By KUNA
New Delhi : India plans to have 500 big and small airports across the country by 2020.
The 500 airports will also comprise the ongoing redevelopment of unused airports or less airports and development of greenfield and cargo airports, news agency Indo Asian News Service reported Tuesday from Western Indian city of Mumbai, quoting a source in the Civil Aviation Ministry.
India now has 80 airports for commercial, charter as well as defence services. There are another 368 landing strips of which 156 belong to the defence sectors and various state governments, while 63 are owned by the private sector companies.
Though every Indian district has some form of air service connectivity, maximum air traffic is in 24 airports which account for 94 per cent of total traffic.
Airport development in India will see more participation from private sector in the near future, the news agency said.
The government in the Southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh has already issued Request For Proposal for the development of airports in several places across the state.
Indian states of Karnataka and Maharashtra have also identified 15 airports for development.