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The second meeting of the Consultative Committee of the Members of Parliament attached to the Ministry of Civil Aviation was held here today. The meeting was chaired by the Minister of State (independent charge) for Civil Aviation, Shri Praful Patel. The other members who attended it were: S/Shri Tusharbhai A. Choudhary, Madhu Goud Yashki, Santosh Gangwar, Ashok Argal, Ramswaroop Koli, A.K. Krishnaswamy, Anandrao Vithoba Adsul, Dr. M.S Gill, Janardan Dwivedi, Dr.(Smt.) Najma A. Heptulla, Smt. Sarla Maheshwari, N.K. Premchandran, Rajiv Shukla, Tapir Gao, Sachin Pilot, G.S. Dhindsa, V. Mallya, Dinesh Trivedi, Jitin Prasad, Sanjay Anupam, Tarlochan Singh and Vaylar Ravi. A large gamut of issues including various aspects of airports, aircrafts connectivity, bilaterals, security arrangement, hospitality, personnel etc. were discussed.
Answering to a specific query on shortage of commanders for the national carriers, the Minister for Civil Aviation, Shri Praful Patel said that both the national carriers were suffering from severe shortage of aircrafts. Till date no stand had been taken by successive governments on the future of Air India. There was a lack of direction and proper investment all of which has resulted not only in a severe reduction of fleet size but also in a shortage of commanders. However, now the existing fleet will soon be augmented and pilots were being trained to take command of these new aircrafts. This would require time, as there could be no compromise on security. As a short term measure the Ministry of Defence had been approached for providing air force pilots on deputation.
Replying to another query regarding in-flight entertainment the Minister informed the members that as the aircrafts of both the national carriers were old and the systems installed in them very poor and not well maintained, there were not adequate provisions for in-flight entertainment, nor had any software been developed for the purpose. Six of Air India’s planes which were not leased aircrafts and were not to be phased out very soon, were going for major refurbishment to bring them at par with the best of aircrafts. For this a budget of Rs. 400 crore would be required.
The members discussed at length the slums at the Mumbai airport which Minister admitted were a major problem not only for the expansion of Mumbai Airport but also from the angle of security and aesthetics. The Airports Authority of India had been working with the Mumbai government over the years to resolve this problem. However, not much headway had been made. Recently an agency had been appointed under the Maharashtra Government for relocation of the slums and Ministry of Civil Aviation was hopeful for an early resolution.
The Minister also assured the members that work on restructuring and modernization of the Mumbai, Delhi Airports would begin by the middle of next year. Technical bids from the nine short-listed joint venture companies would be invited by mid-January and this process would be over in March. Shri Patel further added that around Rs. 20,000 crore would be needed for the modernization and restructuring of these two airports.
The soon to be launched Air India Express would have a fleet strength of 18 aircrafts of which six would be inducted in the first year. This would mainly cater to the middle east and would increase the connectivity of states like Kerala a large demand for seats to the Gulf areas. One aircraft each would be stationed at Thiruvananthapuram, Calicut and Cochin Airports. Malayalee speaking crew would be provided for these flights for the convenience of passengers. The Ministry was also working towards connecting northern India specifically Amritsar, in a similar manner with the Middle East. The Committee was informed that the Amritsar would be connected directly to UK and Canada by 2005. The work on the international airport at Amritsar too would start at 2005.
Replying to a query from Dr. Najma Heptulla, the Minister informed the members that India will be signing bilaterals with USA in January and Houston, Washington and San Francisco would soon be included in the Air India radar.
The members called for a policy which would include the offices of the Prime Minister, Ministries of Defence and Civil Aviation for the utilization of the massive properties and runways of the air force for better air connectivity within the country and to boost tourism and economy of the region.
The next meeting of the Consultative Committee is tentatively scheduled to be held in early February in 2005.
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