145;The next decade will belong to aviation146;

Patel8217;s message is clear: reforms in the aviation sector won8217;t be held hostage to union politics backed by the Left. So, the government allowed Indian private carriers to fly abroad, while pushing for induction of new aircraft into the fleets of Indian Airlines and Air India. Here, Patel shares with Pranab Dhal Samanta his lofty ambitions for the Indian aviation sector.

Having crossed the initial roadblocks, what is the broad vision with which you plan to chart the course from here on?

The vision is to make India a global aviation power. For a country of our size, where one-sixth of humanity lives, it is only natural for us to emerge as one of the world8217;s top aviation service providers.

Air travel is becoming cheaper, a new segment of air travellers have been added. What more needs to be done to translate that vision into reality?

We have to promote domestic tourism in a big way, as it is still away from air travel. Also, businessmen should have access to air travel. Large parts of our country remain underdeveloped and distances are a major factor. Therefore, there is lesser economic activity. By promoting domestic tourism, many of these parts can be helped 8212; and here aviation can act as an engine for growth by reducing distances and travel time.

This will also generate more employment opportunities and help in the overall growth of the economy. Just as technology, particularly IT and telecom, reduced distances by bringing down the time taken for communication and changed the way we do business in the past decade, aviation can actually reduce physical distances. I feel the next decade should be the decade for aviation.

But airport infrastructure is a problem, more so given the increase in airlines and traffic.

Our aim is to have world-class airports across India. Their scale and size may vary, but the country today needs world-class airports. Any city with a population of more than one million must be connected by air. The restructuring of Delhi and Mumbai airports has been initiated. We have also identified non-metro airports where we want to improve infrastructure through the public-private partnership route. We must now move to the implementation stage, so that the country has proper airport infrastructure in place by 2009-10.

The Naresh Chandra Committee had suggested allowing FDI in domestic airlines. Are you willing to consider this?

I don8217;t think money is a scarce commodity in India any longer. Of course, the present policy can be reviewed later as the sector expands.

What is your message to those aspiring to start new airlines while the industry is in the throes of a boom?

The market is now open and has been sufficiently deregulated, but it is still not a mature market. So, in their eagerness to expand and make use of the opportunities, new airlines don8217;t have to enter into a fare war. They need to get out of this Delhi-Mumbai syndrome and look at other equally high-density corridors.

In the midst of all this, the principal regulator, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation DGCA is facing a lot of pressure. Do you plan any reforms on this front?

The DGCA definitely needs more muscle and teeth. We are in the process of giving it more power and devising better procedures, so that it can adapt to the changes taking place in the sector. We may even have a study conducted for this purpose. Soon, we will also have an economic regulator, whose role will initially be confined to airports, but can be expanded later.

The country has waited long for a civil aviation policy. How much longer?

We are working on it. Several elements of the policy have been separately announced and implemented. Slowly, everything will fall into place in the form of a civil aviation policy.