Airports driving new urbanisation patterns
Business Standard The economic multiplier effect of airport construction is estimated to be around six times the capital invested in an airport Jayant Sinha & Akhilesh Tilotia In the previous century, Jawaharlal Nehru proclaimed dams and factories as the ‘temples of modern India’. As the Indian economy becomes more service intensive and rapidly globalises to become a major player in goods and services, trade and foreign investments, connectivity is of paramount importance. In this century airports can be said to be the ‘temples of New India’ welcoming trade, ideas and investments. India is expanding the reach of its Ude Desh Ka Aam Naagrik (UDAN) scheme which brings airline services closer to many cities. Air travel is becoming cheaper as fuel prices remain low and operating costs are brought down through industry-friendly policies, airlines are significantly expanding capacity bringing many new passengers to the aviation network. A sophisticated analysis done by Google (u