Centre finalising vision document for aviation sector

The Centre is finalising a strategic vision document for the fast growing aviation sector in the country to address issues such as infrastructure constraints at airports, boosting air connectivity to smaller towns and developing local human resource.

The document came up for discussion during a review meeting of the growth of airport infrastructure in the country, which was chaired by Civil Aviation Minister Suresh Prabhu today, sources said.

The vision 2035 document assumes significance since some of the big airports in the country are unable to keep pace with growth of passenger traffic.

Major airports in cities like Delhi and Mumbai are already facing issues of runways and airspace constraints.

Keeping this in mind, the minister asked the Airports Authority of India (AAI) to hasten the pace of infrastructure creation to decongest the airports and meet passenger growth, which stood at about 28 per cent last month.

"We are finalising a strategic vision for the aviation sector, to create state-of-art-infrastructure with best technology, to develop local human resource, to move fast so that India leads the world in air traffic growth," Prabhu was quoted as saying in a tweet by the Civil Aviation Ministry.

According to sources, Prabhu reviewed the onging expansion work of airports across the country and said that in case of land constraints, he is ready to hold discussions with the state governments.

The ministry had earlier indicated that the airport sector in the country will see an investment of up to Rs one lakh crore in the next five years.

The investments would be made for upgrading existing infrastructure at airports and also building greenfield airports by the AAI and private companies.