Question : Growth of Air Passenger Traffic

(a) whether domestic air passenger traffic at airports in the country has been increasing rapidly over the past several months;

(b) if so, the details thereof including average growth reported during the last six months;

(c) whether the Government owned airlines and private operators are capable of meeting the challenges of handling 100 million passengers by 2016-17, as projected by Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation (CAPA), if so, the extent to which the existing airports being upgraded to handle such a rising rate of traffic which is in the range of 25% growth;

(d) whether the Government has taken notice of numerous complaints that some of the airports designed and built on Public Private Partnership models have become an expensive affair for the commoners among the fliers whereas the private enterprises reap additional benefits in terms of financing, concessional land allotment, tax holidays and other incentives, if so, the details thereof;

(e) the response of the Government to the various proposals for Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO) operations for aircraft and the prospects of jobs for skilled and technical specialist in the MRO; operations;

(f) whether the Government proposes to enhance the amenities at all major airports keeping in view of enhanced traffic of air passengers across the country, including installation of weighing machines just outside the entry point to check the weight of the baggage of passengers to adjust the weight according to permissible limit by each airline and if so, the details thereof; and

(g) the steps taken by the Government to strengthen airport infrastructure to manage high domestic air passenger traffic growth?

Minister of CIVIL AVIATION

(Shri Jayant Sinha)

(a) to (b): Passengers carried by domestic airlines and % of growth as compared to passengers carried during the corresponding period of previous year for the period Jan 2016 to September 2016 are as follows:;
Month Number of Passenger Carried Growth as compared to passengers carried during the ;
corresponding period of previous year
;
Jan-2016 76.55 lakhs 22.58%
Jan-Feb 2016 151.31 lakhs 23.41%
Jan-Mar 2016 230.03 lakhs 24.03%
Jan-April 2016 309.35 lakhs 23.22%
Jan-May 2016 396.04 lakhs 22.87%
Jan-Jun 2016 475.79 lakhs 22.52%
Jan-July 2016 560.87 lakhs 23.01%
Jan-Aug 2016 644.68 lakhs 23.14%
Jan-Sept 2016 726.98 lakhs 23.17%;;
;
(c) No such analysis have been carried out by Government.;
;
(d) Government of India has established an independent regulator, namely, Airports Economic Regulatory Authority of India (AERA) for determination of the aeronautical charges at the major airports in the country. AERA allows levy and collection of aeronautical charges to the airport operators as a means to provide fair rate of return on the investment made by them. Since huge investments are made by the developers while construction of the airport, the charges are comparatively higher during the initial period of the airport commencement. However, the charges get substantially reduced once the investment for the development is recovered.;
;
(e) The MRO business of Indian carriers is around Rs 5000 crore, 90% of which is currently spent outside India - in Sri Lanka, Singapore, Malaysia, UAE etc. Given our technology and skill base, the government is keen to develop India as an MRO hub in Asia, attracting business from foreign airlines. Accordingly, the following provisions have been made in the Budget announcements for 2016-17 :;

i) The tools and tool-kits used by the MRO have been exempted from Customs duty. The exemption shall be given on the basis of list the tools and tool kits certified by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation approved Quality Managers of aircraft maintenance organisations.
ii) MROs were required to provide proof of their requirements of parts, or orders from their client airlines. The process for the clearance of the parts has been brought in line with that of the tool ?kits for a one time certification by DGCA approved Quality Managers in MRO''s.
iii) To enable economies of scale, the restriction of one year for utilisation of duty free parts has been extended to three years.

iv) To allow import of unserviceable parts including aircraft components like engines and landing gears by MROs for providing exchange / advance exchange, the concerned notification has been revised to enable advance export of serviceable parts.

v) Foreign aircraft brought to India for MRO work will be allowed to stay for the entire period of maintenance or up to 6 months, whichever is lesser, provided it undertakes no commercial flights during the stay period. The aircraft may, however, carry passengers in the flights at the beginning and end of the stay period in India. For stay beyond 6 months, DGCA''s permission will be required.
;
(f): Improvement in amenities is a continuous process and at AAI managed Airports amenities are improved regularly to meet passenger satisfaction. There is no proposal for installation of weighing machines.;

(g): The development of airport infrastructure is a continuous process, which depends on the forecast of demand. Government has already prepared action plan for meeting the high growth in domestic air passenger traffic by constructing new Terminal Building, expanding existing Terminal Buildings, operationalizing the non-operational airports/ airstrips and constructing Civil Enclaves in defence airports