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Govt mulls new airports in bigger cities

The Union government will consider construction of airports, capable of handling 50-seater aircraft, in joint sector in bigger cities, civil aviation minister Sharad Yadav said here today.

After his meeting with Karnataka industry minister R V Deshpande, he said the state had sought to construct such airports in cities like Hubli, Bellary, Hassan, Mysore and Gulbarga. The construction could be on the lines of Kochi and Devanahalli.

The government, he said, was willing to consider the demand for providing concessional aviation turbine fuel and subsidising the construction costs to enable aircraft operators to make the travel popular and economical by offering attractive fares. This would also help air-link major cities.

The minister said he had sought technical feasibility report of all the 16 airports coming in the southern region. He had also sought for details like terrain, soil, wind, weather conditions and availability of power for these airports.

Yadav, who also held a meeting with top civil aviation officials, said he had studied the report about the security lapses during the 'mock hijack' exercise of the Madras-bound aircraft in the city last month.

The exercise had exposed the failure in the system, including prevention of smuggling of weapons. The meeting considered inducting the state of the art equipment to prevent any possible attempts.

UNI

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