New Delhi: Governments should not run airports and airlines, Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said at a virtual meeting Sunday, adding that he hoped to privatise Air India by the end of the year.
“Air India has been an asset, has a very good record and very well-trained professionals. As a growing concern, one that is attractive to potential bidders, we should privatise it,” he said at the virtual meeting streamed live on the NaMo app.
The government extended the deadline to place bids for Air India to 30 October Tuesday, in view of the Covid-19 pandemic and its impact on the global economy. This is the fourth such extension of the sale that began on 27 January.
Puri’s comments also come in the wake of Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi opposing the decision to lease out the Thiruvananthapuram International Airport, in the state’s capital, to Adani Enterprises for a period of 50 years.
The Modi government had approved the proposal to lease out airports at Jaipur, Guwahati and Thiruvananthapuram through public-private partnership (PPP) to Adani Enterprises on 19 August.
The central government-run Airports Authority India (AAI) owns and manages more than 100 airports in India, including the one in Kerala.
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From Vande Bharat Mission to Swachh Bharat Abhiyaan
Puri talked about the key contribution of the civil aviation industry to India’s economic growth, and said, “Our rate of growth was in double digits for five years before Covid hit. Before the lockdown, our traffic was 3 lakh daily. As of 29 August 2020, it has reached 1,03,095. By Diwali, we aim to reach by 2.5-3 lakh and return to 3 lakh by December.”
He also highlighted how he envisioned further growth in the industry. “Air India’s share of India-US traffic is only 17 per cent. I want that to be 50 per cent. That means if an Indian citizen wants to go to New York from here, they should use Indian carriers as much as foreign carriers.”
He addressed the Vande Bharat Mission as well, which began on 6 May, and noted how the flights have brought back more than 13 lakh people, who were stranded in several countries due to Covid-19 lockdowns.
Puri, who also handles the urban and housing affairs portfolio, spoke about how PM Modi’s flagship missions — Swachh Bharat Abhiyaan, AMRUT and Smart Cities — had a “transformational effect insofar our urban spaces are concerned”.
“The physical dimensions of Modi’s missions are important but are anchored in behavioural change,” he said, noting that India is open defecation free (ODF) in all urban areas barring the state of West Bengal.
Referring to the evolution of these flagship programmes, he mentioned the PM Awas Yojana, which provides affordable housing to lower income households, and how it has catered to the need of “short-term affordable rental housing”, especially for those who come to the city from villages and smaller towns looking for work.
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