Union Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia on Thursday announced a 100-day (from August 30 to November 30) ambitious roadmap to improve the aviation infrastructure in India. Under the plan, four new airports at Agartala, Kushinagar, Jewar in Greater Noida, and a second terminal building at Dehradun — will be constructed in the next 100 days. Six heliports and commissioning of 50 new commercial routes under the Udan scheme too are part of the plan.
Addressing a press conference, Scindia said the Centre has allocated Rs 255 crore to make Kushinagar airport in Uttar Pradesh operational and landing and take-off of Airbus 321 Boeing 737 flights. “Kushinagar will become the focal point of Buddhist tourism circuit,” he said.
Once this airport begins operating international flights, it will become third functional international facility in the state. At present, two international airports — Chaudhary Charan Singh International Airport at Lucknow and Lal Bahadur Shastri International Airport at Varanasi — are operational in the state while another one is coming up at Jewar in Gautambudh Nagar.
The minister said a new terminal will come up at Dehradun airport in Uttarakhand, to facilitate passenger capacity from the existing 250 to 1,800 after the Centre pumped in Rs 457 crore for its upgradation. He also said that Agartala airport will also be upgraded to increase its capacity from 500 passengers per hour to 1,200 per hour at an estimated cost of Rs 490 crore.
He said a new airport at Jewar in Uttar Pradesh will come up and the government has earmaked Rs 30,000 crore for it. The airport is expected to have a capacity of two crore passengers every year.
Out of the 50 new routes under UDAN, 30 new routes will be launched by October, the minister said. Of the 30 new routes, Alliance Air will launch six new routes, IndiGo and SpiceJet will launch four new routes each. In addition, Big Charter and Star Air will launch eight new routes each. The minister said he has set infrastructure and policy targets which will be implemented by November 30. Scindia confirmed that 50 new routes will be launched under the centre’s regional connectivity scheme Udan.
The minister also said that the probe report on the plane crash at Kozhikode airport last year will be made public in the next couple of days.
As the Government moves ahead with Air India disinvestment, Scindia said the deadline for submission of financial bids will be September 15, indicating that there will be no extension for submitting the bids.
While he announced a new policy for Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO) activities, he asked for VAT on ATF (Air Turbine Fuel) to be rationalised within the range of 1-4%. ATF price is a key component that has a bearing on the operating cost of airlines
Scindia also said the probe report of the plane crash at Kozhikode airport last year has been submitted to the civil aviation ministry. The Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) probed the accident.