Friday, October 17, 2008
The government has identified 34 regional airports in the country for city side development in the PPP mode at a cost of $357 million, even as it grapples with issues of technology, funding and regulation to upgrade and modernise airport infrastructure and open up business opportunities for the private players.
Speaking at the International Conference on India Aviation: Scaling New Heights, organised by Ficci and the civil aviation ministry, Praful Patel, minister for civil aviation, said the government’s endeavour was to see the development of all metro cities as aviation hubs to connect all cities of India and facilitate transportation of cargo at competitive rates. He described the crisis in the aviation industry as `temporary’ and urged all the stakeholders to cash in on the opportunities of providing low cost services.
M Madhavan Nambiar, secretary of civil aviation ministry, pointed out that a major challenge before policymakers was the financial modeling of infrastructure creation.
He said passing on the entire development cost to the passengers would not be an optimal solution as had been amply demonstrated by the decrease in traffic in major airports due to the recent hike in fares by airlines. There is price elasticity of demand for low cost as well as short destination flights, he added.
The entire sector needs to get together and evolve a holistic approach as the sustainability of the recent growth in aviation should be recognized as a key factor by all the stakeholders.
17/10/08 Financial Express
Speaking at the International Conference on India Aviation: Scaling New Heights, organised by Ficci and the civil aviation ministry, Praful Patel, minister for civil aviation, said the government’s endeavour was to see the development of all metro cities as aviation hubs to connect all cities of India and facilitate transportation of cargo at competitive rates. He described the crisis in the aviation industry as `temporary’ and urged all the stakeholders to cash in on the opportunities of providing low cost services.
M Madhavan Nambiar, secretary of civil aviation ministry, pointed out that a major challenge before policymakers was the financial modeling of infrastructure creation.
He said passing on the entire development cost to the passengers would not be an optimal solution as had been amply demonstrated by the decrease in traffic in major airports due to the recent hike in fares by airlines. There is price elasticity of demand for low cost as well as short destination flights, he added.
The entire sector needs to get together and evolve a holistic approach as the sustainability of the recent growth in aviation should be recognized as a key factor by all the stakeholders.
17/10/08 Financial Express
Labels: Airports
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