The Indian government is targeting a five-fold increase in the country's airport capacity, such that they will be able to handle a billion passenger trips in the next 15 to 20 years.
The finance ministry made the announcement as part of New Delhi's budget for fiscal 2019.
The ministry states that the balance sheet of the Airports Authority of India (AAI) shall be leverage "to raise more resources for funding this expansion".
AAI will also be given Rs40.9 billion ($613 million) over the next 12 months for the construction of new facilities such as hangars, air traffic control towers, terminal buildings, security infrastructure as well as navigational facilities.
"These facilities will increase capacity of airports to handle traffic," says New Delhi, whose major gateways have long suffered from a capacity crunch.
It adds that domestic air passenger traffic grew at 18% per annum over the last three years, and that Indian airlines have also placed orders for more than 900 aircraft over the same period.
Meanwhile, the government will provide Air India with Rs6.5 billion this year as per its turnaround plan. This is less than the Rs18 billion given in 2017.
The state-owned Star Alliance carrier has already received Rs260 billion since 2012, as part of 10-year financial support for the carrier.
In June 2017, New Delhi approved the strategic divestment of Air India, which is saddled with a debt of more than Rs500 billion.
Source: Cirium Dashboard
