(a) whether the Government proposes to start flight services from Purnea and Rajgir in Bihar, if so, the details thereof along with the areas to be benefitted therefrom;
(b) whether a number of airports have been started during the last three years across the country; and
(c) if so, the details thereof, location-wise?
The Minister of State (IC) in the Ministry of CIVIL AVIATION
(Shri Hardeep Singh Puri)
(a): Ministry of Civil Aviation has launched Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS) - UDAN (Ude Desh ka Aam Nagrik) to stimulate regional air connectivity and making air travel affordable to the masses. UDAN is a market driven scheme. The interested airlines based on their assessment of demand on particular routes submit their proposals at the time of bidding under UDAN from time to time. Purnea is an Indian Air Force (IAF) airport. No valid bid was received in respect of Purnea airport in Bihar in UDAN 1.0. Meanwhile the airport went for major repair/upgradation. As informed by IAF, the airport would be available for any civil operations once it is ready. If any valid bid is received in future rounds of bidding under UDAN scheme, the same will be considered as per the provisions of the scheme document. There is no proposal under consideration in the Ministry for Rajgir airport.
(b) and (c): Three new greenfield airports namely, Pakyong in Sikkim, Kannur in Kerala and Kalaburagi in Karnataka have been made functional during the last three years. Further, 56 RCS airports including 5 heliports, 2 water aerodromes and the above three greenfield airports have been operationalized for operating RCS flights across the country. Out of 56 RCS airports, 37 number of RCS airports are unserved airports and commercial operations have started for the first time at these airports. State-wise list of these airports is at Annexure.