Union Minister for Civil Aviation P. Ashok Gajapathi Raju has said that the Centre will focus on transporting cargo by air, in order to strengthen the industry.
“The biggest airline in the world, in terms of freight tonnes flown, is FedEx and it is a cargo airline. We need to use our airports as cargo service points and set up cold storages and other logistics facilities. This will push our economy and strengthen the aviation industry,” he said.
He was speaking at the inauguration of the renovated airport at Sambra near Belagavi on Thursday.
“Aviation is a highly taxed sector and we are trying to change that. If we do that, we can remove the mindset that only the rich can fly,” he said. He added that said flying wide-body planes like Air Bus and Boeing will push up the operational costs unnecessarily and not lead to a reduction in ticket prices. He said that the Airports Authority of India had invested ₹627 crore for the development of different airports in Karnataka.
R.V. Deshpande, Heavy Industries Minister, urged private entrepreneurs to start maintenance, repair and overhaul services for aircraft. “Now, most airlines in India go to Sri Lanka and other countries for MRO services. We can avoid that,” he said.
