The Civil Aviation Ministry is working on a short-term strategy to re-energise the sector.
“We feel that Aviation, as a sector, is nowhere near its potential. We are setting some goals to realise it,” Ashok Gajapathi Raju, the newly appointed Civil Aviation Minister, said at a press conference called to announce the entry of Air India into Star Alliance. The Minister, however, declined to get into specifics, saying these will be laid out in the next few days.
Last Saturday, the Minister was present at a meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi where issues relating to infrastructure, including aviation, were highlighted. He said while a number of issues, including Air India, came up at the meeting, no decisions were taken.
The Minister admitted that taxation of aviation fuel (ATF) is on the higher side and needs to be lowered. Apart from central levies, various States impose sales tax on ATF which varies from 4 per cent to over 30 per cent. “We are trying to convince States to lower the taxes,” he said.
He declined to talk about whether the Government was considering privatising the loss-ridden Air India. He said: “I do not want to stir a hornet’s nest.”
The Minister said several measures, including the appointment of more flight safety inspectors, are being taken to ensure that the US Federal Aviation Authority’s downgrading of Indian aviation sector is overturned.
On January 31, the FAA downgraded India from Category-I to Category-II . With this India is ranked along with Ghana and Bangladesh in the list of countries that do not meet the safety norms stipulated by the International Civil Aviation Organisation. This is the first time that India has been downgraded. The downgrade will hit Indian carriers’ US-bound flights. Currently, there are 28 flights a week — 21 by Air India and seven by Jet Airways.