500 new airports planned

Civil aviation minister Praful Patel, has said that the government has plans to touch 100 operational airports by 2008 and was working to create at least 500 small and big airports across the country.

Under Patel's tenure, the number of operational airports in the country has gone up from close to 40 in 2004 to 81 at present. Calling aviation a sunrise economy, Patel said around US $150 billion was expected to be invested in the aviation sector in the next few years.

Patel was speaking at the inaugural session of the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad (IIM-A)'s business school summit, Confluence, which is being held with the theme 'India towards economic leadership'.

"Airports drive economy. The reason domestic tourism has not taken off in India is because of air connectivity. It is much easier to travel from Ahmedabad to London than from Ahmedabad to Guwahati, which is indicative of the condition of inter-state travel in the country," said Patel.

Elaborating the theme of the business summit, Patel said that while the IT sector and telecom had renewed respect for India and created redefining moments, there was much left to do.

Highlighting the oil sector, Patel said that the sector needs introspection. "Unless we work on our oil sector, we are not going to be a stable economic power in the long run," the ministry added.