Government considers a proposal to give sops to airlines for linking metropolitan cities and small towns, Union minister for civil aviation Praful Patel informed the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday.
At present, scheduled air services are available to/from 72 destinations, Patel said in a written reply.
He said proposals have been received from various political organisations, people's representatives, state governments from time to time for construction of airports at different places in the country.
However, Patel said specific requests have been received from the state governments of Andhra Pradesh, Goa, Sikkim, Nagaland, Maharashtra, Punjab, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Karnataka, Kerala and Arunachal Pradesh for development of greenfield airports at various cities and towns in their respective states.
Construction of greenfield international airport at Shamsabad (Andhra Pradesh), Devanhalli (Karnataka) are underway and in principle approval for construction of an international airport at Mopa (Goa) has been accorded, he said.
Replying to another question, he said Besides Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Bangalore and Hyderabad, 15 cities -- Ahmedabad, Amritsar, Calicut, Cochin, Coimbatore, Gaya, Goa, Guwahati, Jaipur, Lucknow, Nagpur, Pune, Thiruvanthapuram, Trichy and Varanasi are linked to international destinations.
On the question whether the merger of Jet Airways and Sahara would alter the dynamics of aviation industry, Patel said the market share of the two airlines is 34.90 and 9.70 per cent and, therefore, is less than 50 per cent of the domestic aviation market.
Patel also informed the Upper House that the government proposes to upgrade Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Uran Akademi, Rae Bareli at an estimated cost of Rs 57 crore (Rs 570 million).
This includes modernisation of runway, construction of additional building for hostel, hanger and office and acquisition of the adjacent Sultanpur airfield, induction of single engine and multi-engine aircraft, rebuilding of helicopters, he said.
The upgradation would increase its output from 40 trainees per year to 100 per year, he said and added the government also has a proposal to set up a new flying training institute at Gondia in Maharashtra.
The minister informed the House that Indian Airlines has earned a profit of Rs 178.28 crores (Rs 1.78 billion) in the last three years between 2003-06.
On the demand of the Air Corporation Employees Union for revision of wages and threatening to go on strike from January first, 2007, he said the revision of wages was presently under consideration of the government.
Patel said a committee has been constituted by the management of Indian for commencement of discussions on career progression and the first meeting of this committee was held on May 8.
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