Duty-free shops, hotels, conference centres and cargo handling are among several potential sources of such revenue that is being planned to be tapped, just as it is being done most profitably in airports around the world. "Worldwide, airports are becoming big business centres offering numerous services for the corporate traveller," AAI chairman DV Gupta, told India Abroad News Service.

In keeping with this international trend, the AAI will concentrate on generating more revenue from non-aeronautical sources, he said. Gupta cited the example of airports in Tokyo, Hong Kong and Singapore where non-aeronautical services account for more than 70 per cent of the earnings.

In comparison, non-aeronautical revenue for Indian airports is quite meagre. "The AAI earns roughly 38 per cent of its revenues from non-aeronautical sources," Gupta said. Gupta, who was here to chair a meeting of chief executive officers (CEOs) of Asian airports under the Airports Council International (ACI), used the occasion to brainstorm with his counterparts from Hong Kong, Singapore and Sharjah on the generation of revenue from non-aeronautical sources. "We shared our experiences on airport economics, safety and environmental issues," he said.

In 1998-99, the latest year for which figures are available, the AAI earned a profit of Rs 208 crore on a turnover of Rs 1200 crore. Most of these profits came from the airports in Mumbai, Delhi and Chennai. Gupta, however, refused to divulge figures for individual airports like Mumbai and Delhi.

The AAI is banking on duty-free shops to increase earnings at a time when declining tariffs threaten to erode the profitablity of such ventures. The CEOs under the banner of ACI, however, are confident that such shops will continue to bring in more money to airports. "It will take some time before lower tariffs become applicable all around the world," said Alexander Strahl, president of ACI and CEO of Geneva airport. According to him, airports in Europe survived the emergence of the European common market by offering more services to business travellers. "Duty-free shopping today is only a part of revenue generation," Strahl said.

The AAI has also embarked on a programme to implement ISO 9000 standards and practices at Indian airports. "We plan to upgrade each airport individually in order to meet ISO 9000 standards," Gupta said.

-- IANS