DHAKA: India plans to build 200 low-cost airports in the next 20 years to connect tier-II and tier-III cities.

A civil aviation ministry official said, reports gulfnews.com.

This will be one of the focus areas of India Aviation 2014, the country’s largest civil aviation exhibition and conference beginning here on Wednesday.

The event with the theme ‘Enhancing air connectivity’ will have a special session on ‘looking beyond metros’.

G Ashok Kumar, joint secretary, civil aviation, told reporters on Monday that low-cost, small and no-frill airports would be built in tier-II and tier-III cities, which are expected to spur the development of the aviation sector in the second phase.

‘As the operating and service costs at the major airports are phenomenally high, there are plans to build small no-frill airports. They will have the basic infrastructure and will be like upgraded high-class railway stations,’ he said.

The non-metro airports in India presently account for only about 30 percent of the total air traffic, but is expected to rise to 45 per cent in the next few years.

BDST: 1648 HRS, MAR 12, 2014