Five small airports constructed during 2014-15: Minister

The state-run Airports Authority of India (AAI) has undertaken construction of small airports at five locations during 2014-2015, the government said on Tuesday.

Minister of State for Civil Aviation Mahesh Sharma told the Rajya Sabha during Question Hour that the five airports are at Hubli and Belgaum in Karnataka, Kishangarh in Rajasthan, Jharsuguda in Odisha and Tezu in Arunachal Pradesh.

The minister said a task force has been constituted for identification of other locations based on certain broad criteria such as minimum population of 10 lakh, tourism potential, commercial viability, details of the flight movements in the past, and social obligations.

"The government is open to private participation in the process of providing regional and remote area connectivity to tier-II and -III cities through construction of small airports across the country," the minister said in a written reply.

"However, such consideration depends upon various factors such as willingness of the private players, commercial viability, socio-economic responsibility of the government and support from the concerned state governments," the minister added.