Nellore Airport


Nellore Airport is a proposed greenfield airport project near Dagadarthi, India, intended to serve the Nellore district in Andhra Pradesh.
In August 2019, the State government said it would hand over the land to the Airports Authority of India for the construction of the project.

History

In 2013, Ministry of Civil Aviation had identified 50 locations across the country for low-cost airports to be built by the AAI. Nellore was selected as a location for development of a new low-cost airport with a purpose to create bare minimum facilities for aircraft to operate, without compromising on safety and security.
In September 2017, the government of Andhra Pradesh solicited proposals for development of a no-frills greenfield airport at Dagadarthi under a public-private partnership. The development proposal by SCL-Turbo Consortium Pvt. Ltd. was accepted, along with the associated draft concession agreement and financial stipulations.
The Arafath Group and ADP Ingénierie was to construct and operate the airport.
The airport was to be developed on 1,352 acres of land. The project had received all clearances/ approvals from various agencies. As per the agreement, the financial closure for the project was to be achieved by December 2018.
On January 26, 2018, during his Republic Day speech, District Collector R. Mutyala Raju announced that the acquisition of land for the airport was nearly completed.
The foundation stone was laid by then Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu on January 10, 2019.
However, the YSR Congress Party - led government, which was elected in May that year, moved to review all the major decisions taken by the previous government.
In August 2019, the new Government terminated its contract with Nellore International Airport Private Limited to develop Nellore Dagadarthi Airport.
The government said it would complete the project by handing the airport over to the AAI.
In July 2020, the Government formally scrapped the concession agreement signed with the Nellore International Airport Private Ltd for building the airport.