‘Fastest Growing Aviation Market in World’: Narendra Modi-led govt’s top 10 decisions

New Delhi: Union Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia, earlier this year, had said India is the fastest-growing civil aviation market in the world. There has been expansion across the spectrum in the sector, with the number of airports in the country going up from 74 in 2013-14 to almost 140 including heliports and water domes. The number is likely to go up to 220 by 2024-25, he said. “There were 400 aircrafts in the country then and the number has gone up to 710 in seven years. It is intended that more than 100 aircrafts should join every year,” said the Union minister. Here’s a look at what’s fuelling this growth: 1. National Civil Aviation Policy To boost air traffic in India, the Union government for the first time announced the country’s National Civil Aviation Policy in 2016, which aimed to take flying to the masses by making it affordable and convenient, establish an integrated ecosystem which would lead to significant growth of  the civil aviation sector, to promote tourism, employment and balanced regional growth, enhance regional connectivity through fiscal support and infrastructure development and enhance ease of doing business through deregulation, simplified procedures and e-governance. 2. UDAN Scheme The UDAN scheme was part of the National Civil Aviation Policy in 2016. UDAN is abbreviation for ‘Ude Desh Ka Aam Naagrik’. Its goal is to make air travel affordable and improve economic development in India. The scheme was born after the prime minister said, “One of the hallmarks of a poor person in our country is that he wears slippers (chappal). I want people wearing slippers to be seen on the plane.” In April 2017, the first flight from Shimla to Delhi under the UDAN scheme was flagged off by Modi. 3. AirSewa The aviation ministry in 2016 launched the AirSewa website and mobile app, which allowed passengers to check the live status of flights and flight schedules. AirSewa also includes a mechanism for grievance redressal, wherein passengers can upload videos and describe their grievances. What makes this platform unique is that all the stakeholders in the aviation sector, including airlines, airports, security, immigration, Directorate General of Civil Aviation, etc. have been brought together on a single platform so that the grievances can be addressed in a time-bound manner. 4. NABH (Nextgen Airports For Bharat) Nirman Initiative The scheme was introduced by the government of India in 2018 which proposed to expand airport capacity in the country by more than five times to handle a billion trips a year. The three key aspects of NABH Nirman are fair and equitable land acquisition, long-term master plan for airport and regional development and balanced economics for all stakeholders. It also aimed at improving passenger amenities, promoting cargo handling facilities and early operationalisation of 56 new airports under UDAN key initiative, improving regional connectivity and improving passenger services in a big way. Scindia, last week, while speaking at industry body ASSOCHAM’s CEOs round table, said India’s aviation sector is expanding rapidly and the overall fleet size is expected to almost double in the next five years. He added, “In five years we are looking at 1,200 fleet size in the country which will be almost double of the current number of 700 aircraft.” 5. Digi Yatra Scheme The Centre’s Digi Yatra scheme proposes to use AI to authenticate passengers using facial recognition technology (FRTs) thus dispensing with the need for physical boarding permits or identity cards at airport terminals. After a delay of almost 24 months, Digi Yatra project was launched in August in at least three airports across India. It was set to be launched in March 2020 but was delayed owing to the COVID-19 pandemic and after successive trials across five airports in India, the project’s “Beta Version” was launched at the Delhi Airport on 15 August to mark the Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav. Since then, the project has been launched in two other airports, namely Bangalore and Hyderabad airports. The Digi Yatra programme is being implemented through the “Digiyatra Foundation” application available on Android and IOS devices where passengers before travelling to the airport will have to register themselves on the mobile application with their Aadhar details, vaccination certificate, their boarding pass and a selfie for facial recognition at the airport check-in. Following the successful registration, the passenger after arriving at the airport would be guided through the entry points using the facial recognition technology installed at the airport and no physical check by security officials would be required at this point. Following this, the passenger would have to move to the baggage drop facility by airlines. Post the baggage drop, the passenger will have to go through the mandatory security frisking and baggage scan by the security officials at the airport, but the entry gates to the security hold area would be seamless and paperless for passengers registered under the Digi Yatra scheme and automatic gates would open for such passengers after successful validation of their identity using the facial recognition technology and artificial intelligence. 6. Flying Academies The Ministry of Civil Aviation in a bid to ensure that aspiring commercial pilots can be trained in India announced the setting up nine new flying academies across the following five airports, including Belagavi and Kalaburagi in Karnataka, Jalgaon in Maharashtra, Khajuraho in Madhya Pradesh, and Lilabari in Assam, in July 2021. The first flying training organisation (FTO) for Northeastern region in Lilabari was inaugurated by Scindia and the chief minister of Assam Himanta Biswa Sarma in April, 2022. 7. Promotion of Helicopter Operations The civil aviation ministry had released ‘Policy for promotion of Helicopter Operations’ on 8 October, 2021 to encourage helicopter operations by creating demand and growth. The policy aims to make helicopter operations viable by trying to provide facilitation and ease of doing business. This policy has opened new opportunities for masses to visit inaccessible locations/tourist places by helicopter. 8. Heli-Sewa portal and Heli-Disha The ministry also launched ‘HeliSewa’ portal in 2021 that provides a seamless single-window digital access between the operator and authorities to communicate information about helicopter operations. The purpose of ‘HeliSewa’ portal is to facilitate quicker processing of operational approvals for landing at helipads thereby improving the ease of doing business, and empowering the public / helicopter operators to have access to information. ‘HeliSewa’ is also designed to create and maintain a directory of helipads in the country with the requisite data quality and standardisation. As a part of the policy the ministry also released ‘Heli-Disha’, a booklet containing the administrative guidance material for civil helicopter operations. The document simplifies and deconstructs the regulatory aspects so that the district and local administration can proactively improve upon the ease of facilitation for helicopter operations with control measures and practices in conformity to Civil Air Regulations (CARs). ‘Heli-Disha’ acts as a guidance material without replacing the CARs and explains the requirements of landing sites, thus providing clarity about uncomplicated permissions and operations of helicopters. 9. Drones In order to make India a global hub for the research and development, testing, manufacturing and operation of drones, the Central government notified the Drone Rules 2021 on 25 August 2021. To promote domestic manufacturing of drones, the Centre has notified the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme for drones and drone components on 30 September 2021. DigitalSky Platform is being updated which will regulate the entire gamut of activities pertaining to drone operations. The airspace map for drones has been released on digital sky platform on 24 September 2021 which will help the drone pilots to plot their proposed flight plan and easily identify the zone within which it falls so as to assess whether or not they need to make an application for prior approval. DigitalSky Platform will be the single-window online platform to ensure smooth functionality of the applications. 10. Air Bubbles Air Bubble arrangements were temporary arrangements between two countries aimed at restarting commercial passenger services when regular international flights are suspended as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. India had Air Bubble arrangements with 37 countries including Afghanistan, Australia, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Canada, Ethiopia, Finland, France, Germany, Iraq, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kuwait, Maldives, Mauritius, Nepal, Netherlands, Nigeria, Oman, Qatar, Rwanda, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Seychelles, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Switzerland, Tanzania, UAE, UK, Ukraine, USA and Uzbekistan.

These air bubbles provided direct/indirect connectivity to more than 100 countries. With the resumption of scheduled commercial passenger flights on 27 March, this year, the air bubble scheme was closed. With input from agencies Read all the Latest News , Trending News , Cricket News , Bollywood News , India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook , Twitter and Instagram .