‘Aviation Will Grow, Connect And Transform India'

Union Minister of state for civil aviation Jayant Sinha sees the Indian skies changing, with several new modes of flying coming in. This will also necessitate changes in regulation, apart from the need to free up the existing pressure on airport infrastructure. In an interview with Fortune India, Sinha discusses all this and more.

- Sourav Majumdar, Ashish Gupta And Debabrata Das

Mr Sinha, what is the government’s plan for the growth of the aviation sector? 

We already have a blueprint of what is likely to be the future. In the foreseeable future, what will the aviation sector look like? Even the prime minister is talking about it. From 500 planes in the sky to some 2,000 planes in the sky; we are going from 200 million passenger trips to a billion passenger trips. And we are going to grow from 200 helicopters to 400 helicopters.

We are going to grow from 75 airports to 200 airports. From auto rickshaws to air rickshaws. This where things are headed as far as aviation is concerned. So it is a massive growth industry that is going to grow and grow and connect up India and transform India. In my own life, there is the example of Hazaribagh, where I hail from. It was impossibly remote from Delhi. If you took a Rajdhani, it would take 14 to 16 hours. Today, I can do a day trip. I take an 8.40 a.m. flight, I reach Ranchi at 10.30 am and by 12.30 p.m. I am in Hazaribagh. And from 12.30 to 6.00 p.m. I work in Hazaribagh and you can take the 8.30 p.m. flight back and you are back in Delhi by 10.30 p.m. This was inconceivable even a couple of years ago. Of course, it also includes a very high quality highway that got built—NH 33— which allows you to do the 125 km in two hours. But that is what connectivity is doing to India.