Everyone146;s invited

Cheaper air travel: that is the crucial message that emerges from the slew of measures recommended by the Naresh Chandra Committee on Development of Civil Aviation. It follows from this, of course, that with air travel getting cheaper and more accessible to the ordinary passenger, the sector itself would get a much-needed fillip. Committee chairman, Naresh Chandra, while announcing the recommendations, observed that the 8220;thought that civil aviation is for the elite has to change8221;.

This shift in perspective is welcome. For far too long has the government been taxing the air traveller 8212; to the extent that flying has been rendered far beyond the reach of ordinary people. To further this objective of making air travel more popular, the committee has recommended doing away with various duties, levies and taxes, in favour of a uniform ad valorem cess of five per cent. This would bring down the cost of air travel by a whopping one-fourth. If the government is worried about loss in revenue, it can take comfort from the fact that the dramatic increase in passenger volumes that the move will ensure, would more than compensate for the loss of revenue. But a question does arise: do we have the infrastructure to take care of an increase in passenger flows? The answer is no. This is where the other recommendations of the Chandra committee can play a crucial role in creating the necessary infrastructure. Some of the crucial recommendations in this regard include allowing up to 49 per cent foreign equity in aviation; the privatisation of Indian Airlines and Air-India and of the various airports in the country. While more players would increase competition in the skies, both I-A and AI would have to be freed from the clutches of government control if they are to take on business rivals and prosper. As long as the government controls the managements of these carriers, they cannot take independent corporate decisions.

Critics may say that there is nothing new in the recommendations and that what is required is that they be adopted as a package geared to make aviation an affordable means of transport. The government needs to understand this and adopt the recommendations in their entirety rather than picking and choosing only those measures that serve the interests of some lobby or the other, while ignoring others. Such a piecemeal approach would have disastrous consequences for the aviation industry as a whole. Union Civil Aviation Minister Rajiv Pratap Rudy has in the past openly stated the need to turn the aviation sector around. The Naresh Chandra committee has offered a useful prescription to achieve this. Now it is left to be seen how seriously the government chooses to administer it.