1. The year 2010 has seen a robust growth in terms of aircraft movement and passengers handled. Vis-a-vis 2009 the growth rate has been 3.4% in respect of aircraft movement and 16.2% in respect of passengers handled and 26.9% with respect to cargo. Passengers carried by domestic airlines from January-November, 2010 were 468.09 lakh as against 393.53 lakh in the corresponding period of the year 2009 thereby registering growth of +18.9%.
2. There are, at present, 16 Scheduled (11 scheduled passenger airlines, 02 scheduled regional airlines and 03 scheduled cargo airlines) and 121 Non-scheduled Operators. At present there are 419 aircraft with the scheduled operators. The total aircraft in the Non Scheduled category are 360.
3. The year saw the Ministry of Civil Aviation take several initiatives to facilitate the passengers to undertake hassle free and convenient air travel by the issue of CARs through the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA).
4. A state of the art new integrated Terminal-3 has been operationalized at the Delhi Airport in July last year creating a new beginning in world class infrastructure, with public-private participation in the aviation sector.
5. The much awaited environmental clearance has also come through for construction of a New Green Field airport at Navi Mumbai.
Following are some of the important issues taken up by the Ministry of Civil Aviation during the year 2010:
- Initiatives of the Ministry in the field of Economic Regulation
To elicit the views of stakeholders, to gain expertise from the concerned experts and to augment capacity to address issues that are predominantly economic in content, the Civil Aviation Economic Advisory Council was established on 9 December, 2010 under the Chairmanship of Secretary Civil Aviation and with members drawn from different fields of expertise that are directly and indirectly connected to Civil aviation sector. - Consumer protection measures
(i) On 6 of August, 2010 a Civil Aviation Rule (CAR) has been issued which provides for compensation and facilities to the passengers in case of denied boarding, cancellations and delays. The violation of this CAR is punishable under the provisions of scheduled VI to the Aircraft Rules, 1937. This will be a category III offence attracting a maximum penalty of 6 months in prison or Rs. 2 lac fine or both.
(ii) On 31 July, 2010 CAR has been issued in order to promote fair competition in the airline sector and to ensure that consumers do not receive inaccurate or misleading information on airline services, by strengthening the computer reservation system/global distribution system
(iii) On 3 September, 2010 the relevant Rule has been amended and circular issued to provide that the Pilot-In-Command may permit the use of cellular/mobile phones after the aircraft has landed and cleared active runway. However, this facility will not be available during low visibility conditions.
· Connectivity in North Eastern Region
(i) At present, there are 11 operational airports served by the Scheduled airlines in the North-East region viz. Dibrugarh, Guwahati, North Lakhimpur, Imphal, Dimapur, Agartala, Shillong, Jorhat, Silchar, Tezpur & Lengpui.
(ii) 348 flights per week are being operated by NACIL, Alliance Air, Jet Airways, JetLite, Kingfisher Airlines, Spicejet and IndiGo to/from these airports. The no. of flights in the NER has been increased from 286/week in Summer Schedule 2010 which is an increase of 21.67%.
(iii) In addition, Pawan Hans Helicopters Ltd. (PHHL) is providing helicopter services under the aegis of the State Governments of Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Meghalaya, Sikkim, Tripura.
Further, the DGCA has commissioned a comprehensive study to evolve a roadmap for air connectivity to the North-eastern region.
Bilateral Agreements
· Election in the Council of ICAO
In the 37th Assembly session of the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) held at ICAO Headquarters at Montreal in Canada on 28 September – 08 October, 2010, elections were held for the representation of the Member State countries in the Part I, Part II and Part III of the Council of ICAO. India has contested for continuance of its representation in the Part II. The total number of seats was 12, 163 countries cast their votes. India secured 148 votes out of 162 votes and was at number 2 position in the group in terms of number of votes secured.
· Amendments of Air Services Agreements (ASAs) with foreign countries
Keeping in view the recent developments in the civil aviation sector, and with a view to modernize and update the existing ASAs with foreign countries as per the ICAO templates, bilateral air services consultations were held in 2010 with foreign countries viz. Zimbabwe, Indonesia, Ireland, Brazil, UK and Iran and the respective ASAs have been amended and finalized. Bilateral Air Services Agreements were formally signed with Bhutan, Iceland, Nepal, Bosnia & Herzegovina, South Africa and Iran. Apart from these, new Air Services Agreements have been initialled with Senegal, Barbados and Rwanda.
· Technical co-operation agreements with Nepal and Afghanistan
Technical co-operation agreements were signed by the Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) and Airports Authority of India (AAI) with the Nepalese and Afghan civil aviation authorities in order to provide active technical support including training of personnel to these countries by India to promote and develop civil aviation sector.
· India – EU Civil Aviation Co-operation Programme
Under the Joint Action Plan, a Civil Aviation Co-operation Project - II has been agreed to. Its Terms of Reference (TOR) have been finalized. The project called “Institutional Capacity Building in the Civil Aviation sector in India (ICAA)” has been started under India – EU civil aviation co-operation.
· India – US Aviation Joint Working Group on Security
The India – US Aviation Joint Group Meeting on Security was held in New Delhi on 20 – 21 January, 2010. During this meeting two MoUs on deployment of Air Marshals and Co-operation in Airport Technical Visits were signed between the Government of India and the Government of United States of America. The two MoUs mark the beginning of an ongoing co-operation between the two countries in matters of security.
This post is the first in a Series analysing the Indian Aviation Sector performance in the year 2010. Come back to this page for another Report Card on economic, legal and security evaluations as well as some more statistics...
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