Arunachal Pradesh, July 27, 2023: The Ministry of Civil Aviation announced its ‘In-Principle’ approval for the establishment of 21 new greenfield airports under the Greenfield Airports (GFA) Policy, 2008.

According to the policy, any developer, including State Governments, interested in building an airport must identify a suitable site and conduct a pre-feasibility study for the airport’s construction. This process involves submitting a proposal to the central government for ‘site clearance’ followed by ‘in-principle’ approval.

Among the 21 new airports, seven are green international airports: Mopa (Goa), Navi Mumbai (Maharashtra), Noida-Jewar (Uttar Pradesh), Bhogapuram (Andhra Pradesh), Karaikal (Puducherry), Dholera, and Hirasar (Gujarat).

The Airports Authority of India (AAI) has already undertaken the development of Hirasar and Dholera airports at a total cost of Rs 1,405 crore and Rs 1,305 crore, respectively, using its own resources. The remaining greenfield airport projects will be financed by the respective airport developers.

The other 14 airports included in the approval are: Shirdi and Sindhudurg in Maharashtra, Kalaburagi, Vijayapura, Hassan, and Shivamogga in Karnataka, Dabra (Gwalior) in Madhya Pradesh, Kushinagar in Uttar Pradesh, Dagadarthi and Orvakal (Kurnool) in Andhra Pradesh, Durgapur in West Bengal, Pakyong in Sikkim, Kannur in Kerala, and Hollongi (Itanagar) in Arunachal Pradesh.

The Ministry highlighted that several airports, including Durgapur, Shirdi, Kannur, Pakyong, Kalaburagi, Orvakal (Kurnool), Sindhudurg, Kushinagar, Itanagar, Mopa, and Shivamogga, have already been operationalized. The upgradation of airports to international status is carried out by the Airports Authority of India (AAI) and airport operators based on factors like commercial viability, traffic demand, and land availability.