After seven months of intense consultation, the civil aviation policy has been finally sent for Union Cabinet's approval. Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju talks to Somesh Jha in an interview about how the previous governments had lacked a clear vision for the aviation sector and how the government will work towards protecting the domestic airlines in the new aviation policy. Edited excerpts:
What is the present position of the much-awaited civil aviation policy?
First of all, I will tell you why we need a (civil aviation) policy. Policy is not a religion and it has to be amended from time to time but with some definite period so that economic activities can be planned. Till now, certain decisions were taken based on the situations coming in. There was never an attempt to look at the sector in a totality and bring out a policy. We did that exercise and put it in the public domain. From then on, a lot of suggestions started coming in. I think it’s the most discussed draft policy and it has come to an advanced stage. There is no stakeholder left out for consultation. We have the benefit of everybody’s idea coming in and also, the advantage of informal consultation by group of senior ministers. We have just about moved the Cabinet note and in the next few days, everything will settle.
When do you expect the entire benefits to translate into the Indian sky?
After the policy is released, its implementation has to be worked out. The thrust is on the regional connectivity because India is a vast country. As it is AAI (Airports Authority of India) has over 30 airports which are inactive. Plus, people are interested in a few new airports due to the terrain of the country. Right now, we have the route dispersal guidelines that have served the country well. Besides, there are inactive airports too. We expect once the viability gap funding proposal gets cleared, some of the inactive airports will become active. We are looking for more destinations. As it is, we had a very good year. World over, we had the highest growth in aviation.
Don’t you think the civil aviation ministry missed a big target by not being able to release the civil aviation policy within two years of the government formation?
It’s not an easy thing to understand. For a person like me, with an average intelligence, you are connected to aviation in the sense that you go to an airport, board the aircraft, get out of it and get to work. You are not looking at what will promote it and how this transport works. So when you come here, it’s a new thing. It takes a while to understand it. Once you understand it, you have to start taking it forward. Whatever you take forward, you try to see that your direction is good and straight – it should encourage the airlines. For some odd reasons in India, aircraft are passenger-centric running like a bus. But the largest airline in the world is a cargo airline. Here, we only have two cargo airlines with one aircraft each. India itself has a good market (for cargo) with e-commerce going up and you have all types of climates. Ultimately, transport should not become a bottleneck for economic activity. This is what we are trying to achieve.
07/06/16 Somesh Jha/The Hindu
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What is the present position of the much-awaited civil aviation policy?
First of all, I will tell you why we need a (civil aviation) policy. Policy is not a religion and it has to be amended from time to time but with some definite period so that economic activities can be planned. Till now, certain decisions were taken based on the situations coming in. There was never an attempt to look at the sector in a totality and bring out a policy. We did that exercise and put it in the public domain. From then on, a lot of suggestions started coming in. I think it’s the most discussed draft policy and it has come to an advanced stage. There is no stakeholder left out for consultation. We have the benefit of everybody’s idea coming in and also, the advantage of informal consultation by group of senior ministers. We have just about moved the Cabinet note and in the next few days, everything will settle.
When do you expect the entire benefits to translate into the Indian sky?
After the policy is released, its implementation has to be worked out. The thrust is on the regional connectivity because India is a vast country. As it is AAI (Airports Authority of India) has over 30 airports which are inactive. Plus, people are interested in a few new airports due to the terrain of the country. Right now, we have the route dispersal guidelines that have served the country well. Besides, there are inactive airports too. We expect once the viability gap funding proposal gets cleared, some of the inactive airports will become active. We are looking for more destinations. As it is, we had a very good year. World over, we had the highest growth in aviation.
Don’t you think the civil aviation ministry missed a big target by not being able to release the civil aviation policy within two years of the government formation?
It’s not an easy thing to understand. For a person like me, with an average intelligence, you are connected to aviation in the sense that you go to an airport, board the aircraft, get out of it and get to work. You are not looking at what will promote it and how this transport works. So when you come here, it’s a new thing. It takes a while to understand it. Once you understand it, you have to start taking it forward. Whatever you take forward, you try to see that your direction is good and straight – it should encourage the airlines. For some odd reasons in India, aircraft are passenger-centric running like a bus. But the largest airline in the world is a cargo airline. Here, we only have two cargo airlines with one aircraft each. India itself has a good market (for cargo) with e-commerce going up and you have all types of climates. Ultimately, transport should not become a bottleneck for economic activity. This is what we are trying to achieve.
07/06/16 Somesh Jha/The Hindu
