Dhinesh Kallungal By

Express News Service

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Even as the state government moves ahead with its plan to construct the state’s fifth international airport in Sabarimala, the statistics available with the Civil Aviation Ministry revealed that passenger volume at its existing four international airports for the fiscal 2018-19 was just around sixty per cent of its total terminal capacity, the lowest in the country. Kerala’s four international airports have a combined terminal capacity of 30 million passengers per year, however, the state airports saw only 18.14 million passengers last fiscal, a gap of around 12 million. This paints a dismal picture when compared to other states in the country.

Delhi with total terminal capacity of 75 million passengers the largest in the country, handled 69.23 million passengers at its main Delhi International Airport last fiscal. Maharashtra airports with a total terminal capacity of 63.72 million passengers, handled 61.45 million last fiscal. Similarly, Tamil Nadu, with total terminal passenger capacity of 29.52 million, catered to 28.86 million passengers last fiscal, while West Bengal, 24.82 million passengers used its total terminal capacity of 27.86 million passengers.

Karnataka, home to India’s silicon valley, Bengaluru, reached its saturation point last fiscal, as it handled 36.20 million passengers against its total terminal passenger capacity of 31.24 million. According to the statistics, the combined terminal capacity of all Indian airports is 374 million passengers per year. During the year 2018-19, these airports handled 344 million passengers, that is 33 million less passengers than its total capacity.

Of these, Kerala at a deficit figure of 12 million annual passengers owns the largest portion of the passenger volume-airport capacity gap pie. Kerala airports have to fill around 40 per cent of its annual terminal capacity, raising an obvious question, should the fifth airport be the state’s immediate priority?

According to Biji Eapen, national president, IATA Agents Association of India, “Kerala now requires more small feeder airports than large international airports. If the state wants to invest more in aviation sector, it should focus on constructing feeder airports to ferry passengers to the existing international airports. Constructing another international airport will also help dividing the passenger base of the existing airports, apart from attracting a small marginal growth in these airports,” he said.

The cash-strapped state government is now moving ahead with a plan of taking over the Cheruvally estate spread over 2,263 acres to construct the new proposed Greenfield airport in Sabarimala. Kerala has other ambitious projects like semi high-speed railway line from Kasaragod to Thiruvananthapuram which requires huge public spending. And it leaves a question whether the state has prioritized its projects before embarking on the work on the fifth airport.