And it has to start planning now as the airport capacity constraint cannot be resolved overnight as it involves land acquisition, approvals and clearances, design, construction and urban planning, among others. These six cities would require new airports by 2025-26 and in some cases, much earlier, CAPA said in its report titled ‘India’s Airport Capacity Crisis’ released early this year. It’s time for the government to start planning for second airports in metros.”The Centre hasn’t yet talked about building a second airport at Bengaluru, Chennai, Kolkata and Hyderabad. Last year, Bhiwadi in Rajasthan was given site clearance for a second airport in the national capital region and the Uttar Pradesh government has also proposed an alternative airport at Jewar. Although foreign airport operators have shown limited interest in recent airport tenders, Singapore’s Changi airport was keen on modernising Jaipur and Ahmedabad airports.

Source: The Hindu September 25, 2016 16:30 UTC