The US Trade and Development Agency (USTDA) has approved grant funding for technical assistance to create an integrated aviation hub at Hisar Airport in Haryana, aiming to enhance airport cargo and logistics infrastructure and strengthen India’s supply chain network, a senior official announced.
USTDA Director Enoh T. Ebong revealed this on Tuesday at the three-day US-India Aviation Summit. “I am delighted to announce that USTDA has approved grant funding for technical assistance to help create an integrated aviation hub at Hisar Airport in Haryana,” she said.
“Our work will help develop airport cargo and logistics infrastructure that will strengthen India’s supply chain network,” she added, without disclosing the grant funding amount.
“Our partner for this initiative will be the Haryana Airports Development Corporation (HADC), and our assistance will include capacity building to facilitate HADC’s implementation of the integrated aviation hub,” she said.
USTDA initiatives and potential projects in India
Top officials from India and the US, along with representatives from the corporate sector, are attending the seventh biennial US-India Aviation Summit in Washington, DC. Ebong stated that HADC will select a US firm to perform the technical assistance, according to PTI.
“This is an important opportunity,” she said. “Our portfolio continues to grow and take the shape of the priorities defined by our partners as critical.” She emphasised that, despite having about 40 activities under the Aviation Cooperation Programme (ACP) umbrella, they are just beginning to tap the potential of this partnership.
The USTDA official highlighted 10 aviation projects across India where US companies can contribute.
“But we want to do more. This summit is an opportunity to set a course for the next chapter of our mutually beneficial aviation partnerships,” she said.
“As we work together over the next several days and beyond, let us think without limitation and plan with intent, tapping into our respective creativity and the spirit of true equal partnership that characterises our aviation work,” she added.
Significance of US-India aviation collaboration
Ebong noted that the summit’s significance lies in the world’s largest and oldest democracies collaborating in a sector crucial to the global economy. This partnership benefits immensely from the Indian diaspora in the United States, which has created enduring cultural, educational, and business ties between the two countries, she said.
This is the first summit to invite broader participation from South Asia, including aviation leaders from Bhutan, the Maldives, and Nepal. For over 30 years, USTDA has formed partnerships across India and South Asia to mobilise capital and bring US innovation to the region’s infrastructure priorities, she noted.
“Since the founding of the India ACP in 2007, USTDA has supported numerous project preparation and partnership-building activities across a range of shared priorities, such as sustainable airport master planning and efficient air traffic management,” she said.
“Importantly, we have also funded executive training for the current and next generation of India’s aviation industry leaders,” Ebong added.