With air traffic at the Mumbai airport rising and the proposed Navi Mumbai airport getting delayed, the Civil Aviation ministry is planning to revive the Juhu airport to ease the traffic burden.
"Juhu (airport) becomes very important if Mumbai has to maintain its position as the commercial and financial capital of India. Some progress has been made there because Navi Mumbai airport is taking time," Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh told reporters here today on the sidelines of an event.
He said that Santa Cruz airport would not be able to accommodate more traffic after two years.
The land acquisition for the Navi Mumbai airport, which was planned to be operational by 2015-16, is yet to be completed.
However, Maharashtra Chief Secretary J K Banthia, who was also present at the event, said that around 70 per cent land acquisition for the Navi Mumbai airport has been completed and the state government was in the process of relocating high tension wires in the area.
Juhu airport, founded in 1928, was India's first civil aviation airport.
Presently, it is used for small aircraft and helicopters. There are plans to extend it's main runway into the sea to enable it to handle ATR turbo prop planes and even airbus A320 planes.
