Govt to spend Rs 5,000 cr on airports

Civil aviation minister Praful Patel said the government will spend Rs 5,000 crore to upgrade 30 airports across India and invest Rs 25,000 crore in augmenting the fleet size of Air-India (A-I) and Indian Airlines (IA).

‘‘A-I and IA would remain in the public sector. A policy decision has been taken in this regard and plans are afoot to make the two carriers achieve triple digit growth in the number of passengers carried in the next three years,’’ he said.

Asserting that aviation infrastructure required an impetus due to the expected splurge in traffic, Patel said, ‘‘Airports Authority of India would raise nearly Rs 5,000 crore to upgrade 30 airports by 2007-08.’’