Airports in tier-II cities may get international status

Several airports in tier-II cities are likely to be designated international if a civil aviation ministry proposal on the issue is approved by the Union Cabinet tomorrow.

The airports likely to be in the list are those in Lucknow, Varanasi, Tiruchirapalli, Mangalore and Coimbatore, official sources said.

The conversion of a domestic airport into an international one primarily entails creation of immigration facilities and deploying manpower to carry out these tasks.

There are 454 airports and airstrips in the country of which the state-run Airports Authority of India (AAI) owns and manages 97 airports and 28 civil enclaves at defence airfields.

While 16 of them have been designated as international airports so far, there are several other airports designated as 'limited international', for a restricted number of global flights from there.

The government plans to have 500 operational airports by 2020 and aims to attract private investment in aviation infrastructure to meet this end.