Civil Aviation Ministry puts onus on Puducherry government for bearing cost of land acquisition for runway expansion

Union Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia outlines plans for Puducherry airport expansion & night landing facility.

Union Minister for Civil Aviation Jyotiraditya Scindia has stated in Parliament that the extension of Puducherry airport’s runway from 1,502 metre to 3,330 metre to enable operating A 321 type of aircraft under Instrument Flight Rules conditions with night landing facility was contingent upon handing over of an additional 395 acres of land in Tamil Nadu and 30 acres of land in Puducherry to Airports Authority of India.

He was replying to a question by Member of Parliament V. Vaithilingam on the status of airport expansion and approval for night landing facility. Mr. Scindia said as per provisions of the National Civil Aviation Policy, 2016, the land for development of an airport has to be provided by the respective State/UT. The land for development of airport should be given free of cost and free from any encumbrances to AAI, the Union Minister said.

To another question on scope of introducing services to Tirupati, Shirdi and Kochi from Puducherry, the Union Minister said Puducherry airport no longer qualified as ‘underserved’ airport as weekly departures from here have exceeded seven flights.

As the airport does not qualify under the category of underserved destination, the airport was excluded from UDAN regional connectivity scheme, he said.

“Shirdi, Cochin and Tirupati are already designated as served airports and therefore, a pair of served airports cannot be connected. In case airline bids for connectivity from an unserved or underserved airport to Puducherry, it will be considered under the scope of UDAN scheme,” the Union Minister said.

To another question from Mr. Vaithilingam in Lok Sabha, Union Minister of Earth Sciences Kiren Rijiju informed that approximately 50% of Puducherry’s coastline is experiencing erosion, 10% is undergoing accretion and 40% is characterised as stable.

The findings form part of the comprehensive assessment made by the National Centre for Coastal Research (NCCR). The NCCR report was unveiled by Lt. Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan and Chief Minister N. Rangasamy in February. After unveiling the report, the Puducherry administration had asked NCCR to prepare a report for mitigation measures, the Union Minister said.