NEW DELHI: Describing India’s aviation as a sunrise sector of growth Minister of State (MoS) for Civil Aviation, Jayant Sinha on Saturday said the sector has a dramatic headroom for growth with 150 million passenger trips a year with an average growth of over 20% every year, while China has 450 million passenger trips and US with 800 million passenger trips a year.
Addressing the 89th Annual General Meeting (AGM) of industry body, Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI), Sinha said India’s total revenue of airlines is Rs 1.4 lakh crore and is growing at a rate of 20%, with over 90 million domestic and over 50 million international passengers travelling in and out of India.
He emphasized that the government is committed to safety and security and will launch the unified command of Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) in the entire aviation system.
The minister specified that there are three priorities for the government, first is to put in digital experience through AirSewa, improving airport facilities with an aim to decrease in immigration lines and other customer services and to double the expansion of airports from 75 to 150 airports through the government’s ambitious plan under the Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS).
Recently the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) inaugurated flights to Kanpur and Bhatinda under the RCS scheme.
He also revealed government’s plans to build airport capacity by expanding existing terminals, building new terminals and developing greenfield airports. The Minister said that Rs 2.5 to 3 lakh crore investment is required for airports excluding the land acquisition cost.