Air India Deserts WB’s Andal Airport But Other Airlines May Fly In

Bengal’s Andal airport has several advantages that airlines other than Air India could avail themselves of.

Air India has stopped commercial operations in the Kolkata-Andal-Delhi sector, accusing the airport’s private operator, Bengal Aerotropolis Project Ltd (BAPP) of arbitrariness. (Photo: The Quint)

Making A Greenfield Airport Work

• Air India has stopped commercial operations in the Kolkata-Andal-Delhi sector.
  
• Air India has been accused by the airport’s private operator, Bengal Aerotropolis Project Ltd (BAPP) of arbitrariness.
  
• While the Andal airport in Burdwan is now shut, a new airline has agreed to start operating there, but only for domestic destinations.
  
• Andal’s location could push BAPP to look towards South-East Asia.
  
• To promote Andal airport, the West Bengal government has exempted it for three years from VAT on aviation turbine fuel (ATF).
  
• Zero-duty on ATF could attract all airlines. GST will still make no difference as ATF is exempted from it.
  
• A second airport is a strong incentive for infrastructure growth and boosting industries like hotels and local transport.
  

The fact that West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s claim of being first out of the gate to re-industrialise her benighted state is mere hot air has few doubters. Its latest proof is the abrupt shutdown of Air India’s flights to and from Andal, India’s first greenfield airport in the heart of the state’s coal and steel belt 180 kilometres from Kolkata.

Though Bengal Aerotropolis Projects Limited (BAPP), the airport’s private sector operator, accuses Air India of arbitrariness, the gritty reality is that the Kolkata-Andal-Delhi route proved a disaster, with barely seven or eight passengers flying from Kolkata to Andal; probably deterred by the longer flight time, more than half the seats in the 122-seat Airbus A319 usually went empty.

Enticing Other Players

BAPP is trying hard, and understandably so, to entice other airlines as the airport is closed while cash haemorrhage due to maintenance and security continues. Another airline, a newbie, is said to have agreed to start operating from Andal to domestic destinations including Delhi, Kolkata and Mumbai with its small fleet of 50-seat Bombardiers.

But domestic air passengers rush in only if there is an urgent need that cannot be met by cheaper transports like train, car and bus. Durgapur, the city that Andal serves, is just about two-and-a-half hours’ train ride from Kolkata. Besides, with focus in energy shifting from coal to renewables, nuclear and gas, one must be a diehard optimist to bet on dramatic future spurt in the growth of business travellers in Andal.

Andal’s Advantages

But the bright side of the story is that BAPP is a forward-looking company, with Changi Airport of Singapore holding 36.2 percent stake in it. So it is likely to look for airlines that look east. Air Asia India, the low cost carrier (LCC) that operates in South India and across the eastern borders to Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Japan, China and Singapore, may find Andal attractive for a slew of reasons.

The AirAsia flight which crashed on 28 December 2015 is said to have crashed as a result of equipment malfunction. (Photo: Reuters)

First, in a bid to promote the greenfield airport, the West Bengal government has exempted it for three years from VAT on aviation turbine fuel (ATF). Fuel cost is about 45 percent of commercial airlines’ cost. Zero-duty on ATF should therefore attract all airlines. Besides, if Goods and Services Tax (GST) becomes a reality, it will still make no difference as ATF is exempted from the new indirect tax system.

Looking Eastward

It will therefore be a smart move for an LCC like Air Asia to use Andal as a sub-regional hub, and pick up passengers bound for South East Asia from there instead of Kolkata, where airport fees and fuel duties are high. Low-cost carriers use low-charge second airports all over the world. When a passenger flies on a cheap ticket from London to Europe, the airline of choice is obviously something like Easyjet or Ryanair who use airports like Gatwick or Stansted, at a distance from London.

In South East Asia, Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi has a satellite airport, Don Muang, that houses the region’s fleets of low-cost airlines. Kuala Lumpur, Air Asia’s global headquarters, too has a second international airport for exclusive use of affordable airlines.

Suvarnabhumi airport in Bangkok. (Photo: iStockphoto)

Infrastructure Growth Potential

For the hinterland of a metro, a second airport is a strong incentive for infrastructure growth. The train services from London to Gatwick or Stansted are so comfortable that nobody misses the familiar Heathrow. In Bangkok, the coach ride from Suvarnabhumi to Don Muang goes swimmingly.

Though Durgapur-Andal is at a distance from Kolkata, the new-generation trains, with ongoing track changes, can bring down travelling time to two hours. Besides, since Durgapur is already an important junction on the Delhi-Kolkata railway line, the additional cost may not be very high. And there is always a possibility that the user airlines will chip in.

The traffic from south Bengal, mingled with that from Chennai and Hyderabad which is Air Asia’s forte, should not only add a new thread to the cord that ties South Asia with the South-East, it will also put Andal firmly on the aviation map of India. Simultaneously, it should provide a boost to industries like hotels and local transport in a way that coal, though worshipped as “black gold”, never could.

Attracting Tourists

One reason why eastern India lags is that it generally looks west to Delhi and Mumbai, and lately to Bengaluru in the south, in search of ideas and opportunities. It seldom looks abroad eastward where most cities and governments have narrowed down their difference with the developed world.

For Mamata Banerjee, leading a state bypassed by global tourists, it may be a godsend to find planeloads of Thais and Malaysians landing daily in her backyard.

(The writer is a Kolkata-based senior journalist.)