On June 7 in New Delhi, India’s Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia declared that the country will soon have between two hundred and two hundred and twenty airports, heliports, and water aerodromes.
At a press conference in Delhi, the minister said that just 74 airports had been functional across the nation up till that year. By March of 2023, however, an additional seventy-four airfields, rotorports, and seaplane bases will have been set up.
Including the recently declared Tirupati, Vijayawada, Kushinagar, and Mopa Airports as international airports, which brings the overall number of international airports in India to 30, Scindia highlighted the goal of attaining a total of 220 airports by 2024-25.
The minister also stressed continued efforts to improve metro airport capacity, with plans to raise total capacity from the present 221 million passengers per year (MPPA) to over 456 MPPA in the next decade.
Airports including DIAL, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, and Chennai all have expansion projects either finished or in progress. Capacity increase in both Delhi and Mumbai would be aided by the planned Greenfield Airports in Jewar and Navi Mumbai, he said.
Scindia also noted the significant growth in Greenfield airport construction during the previous nine years, with 11 being fully functional. Dholera and Hirasar in Gujarat are among the eleven Greenfield airports that have received “in-principle approval,” as the minister put it.
The minister remarked on the dramatic rise from nine airports in 2014 to the present total of seventeen airports in the northeastern states.
Airports like Hollongi, Ziro, Pasighat, Dibrugargh, Tezpur, Pakyong, etc. are among the latest additions.
Scindia made reference to the National Infrastructure Pipeline (NIP), which is expected to need a capital expenditure (CAPEX) of more over Rs 98,000 crore between Financial Years 2019–20 and 2024–20.
Under the PPP concept, the Airports Authority of India (AAI) is tasked with contributing about Rs 25,000 crore, while the rest costs are shouldered by airport developers. Spending as of March 2023 is at Rs 53,655 crore. He said, “Over the past nine years, the AAI has spent over Rs 20,000 crore on capital expenditures to strengthen the civil aviation sector.”
Over the next five years, India is expected to see a dramatic increase in its airport infrastructure, with over 200 new airports being built. A lease procedure for 29 planes is also beginning, the minister said, at Gujarat’s carefully designed financial and technological centre, GIFT City.
