Union Government approved up to ₹13,000 crore on 8 June 2026 for a dual-use (civil + military) airport at Great Nicobar Island

¨     Union Government approved up to ₹13,000 crore on 8 June 2026 for a dual-use (civil + military) airport at Great Nicobar Island.

¨ The airport is part of the larger Great Nicobar Project, a multi-component development plan in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

¨     The total project cost is estimated between ₹81,000 crore and ₹92,000 crore.

Major components of the project include:

¨     An international container transhipment terminal at Galathea Bay

¨     A 450 MVA gas and solar-based power plant

¨     A new township

¨     A greenfield international airport at Campbell Bay

The proposed airport is designed to serve both civilian and Indian Navy operations.

It will have a peak hour capacity of about 4,000 passengers and an annual capacity of 1.35 million passengers by 2040.The project is expected to be completed within five years.It will be jointly funded by the Ministry of Defence and the Ministry of Civil Aviation.Strategically, it strengthens India’s presence in the Indian Ocean region, near the Andaman Sea and the Malacca Strait shipping routes.Environmentally, around 130.75 sq. km of forest land and approximately 964,000 trees are expected to be impacted.More than half of the project area is planned to be maintained as green cover.No displacement is proposed for the Shompen and Nicobarese tribal communities.