HYDERABAD: Proposing to set up Andhra Pradesh Regional Airport Development Fund (APRADF) with Rs 100 crore to provide financial support for regional airport development, AP government on Monday released its civil Aviation Policy for 2015.
According to the new policy, the initial corpus of this revolving fund will be provided as budgetary support.
Since airport development in tier 2/3 cities require innovative funding solutions, the State government has decided to set up APRADF to provide financial support for regional airport development.
The APRADF will be utilized to provide financial support for development and operation of airports and to underwrite seats for commercial airline operations wherever necessary.
The policy aims to create world class aviation infrastructure that would help provide reliable and seamless air connectivity to regional, national and international destinations by 2022.
In an effort to boost the growth and development of civil aviation, aerospace and defence sectors, AP government had proposed to develop six new airports under the Public Private Partnership(PPP) mode.
As a part of PPP mode projects, the State plans to extend viability gap fund (VGF) required for airports and other infrastructure.
The State currently has six operational airports at Visakhapatnam, Tirupathi, Vijayawada, Rajahmundry, Kadapa and Puttaparthi, together handling 1.66 million passengers and about 3,000 tonnes of cargo as of 2014-15.
 The State has proposed to develop international greenfield airport at Bhogapuram(Vizinagaram), and no-frills airports at Dagadarthi (Nellore), Oravaku (Kurnool), Kuppam (Chittoor), Tadepalligudem (West Godavari) and Ongole (Prakasham).
It has also proposed to develop unused airstrips at Donakonda, Nagarjunsagar on the Guntur side and Tadepalligudem.
New projects would be offered 100 per cent exemption on stamp duty for land purchase and 100 per cent reimbursement of electricity duty, underwriting specific number of airline seats, reduction of value added tax (VAT) on aviation turbine fuel.
