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India to Spend £46.75 Billion to Build 100 Airports

In an attempt to improve domestic and international air connectivity, India aims to build 100 airports at a planned cost of £46.75 billion in the next 10 to 15 years, said Indian Civil Aviation Minister Suresh Prabhu on Tuesday (04).

India’s aviation sector is one of the fast growing around the globe. The new airports would be constructed through public private partnership, the minister added.


The minister also noted that his government is working for a cargo policy.

India’s air passenger market continue to post positive growth in the July 2018, according to the latest data released by the International Air Transport Association (IATA).

India’s domestic air revenue passenger kilometers (RPKs) growth topped the chart when compared to the other countries of the globe for the 12th time in 13 months in July, and posted its 47th consecutive month of double-digit growth (18.3 per cent) year-on-year basis.

“Meanwhile, China’s growth performance wasn’t far behind that of India, with domestic RPKs up 14.8 per cent compared to July 2017. Demand continues to be supported in both cases by structural changes, including ongoing rises in living standards, as well as sizeable increases in the number of airport connections within the respective countries. The latter translates into time savings for passengers and has a similar stimulatory impact on demand as reductions in fares,” IATA data said.

India is expected to overtake Germany, Japan, Spain and the UK within the next decade to turn into the third largest air passenger market in the world, according to IATA.

Indian airlines are likely to witness combined losses of up to £1.48bn in the current fiscal year led by full-service carriers such as Air India and Jet Airways as a result of by jumping costs and low air fares, aviation consulting firm CAPA India said in a report on Monday evening (03).

The latest estimation for the year ending March 31 is higher from an estimated projection of £335.15 million to £358.53m. The sector-wide loss in January is due to the downward movement of rupee against the dollar and continues hike in crude oil prices, CAPA added.

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