Domestic traffic register 32.51% growth

New Delhi: The meeting of the Consultative Committee of the Members of Parliament attached to the Ministry of Civil Aviation was held here today. All Members applauded the growth in the sector and congratulated the Minister and the Ministry officials for facilitating this growth.
Welcoming the Members of the Committee to the first meeting this year, the Chairman and the Minister for Civil Aviation Shri Praful Patel, briefly summed up the major activities that had taken place in 2007. He informed the Committee that during the year 2007, domestic airline passenger traffic had grown from 326.28 lakhs to 432.89 lakh – a growth of 32.51% vis-à-vis 2006. And considering the fact that the base is also growing, the Minister said that on a higher base the sector is registering a considerable growth.
He also informed the Members about the new category of airline services, the Scheduled Air Transport(Regional) Services - which has been introduced to promote regional connectivity especially to the Tier-II and Tier-III cities. Four airlines have been given NOC in this category – M/s. Star Aviation for Southern Region, Jagson Airlines for Northern Region, M/s. MDLR Airlines Pvt. Ltd., for Northern Region and M/s. Zav Airways for North-East/Eastern Region.

The Minister also informed that the merger process of Air India and Indian Airlines is underway and several working groups and an Integration Team have been formulated to move the merger process forward. A III-Tier Grievance Redressal Machinery and an Inter-Ministerial Grievance Redressal Committee have been put into place to address employee grievances. The fleet augmentation by NACIL was also underway. Of the 111 state-of-the-art aircraft that is to be added to its fleet, three Boeing 777-200LR, three Boeing 777-300ER, ten Boeing 737-800, six A319 and five A321 aircraft have already been received. The remaining will be received by 2011. He also informed that Air India has been invited to become the Member of Star Alliance – one of the biggest alliance of airlines in the world. Air India will become the full-fledged member of the Alliance formally by 2009, by when the IT Integration and other issues will be completed. Specialized teams at Air India, Star Alliance and its member carriers are now working on the integration process.
Shri Patel spoke about the in-principle approval given by the Government to the setting up of Greenfield airports in Kannur (Kerala), Navi Mumbai and about the international airport at Jewar, Greater Noida that was under the consideration of a Group of Ministers as per the direction of the Union Cabinet. The Minister also spoke about the change in FDI caps in a number of sectors in civil aviation. He said that this change would boost civil aviation in the country.
The Minister informed about the Ministry of Civil Aviation consistent efforts to talk to the State Governments on various issues of civil aviation. These talks have started yielding results – yesterday the Andhra Pradesh State Government announced the reduction in the sales tax on ATF from 33% to 4%.
The Members raised a number of issues – issues of safety and security, pilot training, on-time performances and losses of Air India, status of merger of Air India and Indian Airlines, the new airports, connectivity across the country, rules for permitting airline to fly abroad etc.
13/02/08 Press Information Bureau

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Categories: Indian Aviation- In General Feb 2008