Mr. Tony Tyler, Director General & CEO, IATA, while addressing an Interactive Session organized by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) on “Building the Future of Indian Aviation” in New Delhi, called for coordinated policy measures on part of all stakeholders to revive the Indian Civil Aviation Sector which is currently witnessing multifaceted crisis. He applauded the crucial role played by CII in not only highlighting the crucial issues impeding the growth but also in promoting India as an attractive investment destination.
Mr. Tyler highlighted the fact that the Indian Civil Aviation Sector provides around 1.7 Million Jobs, contributes 0.5% to the GDP and is responsible for around 90% of inbound tourists. Despite such a strong economic contribution and immense potential, he emphasized, there are some bottlenecks such as High Operating Cost & inadequate capacity that are affecting the growth of this vital sector of the economy.
Mr. Tyler congratulated India for building world class Infrastructure facilities at Delhi, Hyderabad, Bangalore and Cochin Airports through successful Public-Private Partnership Model. He also expressed satisfaction that work is under way to expand the existing Mumbai airport via PPP to handle 40 million people. The new terminal, he said, will be ready by the end of 2013 and by 2017 the airport is expected to be running at full capacity. It is against this background, Mr. Tyler stressed upon the importance of an airport at Navi Mumbai to optimally utilize the potential economic opportunities.
Earlier, addressing the Session, Mr. Naresh Goyal, Member, CII National Committee on Civil Aviation & Chairman, Jet Airways (India) Pvt. Ltd. highlighted the fact that Indian Aviation covered a miniscule 3% of the population indicates tremendous scope & potential for expansion and growth. He highlighted some of the cost challenges being faced by the Sector, including sharp depreciation of Rupee, high taxation and rising infrastructure cost. Mr. Goyal also drew attention to the fact that domestic fares in India were still one of the cheapest in the world. He also took the opportunity to thank the Ministry of Civil Aviation in taking several significant measures to aid the industry, especially towards opening more International routes for private carriers and ongoing efforts to reduce the taxation on ATF.
Mr. Ankur Bhatia, Member CII National Committee on Civil Aviation & The Executive Director, The Bird Group in his opening remarks hoped that like some of the earlier initiatives of the CII Aviation Committee, today’s interactive session would help in giving a comprehensive perspective on Building a safe, sustainable and growth-oriented Future for Indian Aviation.
He also emphasized that Aviation is a global Industry which has grown on the back of global standards in various disciplines and Indian Aviation cannot be operating in isolation from global aviation.
The Session was attended by stakeholders from the Civil Aviation Sector, Hospitality Industry and a host of Government & Research Agencies.