Chennai: Admitting that most airports in India face capacity issues, Union Minister of State for Civil Aviation Jayant Sinha said building an airport is a long-drawn process and in his view India needs to triple its airport capacity.
“In 10 years, we will see four airport hubs coming up in India. Delhi airport is single-largest infrastructure project. We will be adding another runway in Delhi,” he said and announced that the Centre is working towards upgrading Chennai as a global airport.
“Along with Chennai, we are looking at Bengaluru and Kolkata. Already there are about over 100 aircraft movements at the Chennai airport,” he said. The Minister said 14 crore people take flights compared to 13 crore people who travel in air-conditioned train coaches annually and the passenger growth in India averaged around 10 -11 per cent over the last 10 years.
“The fact is we have 75 airports with scheduled services. We plan to double it in the next two to three years to serve the largely untapped domestic aviation industry,” he said while speaking at an event organised by the Southern India Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SICCI).
Mr. Sinha stated that the government has plans to develop regional hub airports providing connectivity to local towns and cities and was also looking to establish a major cargo and manufacturing hub. The BJP had in its 2014 election manifesto announced the UDAN (Uday Desh Ka Aam Nagrik) scheme, through which the Centre will expand the number of airports, the minister said, delivering the 3rd G. Ramachandran memorial lecture in the city.
The Government on July 1 had unveiled a draft UDAN scheme, fixing an all-inclusive fare at '2,500 for one-hour flights to try and make flying affordable for the common man. Mr. Sinha said the government would raise about ' 400 crore to run the UDAN air connectivity scheme.
The government was asking airlines to bid for these routes that provide connectivity to other major airports. Airlines that bid with the lowest rates would be awarded the route, he said.
The scheme was aimed at developing regional routes that are “underdeveloped” with increased profitability, he said. “When bids are finally given out in January 2017, we will create an entirely new regional market,” he said.
