Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia inaugurated a direct flight between Ahmedabad and Gatwick today by Air India. Scindia said that this new air connectivity will bring in new opportunities for trade and commerce and help Indian students studying in the UK.
Scindia said that the Union Government has given specific attention to the infrastructure development in the state. A new terminal has been developed in Kandla, a new integrated terminal building in Surat with the cost of Rs 250 crore, and a new ATC Tower cum technical building in Vadodara. Currently, Gujarat has 10 airports, and with the development of two new greenfield airports in Dholera with a cost of Rs 1305 crore and Hirasar Rajkot with a cost of Rs 1405 crore this number will increase to 12.
In Gujarat, the number of flights operational from airports of Gujarat has increased to over 2500 from 1175 in 2013-14. Under the RCS UDAN scheme, Gujarat has been awarded 83 routes and 55 of them have already been operationalized and the rest will be operational soon.
Balwantsinh Rajput, Minister, Government of Gujarat; Rajiv Bansal, Secretary, Ministry of Civil Aviation and Campbell Wilson, CEO, Air India were also present.
