The Hindu Business Line : Govt plans to make 327 airstrips operational

The consultants report is expected to list out the investment needed in terms of land and other assets, apart from suggesting a road map for development.

Ashwini Phadnis

New Delhi, May 14 The Airports Authority of India has sought expression of interest from consultants to provide advisory services and carry out pre-feasibility studies on which of the 327 non-operational airports and air strips can be made operational again. The study is to be conducted on airports and airstrips that are either privately owned or with State governments, the Army or Indian Air Force.

The airports include at least 35 in South India, including Arakonam, Ramnad, Cholavaram, Chettinad, Kayattar and Neyveli in Tamil Nadu; Bellary, Ammasandra, Bidar, Hospet, Gulbarga, Jakur, Kolar and Yehlanka in Karnataka and Adilabad, Aleru, Dundigal, Hakimpet and Nagarjuna Sagar in Andhra Pradesh.

“Some of the airports are non-operational because of constraints of low traffic and limited investments, others because there is no commitment on the part of scheduled airline operators, limited infrastructure and also because they have not been in use for so long that they require major development works,” said a senior Government official.

The consultants report is expected to list out the investment needed in terms of land and other assets, apart from suggesting a road map for development and methodology to be adopted for providing air connectivity in a phased manner.

Official sources told Business Line that a similar study is also planned for airports and air strips owned by AAI. The completion and implementation of the study will help implement the Government plans of having an airport grid around the country so that no passenger is more than 50 km away from an airport.

The move to revive these non-operational airports comes shortly after the Government promoted the concept of regional airlines which seeks to boost air connectivity between tier-II and tier-III cities.

Besides, several of the non-operational airports being surveyed are in areas such as Baramati and Dhulia in Maharashtra and Dhanbad and Bokaro in Jharkhand, Raipur, which are seeing considerable economic development. The revival of airstrips or airports is likely to give a further fillip to economic activity there, officials said.

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