Investigation of critical factors influencing construction of airports: the case of India

Abstract

Airport construction projects are distinctively unique and complex compared to other infrastructure and construction projects. Globally, construction of airports is often associated with large-scale cost and time overruns. However, studies that explicitly delineate the examination of critical factors affecting the airport construction are scant and highly unexplored. This study aims to bridge the knowledge gap by identifying the main factors affecting airport construction in India from clients’ and contractors’ perspectives using factor analysis. Based on a literature survey and expert interviews, questionnaires listing 21 attributes for clients, and 19 attributes for contractors were sent. Critical factors obtained from the analyses are as follows: a) Client-side – Pre-construction phase issues, Multi-organizational involvement issues and External issues; b) Contractor-side – Project implementation issues, Client related issues and Technical issues. The findings are intended to significantly help varied stakeholders to enhance the quality and success rate of future airport construction projects in developing countries.

Keywords:

• Airports in India
• airport construction
• critical factors
• relative importance index (RII)
• factor analysis

Acknowledgement

The authors would like to acknowledge the support from officials of Kannur International Airport Limited (KIAL) and Cochin International Airport Limited (CIAL), especially, Mr. K. P. Jose, Director (KIAL- Engineering), Ms. Jessy Paul, Dy. General Manager (CIAL- Civil Engineering Dept.), Paul J. Kocheril, General Manager (CIAL- Cargo Dept.) and Rajumon P. C., Asst. General Manager (CIAL- Electrical Engineering Dept.) for their valuable support. We also thank all respondents from client-side and contractor-side organizations, including officials from Airport Authority of India (AAI) (Mumbai, Pune, Delhi, Mangaluru) and other client airport organizations, Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL) and Bengaluru International Airport Limited (BIAL). Any omission in this brief acknowledgement does not mean lack of gratitude.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.