Govt working towards 200 total operational airports in the next 4 years: Scindia

'This effort will give equal importance to large metro airports as well as remote airports providing last mile connectivity,' Scindia said

The Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi. Credit: iStock Photo

Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia on Sunday said that the government is working towards a target of taking the current number of 148 airports in the country to beyond 200 within the next three to four years.

"This effort will give equal importance to large metro airports as well as remote airports providing last mile connectivity," he said, while flagging off the first IndiGo Airline Delhi-Dharamshala-Delhi flight.

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Speaking on the occasion, Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur thanked the Civil Aviation Ministry for facilitating IndiGo connectivity to Himachal Pradesh and said that IndiGo could not have become a truly national airline without flying to the hill state.

Thakur made a case for a larger airport and said that currently passengers coming to Himachal from all over India have to board connecting flights to the state from New Delhi.

Thakur further said that it is due to the UDAN scheme of the Civil Aviation Ministry that people in 'hawai chappal' (slippers) can travel in 'hawai jahaz' (aeroplanes).