Civil aviation sector on upswing, 75 airports built in 10 years, says Scindia

Union Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia on Friday said 75 new airports have been built in the last ten years as part of the Narendra Modi governments vision to bring air travel within the reach of a vast number of common citizens and asserted the key sector was on the upswing and still holds a lot of potentialEarlier people only heard about airlines getting shut down in India but now things have changed and new air carriers are being established to make flying accessible to citizens he saidScindia was speaking at the formal inauguration of the aircraft Maintenance Repair Overhaul MRO facility of AARIndamer at Mihan SEZ in NagpurHe said the facilitys inauguration was a very important event in the history of MRO evolution in IndiaThis event is significant in many ways as it signifies the coming of age of civil aviation in India Civil aviation has enjoyed a historical journey in India and the sector is over 100 years old But it is now that the sector has assumed tremendous scale and offers vast opportunities said the ministerHe said Indias civil aviation sector had only 400 aircraft ten years ago but the number has grown to 713 planes at the last count and more will be added going forwardThe minister informed that Air India now a private entity has place orders for 470 aircraft 250 from Airbus and 220 from Boeing while leading carrier IndiGo is buying 500 planes reflecting vast potential in the aviation sectorThese orders are historical not just for India but also international aviation he saidFour new airlines have been born out of the vision delineated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi His vision is very clear to bring the common man into flying space and sow seeds of development in their lives Make the impossible possible he saidA few decades ago people in India only heard about about airlines getting shut down he saidThe Indian aviation industry is on the upswing from the perspective of all stakeholders As many as 75 new airports have been built in the last ten years taking the total count to 149 airports include helipads and aerodromes Our vision is to take this milestone 149 to 220 airports in the next 5 to 7 years We have Rs 1 lakh crore capex plan in place he saidScindia air traffic passenger which was close to 6 crore per annum ten years ago has now grown by 130 per centAsia where India is located will have by year 2040 close to 50 per cent of all international passenger traffic up from the current level of 37 per cent said the ministerScindia said the MRO sector is growing by leaps and bounds aided by Indias engineering talentHe said the new facility is a historic joint venture between the oldest MRO Indamer of India and the largest MRO AAR of the USA and congratulated both the partnersScindia said the aviation ministry should play the role of not just a regulator but facilitatorHe said Boeing along with GMR Aero Technic is establishing a new facility for converting Boeing passenger jets into freight aircraft for the cargo sector in IndiaScindia said in the next 10 to 15 days Boeing is going to inaugurate its largest engineering and design facility outside the USA in Bengaluru at a cost of almost USD 200 millionAARIndamer MRO Director Prajay Patel speaking to reporters after the inauguration said their target is to do maintenance and repair of foreign aircraft along with local onesThe local aviation ecosystem will also get a boost We are planning for a training institute we have achieved 100 Ccheck milestones Local infrastructure local vendors suppliers have realised their is a market here along with those material which comes from from abroad local Procurement is also done Patel saidThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever