Airport Business Districts – An Indispensable Reality

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of air transportation as the key catalyst in contemporary urban development. Since the concept of airport-side development is comparatively recent, with little or no guidelines, the study perforce was based on the exemplar sampling, the existing Indian norms, as well as the situation on ground in India. During the course of the study, it was revealed that all three airport area growth drivers, i.e., passengers, service-sector businesses and shippers, are steadily increasing in size and economic importance and have several unmet needs which deserve to be addressed systematically. The conclusions also confirm that the world is in the process of ‘learning’ and coding suitable norms of such development in order to avoid lop-sided development or un-controlled urban growth. The key contribution of the study lies in firmly establishing that till such time that an advanced alternative to airport transportation is found, any country’s economic growth, shall be positivel catalyzed by developing Airport Business Districts.