Airlines can save Rs 1,000 cr annually with use of flexible airspace: Govt

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Airlines will have potential savings of Rs 1,000 crore annually with the flexible use of airspace that helps in reducing flight time, fuel usage and carbon emissions, according to the civil aviation ministry.

In a review of the aviation sector released on Saturday, the ministry also said that a record number of commercial pilot licences at 1,562 have been issued this year till December 18 by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA).

To address the issue of congestion at airports, the ministry said additional space has been created at various airports by restructuring the available terminal infrastructure to augment capacity at several passenger touch points.

Meanwhile, the ministry said that earlier about 40 per cent of the airspace was unavailable for civilian use, resulting in aircraft adopting circuitous routes to reach their destinations.

The Indian Air Force controls 30 per cent of the national airspace and out of that, 30 per cent has been released as upper airspace under flexible use of airspace, the release said.

As part of Aatmanirbhar Bharat, IAF has agreed to release these portions of airspace for civilian use, the ministry said, adding that 129 conditional routes have been promulgated.

"This will lead to significant savings in flight time, fuel usage and reduction in carbon emission."

"The potential savings to the airlines will be to the tune of Rs 1,000 crore per annum. Total savings so far from August 2020 - Rs 640.7 crore and total CO2 reduction is 1.37 lakh tonnes," the release said.

During the year, domestic air passenger traffic rose significantly.

"On November 19 this year, airlines in India flew 4,56,910 domestic passengers. This was the highest single-day air traffic since the pandemic hit, marking a remarkable 7.4 per cent surge above pre-Covid averages," the release said.