The airports will be set up in Nellore, Kothagudem, Tadepallegudam, Bobbili, Ramagundam, Kurnool, Nizamabad and Ongole. Each airport project is expected to cost Rs 50 crore (Rs 500 million).

The project will also include city-side development, which includes real estate projects around the airport.

"What we are proposing is a hub-and-spoke model in which the new Hyderabad airport will act as a hub while these smaller airports will enhance intra-state connectivity," said Sanjay Jaju, vice-chairman and managing director of the state-owned Infrastructure Corporation of Andhra Pradesh Ltd, which is overseeing the project.

The new Hyderabad airport will start operations from March 16 this year.

Each airport will come up on 500 to 600 acres of land with a runway length of 6,000 feet (less than half the runway at the new Hyderabad facility), feasible for small aircraft like ATRs and CRJs.

To be eligible to bid, private sector companies should have a net worth of Rs 25 crore (Rs 250 million) for the last financial year and must have commissioned at least one infrastructure project worth Rs 50 crore since April 1, 2002.

Though these hinterlands might not attract major air traffic, the state government sees significant ancillary or non-aeronautical revenue coming out of these airports.

"Since these are not even tier III but tier IV places, there has to be a focus on non-aeronautical revenues coming out of cargo, logistics and real estate projects that will come up around the airport," said Jaju.

The cities have been chosen for their industrial or trading potential.

Nellore is strategically situated between Vijaywada and Chennai and just 26 kilometers away from the Krishnapatnam port.

Ramagundam has one of India's largest thermal power plants run by NTPC.

Kurnool has Asia's largest paper mill machinery, which produces 300 tonnes of paper a day.

Ongole is one of the major centres for tobacco trading in Andhra Pradesh.

Andhra's project is in line with Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel's proposal to state governments to come up with small airports to enhance intra-state connectivity.