In a written reply given at Lok Sabha, the Union Minister of Civil Aviation Jyotiraditya Scindia said that the government has provided approval for setting up 21 greenfield airports across India. The permissions are provided according to the norms listed under Greenfield Airports Policy, 2008.
The 21 greenfield airports that received in-principle approvals include Mopa in Goa; Datia in Madhya Pradesh; four airports in Karnataka at Kalaburagi, Bijapur, Hassan and Shimoga; two airports in Maharashtra at Shirdi and Sindhudurg; one in Navi Mumbai; Kushinagar and Jewar in Uttar Pradesh; Karaikal in Puducherry; two in Gujarat at Dholera and Hirasar; three in Andhra Pradesh at Dagadarthi, Bhogapuram and Oravakal; Kannur in Kerala; Durgapur in West Bengal; Pakyong in Sikkim; and Hollongi in Arunachal Pradesh.
While the airports that received approval at Mopa, Navi Mumbai, Shirdi, Jewar, Dholera, Hirasar, Bhogapuram, Kannur and Kushinagar are international airports, the remaining are domestic airports. The minister said that among the 21 approved ones, eight airports are operationalised.
Jewar International Airport is Critical to Support the Growth of Air Traffic
Among the approved ones, Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation for Jewar International Airport in 2021. The airport received approval in May 2018, although the work commenced in 2021. The saturation at Delhi’s Indira Gandhi Airport presented a strong case for a second airport in the national capital region to handle the future traffic, which is estimated to reach its peak capacity of close to 110 million passengers annually within the next decade.
The UP government-appointed Yamuna Expressway Industrial Development Authority (YEIDA) as the implementing agency for the project. The government and YEIDA planned to participate in the construction of a private-public-partnership (PPP) model. The government and YEIDA awarded the development of the airport to Zurich Airport International AG. The first phase is scheduled to open in 2024, which estimated investment of Rs 5,730 crore. The airport will be spread over an area of 5,000 hectares.
In the first phase, the airport will have the capacity to handle 12 million passengers annually with one runway and 25 aircraft stands. The airport’s capacity is expected to increase to 70 million passengers per annum by 2050.
