"Delhi will have a new international airport within the next three years and the Indira Gandhi International Airport would be turned into a domestic airport," Civil Aviation Minister Rajiv Pratap Rudy told UNI.

"The Mumbai international airport will also be upgraded. No new airport is planned for Mumbai due to paucity of space. We are working at expansion and upgradation of the current facility," he said .

The Ministry will send the proposal for the Cabinet clearance within a few days as we have received approval from the Finance Ministry for the public-private partnership mode for the two airports.

"The total project cost is estimated to be Rs 4,000 crore. The scheme will be awarded in the eighth month after the partner is identified and the new facilities should be in place within a minimum of two years from that time," he added.

Further, the issue regarding concession fee for the Rs 1,300-crore greenfield Bangalore International Airport has almost been sorted out by the Finance Ministry. The implementation will begin soon, the Minister said.

However, the other greenfield project - a new international airport at Shamshabad, 20 km from Hyderabad, will take some time, Rudy said. Besides financial hurdles, this project ran into rough weather due to the presence of a defence space laboratory within 20 km radius of the airport that would have interfered with air traffic signals.

Moreover, upgradation of the Raja Sansi International Airport here will be speeded up and the work is already underway to turn the Srinagar airport into a world-class facility, Rudy said.

On the fleet acquisition programme of Air India (A-I) and Indian Airlines (IA), Rudy said, "It will be a mix of lease and outright purchase. A-I board has yet not decided about acquisition of long and short-haul aircraft, while the pre-PIB (Public Investment Board) process for IA's plans to buy 43 Airbus has been concluded." For both carriers, aircraft would be leased to replace the aged ones and outright purchases would also be made for fleet expansion.

Further, he said teams were working for providing more passenger-friendly services. Frontline services, including reservation, check-in are being improved with special emphasis on convenience of passengers without compromising on security.

"We are also giving a facelift to airports by ensuring cleanliness and landscaping. The airports do not have landscape either on the city side or on the terminal side. The Airports Authority of India (AAI) is identifying areas on the two sides to make airports more appealing to eyes and environment-friendly," Rudy said.

On resumption of aviation links between India and Pakistan, the Minister said: "No date has been finalised for the 'technical-level' talks. Two alternate dates are August 27-28 and September 3-4. The venue for the meeting is also not yet fixed." "Our officials are working at it," he added.

In July, Pakistan had proposed to hold the meet in Islamabad.

India had accepted the offer for talks. The air links between the two countries were snapped in January 2002 after the December 2001 attack on Parliament.

On increased private participation in the aviation sector, he said while the government is considering greater role for private players, security and air control will remain the responsibility of the state.

A panel is looking at proposals for the new Civil Aviation Policy. The proposals include allowing private domestic carriers to fly abroad. The policy would be finalised by October, he added.