India’s aviation regulator has stated that the country could add nearly 80 new airports in the next four to five years. India’s annual aviation sector growth rate currently sits at around 9% but is likely to reach double digits in the coming years.
In the last eight years alone, the number of airports in the country has increased from 74 to 141. This number is expected to shoot up to around 220 in the next half a decade with all the new airports that have been planned.
While new airports are expected to support India’s growing aviation market, the civil aviation ministry has a much larger vision. One of them is to possibly develop an aviation hub in India, with the government planning to create an ecosystem to support such a development in the future.
While Indian airports often feature in the list of busiest and well-maintained airports, they’re nowhere near some of their global counterparts when it comes to offering fast and reliable connections to international passengers.
While there are many challenges to developing a hub airport in India, aviation minister Jyotiraditya Scindia plans to iron out those issues in the coming few years. The larger plan also includes having more than 90 airports that are carbon-neutral by 2024, with a 2030 net-zero emissions target.
