Speaking of privatisation in the civil aviation industry, the minister said it will help in strengthening and expanding the sector.
BS
: To encourage service providers, the government needs to
step in even in a deregulated market environment, Union Civil
Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said on Thursday.
"Even
in a deregulated environment the government needs to step in to
encourage the service providers to rationalise this," Puri said
at the curtain raiser event for the upcoming aviation exhibition
WINGS India 2020 to be held in Hyderabad.
"It
is not the government's job but it's in everybody's interest that we
don't have a situation where we resort to practices which are
restricted or involve predatory pricing resulting in overall
undermining of the sector," he added.
Speaking
of privatisation in the civil
aviation industry, the minister said it will help in
strengthening and expanding the sector.
"This
sector provides opportunities for not just players within the country
but outside. We are currently in the process of a privatisation
programme for our flight carriers.
"Privatisation
will strengthen the aviation sector and will contribute in its
expansion both in the short and medium term. By 2029-30 we should be
a USD 10 trillion economy and the third largest in the world,"
Puri said.
WINGS
India 2020 will be held in Hyderabad in March this year.
Addressing
a gathering of officials from the aviation sector, the minister said
that despite turbulence in the industry, it recorded a growth of
11.03 per cent as per November 2019 data.
"We
constitute the third largest domestic civil aviation market in the
world. As an economy which is 2.89trillion US dollar strong, and
which is transiting towards USD 5 trillion economy by 2024, we are
currently facing a penetration in civil aviation of as little as 7-8
per cent," he said.
"Inspite
of the turbulence in this sector, particularly characterised by the
secession of operation of one air carrier between December 2018 and
April 2019, the sector has registered a growth of 11.03 per cent as
per November 2019 figures," he added.
Showing
confidence in the expansion of the Indira Gandhi International
Airport in the national capital, the minister said the passenger
traffic will increase manifold and might beat the combination of
popular airports in London.
