We need to bring aviation turbine fuel under GST: Hardeep Singh Puri

New Delhi: Shri Hardeep Singh Puri, Minister (I/C), Civil Aviation, said that the civil aviation industry has ushered in a new era of expansion, driven by factors such as Low Cost Carriers (LCC’s), modern airports, FDI in domestic airlines, advanced IT, and our growing emphasis on regional connectivity. Speaking at ‘WINGS INDIA 2020’ in Hyderabad today, Shri  Hardeep Singh Puri said, “We are at a point where we need to bring aviation turbine fuel under GST and by and large there is acknowledgement from across states to make it happen.”

He further added that the current situation arising out of Corona Virus is a challenge, especially for the civil aviation sector. “It is personally being monitored and directed by the Prime Minister and his office. Within hours of the first evidence becoming available we had started screening passengers coming in from 12 most affected countries. We then increased it to include screening of passengers coming in from any country across the world. Our airports constitute a benchmark for how airports should be running across the globe, specially the 30 airports where proper screening is already in place. We have screened 10,876 flights coming in from across the globe that include 11,71,061 passengers, 3,225 of these passengers required further screening. I am sure that once people get the right perspective, know where we are, look at the recovering numbers, we will not only overcome this challenge, but will see robust vibrant growth in the civil aviation sector.”

Shri K T Rama Rao, Minister for Industries & Commerce, IT, Electronics & Communications and Municipal Administration & Urban Development, Government of Telangana, said that with respect to aviation and aerospace, there has been tremendous growth with further room to grow for us. Our focus should be on skill development and MRO infrastructure and foreign investments. He said that the MRO sector has a huge potential for employment generation along with significant investments from overseas.

Present at the Ministry Plenary today were Chief Guest Shri Hardeep Singh Puri, along with Shri K T Rama Rao,  Shri Arvind Singh, Chairman, Airports Authority of India, and Shri Anand Stanley, Chairman FICCI, Civil Aviation Committee and Managing Director, Airbus India.Overview of the aviation industry was also discussed at length. Key highlights include:

• Domestic traffic has growth 14 times in the last 18 years. Total traffic has growth 8.2X including international traffic.

• The future of the industry in terms of connectivity is promising, increasing connectivity through UDAN has helped the per capita trips to rise from 0.1 per person to 0.5 per person.

• Every minute an aircraft lands or takes off and according to the FICCI study, we will reach 1 billion passengers in India.

• Over the next few years, focus on MRO infrastructure building will lead to 100% of Indian aircrafts being serviced from India, in India and beyond India.

• By 2040, Ministry of Civil Aviation along with FICCI has set a vision to ensure 100% of aircrafts have parts or manufacturing components from India.

During the event, four MoU’s were also signed between various stakeholders in the presence of Shri Hardeep Singh Puri. These include:

• Exchange of Tri-partite MoU under MoCA Krishi Udaan Scheme by Ras-Al-Khaimah International Airport, GMR Hyderabad International Airport and SpiceJet Ltd.

• Government of Telangana, GMR Hyderabad International Airport and Airbus BizLabs.

• Government of Telangana and DJI

• Government of Telangana, Asia Pacific FTO and Marut Drones

Swachhta Pakhwada Awards 2019 were also announced during the session recognizing the stellar work done by airlines, airports and organizations across the aviation sector. The winners are mentioned below: