Civil aviation minister Praful Patel has said the government is seeking to position Indian carriers to fly several more international routes that are not serviced by Indian airlines currently. This would allow Indian carriers compete further with the global carriers. The government will also take the final decision on allowing higher foreign direct investments (FDI) in a slew of activities in the aviation sector.
Patel said Air India was set to open a major hub in Munich. AI had recently joined the Star Alliance of airlines.
In an informal chat with a section of the Indian media on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2008 in Davos, Patel, who is part of the Indian ministerial delegation, said there are a vast number of routes where Indian carriers are not operating, but which are being operated in by foreign airlines flying to and from India.
?We are only talking of a few routes now where the Indian carriers are operating. What about the vast number of routes in and out of India where only the international carriers are operating? The basic idea of opening up is that. You cannot expect one airline to service all these routes. We need to position many more Indian carriers to service these routes. South Africa, Australia, most countries of Europe are not serviced by Indian carriers, whereas their carriers are flying in and out of India,? Patel explained.
On freeing up FDI in aviation activities further, Patel said while there was 100% FDI in greenfield airports, his ministry and the commerce ministry were moving quickly to free up FDI in other allied activities. ?In the next month or so, these will be moved. For instance, in cargo, non-scheduled operations, helicopters, sea planes etc. This will bring in much more investments. Remember, nowhere in the world are new airports being made like in India. Not a single new airport in Europe, or in the US. The only new places where airports are coming up are India and China.
On the Air-India hub in Munich, Patel said by virtue of joining the Star Alliance, the airline would have a much more integrated network in Europe.
He said while AI had been invited to join the Alliance and the decision had been taken, to activate it would take about a year. ?The infrastructure, the systems, the integration will take about a year. And by then the new fleet would also start coming in place,? the minister said. He added after IT and telecom, aviation was the next big sunrise sector in India. Indian carriers had placed orders with overseas suppliers worth $25 billion in the past two years. It is now looking at infrastructure upgrade as well.