Airport Marketing Conference “Air Services Development” held at Hotel Radisson Blu, NewDelhi on 22nd January, 2016.New Delhi – 27th January, 2016 – Airport Marketing Conference “Air Services Development” was organized by Airports Authority of India (AAI) on 22nd Jan 2016 at Radisson Blu, Mahipalpur, New Delhi.

The conference was inaugurated by Shri P. Ashok Gajapathi Raju, Hon’ble Union
Minister of Civil Aviation in the presence of Dr. Mahesh Sharma, Minister of State for
Civil Aviation and Minister of State for Tourism and Culture (Independent Charge),S Machendernathan, Chairperson AERA, Smt. M. Sathyavathy, DGCA and R.K. Srivastava,Chairman AAI.
The conference was attended by senior officials of Ministry of Civil Aviation, Director General of
Civil Aviation, Airports Authority of India, Airport Economic Regulatory Authority, State
Governments, Customs, Airlines (Domestic & International), Ground Handling Agencies, Freight Forwarders, Oil Companies, Travel and Tourism Industry, FICCI and all other stakeholders and media. The conference was attended by more than 250 delegates.
Speaking at the event, the Hon’ble Minister of Civil Aviation said that India is on the path of growth providing immense economic opportunities. He called upon all stakeholders to come out with new ideas on air services development for improved air services. Along with growth of air passenger traffic, air cargo also needs to be given due importance. The Minister added that there is a need to plan for future while deriving inspiration from the past.

The Minister also released 2nd Volume of Gagan News Bulletin during this event.Addressing the conference, Hon’ble Minister of State for Civil Aviation and Minister of State for
Tourism & Culture (Independent Charge) Dr. Mahesh Sharma said that with strong middle income group India has strong potential for growth of air services and effective marketing plays an important role in this regard. Highlighting the importance of aviation sector for growth of
tourism he said it is high time that the air connectivity is further improved. He urged all
departments to make joint efforts for improving air services delivery. Speaking on the occasion Director General Civil Aviation, Smt. M. Sathiyavathy said that considering the security scenario, business can be generated only through passengers who use airports. She emphasized on ensuring maximum use of airports and passenger requirements are taken into account. She underlined that proper and trained manpower should be there for management of airports.

R. K. Srivastava, Chairman, Airports Authority of India (AAI), welcomed all stakeholders to
the strategic Airport Marketing Conference. He said that despite the projected growth, India
remains the least penetrative market with 0.4 trips per capita per annum compared to 2 in USA.

He said India has strong 300 million middle income group with disposable income to travel at
least once in a year by air. Stating that India’s strong economic growth projections are likely to ensure the sustenance of traffic trends both in the passenger and cargo, he said AAI is working zealously towards enhancing the capacity to meet the projected growth.

He said that AAI has completed the development of 33 airports. Of these the capacity at 10 airports which was enhanced to 30 million passengers per annum, has already reached the levels of saturation. It require further augmentation. At 23 other airports the capacity has been enhanced to 27.19 mppa. However the utilization is of 17.10 mppa only. At 14 other airports such as Cooch Bihar, Jalgaon, Jaisalmer etc., the created capacity of 5.15 mppa has gone totally unutilized.

He emphasized to leverage the strength and resources of all the stakeholders such as the State
Govt., Airlines, Cargo handlers, etc. so as to use the national assets optimally as significant
Number of airports are either un-served or under-served. This has been the reason to organize
The today’s conference on the marketing of Airports.He said we need to understand each other’s requirements to exploit the existing opportunities. “I, therefore, welcome each one of you to this meet, I welcome your ideas, I welcome your synergetic and collaborative approach, I welcome your participation in our programmes, I Welcome your initiatives, I welcome your enthusiastic involvement, so that together we can march forward in realizing the objective of rendering the aviation industry as a major contributor to the GDP of the nation”.AAI had also organized three sessions and in 1st Session “Synergies / Partnerships between stakeholders for Developing Air Connectivity to un-served and under-served Regional and Remote areas”. Smt. Gargi Kaul, Joint Secretary MoCA, gave a brief overview of the New Aviation Policy emphasizing regional connectivity and Regional Connectivity Scheme. In 2nd Session, “Key Opportunities, Challenges and the way forward for Air Cargo Industry”, the
panel members deliberated at length the current issues emerging on the cargo horizon which gave insight into the importance of the globalization of business transactions by air and the ability of any nation in coming decades to maximize indigenous commercial growth, expand export and attract major investment from around the world and dove-tailing the revised Civil

Aviation Policy by MoCA. In 3rd Session, panel members deliberated “Unlocking Commercial Potential” at airports highlighting the importance of commercial planning at the stage of developing airport infrastructure. The panelist also deliberated the importance of bringing in world practices like awarding concessions from 7 to 10 years instead 3 to 5 years which gives confidence to various concessionaires of world repute.