India 3rd largest aviation market, says minister at US-India Aviation Summit.
By The American Bazaar Staff
WASHINGTON, DC: The aircraft, spacecraft and their parts are one of the major items of export from US to India, which has boosted the total bilateral trade in goods between the two countries to $62.8 billion in 2012, said Ajit Singh, India’s Union Minister for Civil Aviation at the inaugural session of US-India Aviation Summit at Grand Hyatt, here.
Anthony Foxx, Secretary, US Department of Transportation, Leocadia Zak, Director, US Trade and Development Agency, Nirupana Rao, Ambassador of India to US, and K.N. Shrivastava, Secretary, Civil Aviation, were among the notable dignitaries who attended the meet.
Singh informed that rapidly expanding air transport network and opening up of the airport infrastructure to private sector participation have fuelled the growth of the air traffic in India.
India is currently the 9th largest aviation market handling 121 million domestic and 41 million international passengers with more than 85 international airlines operating to India and five Indian carriers connecting over 40 countries.
“The Indian airport system is poised to handle 336 million domestic and 85 million international passengers by 2020, making India the third largest aviation market,†said Singh.
According to Singh commercial fleet size is expected to reach 1000 aircraft worth $45 billion from 400 today by 2020. Besides, the Indian government has envisaged investment of $12.1 billion in the airports sector during the 12th Plan period, of which $9.3 billion is expected to come from the private sector for construction of new airports, expansion, and modernization of existing airports and development of low cost airports.
“Over the past decade, civil aviation in India has been scripting a major success story. The government in tune with general policy of liberalization has brought in positive initiatives to attract foreign direct investment and rope in private investments that have helped in releasing the latent potential of this sector and make it a key player in the nation’s economic growth,†said Singh.
The minister pointed out that one of the most important initiatives in this direction is to allow 49% Foreign Direct Investment by foreign airlines in Indian carriers.
“The results of this policy are already visible as two new scheduled airlines: Air Asia and Tata SIA are going to start their operations in near future. This is in addition to the FDI of $350 million by Etihad in to Jet Airways,†he said. “India has also adopted liberal policies regarding bilateral air services agreement, partnerships and code-sharing. To facilitate the growth of MRO Business and to make it competitive, the Government of India have also announced several concessions.â€
The development of GPS Aided Navigation System ‘Gagan’ developed by Airports Authority of India with the support of Indian Space Research Organization is another significant step which would bring India on the threshold of redefining navigation in the region from land based to satellite based system, said Singh.
India is the fourth country in the world after USA, Japan and Europe to have such navigation system which will facilitate aircraft landing in tough weather and terrain. This, according to Singh, will also help in reducing flying time and fuel consumption by providing straight navigation and thus reducing carbon emission.
“We have also allowed Flexi Use of Airspace by civil and military users, which permits them to efficiently and effectively utilize the available airspace on sharing basis. It is expected that there will be a reduction of carbon emissions by about seven million kg per annum by direct routing between seven major city pairs only because of flexible usage of airspace,†said Singh.
According to Singh, another important move that has accelerated the modernization and development process in civil aviation sector is the privatization of five major airports, including Delhi and Mumbai airports under public private partnership mode and also development of Greenfield airports which envisages synergy between public and private sector.
“Recently, we have also initiated the process of privatizing another six airports through public private partnership, which include Chennai, Kolkata, Lucknow, Ahmedabad, Jaipur and Guwahati airports,†said Singh.