Govt plans to have a re-look at airport policy

New Delhi, June 8 (PTI): The government is planning to have a re-look at the airport policy to expedite growth in airport infrastructure, which will require a whopping investment of about Rs 50,000 crore within the next five years, Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel said on Thursday.
"The government is planning to have a re-look at the airport policy to support and expedite growth in airport infrastructure," Patel said after accepting the honorary doctorate degree from the Leeds Metropolitan University in the United Kingdom.
The University has conferred the degree on Patel for his outstanding contribution to the modernisation of India's civil aviation industry, according to an official release here.
"The government is planning to have a re-look at the airport policy to support and expedite the growth in airport infrastructure. The government also proposes to change the FDI policy in certain sectors of aviation to facilitate its growth," he said.
The minister said after America, Japan and Europe, India was poised to install the satellite navigation system GAGAN to be able to handle higher volumes of air traffic safely, it said.
Suggesting that the country could easily have 400 airport Patel said the greenfield airports at Hyderabad and Bangalore would be operational next year, while work was in progress to develop 35 non-metro airports in the country.
"The government's policies too are now clear and strong. It aims at providing healthy competition and a level playing fields to both public and private players," the release quoted him as saying.