Centre aims to make air travel affordable for common man: Scindia

Union Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia on Wednesday said the central government aimed to provide an affordable air travel facility, which even a person "wearing slippers" could avail.

As part of the domestic civil aviation sector's expansion in the past four years, new airports have been opened in many smaller cities and air services started on new routes, connecting these places with big cities, Scindia told reporters here in Madhya Pradesh.

"We want to provide an affordable air travel facility to the common people. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has time and again said this facility should be such that even a person wearing 'hawai chappal' (slippers) can travel by air. We, in India, have the full potential to make it a reality," the minister said.

He said the government was making efforts towards expansion of the air services with a view to provide air travel facilities to more and more common people in the coming decade.

Meanwhile, Scindia flagged off nine trucks carrying relief material, including ration and clothes, for people in Sheopur, one of the worst flood-affected districts in the state following heavy rains recently.

The Indore Municipal Corporation arranged for this relief material, according to officials.

Scindia, who was given charge of the civil aviation ministry after his induction into the Modi-led Union cabinet last month, started a three-day 'Jan Ashirwad Yatra' from Tuesday in the Malwa and Nimar regions of western MP to reach out to people.

His tour will end in Indore on Thursday.