We need to bring aviation turbine fuel under GST - Hardeep Singh Puri, Minister of Civil Aviation, Government of India

Mar 14, 2020

Need to focus on skill development and MRO - K T Rama Rao, Minister for Industries & Commerce, IT, Electronics & Communications and Municipal Administration & Urban Development, Telangana Government

 

HYDERABAD, 14 March 2020 - Mr Hardeep Singh Puri, Minister of Civil Aviation, Government of India, today said that the civil aviation industry has ushered in a new era of expansion, driven by factors such as Low Cost Carriers (LCC's), modern airports, FDI in domestic airlines, advanced IT, and our growing emphasis on regional connectivity. Speaking at the Day-3 of 'WINGS INDIA 2020', jointly organised by Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA), Airport Authority of India (AAI) and Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI), Mr Hardeep Singh Puri said, "We are at a point where we need to bring aviation turbine fuel under GST and by and large there is acknowledgement from across states to make it happen."

He further added that the current situation arising out of Corona Virus is a challenge, especially for the civil aviation sector. "It is personally being monitored and directed by the Prime Minister and his office. Within hours of the first evidence becoming available we had started screening passengers coming in from 12 most affected countries. We then increased it to include screening of passengers coming in from any country across the world. Our airports constitute a benchmark for how airports should be running across the globe, specially the 30 airports where proper screening is already in place. We have screened 10,876 flights coming in from across the globe that include 11,71,061 passengers, 3,225 of these passengers required further screening. I am sure that once people get the right perspective, know where we are, look at the recovering numbers, we will not only overcome this challenge, but will see robust vibrant growth in the civil aviation sector."

Mr K T Rama Rao, Minister for Industries & Commerce, IT, Electronics & Communications and Municipal Administration & Urban Development, Government of Telangana, said "With respect to aviation and aerospace, there has been tremendous growth with further room to grow for us. Our focus should be on skill development and MRO infrastructure and foreign investments. In order to fuel this, during 'WINGS India 2020' we inaugurated FSTC flight stimulator at Shamshabad Airport. The MRO sector has a huge potential for employment generation along with significant investments from overseas. We are working together to bring in reforms and policies that will enable us to bring in more employment opportunities for young India."

Present at the Ministry Plenary today were Chief Guest Mr Hardeep Singh Puri, Minister of Civil Aviation, Government of India along with Mr K T Rama Rao, Minister for Industries & Commerce, IT, Electronics & Communications and Municipal Administration & Urban Development, Government of Telangana, Mr Arvind Singh, Chairman, Airports Authority of India, and Mr Anand Stanley, Chairman FICCI, Civil Aviation Committee and Managing Director, Airbus India.

 

Overview of the aviation industry was also discussed at length. Key highlights include:

• Domestic traffic has growth 14 times in the last 18 years. Total traffic has growth 8.2X including international traffic.
• The future of the industry in terms of connectivity is promising, increasing connectivity through UDAN has helped the per capita trips to rise from 0.1 per person to 0.5 per person.
• Every minute an aircraft lands or takes off and according to the FICCI study, we will reach 1 billion passengers in India.
• Over the next few years, focus on MRO infrastructure building will lead to 100% of Indian aircrafts being serviced from India, in India and beyond India.
• By 2040, Ministry of Civil Aviation along with FICCI has set a vision to ensure 100% of aircrafts have parts or manufacturing components from India. 

 

During the event, four MoU's were also signed between various stakeholders in the presence of Mr Hardeep Singh Puri, Minister of Civil Aviation, Government of India. These include:

• Exchange of Tri-partite MoU under MoCA Krishi Udaan Scheme by Ras-Al-Khaimah International Airport, GMR Hyderabad International Airport and SpiceJet Ltd.
•   Government of Telangana, GMR Hyderabad International Airport and Airbus BizLabs.
• Government of Telangana and DJI
• Government of Telangana, Asia Pacific FTO and Marut Drones

 

Swachhta Pakhwada Awards 2019 were also announced during the session recognizing the stellar work done by airlines, airports and organizations across the aviation sector. The winners are mentioned below:

Award Category	First	Second	Third	Consolation
Private Airline	Vistara	GoAir	AirAsia and Indigo	SpiceJet
Private Airports	Cochin International Airport Ltd.	Bengaluru International Airport Ltd.	Mumbai International Airport Ltd And Hyderabad International Airport Ltd.	NA
PSU's under civil aviation	Air India Ltd.	Pawan Hans Ltd.	Airports Authority of India	NA
Clean and safe airports under AAI (Annual passenger traffic of 5 mn and above)	Kolkata	Chennai	Jaipur	NA
Clean and safe airports under AAI (Annual passenger traffic between 1.5 mn to 5 mn)	Madurai	Chandigarh	Trivandrum	NA
Clean and safe airports under AAI (Annual passenger traffic between 1 mn to 1.5 mn)	Udaipur	Vadodara	Vijayawada	NA
Government Organization under ministry of Civil Aviation	IGRUA (Indra Gandhi Rashtriya Udan Academy)	DGCA (Directorate General of Civil Aviation)	BCAS (Bureau of Civil Aviation Security)	NA