Statsguru: Building new airports in India's smaller towns and cities

Announcements of new airports in smaller towns and cities come just as passenger trends point to an increased need for attention outside metros.

Passenger traffic has been on the rise, and has crept above pre-pandemic levels for domestic flights over the last few months. International traffic is just below 2019 levels, and so is freight movement (charts 1, 2).


 

The government has announced an in-principle approval for new airports in 21 locations, mostly places outside the metro cities. Around 11 of these airports are already operational. The government has previously announced plans to develop airports under the Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS) — Ude Desh ka Aam Nagrik (UDAN) infrastructure scheme. This would involve investments of Rs. 98,000 crore by 2025 with the majority coming from the private sector.
 

The addition of new capacity comes as fewer available seats are going empty. The bankruptcy of Go First meant that the passenger load factor crossed 90 per cent in May (chart 3). 

The majority of passenger traffic is still restricted to a handful of cities, shows a Business Standard analysis of international and domestic passenger traffic. Cities such as Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Chennai account for over 55 per cent of passengers (chart 4).

Much of the increased passenger traffic has not come from major metros, which have actually seen a decline in passenger traffic since 2018-19. Airports outside the metros have, however, seen more passengers than before (chart 5).

A recent report suggested more inter­national linkages to airports in smaller cities are expected to help tourism. Another positive effect of airport linkages could be increased domestic tourism. Domestic tourists account­ed for nearly 99 per cent of tourist visits to India’s states and Union Territories before the pandemic. Numbers in 2019 had more than trebled over the previous decade (chart 6).