Airport economic regulatory body mooted

The government is considering creation of a new airport economic regulatory authority to ensure a level playing field for all airport developers in the country, according K N Srivastav, joint secretary, ministry of civil aviation.

Giving an overview of the Indian aviation scenario at the 'Look South 2007' conference and exhibition that concluded here on Saturday, Srivastav said that over 300 new aircrafts would be added to India's fleet in the next five years, thereby putting pressure on airport infrastructure and lending urgency to the requirement of about 5,000 additional pilots, apart from other airport staff.

This order of growth, he said, would make it necessary for the government to make operational the 300 airstrips that were currently available but were not being used, apart from the need to take airport development to tier-II and tier-III cities of India.

He said with international airports coming up in Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Puducherry and exiting ones being upgraded and modernised, the aviation scene was hotting up in south India.

Sharing his perspective of the challenges being faced by India in terms of air connectivity, Chai Woo Foo, general manager of Singapore Airlines, stated that at present there was no real open skies policy in India even though there has been liberalisation of some routes.

He said the south Indian region needed to put itself on the global aviation map for which it would have to connect to major world destinations and enhance flight frequency.

The field also should be opened for international players to augment their services to India. Liberal open skies, Foo said, would lead to greater connectivity, encourage tourism, generate employment and boost trade and commerce.