• 90 new small airports in next 12 months

    India will push to get 90 new airports up and running over the next 12 months, under a government plan to service smaller cities that have missed out on the country’s air travel boom, officials said.

    Prime Minister Narendra Modi wants to accelerate growth in the world’s fastest expanding aviation market while encouraging airlines like IndiGo, SpiceJet and Jet Airways to fly more people to and from smaller, often poorer cities.

    Scores of new airports have been built around the country but many are yet to open because airlines do not see sufficient demand as ticket prices are too high for a majority of Indians.

    That has raised worries the government is building infrastructure few can afford to use. Civil aviation ministry officials, however, said the government has identified 30 recently-built airports, and another 60 nearing completion, that it says it can get airlines to start flying to soon.

    Individual states will offer free land and emergency service support to all newly built airports, while landing charges and taxes on aviation fuel will be kept at low levels, they said. Matthew Spencer Womens Jersey

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