Civil Aviation minister Jyotiraditya Scindia inaugurated Air India‘s direct flight between Mumbai and San Francisco on Thursday. The flight will be operating thrice a week, reported PTI. Post-inauguration of the flight, Scindia stated that India’s civil aviation sector is booming and is at the peak of transformation.
Previously, Air India Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director Campbell Wilson had said that the airline will hike its market share by 30 per cent in international as well as domestic routes.
Replying to a question in the Lok Sabha during the Question Hour on Thursday, Scindia said that the government is also paying attention to last-mile connectivity to Tier-III cities to ensure civil aviation in the country is entirely democratised. He said the Centre is focusing on the small aircraft scheme that was launched in 2022 under which sub-20 seater aircraft are being used to provide last-mile connectivity.
A total of 132 routes have been awarded in the last round of UDAN 4.2 scheme in the major sectors which include almost 50 seaplanes routes and 16 helicopter routes, the Minister informed.
On the subject of aero sports, the Minister said that it is a new area and has immense scope in India. “In the West, where aerosports are…prevalent, in winter…we can bring all of those aerosports to India because of the weather pattern in India,” he said, reported PTI. He also informed that the aerosports organisation will be decentralised into different states units.