Modernisation of 35 non-metro airports to be completed by March 2010

New Delhi: The target date for the Airports Authority of India (AAI) to complete the modernisation of 35 non-metro airports is March 2010, the Minister for Civil Aviation, Mr Praful Patel, said in the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday.

The Minister added that new terminal buildings that could be expanded on a modular basis were being constructed at a number of airports, including Thiruvananthapuram, Madurai, Mangalore, Tiruchi, Visakhapatnam, Agatti, Varanasi, Khajurao and Goa, among others. Besides, modification or expansion of existing terminal building is being done at 11 airports, including Coimbatore, Nagpur, Vadodara, Pune and Jammu, Mr Patel said.

In addition, air side work including expansion and strengthening of runway for wide bodied aircraft operations, extension and new construction of apron for parking more aircraft, link taxiways and parallel taxi tracks are being taken up at these airports as per the requirements there, the Minister added.