India to handle 336 mn air passengers in 10 years: Ajit Singh

Kolkata: Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh Sunday said the country would handle 336 million air passengers in the next 10 years and 85 million of them would be foreign passengers.

"India has immense potential in the sector of air traffic growth. According to a study, India currently handles 127 million domestic passengers and 41 million foreign passengers. In next 10 years, the number of passengers will increase to 336 million out of which 85 million will be foreign passengers," said Singh.

Addressing the inauguration programme of the new integrated terminal of the Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport here, he underlined the need for better airport infrastructure for better economic growth.

"Civil aviation department is entrusted with developing the infrastructure to meet the air passenger growth in the country. That will help the economic growth of the nation," said Singh.

The first international flight from the airport would take off on January 23 to New York, he said.

The Rs 2400 crore state-of-the-art integrated terminal at the airport has been successfully completed by ITD Cementation India Limited in joint venture with its parent, Italian-Thai Development Public Co Ltd, Thailand.

The new airport terminal has a covered area of 2.33 lakh sq metre with 40 immigration counters, 26 conveyor belts, six customs counters and 18 aerobridges.

Singh also mentioned that his ministry was taking up projects to develop green airports in several parts of the country for better connectivity.


PTI