‘₹90,000 crore to be invested in airports over five years’
NEW DELHI: The country’s airports sector is expected to see an investment of ₹90,000 crore in a five-year period, with nearly ₹68,000 crore coming from the private players, a senior official said on Wednesday.
The civil aviation sector, which was battered by the coronavirus pandemic that had also resulted in the suspension of domestic and international flight services, is slowly on the recovery path and the daily domestic air traffic is nearing the pre-Covid level of 4 lakh.
Civil Aviation Secretary Rajiv Bansal said investments totalling ₹90,000 crore will be made for airports over the five-year period, starting 2020-21.
Out of the total amount, around ₹20,000-22,000 crore will be invested by the Airports Authority of India (AAI), while the remaining amount of about ₹68,000 crore would be from the private sector.
The government expects to have 220 operational airports over five years and will include heliports. Currently, there are 136 operational airports in the country, and many aerodromes are in the works.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will lay the foundation stone for the new airport at Jewar in Uttar Pradesh on Thursday.
Among others, a new airport at Mopa in Goa is expected to be ready next year, and an aerodrome is also coming up at Navi Mumbai in Maharashtra. Besides, expansion works have also been taken up at Delhi, Bangalore and Hyderabad airports.
“Our (civil aviation) sector will rebound... We will grow faster than earlier,” Bansal said.
After reporting operating loss last year, the airport infrastructure sector in the country is expected to turn around this year with an operating profit of ₹3,200 crore, driven by a likely 82-84% growth year-on-year in air passenger traffic during the period, according to a report by rating agency ICRA.
The agency also said that due to the Covid pandemic, the ongoing capacity expansion plans at the major airports are expected to be delayed by 12-18 months.