With civil aviation becoming a key component of India’s development and its economy, the country will have at least 220 airports by 2025, Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia said even as he assured the Lok Sabha that the government is not on a “disinvestment path” but has only leased the airports. He said the move has brought additional revenue to the government, besides guaranteeing upgrade of the airports.
Scindia, while replying to an eight-hour debate on the demand for grants for the Civil Aviation Ministry in the Lower House, urged the chief ministers across the country to reduce the VAT on the Aviation Turbine Fuel (ATF) in their respective states, which, he said, would lead to increase in connectivity and the revenue.
“By now, 12 states and UTs have reduced the VAT on the ATF. Let me tell you the profit part of it: both Andhra Pradesh and Kerala have reduced the VAT and there is a 15 per cent increase in the connectivity in three months, more aircraft land and take off from these states. Jammu and Kashmir has reduced it from 26 per cent to 1 per cent and the number of aircraft landing there for refuelling has gone up by 360 per cent,” the minister said.
Pointing out that the Covid pandemic had affected the otherwise-flourishing civil aviation sector in the country, Scindia said it has picked up now. “In the last seven days, 3.82-lakh passengers undertook air travel per day. We are now targeting to triple the passenger frequency to 50 crore in 2023-24. Our focus is going to be on inclusiveness, access and affordability,” he said.
He added that in 2018-19, it was 35.5 crore, and it fell by 66 per cent during the Covid time to 11 crore. In the pre-Covid time, it was 4.15 lakh per day but the sector had made up and the difference was just 5 per cent, but the Omicron wave hit it again. “From 3.90 lakh (passengers per day), it fell to 1.60 lakh,” he said.
According to Scindia, who took over as the civil aviation minister in July last year, there were 74 airports in the country till 2014. “In the last seven years, 66 new airports have been constructed. We have doubled our capacity. By 2025, the number of airports will be 220. In the last one year, we have opened three new airports; there were three brownfield projects, too, and now we are going to have 13 new greenfield airports also.”
With several Opposition MPs slamming the government for “disinvesting” airports, Scindia clarified that it has not disinvested – which he said would get only one-time payment and would not get the assets back ever – but only leased them for 50 years. He said the Airports Authority of India receives Rs 904 crore every year as the lease fee and Rs 2,322 crore has already reached the GoI accounts with the leasing of six airports. “The airports will come back to us with the upgrade,” he said.
He also stressed on the need for the private participation in the developments in the sector. “The government alone cannot proceed on the development path,” he said, adding that private firms have already invested Rs 34,000 crore in the sector.
Highlighting schemes like UDAN which has made air travel accessible to ordinary citizens, Scindia assured the House that the Union Finance Minister has assured budgetary support for the sector. He said 91-lakh people have availed the facility under the UDAN scheme.
The minister thanked the Indian Air Force, private airlines, Indian missions abroad and the NRIs for supporting the government’s efforts to evacuate stranded Indians from the conflict zone in Ukraine since Russia attacked that country. According to the minister, Indigo operated 35 flights, Air India 14, Go First six, Air Asia three and Air India Express and Spicejet nine each.
Pointing out that the economic multiplier of civil aviation in India is 3.1 and employment multiplier is 6.1, he said that 15 per cent of pilots in India are women, as against the global average of 5 per cent. The minister said there will be 35 new cargo terminals in the country in the coming three years and India is trying to be a leader in the drone sector which could provide at least 5-lakh job opportunities.
