The government of India has accorded an 'In-principle approval' for the setting up of 21 Greenfield Airports across the country. Ten such airports have been operationalised so far in the country, the latest being the Manohar International Airport in Goa, which was inaugurated on December 11 last year.

Airports Authority of India and other private airport developers have targeted a capital outlay of approximately Rs 98,000 crore in the airport sector over the next five years for expansion and modification of existing terminals, new terminals, and runway strengthening.

The government will increase the number of airports, water aerodromes and heliports to 200 in the next five years from 145 currently to boost air connectivity, and asked eight states to lower exorbitant VAT on air turbine fuel.

Karnataka will have five new operational airports in the next 18 months. These airports will come up in Koppal, Raichur, Davanagere, Bagalkot and Chikkamagaluru. Two international airports each at Kalyana Karnataka and Kittur Karnataka will come up in the coming days.

Gautam Adani’s group will invest over $150 billion across businesses ranging from green energy to data centres to airports and healthcare as it chases the dream to join the elite global club of companies with $1 trillion valuations.

The Adani group will invest about Rs 10,000 crore in the Ahmedabad airport between 2023 and 2027 to augment its passenger handling capacity by three times, making it a regional hub.

The country is likely to add nearly 80 airports in the next four to five years, the aviation regulator has said, adding that aerodromes meanwhile need to fulfil certain requirements to start the operation of flights

Government has set a target to operationalise 100 airports by 2024 subject to availability of supporting infrastructure such as land, statutory approvals etc. Nearly 68 airports have been operationalised for Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS)-UDAN flights since inception of UDAN scheme.

The government Is working on three more airports in Jharkhand, after the first direct flight between the national capital and Deoghar was flagged off. With the new service, there will be 11 departure flights from Deoghar daily.