| Aviation Sector from being considered and elitists glamorous and high profile sector has now become an important means of connectivity, driver of the country’s economy, generator for employment and an integrator for a vast country like India which has large tracts uncovered by proper modes of transportations. Airport Infrastructure: The Government gave its approval for the modernisation/expansion of Chennai Airport and Kolkata Airport by the Airport Authority of India (AAI), and work has started at both the airports. The Greenfield Airports at Shamshabad near Hyderabad and Devanahalli near Bengaluru started operation from 23 March, 2008 and 31 May, 2008 respectively. The modernisation and upgradation of Mumbai and Delhi Airports progressed as per schedule and the 3rd runway at Delhi’s IGI Airport was inaugurated on 21 August, 2008 and operationalised from 24 September, 2008. Government on 24 April, 2008 approved the new policy for setting up of Greenfield Airports. Government also approved the procedure for approval of private airports/airstrips/helipads for private use. Following this the guidelines for approval of proposals for setting up Greenfield Airports were finalized by the Ministry of Civil Aviation and ‘in-principle’ approval was given on 3 September, 2008, to the first of such Greenfield Airports to come up at Sindhudurg in Maharashtra. ‘in-principle’ approval has also been given on 3 December, 2008 for setting up of a domestic Greenfield Airport at Andal-Faridpur Block of Bardhaman district in West Bengal. More such airports are in the pipeline. As part of the Government’s endeavour to develop and modernize 35 non-metro airports across the country, work was completed at a number of terminal buildings including Amritsar, Udaipur, Nagpur, Ahmedabad etc. On 17 January, 2008, Government approved transfer of Nagpur Airport to a JVC for setting up multi-modal international passengers and cargo hub. The new terminal building of Nagpur Airport was inaugurated on 14 April, 2008. AERA: A Bill on formulation of Airport Economic Regulatory (AERA) for economic regulation of airport infrastructure sector has been passed by both Houses of the Parliament during last week of October, 2008. The prime objective of AERA will be to create a level playing field and foster healthy competition among all major airports (Government owned, Public Private Partnership based, Private) encourage investment in airport facilities regulate tariffs of aeronautical services, protection of reasonable interest of users, operate efficient, economic and viable airports at notified airports. Changes in FDI limits: The Government approved the FDI limits in Civil Aviation sector which are expected to bring in more foreign investment to the sector and, thus, to the country. This includes upto 49% on automatic route and upto 100% for NRI in Air Transport Services subject to no direct or indirect participation by foreign airlines; upto 74% on automatic route for non-scheduled airlines, chartered airlines and cargo airlines and upto 100% for NRI subject to no direct or indirect participation by foreign airlines in non-scheduled and chartered airlines; upto 74% for Ground Handling Services and upto 100% for NRI on automatic route subject to sectoral regulations and security clearance; and upto 100% on automatic route for Maintenance and Repair Organizations, flying training institutes, technical training institutions and helicopter/seaplane services. Helicopter Services: The year 2008 was declared as the year of helicopter services and a number of proposals for acquisition/import of helicopters were approved. Plans are afoot for further diversify/connect important tourists destinations and business destinations across the country. Accession to the International Convention: The Government of India on 31 March, 2008 has formally acceded to the Cape Town Convention which became enforceable from 1st July, 2008. This will help to establish an international legal framework for mobile equipment and reduce risk applicable to asset based financing and leasing transactions. India’s accession to the Montreal Convention, 1999 has been approved, inter-alia, facilitating higher compensation and fifth jurisdiction to international air passengers to and from India. The Carriage by Air (Amendment) Bill, 2008 was passed by the Lok Sabha on 30 April, 2008. Bilateral Agreements: In order to enable greater connectivity to and from India, traffic rights were enhanced with 17 countries in 2008 including significant changes in Air Services with Japan, China, Chile, Mexico, UAE. GAGAN Project: On 11 September, 2008, the government approved the AAI and ISRO’s proposal for the implementation of the GPS Aided Geo-Augmented Navigation (GAGAN) Project for seamless navigation over Indian airspace at an estimated cost of Rs.774 crores. This project will enable better airspace management, result in fuel efficiency and allow more air traffic within limited airspace. Pilot Training: To enable India’s premier pilot training institute – Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Uran Akademi to upgrade its output from 40 to 100 cadets per annum, a management contract was signed on 1 March, 2008 with CAE, Canada. Work at the Akademi has already started. This has been augmented by a National Flying Training Institute set up at Gondia, Maharashtra. Centre State Cooperation on Civil Aviation: In order to actively engage the States/Union Territories in the development work and to provide them a platform for placing their concerns directly to the Government of India with regard to civil aviation matters, the Ministry has for the first time held a National Conference on Civil Aviation on 18th January, 2008 at New Delhi with various States/UTs. This has yielded for reaching benefits and open doors for dialogue between the Centre and the States on civil aviation issues. First Civilian Air Show in India: With huge investment opportunities in civil aviation sector, it had become imperative to create a platform to bring all the stakeholder of the industry altogether at a platform for mutual interaction so as to boost the growth of the industry. Hence, the Ministry in collaboration with FICCI organised “India Aviation 2008” – the first International Exhibition & Conference on October 15-18, 2008 at Begumpet Airport, Hyderabad. USA was the Partner Country for this event. The event was a huge success and saw participation of a large number of foreign and Indian companies at very high levels. Regional Airlines: To promote regional connectivity, the Government introduced the concept of regional airlines. Initial ‘No Objection Certification’ has been given to operate regional air transport services to M/s. Star Aviation – Southern Region, M/s. Jagson Airlines and M/s. MDLR Airlines Pvt. Ltd. – Northern Region, and Zav Airlines – East & Northeast Region. Re-engineering of DGCA: The process of re-engineering has been initiated for DGCA by developing systems like IT based online examination, outsourcing of pilot medical examination, to cope with the growing number of aircraft operations in commercial and general aviation, ATF: Efforts were made to help the airlines come out of their financial crises precipitated by the steep rise in ATF prices. Due to these pro-active efforts, custom duty on ATF has been abolished and oil companies also gave interim relief to the airlines. The Ministry is further pursuing the issue of bringing ATF under the ‘declared goods category’. | 
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