India's smaller towns to get a big lift: 29 new airports

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Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. NEW DELHI : India is advancing its efforts to transform smaller towns into aviation hubs, with plans to establish 29 greenfield airports across underserved regions over the next two decades—a first of its kind on this scale. The Airports Authority of India (AAI) has completed feasibility studies for 10 such airports, aiming to link smaller towns with global air routes, two officials aware of the development told Mint.

Gujarat leads the list with nine airports, followed by Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, and Jharkhand. Thirteen other states are each slated to receive one airport under the plan. The plan accounts for long-term passenger growth, aiming to have infrastructure in place over the next 20 years to meet future demand.

In parallel, the government is working on a five-year plan to upgrade or establish new airports in small cities, while also planning second or third airports in metros where current infrastructure is nearing capacity. Read this | Centre prepares 5-year plan for 50+ new airports in smaller cities “Most of these (the 29 proposed) airports have been found to be feasible…The pre-feasibility is being conducted for some of them. The idea is to make these airports capable of handling at least single aisle planes like Airbus 320 and Boeing 737s," said one of officials cited above.