MODI’S PLAN HITS SNAG
Work on building new airports, upgrading existing facilities has failed to keep pace
THE slow pace of fitting out regional airports risks delaying Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ambitious plan to launch more flights connecting smaller towns and cities and get millions more people using air travel.
The programme aims to boost economic growth by refurbishing idled colonial-era airstrips or building newer airports, and incentivising airlines to offer discounted fares to connect them with bigger cities.
But work on building new airports in small towns and upgrading existing facilities had failed to keep pace, said government officials, and could knock off course the lofty goal of bringing 100 million more passengers to the skies in the next five years.
Under Modi’s “regional connectivity scheme”, the government planned to open 31 new airports by the end of last year, but only 16 are operational so far.
Some states said they did not have enough funds to purchase basic equipment such as mandatory fire tenders, said an official.
In other cases, it was taking longer than planned to build air traffic control towers or set up terminal buildings equipped with baggage scanners and security systems, said the official.
The federal government has now stepped in, and will procure much of the equipment itself and lease it to state governments to get the 15 remaining airports operational by end of this month.
The civil aviation ministry has given approvals, in two phases, to nearly a dozen airlines to start flights on more than 450 routes covering 56 new airports.
But with even the first phase still behind schedule — flights had begun on just 60 of the 128 planned routes — the government planned to delay the start of phase three, said the officials.