Indian aviation sector is likely to see an investment of Rs.1 lakh crore in the next five years with an aim to increase the capacity of the airports. The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs gave its approval on Wednesday towards the expansion and upgradation of the terminals in Guwahati, Chennai and Lucknow airports. The Airport Authority of Indian mentioned that they are working on the upgradation of several other airports as well.

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AAI chairman Guruprasad Mahopatra stated that the expansion work is already in progress in Agartala, Guwahati, Pune, Port Blair, Vijaywada, Lucknow, Chennai, Patna, Trichy, Srinagar, Dehradun, Leh, Jaipur, Mangaluru, Goa, Kolhapur, Varanasi, Jabalpur, Calicut, Rupsi, Imphal and Bhubaneswar. Additionally, work has already been awarded for Calicut, Agartala, Guwahati and Port Blair. With regard to airside infrastructure, the extension and strengthening of runways, as well as construction of new apron bays in order to meet the demand from airline operators who have placed orders for 900 aircrafts in the next decade, is already planned by AAI.

It will require capex of Rs.20, 178 crore within the next five years. An investment of Rs.25, 000 crore has been planned in the next five years at private and joint venture airports. Additionally, Greenfield airports are being planned in Mopa in Goa, Navi Mumbai, Bhogapuram in Andhra Pradesh, Jewar in NCR, Dholera in Ahmedabad, Purandar in Pune and Hirasar in Gujarat at a cost of Rs.50,000 crore.

The Lucknow airport will have an integrated terminal with an area of 88,000 sqm along with the current terminal building of 16,292 sqm. It will also have an annual capacity to handle 2.6 million International and 11 million domestic passenger traffic. This new building will cater to the needs of passenger growth up to 2030-31.