Business as usual for civil aviation, taking coronavirus head-on: Minister

Union Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri on Saturday said there was no need for any contingency plan for the aviation sector in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak as the impact of global contagion was a only a brief passing phase.

"No one has asked for any contingency plan or a bailout package even though issues like bringing Aircraft Turbine Fuel (ATF), which forms 40 per cent of the operational cost of an airline, under the GST, were matters the Ministry has been dealing with as we meet the stake-holders to understand their issues on a regular basis," Puri said after attending the CEOs forum deliberations held at Wings India 2020 summit.

The minister assured that bringing ATF under the GST regime, extending credit for one month to the airlines by the oil companies or adjusting the rates every 15 days instead of one month etc., would be done soon even though these issues were not specific to the current situation. The meeting has discussed matters like aviation financing and leasing, capacity building, aviation safety and security, UAVs among other things, according to him.

The Civil Aviation Minister asserted that the agencies under his ministry were able to effectively monitor airports against the spread of new coronavirus contagion without causing any uncertainty and panic in the minds of the people.

"There may be a 15-20 per cent drop in domestic passenger traffic due to the virus threat but it is a temporary passing phase. We not only overcome this challenge but will also emerge as a robust aviation market in the future," Puri said. He added that the country will have 1,200 aircraft in next few years, going by the orders placed by some Indian operators.

Referring to the passenger growth estimates, the minister also said India was going to touch the one-billion-passenger mark from the current 345-million level much ahead of 2035 as projected. From airport operators to airline companies to those in training and maintenance will all work independently to make use of the aviation industry's growth potential as the Government's policy support and the ecosystem will ensure that the present challenge would eventually become an opportunity.

The minister said Indian airports have so far screened 1.17 million international passengers for possible coronavirus infection, of which 3,225 underwent further examination.

"Our airports today constitute a benchmark for every airport in the world on response to a situation like this," Puri added. He defended the Ministry's decision to go ahead with Wings India 2020 summit, stating that it was business as usual for the industry and the government are acting against the coronavirus challenge so as to "emerge stronger once the problem is behind us, instead of acting in panic".

On the future of the aviation sector in the country, Puri revealed that several companies have been in touch with the Ministry on starting Maintenance and Repair (MRO) and other operations in India to serve the aviation sector.

On aircraft safety concerns involving the engine issues, the minister said the engines were replaced for 230 out of 300 aircraft.

He appealed to the states to come on board for bringing Aircraft Turbine Fuel under the GST to help the airline industry.

Responding to a question on Air India's sale process, Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said the Ministry has received 600 queries for the preliminary memorandum issued by the Ministry and those queries are being addressed. He said the system of divestment of Air India was fairly at an advanced stage.

No need for aviation sector to worry about coronavirus: Hardeep Puri

Union civil aviation minister Hardeep Singh Puri said on Saturday that there was no need for any contingency plan for the aviation sector owing to the coronavirus outbreak. According to Puri, it was just a passing phase.

“No one has asked for any contingency plan or a bailout package even though issues like bringing aviation turbine fuel (ATF) — which forms 40 per cent of the operational cost of an airline — under GST was discussed. We meet stakeholders on a regular basis to understand their issues,” said Puri, after attending the CEOs forum deliberations at the Wings India 2020 summit.

The minister said bringing ATF under the GST regime, extending credit for one month to airlines by oil companies or adjusting ATF rates every 15 days instead of one month would be implemented soon.

The meeting also discussed matters like aviation financing and leasing, capacity building, aviation safety and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), among other things.

The civil aviation minister asserted that agencies under his ministry were able to effectively monitor airports against the spread of coronavirus without causing any panic.

“There may be a 15-20 per cent drop in domestic passenger traffic due to the virus threat but it is a temporary phase. We will not only overcome this challenge but also emerge as a robust aviation market in the future,” Puri said at Wings India 2020.

He added that the country will have 1,200 aircraft in next few years, going by orders placed by some Indian operators. Referring to the passenger growth estimates, the minister also said India was going to touch the 1 billion passenger mark from the current 345 million, much ahead of the projected year of 2035.

He added, airport operators, airline companies and those in training and maintenance will all work independently to benefit from the aviation industry’s growth potential.

According to the minister, Indian airports have so far screened 1.17 million international passengers for a possible coronavirus infection while 3,225 were subject to further examination.

“Our airports today constitute a benchmark for every airport in the world as to how they have to respond to a situation like this,” the minister added. He defended the ministry’s decision to go ahead with Wings India 2020 summit while stating that it was business as usual for the industry. The government was acting against the ongoing challenge in such a way that the country and the aviation sector will emerge stronger once the problem is behind us, he said.

Hardeep Singh Puri to move Aircraft Amendment Bill in Lok Sabha today

Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri on Friday will move The Aircraft (Amendment) Bill, 2020 in Lok Sabha for consideration and passing.

The Bill seeks to make three regulatory bodies in civil aviation more effective and expand the scope of the existing Act to include regulation of all areas of air navigation.

The Aircraft (Amendment) Bill, 2020, was introduced by Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Arjun Ram Meghwal on behalf of Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri last month.

The Bill, which seeks to amend the Aircraft Act, 1934 enhances the maximum limit of fine from the existing Rs 10 lakh to Rs 1 crore. It also enlarges the scope of the existing Act to include regulation of all areas of air navigation.

The amendments would fulfil the requirements of the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO).

The amendments will enable the three regulatory bodies in the Civil Aviation sector in India - Directorate General of Civil Aviation, Bureau of Civil Aviation Security and Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau "to become more effective to increase the level of safety and security of aircraft operations in the country".

Efforts being made to boost exports, strategy in place: Hardeep Singh Puri

The government is aware of the problems faced by exporters and efforts are being taken to boost exports, including to emerging markets through preferential and free trade agreements, Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said on Tuesday.

Addressing an event organised by Engineering Export Promotion Council (EEPC), the minister said he had a meeting with member exporters from EEPC India in August, based on which a short and medium-term strategy for enhancing engineering shipments has been formulated.

"Efforts are also being undertaken to increase our exports to emerging markets of Africa, Latin America through PTAs/FTAs (preferential/free trade agreements)," the Minister of State for Commerce said.

In essence, we are trying to provide whatever support you, as exporters, need from the government, Puri said.

Based on feedback from EEPC India, non tariff barriers for engineering sector have been identified, including the list of countries where test reports of the Central Power Research Institute are not accepted, he noted.

"These have been shared with the concerned territorial divisions of the Department for taking them up bilaterally with the concerned country/region, for resolving the issues expeditiously," the minister said.

Outlining the measures taken by the government to enhance exports, the minister said a fully electronic refund module for quick and automated ITC (income tax credit) online refund system is now in place, and the remission of duties for taxes on export products (RoDTEP) scheme, which will replace the Merchandise Exports from India Scheme (MEIS), has already been announced.

We are framing a new scheme known as NIRVIK to provide higher insurance coverage to banks on their export credit to Export Credit Guarantee Corporation (ECGC), Puri said.

The scheme NIRVIK (Niryat Rin Vikas Yojana) will provide more comfort to banks to lend to exporters.

He also observed that action is being initiated to establish accredited labs to International Organisation of Legal Metrology either through Petroleum and Explosives Safety Organisation (PESO) or any other certifying agency for facilitating export of measuring equipments.  

Aviation minister's Air India remark may scare passengers: Employees' union

Civil Aviation minister Hardeep Singh Puri's recent statement in Rajya Sabha that Air India will have to be closed down if not privatised is "highly damaging" and will have "massive financial implications" for the national carrier, an employees' union said on Thursday.

In a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Aviation Industry Employees' Guild said "Coming from the civil aviation minister...this statement is highly damaging, uncalled for at this stage and has massive financial implications for Air India, as our passengers will start cancelling their flight bookings and/or prospective passengers refrain from booking seats on AI flights from March 2020 or even before."

"Considering the tremendous repercussions the statement may have, it would be in the interest of Air India to prevail upon the Honourable Minister not only to withdraw the statement made by him but also to refrain from making any such irresponsible statements in future," the letter said.