Centre Mulls Setting up 100 Cheap Airports

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LUCKNOW: The government decided to set up 50 new cheap airports this year and 50 next year, with an aim to give boost to civil aviation sector and increase air connectivity to tier-II and tier-III cities and also able to deliver on timeframe given by Prime Minster, said KN Srivastava, secretary, Union ministry of civil aviation at a conference held in New Delhi.


While inaugurating the ASSOCHAM's 6th international conference on Civil Aviation & Tourism, Srivastava said, "The state-owned airport operator, would set up the cheap airports in 50 cities in Andhra Pradesh, Jharkhand, Bihar, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Maharashtra."

"Civil aviation ministry has called a meeting of ministers and secretaries of states to finalize the policy of regional connectivity. The meeting is scheduled for September 10 in New Delhi," said Srivastava while addressing the media.

Srivastava also said, "Navi Mumbai, Pune, Goa and Patna airports are facing capacity constraints. On the other hand, Chennai do not suffer from any capacity constraint today but in the next 6-7 years and can also face capacity constraints and that is the only reason that the government is considering Sriperumbudur."

In order to stimulate the air connectivity, airlines are expected to add around 370 aircrafts, worth $27.5 billion, to their fleet by the year 2017, said Srivastava. Moreover, it is estimated that commercial fleet size shall reach 1000 from present 400 by 2020.

"We are committed for the development of the sector and have introduced several policies and regulations to encourage private participation and investments in the sector," said Srivastava.

"To spur the growth of international air travel, the government has taken substantial steps to liberalize and grant traffic rights to Indian carriers to fly to several new destinations across the globe. There are 71 foreign passenger airlines operating in India at 25 airports with 1655 flights per week. In addition, in the year 2012, there were 703 tourist charted flights that carried 1.30 lakh passengers," added Srivastava.

He also mentioned that the Centre is planning to invest over $120 billion in the development of airports infrastructure (construction of new airports, expansion and modernization of existing airports) and development of low-cost airports across the country.

"The government has taken significant measures for providing affordable air-connectivity to remote and interior areas of the country- the northeastern region and tier-II and tier-III cities of India and all these measures will go a long way in providing new avenues to the domestic part of the tourism sector," said Srivastava.

Chandresh Kumari Katoch, minister for culture said, "Cultures serve as the foundation on which the building of tourism can be built. But without good communication and connectivity we will not be able to reach global audiences. Once we have the inflow of international tourists, there will automatically be an increase in trade and commerce."