Too many jets vying for too few slots show India’s airport woes

At last week’s Farnborough Air Show, an Indian carrier placed a US$7.7b order while an additional $72b of contracts are in the offing. The next challenge: Finding landing and parking slots for these planes. As air travel heats up in the world’s fastest-growing major aviation market, infrastructure has failed to keep pace with traffic growth fuelled by rising incomes and affordable fares. The average time an aircraft spends circling before it can land in Mumbai during peak hours is about 45 minutes to an hour, versus 25 minutes for Singapore and zero for Qatar. India plans to invest $5b to improve airport infrastructure, which is "inadequate" compared with China’s proposal for $130b in 15 years, a June research paper by KPMG and the Associated Chambers of Commerce of India said. <br/>