Civil aviation witnessing restoration, home passenger development to proceed: Union Minister Scindia

By PTI

NEW DELHI: The nation’s civil aviation sector is witnessing a really robust V-shaped restoration with encouraging home passenger numbers, and the expansion will proceed within the coming years, Union Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia stated on Wednesday.

After being considerably hit by the coronavirus pandemic, the sector is on the restoration path and the every day home air passenger visitors has been above the 4-lakh mark for the previous few weeks.

Against the backdrop of congestion at airports which have now eased, the civil aviation minister additionally stated efforts have been made to make sure that airport operators put in place steps that can enable the decongestion of airports.

In an interview with PTI, Scindia stated the home passenger numbers are very encouraging and already, the quantity is round 111 million until November this 12 months.

“I believe that the civil aviation sector has rebounded and what we in economic parlance say V-shaped recovery. A very strong V-shaped recovery. I do believe that (with the) value proposition that airlines and airports offer our customers, we are seeing greater participation and a greater desire to travel by air which is why we are looking at these very very high numbers. I am very confident that this growth in India will continue in the years to come,” he stated.

On Tuesday, the variety of departing home air passengers stood at 4,15,426 whereas the variety of departing home flights was at 2,883, as per the newest information from the civil aviation ministry.

“Though there is a great amount of jubilation at crossing the pre-Covid 2019 number of roughly 4.15 lakh passengers per day consecutively in the last two weeks and at 4.35 lakh on December 24, I would lay more emphasis on the fact that if you look at the numbers throughout the year, in 2019, we were close at around 144 million passengers (domestic).”

“On a pro-rata basis till November, we were looking at around 95 million…today, at the end of November, we are already at 111 million, so we are up 15 per cent from that number on a consecutive basis till November,” he stated.

About the present coronavirus scenario worldwide and its shadow on the civil aviation sector, Scindia stated Covid is all the time a priority.

“The very fact that we have very high Covid numbers across the world today from China to South Korea to Japan to European countries, it is certainly a concern.”

“We have to be careful, which is why we have put in place what the health ministry requested us and mandated us for 2 per cent screening of all passengers coming into India. Fortunately, we are not seeing that high positivity numbers at least currently…I think we need to still wait and watch the situation,” he stated.

ALSO READ | ‘Crests and troughs’ in aviation sector, says Scindia

On congestion at airports, together with in Delhi, the civil aviation minister stated there was no anticipation of such an enormous variety of passengers in the course of the festive season.

“We have put our boots on the ground and we have grasped the situation… it is the airports’ responsibility and job to provide that seamless travel capability between demand and supply,” he stated, including that on this regard, two issues are vital.

One is to have the ability to management peak hour visitors based mostly on the throughput functionality of the airport in addition to enhance the capability of throughput inside the airport, he famous.

In the wake of complaints from varied quarters about congestion leading to lengthy queues and ready hours at airports, particularly in Delhi, the ministry took varied steps, and the scenario has eased.

“Today, I am happy to note that we have looked at both reducing the number of arrivals and takeoffs at peak period hours as well as increasing the throughput capability of Delhi airport. (This is by) increasing the number of gates for access and by putting in systems such as TV monitors as well as ushers to help people and increase the number of security lines from 11+2 and today we have almost 20 lines,” the minister stated.

These steps, Scindia stated, have actually decreased the variety of bottlenecks that have been there.

“It is imperative to put those processes at Mumbai airport and Bengaluru airport (also).”

When requested whether or not airport operators weren’t nicely ready to cope with excessive passenger numbers leading to congestion, Scindia stated, “I don’t think there was a forecast capability and anticipation of high numbers that you and I are talking about.”

“This is not the time to necessarily look at assigning the blame but really look at tackling the problem at hand and making the travel process and experience much more seamless for our travellers. That is where I am concentrating on,” the minister stated.

Talking about worldwide air visitors, Scindia stated it’s roughly 20-25 per cent decrease than the 2019 numbers.

“I see a sequential rise in that also as we go along. Both for domestic as well as international, we have looked at the systems and we have made sure that airport operators put in place steps that will allow the decongestion of airports,” Scindia stated.

On Tuesday, the variety of arriving worldwide passengers stood at 82,293.

ALSO READ | Govt focussing on last-mile air connectivity to Tier-III cities: Scindia

NEW DELHI: The nation’s civil aviation sector is witnessing a really robust V-shaped restoration with encouraging home passenger numbers, and the expansion will proceed within the coming years, Union Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia stated on Wednesday.

After being considerably hit by the coronavirus pandemic, the sector is on the restoration path and the every day home air passenger visitors has been above the 4-lakh mark for the previous few weeks.

Against the backdrop of congestion at airports which have now eased, the civil aviation minister additionally stated efforts have been made to make sure that airport operators put in place steps that can enable the decongestion of airports.

In an interview with PTI, Scindia stated the home passenger numbers are very encouraging and already, the quantity is round 111 million until November this 12 months.

“I believe that the civil aviation sector has rebounded and what we in economic parlance say V-shaped recovery. A very strong V-shaped recovery. I do believe that (with the) value proposition that airlines and airports offer our customers, we are seeing greater participation and a greater desire to travel by air which is why we are looking at these very very high numbers. I am very confident that this growth in India will continue in the years to come,” he stated.

On Tuesday, the variety of departing home air passengers stood at 4,15,426 whereas the variety of departing home flights was at 2,883, as per the newest information from the civil aviation ministry.

“Though there is a great amount of jubilation at crossing the pre-Covid 2019 number of roughly 4.15 lakh passengers per day consecutively in the last two weeks and at 4.35 lakh on December 24, I would lay more emphasis on the fact that if you look at the numbers throughout the year, in 2019, we were close at around 144 million passengers (domestic).”

“On a pro-rata basis till November, we were looking at around 95 million…today, at the end of November, we are already at 111 million, so we are up 15 per cent from that number on a consecutive basis till November,” he stated.

About the present coronavirus scenario worldwide and its shadow on the civil aviation sector, Scindia stated Covid is all the time a priority.

“The very fact that we have very high Covid numbers across the world today from China to South Korea to Japan to European countries, it is certainly a concern.”

“We have to be careful, which is why we have put in place what the health ministry requested us and mandated us for 2 per cent screening of all passengers coming into India. Fortunately, we are not seeing that high positivity numbers at least currently…I think we need to still wait and watch the situation,” he stated.

ALSO READ | ‘Crests and troughs’ in aviation sector, says Scindia

On congestion at airports, together with in Delhi, the civil aviation minister stated there was no anticipation of such an enormous variety of passengers in the course of the festive season.

“We have put our boots on the ground and we have grasped the situation… it is the airports’ responsibility and job to provide that seamless travel capability between demand and supply,” he stated, including that on this regard, two issues are vital.

One is to have the ability to management peak hour visitors based mostly on the throughput functionality of the airport in addition to enhance the capability of throughput inside the airport, he famous.

In the wake of complaints from varied quarters about congestion leading to lengthy queues and ready hours at airports, particularly in Delhi, the ministry took varied steps, and the scenario has eased.

“Today, I am happy to note that we have looked at both reducing the number of arrivals and takeoffs at peak period hours as well as increasing the throughput capability of Delhi airport. (This is by) increasing the number of gates for access and by putting in systems such as TV monitors as well as ushers to help people and increase the number of security lines from 11+2 and today we have almost 20 lines,” the minister stated.

These steps, Scindia stated, have actually decreased the variety of bottlenecks that have been there.

“It is imperative to put those processes at Mumbai airport and Bengaluru airport (also).”

When requested whether or not airport operators weren’t nicely ready to cope with excessive passenger numbers leading to congestion, Scindia stated, “I don’t think there was a forecast capability and anticipation of high numbers that you and I are talking about.”

“This is not the time to necessarily look at assigning the blame but really look at tackling the problem at hand and making the travel process and experience much more seamless for our travellers. That is where I am concentrating on,” the minister stated.

Talking about worldwide air visitors, Scindia stated it’s roughly 20-25 per cent decrease than the 2019 numbers.

“I see a sequential rise in that also as we go along. Both for domestic as well as international, we have looked at the systems and we have made sure that airport operators put in place steps that will allow the decongestion of airports,” Scindia stated.

On Tuesday, the variety of arriving worldwide passengers stood at 82,293.

ALSO READ | Govt focussing on last-mile air connectivity to Tier-III cities: Scindia