The government today approved a proposal to build new terminals at three airports of Chennai, Guwahati and Lucknow at a total cost of Rs 5,082 crore as part of plans to improve airport infrastructure in the country.
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA), chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has given approval for expansion and upgradation of integrated terminals at Chennai, Guwahati and Lucknow airports at a cost of Rs 2,467 crore, Rs 1,383 crore and Rs 1,232 crore, respectively, Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad told reporters here.
"The government has taken a historic measure to improve airport infrastructure in the country," the Electronics & IT, and Law & Justice minister said while briefing media about the decisions taken at the Cabinet and the CCEA meetings.
The new terminal building approved for the Chennai airport will have a capacity to handle 35 million passengers per annum and take care of the growth requirement till 2027, Civil Aviation Minister Suresh Prabhu said.
Total built up area of the proposed terminal building at Chennai airport will be expanded to 3,36,000 sq m. The new terminal building will incorporate green building features with an aim to achieve GRIHA-4 Star rating, an official release said.
The proposed terminal building at the Lucknow airport will have a capacity to handle 13.6 million passengers a year and will cater to growth requirements up to 2030-31. It will be a major force multiplier towards Uttar Pradesh's growth, Prabhu tweeted.
The expanded integrated terminal will have an area of 88,000 sq m along with the existing terminal building with 16,292 sq m to handle 2.6 million international and 11 million domestic passenger traffic.
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The new terminal building at the Guwahati airport will have an area of 1,02,500 sqm to handle combined annual capacity (old and new terminals) of 9 million passengers per annum. The building would cater to the requirement of passenger growth up to 2026-27.
"This will encourage investment and tourism in NER (north-eastern region) with thrust on Act East' Policy," the release said.
Prasad said India has witnessed phenomenal growth rate of 18 to 20 per cent in the aviation sector in the last three years. According to IATA Traffic Study, India, at seventh position as of now, is likely to take third position by 2023-24 by overtaking the UK, Japan, Spain and Germany.
The current rate of the growth in domestic aviation sector of India is the highest globally. The aviation market grew close to 30 per cent in April.
"To meet the growing demand, Government of India has launched a new initiative of NABH Nirman (NextGen Airports for Bharat), wherein systems and processes are geared to provide enhanced airport capacity to handle 1 billion trips in the next 10 to 15 years," Prasad said.
The Airport Authority of India (AAI) has already awarded works at Agartala, Calicut, Port Blair towards construction of new integrated terminals and is in the process to immediately approve works for upgradation and expansion of capacity at Chennai, Lucknow and Guwahati airports, according to the official release.
Similarly, upgradation of airside capacity by way of strengthening and extension of runways, construction of new apron bays has been taken up to cater to the demand from airline operators who have placed confirmed orders for almost 900 aircrafts in the coming 10 years.
Under New Greenfield Airport Policy, many major cities are expected to have multiple airports.