The Indian government has earmarked US$30bn in funding to develop the country’s airport infrastructure over the next 10 years.
The funding will be allocated as part of a public-private partnership model and be used to modernise existing airports and build new ones.
The first phase of investment will focus on building connectivity to metro cities, while the second phase will develop airports connecting these metro areas with second and third tier cities.
Currently in India six metro airports struggle to handle around 70 per cent of the country’s air traffic. The development of new airports is expected to ease congestion.
India Civil Aviation secretary S N A Zaidi said the government had invested $10bn in airport development in the past 10 years. 'The airports developed under the public-private partnership model are presently handling 60 per cent of the passenger traffic in the country.”
India has seen the total number of operational airports in the country grow from 50 in 2000 to 82 in 2010. Passenger handling capacity during this period increased from 66m to 235m, while air cargo volumes increased to 4.5m tonnes in 2010 compared with 3m tonnes in 2002.
