Government receives application from 15 firms to start regional airline services

The government on Wednesday said it has received application from 15 private companies for starting regional airline services, but none from any of the state governments in the last three years.

Since 2010, the Civil Aviation Ministry has granted permission to nine companies to begin their services.

"No application from any state government to start a new airlines has been received in the ministry during the said period (since 2010 till date)," K C Venugopal, Minister of State in the Ministry of Civil Aviation, told Lok Sabha in reply to a written query.

Replying to a separate question, the minister said there are 463 airports and airstrips in the country of which only 281 are operational.

Of the total airports and airstrips, 97 belong to Airports Authority of India (AAI), while 138 belong to the defence and 161 airports belong to state governments. There are six airports in joint venture, while 61 are private.

On a query on the number of aircraft in the country, Mr Venugopal said as on December 31, 2012, there are 390 aircraft, which have operating permits.