Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Saturday described the aviation sector as vital to India's sustained economic growth and said it played a major role in generating tourist flow, accelerating industrial development, creating new jobs and integrating the country.
Inaugurating the new, world-class Terminal 3 of the Indira Gandhi International Airport here, Dr. Singh said it was estimated that India's aviation sector could absorb up to $120 billion of investment by 2020.
Domestic traffic
Analysts predicted that domestic traffic could reach 160-180 million, and international traffic in excess of 50 million by 2020. “In a few years, India has become the ninth largest aviation market in the world. We now have 10 scheduled airlines operating in our country, compared with two in 1990. In the same period, the scheduled aircraft deployed by the Indian carriers has gone up four times, from 100 to about 400,” Dr. Singh said.
Emphasising the need to create safe, secure, efficient and environment-friendly systems conducive to the healthy growth of the sector, the Prime Minister said the regulatory and policy framework also needed to be aligned with the needs of the civil aviation industry to encourage serious investment. To achieve these goals, he said, the government strengthened the Directorate-General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) and set up the Airport Economic Regulatory Authority (AERA).
Improved
Pointing out that the Delhi airport improved its rank sharply in terms of the Air Service Quality (ASQ) performance from 101 in 2007 to 21 in 2010, Dr. Singh expressed the hope that after the opening of T-3, the airport would shortly rank within the first 10 of the world.
Praising the impressive new terminal building, United Progressive Alliance chairperson and Congress president Sonia Gandhi said quality was not something to be reserved for prestigious projects but should become “part and parcel of our design process for all our public projects, including housing, schools, hospitals and other services… Providing rural and urban infrastructure efficiently and at the same time achieving high standards must remain our goal,” she said, expressing satisfaction that the new terminal was not only based on “green principles” but was also easily accessible to the aged and the physically challenged.
‘Pride of India'
Minister of State for Civil Aviation Praful Patel said the new terminal demonstrated that public-private-partnership could work to the advantage of the nation and all stakeholders. Like the Delhi Metro, the new terminal was the “pride of entire India.''
Mr. Patel stressed the need for having a second airport in Mumbai urgently, as the existing one was on the verge of reaching “saturation point.”
“Mumbai, our financial capital, needs to have a second airport fast as the current airport is coming to a saturation point. Equal amount of support is required on the [aviation] infrastructure front.”
Mr. Patel has already expressed his unhappiness over the delay in getting clearance to the Navi Mumbai project from the Environment Ministry. The project, to be executed through the public-private partnership mode, was approved by the Cabinet in May 2007.
Modernisation
He said the Airports Authority of India (AAI), which had undertaken the modernisation of 35 non-metro airports, would complete the renovation of terminals next year, and within the next few days, the renovated terminal building of Ahmedabad would be opened. He said the revamped and modernised Chennai and Kolkata airport terminals would be opened next year.
