New Delhi: Union Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia on Thursday said international business, investments, trade jobs cannot be generated without connectivity and therefore India must become an aviation hub to facilitate better connectivity. Speaking at PHDCCI annual general meeting, Jyotiraditya Scindia said, "Connectivity, especially to the global infrastructure networks, trade flows, capital markets, digital economy, in this environment has made it very clear to the world that greater connectivity is the one that allows businesses to flourish for worldwide population and therefore to be independent on each other is no longer a luxury but a necessity not only amongst businesses but also amongst countries."
He said that the global mantra today is to collaborate, exchange, and share with each other whether one is MSME based in a particular country, multinational company, or a country. I believe that in order to be able to translate that into action, there are two Cs that are important- Connectivity and Commerce.
Scindia said we have to aim to make India a robust aviation hub where we can fly more passengers from India to the world and vice-versa. "We have to look at putting in place systems that allow connectivity on long haul travel, to places like Europe, where we currently have one or two airlines flying to such destinations," he added.
The Civil Aviation Minister also said that 20-40 million Indians who currently travel by trains will switch over to commercial airlines for their travel needs in the coming years. In the coming 5-6 years, more people could be traveling by air in India than by air-conditioned trains, he said.
Scindia added that the national infrastructure pipeline for Civil Aviation was close to Rs 90,000 crore and the government was going to build this infrastructure and connectivity aggressively. And not only the metros but places like Darbhanga (Bihar), Jharsuguda (Odisha), Kadapa (Andhra Pradesh) and many more would also be developed.
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