Swarajya - Amit Mishra
Commercial flights to Kota, which is home to a coaching industry worth Rs 6,000 crore, will soon be a reality.
The Central Government has accorded its approval for diversion of 466.59 hectares of forest land, thereby clearing the decks for construction of new greenfield airport at Kota.
Forest Advisory Committee (FAC), a statutory body of the Ministry of Environment Forests and Climate Change (MoEF&CC), which is tasked with granting approval for diverting forest land beyond five hectares granted its approval to the proposal on 28 December 2022.
Kota already has an existing airport suitable for smaller aircrafts (Code-B). Commercial flights from Kota Airport were discontinued in 1995 after the passenger flow dried up following the industrial recession there.
Due to landlocked nature of the current airport and its unsuitability for operation of A-320 type aircraft, the State Government in 2021, requested the Airports Authority of India (AAI) to develop a greenfield airport at Kota.
