IATA director general raises concerns over India’s air traffic congestion amid aviation growth – Times of India

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IATA director general raises concerns over India’s air traffic congestion amid aviation growth – Times of India

IATA director general Willie Walsh (Reuters photograph)

GENEVA: Air traffic administration in India, which has about 1500 airline plane on order, is an space of ​​actual concern, stated Willie Walsh, International Air Transport Association (IATA) Director General on Tuesday. “We will see whether the air traffic environment will keep pace with the growth,” he stated.
While passengers are properly conscious of the congestion over airports with plane put in holding patterns, Walsh highlighted the congestion en route over the Indian airspace.
“We’re looking at considerable growth, and that growth needs to be facilitated by airports and also air traffic control (ATC), and sometimes the ATC part of it gets forgotten by people. There is no reason why it can’t be done , but it is required. It requires focus by the government and regulator,” stated Walsh, throughout an interplay with media from the Asia Pacific on the sidelines of IATA Global Media Day.
The en route congestion within the coming years and decade is of explicit concern, each for home and worldwide flights working within the Indian airspace, he stated.
Responding to a media question concerning the duopoly within the Indian airline market with IndiGo and Air India group of airways cornering most of the market share and consequently infrastructure assets, Walsh stated that he would not name it a duopoly. “The market is open for everyone. The acquisition of Air India by the Tata group was a really positive development,” he stated. IndiGo has been “very quietly building up a very impressive network in India.” In phrases of market cap, IndiGo is one of the highest gamers on the planet, he added. “India should be celebrating the success of what is a fantastic airline, and consumers in India are benefitting significantly from the expansion of IndiGo,” he stated. “When I look at the Indian domestic market, there is plenty of scope for airlines, and with new airport infrastructure coming up, it’s going to be a very exciting market,” he stated.
Speaking concerning the monopoly in Mumbai with the upcoming Navi Mumbai airport and the Mumbai airport each owned by a single firm, Walsh stated that the possession, as such, is just not of explicit concern. “In some countries, every airport is owned by a single company,” he stated. “This is where you need regulation, a regulator who is capable of replicating a competitive environment where there isn’t competition. I see positive developments in terms of economic regulations in airports in India. I think that is something that we can look forward to. It’s more about how those airports are regulated from the economic point of view.”
Apart from airport regulatory issues, the one concern about India, in view of the speedy growth, could be about air traffic administration and airport infrastructure, he stated. “We have seen significant investment in airport infrastructure. There will be new airports at Delhi and Mumbai, so when I look at India, the only real concern I have around infrastructure would be whether the air traffic control environment can keep pace with the growth we will see, both in domestic and international environments,” he stated.
Although India at present has the third-largest home aviation market on the planet, it’s approach behind the primary two rankers, the US and China.
While the US has 3 seats per head of inhabitants in its home market, India stays a good distance behind with simply 0.13 seats per head of inhabitants, in line with OAG. It can also be significantly behind China, which is approaching 0.5 seats per head of inhabitants.



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