India to have 180 million air travellers by ’20, says Pallam

The number of passengers travelling by air in India is expected to touch 180 million by 2020, said Union HRD minister M.M. Pallam Raju. In 2010, there were only 50 million air passengers in India. The minister said this while addressing the International Conference on Regional Transport Aircraft as the chief guest. The conference is being held by the Aeronautical Society of India (AeSI), Hyderabad.

Mr Pallam Raju said AeSI should be able to formulate and advice on national programmes for accelerating various aerospace projects. RTA best option for India: V.K. Saraswat There is a domestic requirement of 500 Regional Transport Aircraft in the next 10 years. RTA is the best option for more than 450 airstrips in India, of which only 8 per cent can receive narrow-body Airbus or Boeing aircraft due to restrictions in runway length, minimal infrastructure and instrumentation facilities, said Dr V.K. Saraswat, scientific advisor to the defence minister. Though modernisation is apace, most of these strips are capable of handling only smaller aircraft, and under these limitations Regional Transport Aircraft is the best option. He said the government needs to pitch-in by funding, extending tax concessions and creating infrastructure to make RTA industry self-reliant. DRDO scientist gets space science award G. Satheesh Reddy, scientist and associate director, Research Centre Imarat, DRDO, has been awarded the Dr Biren Roy Space Science/Design Award by Aeronautical Society of India for his contributions in navigation sciences and aerospace engineering