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Bombay lobby allegedly against Thiruvananthapuram international airport

A senior official of the Union civil aviation ministry is expected in Thiruvananthapuram in a couple of days to look into Kerala assembly Speaker M Vijayakumar's complaint that "a Bombay lobby" is preventing the development of the Thiruvananthapuram international airport.

According to the speaker, it is at the behest of a lobby comprising hoteliers, travel agencies and foreign currency dealers in Bombay that the civil aviation ministry had rejected a proposal to charge a fee of Rs 500 from every passenger departing Thiruvananthapuram. The fee would pay for the acquisition of land to develop the international airport.

Despite the Airport Authority of India's conditional green signal to the proposed project, Vijaykumar said the Union ministry refused to consider the proposal. The speaker questioned the move since several airports in the country, including Kozhikode airport, collect user fees to fund development projects.

The Kerala government needs Rs 2 billion to acquire nearly 230 acres of land for developing the airport. The government approached the Housing and Urban Development Corporation for a loan, which the latter agreed to grant only if the government showed its ability to repay the amount. To facilitate the repayment of the loan, the Kerala government formed the Airport Development Society in October 1996. It was this society which had sought permission to charge the passengers's fee.

Vijaykumar pointed out that the government also set up a land acquisition unit and took immediate steps to acquire the 27 acres of land required to extend the runway after receiving the favourable response from the Airport Authority of India. Now with the ministry rejecting the proposal, he said development work at the airport has come to a standstill.

Meanwhile, there is no consensus in the state for the proposal to collect the user fee to develop the airport. The Kerala Association of Travel Agents is against further burdening passengers, since a majority of them are poor labourers working in the Gulf.

Association Secretary K V Muralidharan told Rediff On The NeT that funds would not be a problem if the state government takes the matter up seriously with the Centre.

Thiruvananthapuram, he said, had received a mere Rs 1.5 billion since its upgradation to an international airport in 1991, whereas several other airports in the country have received much more funds. He pointed out that a third airport is being constructed at Bombay, without the passengers being charged.

Muralidharan said the state government had kept silent even though no funds have been allocated for the airport in the Ninth Plan. Though he agreed that the "Bombay lobby" had prevented the development of the Thiruvananthapuram airport, he said blaming the lobby alone was wrong.

Apparently, hotels and travel agents in Bombay perceive Thiruvananthapuram airport as a major threat to its business since its development will lead to diversion of the lucrative Gulf traffic. More than 60 per cent of the passengers flying to Bombay by the 10 flights daily from Thiruvananthapuram, Kochi and Kozhikode are bound for the Gulf. A very large number also reach Bombay by rail and road. If these passengers are diverted to an airport within Kerala, it will wreak havoc on business activities centred around Bombay airport.

Moreover, most of the 56 international flights per week to and from Thiruvananthapuram operate at full capacity. According to a travel agent, there is sufficient traffic potential for another 50 flights per week to the Gulf. However, the airport currently lacks the facilities to handle more flights.

Gulf Air, which operates flights to several Gulf destinations from Thiruvananthapuram, was denied permission to increase its capacity due to these constraints. Singapore Airlines, Saudia, Emirates and other airlines are in the queue for permission to start operations from Thiruvananthapuram.

Development work at the airport has been going on at a snail's pace ever since its upgradation. The delay in acquiring land to expand its activities is considered the major hurdle to speeding up work. While it took more than four years to acquire the 27 acres to extend the runway, the present government has not been able to acquire even an acre of land in the past 18 months, though the total requirement is 270 acres.

The terminal needs massive expansion immediately to keep pace with other development work in the pipeline. This will be possible only if land is made available immediately. But considering the ground realities, it seems a tall order.