More air space will be created for commercial airlines in India to accommodate the boom in traffic by procuring protected capacity with the Defence Ministry, Civil Aviation Secretary Ajay Prasad has said.
"A joint working group comprising the civil aviation ministry and the Indian Air Force has been constituted by the government last month to identify routes under the control of defence," the aviation official said.
"This could be opened up for operating commercial air traffic," Prasad, who was earlier defence secretary, said during an interactive meeting in New Delhi.
"There is a tremendous growth that is taking place in Indian civil aviation and I am happy to say that the Indian Air Force is proactive in this regard," he said, adding, "We definitely need more space."
The Airports Authority of India (AAI), which controls the flow of commercial air traffic in the country, handles 178 routes over the Indian air space at present. These include 79 routes for domestic traffic and another 99 for international traffic coming into the country and overflying Indian air space.
During the last fiscal, the AAI handled 730,018 aircraft -- 158,191 international and 571,827 domestic -- that showed a growth of 12 per cent over previous year.
{{/usCountry}}During the last fiscal, the AAI handled 730,018 aircraft -- 158,191 international and 571,827 domestic -- that showed a growth of 12 per cent over previous year.
{{/usCountry}}While passenger traffic witnessed a growth of 20 per cent in the same period with 59 million passengers, the cargo sector expanded by 22 per cent by handling 1.3 million tonnes.
Prasad said the market was set to expand further, referring to new airlines that are operating, including Air Deccan, Kingfisher, SpiceJet, Go Airlines and Paramount, while Inter Globe, Indus and Jagson are waiting to take wings.
Their entry is also expected to see a major jump in the number of aircraft in the domestic market, in addition to the orders for 68 Boeings placed by Air India and 43 Airbus aircraft by Indian Airlines.
"In the present scenario, the Indian aviation industry expects a steady growth of 16 per cent till 2010," Prasad said, adding that the ministry was expecting the group's report in a few months' time to enable some concrete decisions.