Aviation Minister urges domestic airlines to start more international flights

Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia on Wednesday urged domestic airlines to help set up an international civil aviation hub in India and emphasised the need for having more wide-body planes to have point-to-point international services for passengers.

India is one of the fastest-growing civil aviation markets in the world and Tata Group-owned Air India recently placed a historic order for 470 aircraft, including wide-body planes.

As the government works on ways to boost the country's high growth potential in the civil aviation market, the minister said that now the time has come to set up a civil aviation hub in India.

Speaking at industry body CII's annual session in the national capital, the minister also stressed the need for having more wide-body aircraft in the fleets of domestic carriers for making an international civil aviation hub in the country.

Scindia was responding to certain suggestions made by Bhaskar Bhat, Co-Chairman of the CII National Committee on Civil Aviation and also the Chairman of Tata SIA Airlines, which operates flights under the brand name Vistara.

Currently, most passengers from India travel to take connecting flights to various international destinations as there are not too many wide-body planes with Indian carriers to operate direct services on long-distance routes. 

Speaking at the session, Vistara Chairman Bhaskar Bhat said the annual taxes collected by the government exceeds the losses that airlines make.