The Airports Authority of India (AAI) has unveiled an Rs190bn ($2.67bn) plan to modernise the ailing airport infrastructure across the country.
AAI will invest the funding over the next three years to upgrade airport infrastructure, focusing on India’s smaller cities.
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A senior AAI official told The Economic Times: “We are not making investments in just smaller airports but also airports like those in Kolkata and Chennai.
“While work on upgrade at many airports has begun, work at some of the others will begin soon.”
Under the plan, AAI will construct 273 parking bays at 24 airports in order to resolve airline parking difficulties.
“We are also building a lot of parking bays at airports like the one in Kolkata to provide enough parking for planes that airlines plan to induct,” another official told the publication.
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By GlobalDataThe parking slots will be equally distributed across the country, with nearly 82 in the south, 70 in the east and north-east, 61 in the north, and 60 in the west.
The investment will also be used to improve runway capacity and construct a new terminal building.
The state-owned agency is also working to set up new airports in Gujarat’s Rajkot, Jharkhand’s Dhalbhumgarh, and Hollongi and Halwara in the north-east.
“We are seeking funds from market through debt and other modes to fund these projects. Some of the funding will also come from our profits,” an AAI official the newspaper.
AAI currently holds a cash reserve of nearly Rs150bn ($2.11bn). It may use this cash reserve to raise money at a competitive rate.
