Jewar airport to be inaugurated soon: Naidu

New Delhi, Mar 9 (PTI) The government on Monday informed the Rajya Sabha that Jewar airport in Uttar Pradesh has been granted an aerodrome licence and it would be inaugurated soon.

Replying to supplementary queries on Noida International Airport at Jewar during Question hour, the Minister for Civil Aviation Kinjarapu Rammohan Naidu informed members that there is a time period of 45 days to two months from the grant of aerodrome licence to the start of actual operations, and flights would start operating from the airport soon.

"I am happy to announce that the first aerodrome licence has been given by the DGCA after thorough consultations with other institutions like the Airport Authority of India, a couple of days back. The usual process from now to the start of the operations at the airport, there is a usual time that we keep of 45 days to two months," he informed the house.

After receiving the aerodrome licence, the airport is required to plan a schedule, he said, adding that the whole process takes time.

"Now we are approaching airlines also and telling them to start planning their schedules.

"We are also planning a big inauguration. That will also promote the whole Jewar airport in Uttar Pradesh," the minister said.

Replying to another supplementary query on having an airport at Kapilavastu in Uttar Pradesh, which is linked to Lord Buddha, the minister said the intention of the government has always been to build more airports in the country, and it is exactly with this vision that the Prime Minister has launched the Udan scheme.

"In the last 12 years, we have been able to increase the number of airports in the country from 74 in 2014 to 166 today. This is a number which no other country has been able to match at the speed at which we are constructing airports. And, we are not stopping here. We want to build more airports. We want to extend our airport connectivity to the remotest parts of the country also," Naidu said.

On opening more airports in Telangana, the minister said that one of them is the Mamnoor Airport in Warangal, which is one of the oldest airports in the country. It was in the pre-British era. It was a solid operational airport, and until 1983, Vayudoot was also operational from there, he added.

"We have approximately 700 acres of land, and it can have a length of only 1,800 metres. We want the wide-body aircraft to also operate, and for that, we wanted more land.

"We have requested the state government that an additional 250 acres of land is required, and the state government has given us the land. The airport authority is ready with the planning stage, and very soon we want to lay the foundation stone, and after 2 years, the Mamnoor airport will be operational, and it will be a big airport where wide-body aircraft will also operate from there," Naidu said in the Rajya Sabha.

The minister said the government is also looking at two other areas for having airports in Telangana -- a proposed greenfield Kothagudem airport project in Telangana, and another site, Adilabad airport.

In his written reply to a question on regional airports, the minister said, "At present, there are 164 operational airports in the country. India is one of the fastest-growing aviation markets in the world and is currently the third-largest domestic aviation market".

"In order to address the growing demand and emerging challenges in the sector, the Government of India has undertaken several initiatives, the major ones being as under: (i) The National Civil Aviation Policy was issued by the Ministry of Civil Aviation in 2016 with the objective of creating a conducive ecosystem for the overall growth of the aviation sector in a harmonised manner, covering all sub-sectors, including airlines, airports, Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO), and Flying Training Organisations (FTOs).

"(ii) The Government has launched the Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS)-UDAN scheme in October 2016 to facilitate/stimulate regional air connectivity by reviving unserved and underserved airports in Tier-2 & Tier-3 cities, for making air travel affordable to the masses. Since the commencement of the RCS-UDAN scheme, a total of 663 routes have been operationalised, connecting 95 unserved and underserved aerodromes," the minister said in his written reply.

To further enhance regional connectivity, the government has announced the modified UDAN Scheme to connect 120 new destinations across the country, catering to 4 crore passengers in the next 10 years, Naidu added.

Under the Greenfield Airports (GFA) Policy, 2008, the Government of India (GoI) has accorded "In Principle'' approval for setting up of 24 Greenfield Airports across the country, he said, adding that out of these, 13 Greenfield airports at Durgapur, Shirdi, Kannur, Pakyong, Kalaburagi, Orvakal (Kurnool), Sindhudurg, Kushinagar, Itanagar, Mopa, Shivamogga, Rajkot (Hirasar) and Navi Mumbai have been operationalised. PTI SKC CS SKC BAL BAL