AAI loses Rs 110 cr on N-E airports

The Airports Authority of India (AAI) is incurring a loss of Rs 110 crore a year in running 11 airports in six of the eight north-eastern states, the Civil Aviation Ministry has said. None of the airports is making profit, the ministry told a parliamentary panel as it described the problems of the facilities, including lack of night landing facilities.

There are airports in six of the eight north-eastern states barring Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh. The ministry told the panel that a new airport would be commissioned in Sikkim by June next year.

An airport has been sanctioned for Itanagar, the capital of Arunachal Pradesh, for which land acquisition is going on, said the ministry.

The parliamentary panel said that there should not be any delay in augmenting the facilities of airports in the north-eastern states.