BJP leader V. Somanna is now part of the new Union Council of Ministers, headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He has taken the oath as MoS in the Ministry of Railways. Somanna won the Tumkur Lok Sabha segment by a margin of 1,75,594 votes, against Congress’ S P Muddahanumegowda in the recent Lok Sabha polls. The Lingayat leader, who started off as member BBMP in 1983-87, has grown politically steadily and has had his stint in all the three key political parties in the state — Janata Dal (erstwhile), Congress and BJP.

Ravneet Singh Bittu has taken the oath as Minister of State in the Ministry of Railways in Team Modi 3.0. He switched over from the Congress to the BJP just ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha election and lost the polls from Punjab’s Ludhiana. BJP believes Bittu is among the popular leaders who are likely to make an impact on the party as it goes it alone in Punjab.

Ashwini Vaishnaw has retained the Railways Ministry and IT Ministry besides getting one heavyweight portfolio – Information and Broadcasting. Vaishnaw held the Railway Ministry since July 2021. He had replaced Piyush Goyal, who led the ministry from September 2017 to July 2021.

First-time MP from Pune and BJP leader Murlidhar Mohol has been inducted as Minister of State for Civil Aviation in the Narendra Modi government. He is an MP from Pune Lok Sabha constituency and was elected Mayor of Pune in November 2019 replacing Mukta Tilak.

Actor-turned-politician Suresh Gopi, BJP’s first Lok Sabha MP from Kerala, became the MoS of Tourism in the NDA Cabinet 3.0. Gopi, who recorded an unprecedented win for NDA from Thrissur constituency, has been made the Minister of State in the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas as well.

Telugu Desam Party MP Ram Mohan Naidu has become the 34th Union Minister of Civil Aviation as part of the new Council of Ministers in Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led cabinets, replacing Jyotiraditya Scindia. Naidu took oath as part of the new Council of Ministers on June 9. He contested the 2024 Lok Sabha election from the Srikakulam constituency, a seat he has now won three times in a row.

Paramprit Singh Bakshi, Vice-President, CAPA India, said, “Amid strong demand and “unprecedented investment in aircraft orders, product, brand, technology, the Indian airport industry’s profit before tax (PBT) is expected to grow by 35 per cent year-on-year (Y-o-Y) to Rs 10,370 crore in the financial year 2024-25 (FY25)”. The industry, in FY24, is estimated to have had a PBT of Rs 7,680 crore, which was 134.1 per cent more Y-o-Y as the airport sector recovered after Covid-19.

At the CAPA India Aviation Summit 2024, Arun Bansal, CEO, Adani Airport Holding, said, “We are preparing NMIA to meet travellers aspirations from day one. The Navi Mumbai airport will be the most digitised airport from day one. We are actively working with airlines for slot allocation between CSMIA and NMIA for fair play.”

Campbell Wilson, CEO, Air India said they have finalised the start of their retrofit program for new aircraft. “More than 100 aircraft will be refitted with new interiors, including more than 40 wide-body aircraft. We have purchased more than 25,000 seats to support this refit program which will be installed in the coming months,” he added.

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