Air Force to hand over defence land at 13 airbases to Airports Authority of India for civilian flight operations
Vijay Mohan
Chandigarh, June 3
Four airbases in north India — Chandigarh, Adampur, Leh and Srinagar–are among the 13 airbases across the country where a portion of defence land is being handed over to the Airports Authority of India (AAI) for facilitating civilian flight operations.
“To assist the government’s Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS), Indian Air Force has facilitated working permission and handing over of defence land by the Ministry of Defence to the Airport Authority of India at seven locations,” an IAF officer said today
These include Bagdogra (West Bengal), Darbhanga (Bihar), Adampur (Punjab), Utarlai (Rajasthan), Sarsawa, Kanpur and Gorakhpur (all three in Uttar Pradesh). Approximately 40 acres of land is being handed over for development of civil terminals and necessary airfield infrastructure for commencing RCS flights.
AAI would now be utilising the existing IAF airfields to operate civil flights under the RCS UDAN (Ude Desh ka Aam Nagarik ) scheme. Providing air connectivity at these locations will boost the economy and develop the areas.
A central government venture, RCS UDAN envisions development of regional airports in smaller towns and upgrading under serviced air routes while making air travel affordable and widespread.
The IAF is also in the process of handing over defence land for expansion of civil airports at six other locations over and above those covered under RCS. These are Chandigarh (UT) Srinagar (Jammu and Kashmir), Thanjavur (Tamil Nadu), Leh (Ladakh), Pune (Maharashtra) and Agra (Uttar Pradesh).
According to AAI officials, this will facilitate expansion of the existing terminals and allied facilities to accommodate enhanced number of passengers and cargo infrastructure.
AAI manages 137 airports across the country which includes 23 ‘civilian enclaves’ at defence airfields. These enclaves are airports where the runway, air traffic services and other operational facilities are owned and operated by the ministry of defence, but the terminal building for passengers and parking apron for civilian aircraft belong to the AAI.
