6 airports announced to be operational in next three years

Government of India has accorded ‘In-Principle’ approval for setting up of 21 new Greenfield Airports namely, Mopa in Goa, Navi Mumbai, Shirdi and Sindhudurg in Maharashtra, Kalaburagi, Vijayapura, Hassan and Shivamogga in Karnataka, Dabra (Gwalior) in Madhya Pradesh, Kushinagar and Noida (Jewar) in Uttar Pradesh, Dholera and Hirasar in Gujarat, Karaikal in Puducherry, Dagadarthi, Bhogapuram and Orvakal (Kurnool) in Andhra Pradesh, Durgapur in West Bengal, Pakyong in Sikkim, Kannur in Kerala and Hollongi (Itanagar) in Arunachal Pradesh across the country.;

Out of these, 11 Greenfield airports including 6 airports in last 3 years viz. Orvakal (Kurnool) in 2021, Sindhudurg in 2021, Kushinagar in 2021, Itanagar in 2022, Mopa in 2023 and Shivamogga in 2023 have been operationalized.

Out of the remaining Greenfield airports where ‘In-Principle’ approval has been granted by this Ministry, the probable dates of completion of airports at Navi Mumbai, Vijayapura, Hassan, Noida (Jewar), Hirasar and Dholera are due in next three years.

However, the timelines for construction of airports depends upon various factors such as land acquisition, mandatory clearances, removal of obstacles, financial closure etc. by the respective airport developers.

Airports have emerged as a nucleus of economic activities and have multiplier effect on the economy of the State. The linkage between the Civil Aviation Sector and Economic Growth is well recognized. International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) study shows that the air connectivity has an economic multiplier of 3.1 and employment multiplier of 6.1.

This information was given by the Minister for Civil Aviation & Steel Sh. Jyotiraditya M. Scindia in a written reply to a question in Lok Sabha today.