Indian airports to attract Rs 1 trillion investment in 4 years

INTERNATIONAL DESK: The Indian government expects an investment of close to a trillion rupees on India’s airports in the next four years, as it aims to get more people to fly, said the aviation minister Thursday.

The aim is to increase the number of airports to 200 from 141 by 2025-26 said Jyotiraditya Scindia as the India Economic Conclave.

Of the planned Rs 98,000 crore, Rs 22,000 crore will be spent by the state-run Airports Authority of India on building terminals and other infrastructure at existing airports, while Rs 3,300 crore will be spent on greenfield airports in Itanagar and locations in Gujarat.

The private sector is expected to spend Rs 67,000 crore on the seven privately run airports apart from greenfield projects in Navi Mumbai, Goa and Greater Noida.

Scindia said the BJP govt has built 67 new airports in the last 8 years, adding to the 74 that were operational when it took over in 2014.

Scindia said air travel demand is rising post Covid. Daily traffic touched 407,000 on Sunday crossing pre-Covid levels for the first time since the pandemic began. Scindia said India handled 144 million passengers in 2019-20 and he expects it to rise to 400 million in 2025-26.

The biggest airports in India will add a passenger handling capacity of 250 million in the next few years, he added.

Scindia said that while jet fuel is now five times higher than what it was two years ago he has been working to ease the tax burden.

He said that when he took over as aviation minister, 12 states were charging VAT between 1%-4% while 24 states levied above 25%. Now 25 states charge 4% or below while 11 states charge high VAT on the fuel.

Jet fuel accounts for 40% of an airline’s operating costs.

Scindia said the government had nothing to do with the Tata Group’s offer to Ilker Ayci to join as the new CEO nor the fall through in talks. Ayci declined the offer after reports surfaced of his alleged links to Al Qaeda.

(The Economic Times)