Parliamentary panel against closure of existing airports

A parliamentary standing committee on transport and tourism has recommended that the existing airports in Hyderabad and Bangalore should be kept open even after the new ones come up.
The state-run airports are to be closed under the pacts the government has signed with the developers of the new under-construction airports.
The committee, which tabled its report in Parliament today, is categorical that the logic for the closure of these airports does not hold.
"The estimates and projections (for new airports and closure of older ones) were made on the basis of the 1999 and 2000 statistics when the civil aviation sector was growing at 6 per cent per annum. Today, it is growing at 20 per cent a year. If the present trend continues, in a few years, even the new airports will not able to handle the rush of passengers," the report said, adding the government should, therefore, allow both new and old airports to function with adequate arrangements to allow profitability of both.
06/03/08 Business Standard

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Categories: Airports Mar 2008, New Mar 2008