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Members of the committee stressed that a world-class hub is required to be developed in India within a decade as otherwise the country would lose its competitive edge.

NEW DELHI, April 2

EVEN as the Government mulls the creation of world-class airports in Delhi and Mumbai, the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) has said that there was an urgent need for the development of at least one aviation hub of international standards in the country.

At a presentation made during the meeting of the Chamber's national committee meeting on civil aviation, it was observed that despite civil aviation in Asia starting in India, the lack of a stated vision had hampered its growth. Members of the committee stressed that a world-class hub is required to be developed in India within a decade as otherwise the country would lose its competitive edge.

At the meeting, it was pointed out that India's strategic location is required to be leveraged to increase the traffic levels. It was noted that India, located within a five-hour fly zone, was not being serviced by any other hub. Therefore, the opportunity should be taken to increase tourist as well as cargo traffic which would lead to economic growth in the region.

"Increased volumes of traffic will result in lower prices which, in turn, would attract more traffic and lead to increased demand. The increased demand would mean that operators would have to add capacity. The domestic airlines industry would get revitalised as they would be required to provide feeder services within India and to other countries in the region," the Chamber statement said.

Besides, the committee has suggested that to encourage the development of the aviation sector, infrastructure status should be granted to it. The committee noted that as the development of an international hub would require large investments, the cost of it would need to be recovered through alternative revenue streams such as world-class duty-free shopping, cargo handling and maintenance facilities.

A report by the committee found that adopting technology-intensive methods for security would streamline procedures as it would enable quicker non-invasive checking and radio frequency tagging of luggage and cargo.

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