New civil aviation policy may be out in April: Civil Aviation Minister

Union Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju said late March the new National Civil Aviation Policy is likely to be out in April. ‘We are working on the policy which is likely to be out next month. We’ve received many suggestions on the draft policy and we’re hopeful the new policy will be out in April,’ Raju said. He said the country needs four modern airports, two on the country’s west coast and two on the east. ‘We have only three modern airports that have parallel runways at Delhi, Bangalore and Hyderabad and the fourth one is coming up in Visakhapatnam. With the size of a country like India we need more modern airports, at least two on the west coast and two on the east coast,’ Raju said. Raju also said his ministry would consider proposals for new airports if governments concerned come forward to provide land to set up such facilities as land is a state subject.