Minister of Civil Aviation Ram Mohan Naidu said that the government wants more airlines in India and doesn’t want a duopoly situation.“When you have more people coming into the industry, that demand and supply situation is going to drive down the prices. We wouldn’t like to restrict ourselves with a thought process that there are only two players in the industry,” Naidu said on Wednesday at the Et India Ascends event at New Delhi.After the merger of Vistara into Air India group, 80 percent of India’s domestic aviation market is held by IndiGo and Air India.Naidu said that while encouraging new players to start business, and despite being run by private capital, the government will interfere to protect airlines if they face financial difficulties as any bankruptcy increases price making air fare unaffordable for passengers.“We are not just leaving the industry because it is private. We keep talking to them, we discuss with them, to see how best we can do the policy making so that the airlines continue their business. For us as an industry, it is very, very important that we don’t let go of any airline.We don’t want any airline to go bankrupt or leave the industry ” he said.Naidu said the government is facilitating new airlines to come in even if they are looking to start with one or two aircraft.“We are encouraging them to start their operations. We are giving them any assistance they would need from our side, we are giving it to them. And we are encouraging them to go to these smaller airports also and function there so that the prices come down,” he said.The government has announced that it will extend the regional air connectivity scheme UDAN. UDAN (Ude Desh ka Aam Nagrik) is aimed at enhancing regional air connectivity and making flying more affordable. It was introduced in 2016 for a period of 10 years.As many as 601 routes and 71 airports have been operationalised under the regional air connectivity scheme. “Earlier air travel used to be only for a very elite class and a very segmented target group. But today Indian aviation is being driven by Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities. We have taken the revolution of aviation not just to the metropolitan cities, but to the tier 2 and tier 3 cities which has given the common man a better way to connect through air travel. Since 2014, the number of airports have doubled from 74 to 157,” he said.The minister said that the government will keep a strict check on ticket prices so that air travel remains affordable. “ The primary focus of the government will be to connect the whole country together, give the opportunity of air travel to each and every one, and make it affordable, “ he said.
Published On Nov 14, 2024 at 09:00 PM IST
Join the community of 2M+ industry professionals
Subscribe to our newsletter to get latest insights & analysis.
Download .App
Get Realtime updates
Save your favourite articles
Scan to download App
To list you hotel to sell or lease for free please Click Here
