Small airports, heliports on MoCA radar

ASSOCHAM’s 10th International Civil Aviation, Cargo & Tourism conference, held in New Delhi, identified key issues of the industry, be it, impact of GST, opportunities and challenges with UDAN scheme 2017 and roadmap to the development of airports.

The event was graced by the presence of Ashok Gajapati Raju Pusapati, Union Minister of Civil Aviation, Government of India; Jayant Sinha, Minister of State for Civil Aviation, Government of India and the veterans of the industry. “The Civil Aviation Ministry is working on a four-pronged strategy to enhance capacity of airports across India. We have been spending a lot of time thinking and planning about what we should do about airport capacity; we are working on four different aspects,” Sinha informed during the inauguration of ASSOCHAM's civil aviation conference.

The Union Minister said that while the Civil Aviation Ministry is simultaneously working on enhancing capacity at major airport hubs of Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi, Kolkata and Mumbai, it is also working on developing new greenfield and brownfield airports and smaller airports in Tier-III and IV cities.

Sinha shared, “We are significantly adding greenfield capacity and examining brownfield PPP (public private partnership) models for mid-sized airports and we are also looking at cost-effective ways of commissioning and operating smaller TierIII and IV heliports.” He also said that the second edition of UDAN scheme will help India’s civil aviation sector sustain the current 15-20 per cent growth along with various supportive policy measures. At least 31 new airports have been added to the aviation network under this scheme, while in contrast, post-independence only 70 airports had been added to the aviation network.

Vivek Gour, Managing Director & CEO, Air Works India, said, “The National Civil Aviation Policy and consequences of GST have removed all taxation hurdles. For the first time, in the next 10 years, we are looking at investing in our own country in a major way rather than in foreign countries. This tax regime will lead growth in MRO industry in the country, which is also a very high employment generator. However, what is also required for growth is improvement in the speed with which our customs works. The customs department must clear goods in hours, not in days.”