30 new airports to come up in 15 mths, country's 100th coming up in Sikkim

AAI to develop airports jointly with state govts under UDAN scheme at a cost of up to Rs 800 mn each, 31 helipads also on cards

As many as 30 new airports are likely to come up in the country in next 15 months as Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to inaugurate the country's 100th airport at Pakyong Airport in Sikkim later this month. 

"The new airports will be in addition to 100 airports already operational. Airports Authority of India (AAI) will develop the airports jointly with the state governments under UDAN scheme. The investment at each airport will come around Rs 300 million to Rs 800 million," said AK Pathak, member (planning), AAI. 

In addition, about 31 new helipads will be developed as the bids were received for providing helicopter services also under the UDAN (Ude Desh Ka Aam Nagrik) scheme, he added.

Pathak said that new airport in Jharsuguda district will be inaugurated by Prime Minister of India on September 22.

  

The Jharsuguda airport is developed by AAI in collaboration with state government at an estimated cost of Rs 2.10 billion.  

With a 2,390-meter-long runway, the airport will be able to park AB-320 type aircraft and Boeing aircraft.

The area of terminal building of the airport is 4,000 square metre and has five check-in counters and one arrival carousel with peak hour handling capacity of 300 passengers.

Pathak said that we have plans to handle 20 million passengers annually at the Jharsuguda from about 0.9 million passengers now.

Jharsuguda will be the second airport to become operational in Odisha after Bhubaneswar and provide necessary connectivity to Bhubaneswar, Raipur and Ranchi under UDAN. 

In Odisha, other than Jharsuguda, three more airports, namely, Jeypore in Koraput district, Rourkela in Sundargarh district and Utkela in Kalahandi district are being developed to provide connectivity to remote and far flung areas of the state.

For revival and upgradation of these four airports within the state, Rs 3.7 billion has been allocated under the UDAN scheme.