Put low-cost airport projects on hold due to feasibility issues: Aviation Minister Raju

Only four of the 50 proposed airports being developed

Union civil aviation minister P Ashok Gajapathi Raju said on Tuesday that the government has put low-cost airport projects on hold due to feasibility issues.

The previous United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government had planned to develop 50 low-cost airports in non-metro cities across the country.

“Developing 50 no-frills airports is a very ambitious plan. Four of them are coming up. We are having a re-look at it (the rest of the airports). We don't want one airport to kill another one,” Raju said at the ?Aviation Day’ event here today.

“As of now, barring four, rest are in cold storage. We need to unfreeze them keeping economics in mind,” he added.

Business Standard had reported on April 20 that of the 50 centres identified by the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government in 2013, work will continue on low-cost airports - in Karnataka, Rajasthan, Arunachal Pradesh and Odisha - where construction has already been sanctioned.

The NDA government has set a new criterion that a minimum population size of one million be the basis for selection of towns where these new airports would be constructed. It is looking into the financial viability of setting up such airports in non-metro cities before considering new proposals.

The previous government had in June 2013 decided to build low-cost airports at 50 cities and towns of Assam, Jharkhand, Bihar, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Rajasthan and Maharashtra. This was aimed at enhancing connectivity in regional and remote areas, mainly in Tier-II and -III cities.

The cost of developing each of these airports was estimated at Rs 100-150 crore.