Prime Minister Modi has talked about improving air connectivity in the country, a step that would require a total of 200 additional airports in the distant future. For this purpose, Airports Authority of India (AAI), the force behind the country’s civil aviation infrastructure has plans of functionalise almost 50 airports over the next 10 years.
For identifying the airports that need to be operationalised in tier 2 and tier 3 cities across the country, Indian government has constituted an inter-ministerial task force. "In order to meet the objective of inclusive growth, the government plans to enhance regional and remote connectivity in a time-bound manner. To augment air connectivity throughout India, more than 200 operational airports are required," RK Srivastava, who serves as the chairman of AAI, told ET.
Srivastava also stated that lastyear, the authority was given a go-ahead to develop five airports at Kishangarh, Belgaum, Hubli, Jharusuguda and Tezu, and work is under process for the same. In the next 10 years, at least 50 additional airports would be functionalised. Presently, we have almost 450 airports and airstrips, which are spread across the length and breadth of the country. However, merely 125 of these are operational, while the rest remain unused for one or the other reason.
We also told you about government’s plan to roll out a standard rate of Rs 2500 per hour for short-distance and regional flights. Planning airports in smaller cities is in sync with this step. However, until and unless these airports are in a viable, working condition, these plans would not bear any fruits.
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