Centre recently announced a regional connectivity scheme to encourage flying. (Representational Image)
Highlights
- Currently both states are served by international airport in Hyderabad
- The new Telangana airport will be built at Kothagudem in Khannam
- Centre has announced a regional connectivity scheme to encourage flying
Andhra Pradesh will soon have three new airports, including an international airport in Bhogapuram near the port city of Vishakhapatnam, while India's newest state Telangana will have one more.
Currently both states are served by the international airport in shared capital Hyderabad, which will revert to Telangana 10 years after the bifurcation of a single state created the two neighbours in 2014.
Apart from Bhogapuram, the two cities cleared for new airports by the civil aviation ministry today in Andhra Pradesh are Dagadarthi in Nellore district and Orvakallu in Kurnool. The state already has five domestic airports.
The new Telangana airport will be built at Kothagudem in Khannam, about 275 km away from Hyderabad.
The International airport at Bhogapuram will be developed by the state government in a public private partnership or PPP at an estimated cost of Rs 2200 crore and will cater to 6.3 million passengers a year initially, the government said.
The other two airports in Andhra Pradesh will be developed as domestic no-frills airports at an estimated cost of Rs 88 crores each.
All the four airports cleared today are greenfield airports, which means they will be built from scratch starting with identifying land for them. Together, they will cost Rs 2,376 crore to build, the ministry said.
The Centre has recently announced a regional connectivity scheme to encourage flying and link more sectors by air under its new civil aviation policy, which provides incentives to airlines and airports, while capping fare at Rs 2,500 for one-hour flights.