Union Minister of State for Civil Aviation Muralidhar Mohol informed the Rajya Sabha that the construction of the Dholera airport will be completed by December 2025. He was responding to a question from MP Narhari Amin.
The Gujarat government has proposed 11 locations — Morbi, Dhordo, Rajpipla, Dahod, Dwarka, Palitana, Botad, Rajula, Ankleshwar, Ambaji, and Dholavira — for developing new Greenfield airports.
Of these, the Airports Authority of India (AAI) received requests to carry out pre-feasibility studies at 8 sites. Out of those:
- Feasible sites: Morbi, Dhordo, Rajpipla, Dahod, and Dwarka
- Not feasible: Palitana, Botad, and Rajula
- No study requested yet: Ankleshwar, Ambaji, and Dholavira
According to the Government of India’s Greenfield Airports Policy (2008), any government or private developer must identify a suitable location, get a pre-feasibility study done, and submit a proposal to the Centre for approval.
Currently, Gujarat has 9 airports and airstrips — 6 managed by AAI and 3 by the state government. Of these, AAI has received additional land only for the Keshod airport.
Among the 3 state-owned airstrips, a feasibility study for Amreli found it unsuitable for expansion. The state has not yet requested studies for the other two at Mehsana and Mandvi.