The Union Cabinet on Monday approved a proposal to revive 50 unserved and under-served airports as well as airstrips at an estimated cost of Rs 4,500 crore.
Through this plan, the government is looking to enhance air connectivity to small cities and towns while the revival of such airports and airstrips would be "demand driven". The proposal was approved by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
"The total cost of the project is estimated to be Rs 4,500 crore. 15 airports/airstrips each would be revived during 2017-18 and 2018-19 each while 20 airports/airstrips would be revived during 2019-20," an official statement said.
While noting that revival plan would be demand driven, the government said it would depend on firm commitment from airline operators as well as the state governments in terms of providing various concessions. The unserved and under-served airports are to be developed "without insisting on financial viability", the statement added.
In the Union Budget 2017-18, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had announced plans for making adequate provisions for revival of unserved and under-served airports.
To make flying more affordable, the government has already unveiled the ambitious regional connectivity scheme UDAN (Ude Desh Ka Aam Naagrik) under which fares are to be capped at Rs 2,500 for one-hour flights.
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