Daijiworld Media Network – New Delhi

New Delhi, Sep 2: The Union government has drawn up a plan to construct 100 new airports across India over the next decade at an estimated cost of around Rs 30,000 crore, Union Civil Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu said.

The new airports will be developed under the Centre’s regional connectivity scheme UDAN (Ude Desh ka Aam Naagrik), aimed at making air travel more accessible and improving connectivity to smaller cities and towns.

Naidu was speaking while inaugurating India’s third ‘hub and spoke’ operation at Ahmedabad Airport in Gujarat. Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel and Deputy Chief Minister Harsh Sanghavi were also present at the event.

The ‘hub and spoke’ model is aimed at providing passengers from smaller cities and different parts of the country with seamless access to international flights and destinations through major Indian airports.

Naidu said the initiative had earlier been launched from Varanasi and Amritsar, where it received a positive response.

Highlighting the expansion of India’s aviation sector over the past 12 years, the minister said the number of operational airports in the country has increased from 74 in 2014 to 166 at present.

He said India had, on average, completed a new airport or airport terminal roughly every 40 days during the period.

Naidu described the expansion as only the beginning, adding that the UDAN scheme had significantly widened India’s air connectivity network.

The Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, approved the launch and implementation of the Regional Connectivity Scheme-Modified UDAN in March this year.

The scheme has a total financial outlay of Rs 28,840 crore, including budgetary support from the Centre, and is aimed at further strengthening regional air connectivity across the country.