New Jaipur airport overcomes 150-km rule

Ranju Sarkar / New Delhi March 25, 2010, 1:20 IST

The government has accorded ‘in-principle’ approval to Rajasthan Aviation Infrastructure (India) for setting up a greenfield airport at Viratnagar, Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel said in Parliament on March 12. The company received an in-principle approval from the government on February 15.

A steering committee, comprising representatives from the ministries of civil aviation, defence, home affairs, economic affairs and revenue, as well as those from the meteorological department, Airports Authority of India, directorate general of civil aviation, and the state governments, had approved the airport on May 28, 2009, after it got necessary approvals.

The government, in its greenfield airports policy unveiled in 2008, had said if an airport was proposed within 150 km of an existing facility, such cases would be examined on a case-to-case basis and the same would be considered by the steering committee.

The proposed airport is to come up at Viratnagar, 63 km from Jaipur and 167 km from the Delhi airport. It got the approval as the existing airport is constrained to expand, and is likely to be saturated by 2013-14. This is despite a new terminal it added recently.

The existing Jaipur airport is one of the fastest-growing in the country, and has recorded almost five-fold growth in passenger traffic in the last five years. It has no taxiways and can’t take twin-aisle, wide-bodied aircraft that many international airlines use. The airport is flanked by National Highway 24 on one side and residential colonies on the other.

“It’s a blessing in disguise for Jaipur. The new airport will not be competing with the existing one but will complement it,” said Nikhil Gupta, a Jaipur-based businessman and joint MD, Rajasthan Aviation, and one of its two original promoters.

Luckily, the new airport will be beyond 150 km of the Delhi airport, and India is at the centre of the traffic between Europe and East Asia, said Yogesh Garg, CEO, Rajasthan Aviation, who is the second promoter.

Over 560 planes fly past India, said Gupta.

The new airport will use its location to position itself as a multi-modal logistics hub with a key focus on cargo. The airport (to come up at a site near Sahapura, on the Delhi-Jaipur highway) will be flanked by the dedicated freight corridor (DFC) the one side and the National Highway 8 on the other. DFC will provide the port connectivity.

http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/new-jaipur-airport-overcomes-150-km-rule/389684/