With six more airports being elevated or constructed, the number of international airports in the country has increased to 30 in the past seven years, the Lok Sabha was informed on Thursday.
In a written reply, Minister of State, Civil Aviation V. K. Singh said that during the last seven years, four Greenfield airports — Kannur in Kerala, Shirdi in Maharashtra, Kushinagar in Uttar Pradesh and Mopa in Goa — have been constructed as international airports.
Besides, two existing airports namely, Vijayawada and Tirupati in Andhra Pradesh were declared as international airports in the year 2017.
After repeal of the Air Corporation Act in March 1994, the Indian domestic aviation market was deregulated. Consequently, airlines are free to induct capacity with any aircraft type for selecting whatever markets and network they wish to service and operate across the country subject to compliance with the extant guidelines in this regard.
Thus, it is up to the airlines to provide air services to specific places depending upon the traffic demand and their commercial viability, in compliance with the extant guidelines, said the Ministry.
Moreover, as far as the matter of international flight services from these airports is concerned, Indian carriers are free to mount services from any point in India to foreign destinations as per the respective bilateral air services arrangements. Foreign airlines can operate on designated points of call available under the bilateral arrangements.
