New Delhi, Sep 23 (IANS): The state-run Airports Authority of India (AAI) Tuesday said it has commenced marketing activity for 29 airports to attract international airlines to start their services there.

AAI marketed these airports at the 20 'World Route Development Forum' held at Chicago, US. According to the state-run company, among the airports identified and marketed were Amritsar, Chandigarh, Jaipur, Lucknow, Leh, Srinagar and Varanasi.

"Enhanced air connectivity through no-frill airports is the upswing in the Indian civil aviation sector as this will not only give boost to the economic growth but will also facilitate availability of infrastructure in the sector," the civil aviation ministry has said in a statement.

Currently, the government is focusing on developing airport infrastructure in tier-III cities. As per the estimates, about 50 such airports are on the anvil.

The five airports included in Phase-I are Tezu (Arunachal Pradesh), Jharsuguda (Odisha), Hubli and Belgaum (Karnataka) and Kishangarh (Rajasthan).

AAI maintains 125 airports - of them 21 international airports, 78 domestic airports, seven customs airports and 19 civil enclaves.

In addition, AAI also provides Air Navigation Services (ANS) at all civil airports in the country.

Currently, Indian airports are handling about 122 million domestic and 47 million international passengers and are poised to handle 217 million domestic and 76 million international passengers by 2020.