New Delhi: International passenger flight services are expected to be normalised "very soon" and possibly by the end of this year, Civil Aviation Secretary Rajiv Bansal said on Wednesday.
Scheduled international passenger flights to and from India remain suspended since March 2020 amid the coronavirus pandemic. The suspension has been extended till November 30.
Normalisation of international flights is expected "very soon" and by the end of this year, Bansal said here.
Currently, India has air bubble arrangements with more than 25 countries for operating international flights.
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Under an air bubble arrangement between two countries, international passenger flights can be operated by their respective carriers into each other's territories subject to certain conditions.
Bansal also said that the country's airports sector is expected to see an investment of Rs 90,000 crore in a five-year period, with nearly Rs 68,000 crore coming from the private players.
"Investments totalling Rs 90,000 crore will be made for airports over the five-year period, starting 2020-21. Out of the total amount, around Rs 20,000-22,000 crore will be invested by the Airports Authority of India (AAI), while the remaining amount of about Rs 68,000 crore would be from the private sector," he said.
The government expects to have 220 operational airports over five years and will include heliports. Currently, there are 136 operational airports in the country, and many aerodromes are in the works. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will lay the foundation stone for the new airport at Jewar in Uttar Pradesh on Thursday.
Among others, a new airport at Mopa in Goa is expected to be ready next year, and an aerodrome is also coming up at Navi Mumbai in Maharashtra. Besides, expansion works have been taken up at Delhi, Bangalore and Hyderabad airports.
"Our (civil aviation) sector will rebound... We will grow faster than earlier," Bansal added.
PTI
