next two years.
Managed network services: Within the next two years, 75 per cent of airports will have an airport-wide communication network to support new passenger and airline services, such as Voice over IP (VoIP).
Biometric identification: 33 per cent of airports plan to deploy a biometric identification system for check-in and boarding within the next four years, an eleven fold increase on today's figure.

John Jarrell, SITA Senior VP, Airport and Desktop Services, said, "The survey results show that airport IT investment levels have climbed to 4.6 per cent of revenues, up from 4.1 per cent last year. With passenger numbers continuing to rise, leading to increased airport revenues, the trend for increasing IT budgets in the future looks positive. We estimate that airport IT spend in 2005 is around the $2.5bn level. Given that passenger traffic is forecast to almost double by 2020 to 7.4 billion, it is not surprising that airports are looking for IT solutions to play a bigger part in their operations."

SINGAPORE: CAPA signs MoU with Indian bank

Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation (CAPA) has signed an agreement with SREI Capital Markets Limited (SCML) to provide advisory services to the Indian aviation sector, it was announced. The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) is the first of its kind in India, between CAPA, a specialist Sydney-based aviation consulting practice, and SCML, a merchant banker operating in the Indian private sector. The agreement was signed in New Delhi.

CAPA will provide advisory expertise in the areas of airline start-up planning and management, airline restructuring, airport marketing and development strategy, passenger and freight traffic forecasting, route analysis and development, tourism development policy strategies, government policy and regulatory analysis. SCML, a SEBI-registered Merchant Banker and Underwriter will render financial expertise in the areas of financial engineering, transaction structuring, restructuring, privatisation, investment analysis and risk management, raising of resources through floatation in the domestic and/or overseas markets and arrange for debt and equity funding. The aviation sector in India is currently experiencing rapid growth, and CAPA projects that over the next five years, domestic passenger traffic will increase at a compounded rate of 20-25 per cent per annum.

ACI Director General Robert J Aaronson, speaking to airport management teams during the annual ACI Africa Region's annual assembly, urged airport operators to respond proactively to the growth trend, emphasizing the importance for airports across the African continent. The ACI Director noted that on the African continent alone, the commitment to airport growth is demonstrated by the diversity of projects:
o The Kenya Airports Authority has announced a $100 million development plan for the upgrade and expansion of the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) in Nairobi.
o The Office National des Aéroports (ONDA) signed an agreement for a new cargo terminal at Casablanca's Mohammed V Airport. The agreement is for a multi-purpose platform covering a surface area of 30 000 m² on a 44 000-m² site, handed over to Royal Air Maroc by ONDA.
o Airports Company South Africa (ACSA) has projected that it would invest an additional ZAR 5.2 billion on airport infrastructure in the next five years, having already invested ZAR 3 billion in capital projects over the last five year period.
o Egyptian Airports Company has issued a tender for retail activities at Sharm el-Sheikh International Airport.
o Murtala Muhammed Airport, Lagos will be the first in Nigeria to have a hotel located within its perimeter.

Worldwide, airport capital expenditure for new infrastructure reached a record $36 billion in 2005, on top of $31 billion in 2004, demonstrating once again that airports are striving to keep ahead of constantly rising demand for air travel.

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