In a written reply to Rajya Sabha, Union Minister of State for Civil Aviation Lt Gen (Retd) VK Singh said that the latest is the Manohar International Airport in Goa which was inaugurated on December 11 this year.
Since 2018, seven airports including Pakyong (Sikkim), Kannur (Kerela), Kalaburagi (Karnataka), Sindhudurg (Maharashtra), Kushinagar (Uttar Pradesh), Orvakal (Andhra Pradesh) and Donyi Polo (Arunachal Pradesh) airports have been operationalized apart from the inauguration of Manohar International Airport at MoPA, Goa.
The Airports Authority of India has incurred a cost of ₹2504.38 crore in 2017-18, Rs. 4297.44 crore in 2018-19, Rs. 4713.49 crore in 2019-20, Rs. 4350 crore in 2020-21 and Rs. 3724.34 crores in 2021-22 for the construction of these airports, as per ANI reports.
In the year 2018-19, the number of passenger footfall at airports across the country increased by 11.6% as compared to the previous year i.e. 2017-18. Passenger footfall decreased during the pandemic era.
However, post-covid, in the year 2021-22 the trend shows an increase of 63.7% over the year 2020-21, the Minister wrote in his reply.
After repeal of the Air Corporation Act in March 1994, the Indian domestic aviation market was deregulated. Consequently, airlines are free to induct capacity with any aircraft type for selecting whatever markets and network they wish to service and operate across the country subject to compliance with the extant guidelines in this regard.
Thus, it is up to the airlines to provide air services to specific places depending upon the traffic demand and their commercial viability, in compliance with the extant guidelines.
(With ANI inputs)
