All airports to have night landing facilities
Tuesday, 03 July 2007, 19:30 IST
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New Delhi: All the 80 airports in India will have night landing facilities and the government will explore the option of merchant airports to decongest air traffic, Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel said here Tuesday. He also reiterated that the proposal to liberalise foreign direct investment in helicopter and seaplane services was alive and that another plan to allow up to 74 percent foreign equity in cargo plane services was being considered. "Aviation growth should not be witnessed only through decongestion in airports in Delhi and Mumbai," Patel told an aviation seminar organised by the Business Standard newspaper. "Growth must also be seen in other parts of the country." A majority of airports in the country do not have night landing facilities. Under the concept of merchant airports proposed by the civil aviation ministry, private companies will manage the infrastructure and government agencies will only handle safety and security issues. "The entrepreneur is expected to set up and operate an airport on the basis of its commercial viability, subject to the safety and security oversight of the government," an official note circulated recently had said. "Such a proposal will dispense with the requirement for investment of government resources and therefore a more liberal, license-based approval procedure can be considered," the note had added. The concept has also been mooted since India is expected to add some 400 new aircraft over the next seven-eight years worth some $80 billion, which would necessitate an investment of about $30 billion in airport infrastructure. Patel said policies in this regard would encourage competition among airports even as he said the group of ministers under External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherje would explore easing rules to allow more airlines to fly abroad. He, however, was caustic in his rebuttal on some charges that the policy on who can fly overseas had favoured only some airlines. "Those who cannot run their own enterprises well should not offer me advice how to run my ministry better."
Source: IANS
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