Govt grants approval for 26 greenfield airports

NEW DELHI: The government has granted inprinciple approval for development of 21 greenfield airports, Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said on Twitter today.

While the minister did not disclose the names of the approved greenfield airports, the Airports Authority of India had last month floated a 9.87-blnrupee tender for Phase 1 construction of the proposed Dholera International Airport in Gujarat.

The proposed airport in the northern part of the Dholera Special Investment Region is expected to ease traffic over flow at Ahmedabad International Airport 80 km away, apart from serving Dholera and its hinterland. According to reports, a new greenfield airport in Silchar, Assam, is also in the works.

The Ministr y of Civil Aviation is targeting increasing the number of operational airports in the country to 200, from about 100 operational airports at present.