New Delhi: During the last seven years, 6 more airports have been constructed or declared as international airports. There were 24 international airports in the country before 2014, said (Dr) VK Singh (Retd), Union Minister of State for Civil Aviation, on Thursday.
In a written reply to a question in Lok Sabha, Singh said during the last seven years, four Greenfield airports namely, Kannur in Kerala, Shirdi in Maharashtra, Kushinagar in Uttar Pradesh and Mopa in Goa have been constructed as international airports.
“In addition, two existing airports namely, Vijayawada and Tirupati in Andhra Pradesh were declared as international airports in the year 2017,” he added.
After repeal of the Air Corporation Act in March 1994, the Indian domestic aviation market was deregulated. Consequently, airlines are free to induct capacity with any aircraft type for selecting whatever markets and network they wish to service and operate across the country subject to compliance with the extant guidelines in this regard. Thus, it is up to the airlines to provide air services to specific places depending upon the traffic demand and their commercial viability, in compliance with the extant guidelines.
Moreover, as far as matter of international flight services from these airports is concerned, Indian carriers are free to mount services from any point in India to foreign destinations as per the respective bilateral air services arrangements. Foreign airlines can operate on designated points of call available under the bilateral arrangements, he added.
