Prime Minister Narendra Modi, recently while holding a comprehensive meeting to review the strategies that could help in making India’s Civil Aviation sector more efficient, has asked the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) to expedite the process of handing over of 6 more airports on PPP basis, and to commence the tender process within three months.
In the meeting attended by the home minister, the finance minister, MoS (civil aviation), MoS (finance) and senior officials of the government, it was decided that the Indian Air Space should be effectively used in such a manner that the flying time is reduced benefitting the travelling public and also helping the airlines to save costs in close co-operation with the Department of Military Affairs (DMA).
Although the statement did not specify the six airports that would be privatised, the state-run Airports Authority of India (AAI) has already recommended the public-private partnership (PPP) model of development for airports at Amritsar, Varanasi, Bhubaneswar, Indore, Raipur and Trichy, news agency Press Trust of India (PTI) had reported in December 2019.
During the course of the meeting, the e-DGCA project was also reviewed. This project would bring in more transparency in the DGCA’s office and help all stakeholders by reducing the processing time for various licenses/permissions. It was also decided that all reform initiatives taken by the Ministry of Civil Aviation and the organisations under it should proceed in a time-bound manner
