Transportation • 139
The air cargo traffi c is handled by eight international airports, 87 domestic airports and 28 civil-
ian airports (shared with defence forces). After the domestic air services were liberalized in 1994,
there was sudden increase in the number of air transport operators to seven scheduled private
operators and 22 non-scheduled operators for passenger and cargo movement. Within two years
of post liberalization phase, the market share of private operators went up to 40 per cent. How-
ever, the private operators could not sustain the competition and cost pressures. Subsequently,
majority of the private operators closed their operations. The air cargo traffi c is concentrated
around the gateway airports such as Mumbai, Chennai, ...