In a written reply to an unstarred question, Minister of State for Civil Aviation Murlidhar Mohol said airport infrastructure, including passenger terminals, runways, aprons, cargo facilities and other airside infrastructure, is being developed by the Airports Authority of India (AAI) and other airport operators based on traffic growth, operational requirements, airline demand, financial viability and techno-economic considerations.
The minister said India’s airports handled around 420 million passengers during 2025-26, indicating that the country’s installed passenger-handling capacity is currently well above existing traffic levels.
Responding to concerns over congestion, the government said passenger traffic varies across airports depending on seasonal demand, festivals, holidays and airline schedules, which can lead to temporary congestion during peak periods. It added that airport operators continuously monitor traffic and take operational measures to ensure smooth passenger movement.
The Centre said airport infrastructure development forms part of its Viksit Bharat@2047 vision and is being pursued through the development of greenfield airports, expansion of existing airports, revival of unserved and underserved airports under the Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS)-UDAN, and private investment under the public-private partnership (PPP) model.
According to the reply, the government has accorded in-principle approval to 25 greenfield airports, of which 14 are operational, while six proposals have received site clearance.
The government also said 95 aerodromes had been operationalised under the RCS-UDAN scheme as of July 10, 2026. The modified UDAN scheme aims to connect 120 new destinations and serve 4 crore passengers over the next 10 years.Replying to a query on Karnataka, the minister said no proposal has been received from the state government for developing a greenfield airport at Davanagere under the Greenfield Airports Policy, 2008.
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First Published: Aug 4, 2026 8:17 AM IST
