INDIA. Airports Authority of India (AAI), which is constructing the greenfield airport at Ayodhya in the state of Uttar Pradesh, has called an advertising concession tender for the new travel hub.
The construction of the Ayodhya terminal building, runway and parking areas is expected to be completed in Q2 of financial year 2023-24 and will be inaugurated by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The assigned area for advertising purposes is 1,852sq ft spread across the entire airport premises. The seven-year contract (with a two-year lock-in period) comes with a Minimum Reserved Licence Fee (MRLF) of Rs.214 per sq ft per month.
Initially, the Licence Fee will be for a minimum area of 400 sq ft or actual area, whichever is higher. Subsequently, it will be increased to the full potential.
The financial criteria for the participant should be equivalent to the MRLF of Rs. 53,55,984 (US$640,940) of annual turnover during any two of the past seven years.
On the technical front, the bidder should be an advertising agency with a minimum of two years’ experience and must hold concessionaire rights in mass transit systems such as metro rail, airports, city corporations or shopping malls.
The online submission of tenders is 5 April; technical bids will be opened on 6 April and financial bids will be opened on 19 April.
The existing air strip (measuring 318 acres) that belonged to the State Government had been entrusted to AAI. Construction of the terminal building and upgrading the runway, taxiway and aircraft parking bays began last year.
The 2,200-metre runway will be able to accommodate Code-C aircrafts (up to the equivalent of single aisle Airbus 320/321), the most commonly used in India.
The project is being built at an estimated cost of Rs.242 crores (US$29.34 million) and will serve 600,000 passengers per year with a peak handling capacity of 300 passengers per hour.
The terminal building is spread over 6,000sq m with an apron for three parking bays. Night landing facilities are also being executed for this airport to ensure round the clock operations.
The design of the terminal will be symbolic of the upcoming Ram Mandir temple in the city, which is being built at a cost of Rs.175 crores (US$21 million). The temple is scheduled to be opened for devotees and tourists on 15 January 2024.
The S. Shriram View: An estimated 289 million tourists visited the state of Uttar Pradesh in 2019, including 3.78 million international. The Taj Mahal, one of the seven wonders of the world, situated in Agra had 5.65 million domestic and 800,000 international visitors in the same year.
Once the new temple is inaugurated, it is expected to further propel the tourism potential in the state and in India. The new airport is expected to play a very important role to this effect.
With an ear to the ground, I can say with confidence that almost all the top airlines operating in India have approached the Ministry of Civil Aviation to get a landing slot at the airport and final discussions are underway.
The railway station in the city is being given a huge uplift in order to reflect the temple design. The national and state highways reaching towards the city are being given a huge makeover to attract tourists from all over the world. I saw this with my own eyes when I last visited the town and the temple precincts in June 2022.
The State and Central Governments will pull all the levers possible to make the new temple the most-visited in the country in years to come.
With a huge rush of passengers to visit the city, it is likely the advertising spaces at Ayodhya Airport will mostly be filled by hospitality, retail and F&B clients operating in the state/city as well as many domestic airlines. Once the airport commences international flights in coming years, the incumbent operator will be in a particularly advantageous position. 
*As reported, experienced travel retail and airport commercial executive S. Shriram has joined The Moodie Davitt Report in line with our desire to boost coverage of one of the world’s most exciting and fastest-growing aviation and travel retail markets. He will help develop The Moodie Davitt Report’s coverage across airport and aviation development, travel retail and food & beverage and other travel-related commercial revenues, providing commentary where relevant on key projects and the wider market.
Note: The Moodie Davitt Report is the industry’s most popular channel for launching commercial proposals and for publishing the results. If you wish to promote an Expression of Interest, Request for Proposals or full tender process for any sector of airport or other travel-related infrastructure revenues, simply e-mail Martin Moodie at Martin@MoodieDavittReport.com.
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 This feature forms part of our new Sight Lines section, dedicated to the world of airport and other travel-related Out of Home advertising and communications. It takes the same name as a successful ezine of the same name we published from April 2019 until the pandemic brought much of world travel to a halt. We are delighted to restore it, initially in column form, as the airport advertising sector bounces back with encouraging speed and vigour. All stories are archived under ‘Airport Advertising’ on the home page drop-down menu under ‘Other Revenues’.  Nowhere do the worlds of aviation and advertising converge more than in airports, often to riveting effect. Given how airports serve a crossroads of humanity, across geographies, cultures, religions, ages, advertising serves as a kind of Esperanto of the travel and communications world, a universal language that speaks to a population constantly on the move. Digitisation, once viewed as a threat to traditional airport advertising as millions of consumers looked down at their mobile devices rather than ahead (or up) at traditional advertising formats, has proved instead to be a positive game changer. Airports companies (and other travel infrastructure operators) and their concessionaires are increasingly deploying the flexibility and targetability of digital communication with thrilling impact. We’ll be devoting extensive coverage to this once again burgeoning sector with a surprise or two along the way. To borrow from both journalistic and advertising parlance, watch this space. * Send us your Out of Home advertising and communications stories to Martin@MoodieDavittReport.com |
