Domestic passenger numbers would exceed the pre-pandemic levels by 2023-2024, Minister for Civil Aviation Jyotiraditya Scindia said in the Lok Sabha.
"Pre-COVID-19, there was a passenger throughput of 35 crore, which fell by 66% to 11.5 crore. In 2023-2024, we will bring this figure to 40 crore passengers," he stated. In order to achieve this, the government would focus on "inclusion, access and affordability".
To illustrate this point, the Minister drew a comparison between air travellers and train passengers of first AC and second AC classes. He said while there were 14.5 crore air travellers, those travelling in first and second AC classes were at 18.5 crore. But the compound annual growth rate of aviation was at 11%, while that of railways was 5.6%. "This shows that today this service [air travel] is a common man's demand," he noted.
Privatisation of six airports
Mr. Scindia defended the recent privatisation of six airports. He said that while the estimated profitability of the Airports Authority of India every year from the six airports was ₹550 crore, the rates at which they have been leased out would ensure that it got ₹904 crore a year- an increase of 64%.
The Minister pointed out that privatisation was also carried out under previous governments and between 2004 and 2009 ₹8.5 crore of privatisation was done and between 2009-2014 assets worth ₹1.05 lakh crore were privatised.
Under the Udan scheme, the government had revived 66 airports and launched over 400 routes, and since its launch in 2017, a total of 1.7 lakh flights had ferried 91 lakh passengers and led to a growth of 5% at non-metro airports.
