Wants govt to come up with clear stand on new airports constructed within 150km of existing ones.
The Parliamentary Standing Committee on transport tourism and culture, which has been questioning the closure of the HAL Airport for commercial flight operations since the opening of the Bengaluru International Airport (BIA) in 2008, wants the central government to come out with a clear policy on new airports being constructed within 150km radius of the existing one.
The committee headed by Rajya Sabha MP and CPI(M) leader Sitaram Yechury, in its recent report on demands for grants (2013-14) of Ministry of Civil Aviation, wants a clear policy decision on new airports within 150km radius of the existing one.
The HAL airport had to cease commercial flight operations from May 2008, as the government’s policy does not allow any existing airport to function within 150km of a Greenfield airport (BIA). However, with the government giving in principal approval for setting up a Greenfield airport in Aranmula (Kerala), the committee has questioned the Greenfield airport policy.
“The proposed Greenfield airport in Aranmula is about 120km from Trivandrum and 90km from Cochin where there are international airports. Moreover, the Cochin International Airport and Thiruvananthapuram Airport are brand new airports and there is no scope for saturation of capacity in these airports in the near future. The committee notes that the proposed Aranmula Airport is violating the principles of 150km distance rule and the saturation of the nearby existing airports,” the committee said in its report that was
submitted before both the houses of the parliament the previous week.
The committee further questioned the rationale behind the closing of the HAL airport as it has expressed apprehensions over the closure of existing government owned airports to facilitate the private Greenfield airports.
“The government took shelter behind the concession agreement signed with the two private airport operators to justify the closure of government owned airports in Bangalore and Hyderabad. In this backdrop, the committee fails to understand the logic behind granting ‘in principle’ approval by the central government for Aranmula Greenfield Airport project,” the committee said in its report.
Meanwhile, the proposal to reopen the HAL airport received a shot in the arm after HAL chairman RK Tyagi said various options are being looked into to see that the airport is once again opened for commercial flights, especially the short-haul flights. He suggested that modifications would have to be done to the concession agreement that was signed between the government of India and BIAL in 2004.
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