Tag Archives: Civil Aviation

The Ministry of Civil Aviation, in association with Airports Authority of India and Confederation of Indian Industry, has organised ‘Aviation Conclave 2019’ with an overarching theme of ‘Flying for All’ in Delhi. The conclave deliberated upon taking the government’s agenda to bring new aviation business to India, in particular, drones systems, manufacturing of aircraft in India, financing and leasing of aircraft from India by Indian and foreign airlines, transforming Indian airports into next-gen aviation hubs, and unleashing the air cargo potential by integrating every village of India in global value chains. Suresh Prabhu, Union Minister for Civil Aviation, stated that realising the government’s vision of making ‘Flying for All’ a reality underpins the government’s commitment to bring about a veritable revolution in the Indian aviation sector. “This conclave is about the future of Indian aviation – it bringing together industry leaders, government and regulators for setting the tone and propelling us to realise our Vision 2040”, he stated. Over 30 industry leaders deliberated across five key sessions covering the Drone-Ecosystem Policy Roadmap, Roadmap for Manufacturing Aircraft and associated equipment, including Regional Transport Aircraft in India, Project Rupee Raftaar- Aircraft Financing and Leasing from India, National Air Cargo Policy, and Mission to transform Indian Airports into Next-Gen Aviation Hubs. The deliberations threw up key catalysts to fast track the holistic growth of the passenger, cargo and MRO sectors. Commenting on the objectives of the conclave, Jayant Sinha, Minister of State of Civil Aviation said, “With more than a hundred commercially-connected airports, aviation is now central to the lives of Indians. We are committed to growing the industry by encouraging and opening new segments. I am confident that this conclave with its …

Jayant Sinha, Minister of State, Civil Aviation, revealed that Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi will add a fourth runway along with two more passenger terminals. Apart from that, Hindon Airport, which is on the outskirts of Delhi, will be operational by March. He further revealed that Jewar airport will be another airport near Delhi that will be operational by 2022. In fact, with the speed of work going on at Navi Mumbai airport, it is likely to be operational from 2022 too. Bengaluru airport will also be adding a second runway and a second terminal. A new terminal has been commissioned in Chennai too, he shared.

The Ministry of Civil Aviation’s Ude Desh ka Aam Nagrik (UDAN) scheme is set to fly international. The results for UDAN 3 were announced recently, and Suresh Prabhu revealed that for the first time, international routes have been introduced under UDAN by launching flights from Guwahati to Bangkok and Dhaka. Both these routes will be served by SpiceJet. Prabhu said, “It’s going to be a major game changer as these connections would bring North East closer to the rest of the world. As a result, there will be a tremendous scope for tourism and economic development in the region.” Rajiv Nayan Choubey, Secretary, Civil Aviation, revealed, “The state government of Assam had asked us to conduct bids for connecting Guwahati to the neighbouring countries and we are happy to announce that Guwahati is now going to be connected with Bangkok and Dhaka, which are the international UDAN routes which have been awarded.” It was revealed that SpiceJet has taken a very competitive underwriting of the seats. The per annum VGF would be Rs 11 crore, which would be borne by the state. Having set the service frequency at seven-times-a-week, the government has given a flexible template of starting with thrice-a-week service, which will then be increased and finalised within six months.

The Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) awarded 235 routes to different airlines, out of which 46 are tourism routes, and 189 are under Regional Connectivity Scheme. Suresh Prabhu, Union Minister, Civil Aviation, said, revealed, “We are working with Ministry of Tourism and Ministry of Commerce, as we have sanctioned a programme of 12 champion sectors of service development, under which Rs 5000 crores were allowed as sanctions. Part of that money is being given to MOT, which in turn is giving that money to aviation ministry for these routes.” Rajeev Nayan Choubey, Secretary, Civil Aviation, shared that for the first time MOT came on board for the UDAN scheme. “MOT asked us to conduct tourism route-wise bidding, for which they will be providing funds. The difference between MOT route and the conventional RCS UDAN route is that MOT wants tourist places should be connected among themselves. It may happen that the airport which they are wanting may have enough flights but between two tourist destinations, there may not be a flight. So the MOT’s intention was that we should conduct the bidding, not for individual airports, but for routes which are specified by them. MOT has in turn got it collated by interacting with the tourism professionals, both in the private sector as well as the government sector, including state governments and other stakeholders before giving it to us,” he said.

The total passenger traffic (to, from and within India) in India is expected to rise nearly six-fold from 187 million in FY2018 to around 1124 million in FY2040, according to a latest report by FICCI-KPMG titled ‘Vision 2040 for the Civil Aviation Industry in India’. This includes around 821 million domestic passengers and around 303 million international passengers (to and from India). The overall CAGR across the five clusters works out to around 9% in domestic and 7% in international traffic during FY 2018-2040. “The FICCI-KPMG projection is higher than the projections made by leading organisations. Given the untapped potential of the Indian aviation market and the signi?cant reforms being driven by the federal and state governments, we feel that the above projections are eminently achievable. These are of course predicated on the assumption that volatility in oil prices and exchange rate will be within a reasonable range and the constraints in terms of policies, taxation, infrastructure and ease of doing business shall be addressed on priority,” the report states.

The first edition of Global Aviation Summit 2019 witnessed participation from more than 80 countries. Being organised from January 15-16, 2019 at Grand Hyatt Mumbai, the summit themed on ‘Flying for All’ is touted to be the first-of-its-kind that will cover a diverse range of topics – from domestic aviation market, drone policies, infrastructure investment, freight and cargo policies, aviation financing and much more. It has attendance from more than 100 global CEOs, 35 exhibitors and more than 1200 delegate participation. The inaugural session saw keynote speeches by Sandip Somany, President, FICCI; R N Choubey, Secretary, Ministry of Civil Aviation; Dr. Olumuyiwa Benard Aliu, President of the Council, International Civil Aviation Organization; Suresh Prabhu, Minister of Civil Aviation and Commerce & Industry; Devendra Fadnavis, Chief Minister of Maharashtra; and Jayant Sinha, Minister of State for Civil Aviation.

Jayant Sinha, Minister of State for Civil Aviation, Government of India, has launched the official mobile application ‘GAS 2019’, for Global Aviation Summit 2019, to be held on January 15-16, 2019 at Grand Hyatt Mumbai.  The application was launched in the presence of Rajiv Nayan Choubey, Secretary, Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA); Dr Guruprasad Mohapatra, Chairman, Airports Authority of India (AAI); Dr Shefali Juneja, Joint Secretary, MoCA and other officials of the AAI. Available on play store and iOS, GAS 2019 provides a holistic glimpse of the summit and can be used to access latest updates about the mega event. The application enables users to interact with the co-delegates and speakers. It would be an excellent platform for networking through personal and group chats. With the who’s who of the global aviation fraternity set to grace the event, the summit is a promising platform for constructive discussions, collaborations and meeting of minds to explore the future of global aviation. The esteemed guest-list for the summit includes Transport & Civil Aviation ministers from Laos, Thailand, Bangladesh, Nepal and Jamaica, Civil Aviation authorities and Directorate Generals of Civil Aviation (DGCAs) from 22 countries. The future of aviation – drones and seaplanes, airport privatisation, digital travel and holistic development of global aviation ecosystem are the key areas to push the envelope both on regulations and on industry structure. This platform will enable the industry leaders to prepare a policy roadmap that will certainly provide a strong impetus to all players in the aviation ecosystem. The summit will entail B2G, B2B and G2G meetings.    

EbixCash World Money airport forex counters has been inaugurated at the arrival and departure terminals at Kannur International Airport in the presence of Minister of Civil Aviation, Suresh Prabhu; Chief Minister of Kerala, Pinarayi Vijayan; Minister of Industries, Sports and Youth Affairs, EP Jayarajan; Minister of Ports, Kadakampally Surendran; Minister of Transport, AK Saseendran; Minister of Water Resources, K Krishnankutty; and KIAL MD, V Thulasidas among other senior central and state government officials, and industry leaders. EbixCash World Money will offer passengers flying in and out of the city, foreign exchange at competitive rates along with a host of other products such as travellers’ cheques, multi-currency prepaid cards and travel insurance. Commenting on the launch, T C Guruprasad, Managing Director, EbixCash WorldMoney said, “Kannur is a fast-growing business and tourism destination with Wayanad and Coorg being in close proximity. Besides being the district headquarters, it offers a mix of beaches, forts and museums. A large number of international flights also offer direct connectivity from Middle East destinations such as Abu Dhabi, Sharjah, Muscat, Riyadh, Doha and Kuwait, making it a strategic location for us to offer our forex and travel services. We currently have six branches and nine airport forex counters in Kerala.” Spread about 2,000 acres, the Kannur Airport is the newest addition to India’s international airport portfolio. The airport is expected to serve more than one million passengers annually with passenger traffic estimated to increase five-fold by 2025.    

In a landmark decision, the Ministry of Civil Aviation is set to introduce an air cargo policy in January 2019. In a video message to the winners at India Cargo Awards, Union Minister for Commerce & Industry and Civil Aviation, Suresh Prabhu said, “We are currently working on a comprehensive strategy to create logistics hubs. I have already talked to several countries including the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Oman as well as far away countries like Russia for creating the integrated corridor for transportation along with finding out ways of exporting certain niche products. All of this is going to bring about a huge change in the way we do logistics in India.” Prabhu further said, “Logistics as a subject has been put, for the first time, in the Ministry by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and we are working on it to create an integrated strategy to make it happen. We hope to have a seamless, cost-effective and efficient cargo movement soon which will bring in more economic benefits to the country as a whole.”

Commercial operations are all set to start from Kannur International Airport in Kerala from October 1, 2018. This was recently announced at a joint press conference by Suresh Prabhu, Union Minister, Civil Aviation, along with KJ Alphons, Minister of State (I/C), Tourism; Jayant Sinha, Minister of State, Civil Aviation; as well as RN Choubey, Secretary, Civil Aviation. The officials shared that all the pending licences would be cleared before September 1 and the final aerodrome licence would also be given by that date. The airport will play a major role under the UDAN scheme of the government. Also, three domestic carriers will be operating international flights from this airport. Jet Airways will be flying to Abu Dhabi; Go Air would ply to Dammam and IndiGo will be flying to Doha from Kannur airport.