20 airports ready for regional flights, says AAI chief

New Delhi, Sep 20 (PTI) As the Centre finalises thecontours for the ambitious ‘Regional Air Connectivity’ scheme,the Airports Authority of India today said as many as 20un-utilised airports were ready to start operations forregional flights. Another 30 airports can be made ready for operationsunder the Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS) by making "someinvestments", AAI Chairman Guruprasad Mohapatra said. Under the scheme, announced in the new civil aviationpolicy, the ministry has proposed capping fares at Rs 2,500for one-hour flights on un-served and under-served routesbesides various financial concessions for airlines. Speaking to reporters here, Mohapatra said 20 unutilisedairports owned by AAI were ready from where flights under RCScan take off. He said the government plans to have no-frills airportsfor regional air services and AAI was studying the designparameters for such aerodromes. RCS refers to operation of an air transport servicebetween any two airports, of which at least one has beendeclared by the Central government as un-served orunder-served, according to the draft rules. There are 394 un-served and 16 under-served airports inthe country. Under-served aerodromes are those which have lessthan seven flights a week. Under the new civil aviation policy, the AirportsAuthority of India would be the nodal agency forimplementation of RCS. Mohapatra said cost of setting up an airport depends onthe size. "Today the construction cost is aboutRs 1,00,000-1,10,000 per sq metre of the terminal building,"he said. About Juhu airport in Mumbai that is at present used forhelicopter operations, he said AAI has appointed a consultantto study the feasibility of using the runway for non-scheduledflight operations. The AAI chief added that since runway extension from oneside was not possible due to land constraints, various otheroptions including extending the runway into the sea, werebeing explored. PTI IAS SRY RGSRY