After technical feasibility, the project now has a site clearance as well as an in-principle approval, which was granted few months ago, civil aviation secretary Rajiv Nayan Choubey told ET Prime. "It should be up and running in three years," Choubey said.
Bids for the new airport will be called in August and the winner is likely to be selected by the end of the year. This means the airport could host flights in 2021 or 2022.
The airport will be spread over 4,000 acres of land of which 2,500 acres will be used for the first phase. The first phase will be able to cater to 12 million passengers annually.
Land acquisition is likely to bring windfall for land owners with an estimated Rs 4,000 crore to be spent in buying land alone. Airport construction will need another Rs 3,500 crore.
Delhi airport, which has a land area of 5,000 acres, was modernised in 2010 for about Rs 12,700 crore.
India's key metro airports are choking as domestic passenger traffic is growing at 15-20%.
The worst-hit airports are those in Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Goa, Lucknow, and Calicut. Mumbai airport has been congested for the past few years and has since given away its pole position to Delhi airport, which is also choking and finding it difficult to give new slots. In 2016-17, Delhi handled 57.7 million passengers.
Delhi’s current capacity is 64-72.5 million passengers per annum and its maximum structural capacity of 90-100 million passengers per annum is likely to be achieved by FY22, assuming a growth rate of 10%, according to aviation consulting firm CAPA. Similarly, Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport with a maximum capacity of 50-52 million passengers per annum is likely to saturate by 2018-19.
Choubey said Delhi airport's next phase of expansion has also started. Together with Jewar, it will be able to handle the growing traffic. He said work has already begun at Navi Mumbai airport as also at Goa airport.
The government this week has also cleared a new airport for Pune which will come up in 2,500 acres at the Purandar area.
India, according to CAPA, needs to invest up to $45 billion to create an additional capacity of handling 500-600 million passengers at its airports by 2030.