Civil Aviation Minister lauds AAI for its achievements

Civil Aviation Minister Jayant Sinha has congratulated the Airports Authority of India (AAI) for its achievements in fiscal 2017-18.

Addressing AAI staff and their families during the 23th Annual Day celebrations of the AAI, Sinha said India is witnessing unprecedented growth in the aviation sector and requires skills to ensure a bright future.

He also felicitated Ahmedabad, Kolkata, Lucknow, Chennai, Pune and Indore airports for making their mark in the Airport Council International-Airport Service Quality Awards-2017.

The minister also felicitated the Dehradun, Udaipur, and Raipur Airports for making its mark in the CSI awards.

Sinha said, "What you have accomplished in the last one year, is nothing short of remarkable, it has been a fantastic year for the Airports Authority of India and you deserve a tremendous round of applause for the fantastic year. One of the very important things we did in the budget this year, and which I have been working with your leaders in the Airports Authority of India, is 'How do we equip ourselves and prepare ourselves?' and 'How do we make sure not to accommodate 200 million passenger trips, but one billion passenger trips, that is the target we have to set for ourselves over the next 15 to 20 years."

The Chairman of Airports Authority of India, Guruprasad Mohapatra spoke about AAI's achievements in the last financial year.

He said, "We have not only excelled on the infrastructure front by dedicating several buildings at Gorakhpur, Belagavi, Hubli, Jammu etc to the nation, operationalising the central Air Traffic flow management to balance the demand and supply of the air and on the airports, cars isle system in Kolkata to reduce the difficulties faced by the travelling public due to fog and bad weather conditions, but came out with flying colours for providing customer satisfaction to the travelling public. I am elated to share that our continuous efforts towards improving passenger conveniences like the ambience at airports, clean toilets, local outlets at airports and providing sanitary pad dispensing machines, and many more such initiatives, have not only transformed the airports, but has changed the public perception. These efforts have placed us among some of the best airports across the world."

The evening was marked by dazzling performances by the famed Zenith Dance Group. They thrilled the audience with an acrobatic and energetic dance performance on the Ganesh Vandanam.

The event then soon took a lighter note as famous comedian, Rajeev Nigam, tickled the funny bone of the audience with his standup comedy.

Finally, Bollywood singer Benny Dayal took centre stage with his soulful voice and got the audience on their feet with his energetic dance numbers.