Pre-COVID numbers by 2021?

Hardeep Singh Puri, Union Minister for Civil Aviation, believes that while domestic civil aviation operations may cross pre COVID levels by first quarter of 2021, a final decision on international travel bubble arrangements up to the said period is still under consideration.

Nisha Verma

Government of India currently has air bubble arrangements with 16 countries that include the USA, Canada, France, Germany, UK, Maldives, UAE, Qatar, Afghanistan, Bahrain, Japan, Nigeria, Kenya, Iraq, Bhutan and Oman, says Hardeep Singh Puri, adding that discussions are ongoing for similar arrangements with countries like Italy, Bangladesh, Kazakhstan and Ukraine among others.

Commenting on whether these travel bubble arrangements would continue till March, he says, “Currently, it is purely in the realm of speculation if the travel bubble arrangement will continue till March. To bring international civil aviation back to pre-COVID levels, we need three things: firstly, domestic civil aviation must cross the 50 per cent mark because international flights do not come to smaller cities, but to bigger cities, which may allow passengers to get connectivity across the country. This, we have achieved. Second, the behaviour of the virus will define the entry conditions which are imposed by countries. Hardly any country in the world today has totally opened borders, and that too only on conditions. Then, whether it happens by March, April or June would also depend on whether there is a readily available vaccine, because countries will feel more confident when frontline warriors or others will have access to the vaccine.”

Puri adds that they may soon increase capacity of domestic operations to 75 per cent, and that it may cross pre-COVID levels in the first quarter of 2021. “I had earlier said that pre-COVID domestic numbers will be achieved between Diwali and New Year. Now I am confident that by the first quarter of next year, we will be able to surpass pre-COVID numbers,” he says. Currently, capacity is around 65 per cent.

Privatisation of airports

“Recently, paperwork was done for Jewar Airport between the concerned authorities in Uttar Pradesh and the Zurich airport,” says Puri, adding, “We have now moved to the next round of privatisation for six more airports that will be developed under the PPP model.”

On allowing international carriers to continue operations into India, he comments, “The issue is not about allowing foreign carriers in or not. We are all for foreign carriers operating here. But, I think the time has come for the message to go out loud and clear that it will not be done at the expense of Indian carriers under the regulated (air bubble) arrangements. We are not insisting on total parity, even near parity will do.”