Helping Airlines Do Business In India

IATA has called for the development of a comprehensive policy for aviation aligned with the Indian government’s stated intention to make it easier to do business in India. The objective is to allow India to derive maximum social and economic benefits as its aviation market grows to become the third largest in the world. That is expected to happen in 2029 when the number of travelers to, from and within India will near 280 million annually.

Tony Tyler, director general and CEO of IATA, said: “Already aviation and aviation-related tourism support 7 million Indian jobs and $23 billion of India’s GDP. The healthy growth of the sector has the potential to expand these benefits tremendously. But there are immense challenges which must be overcome as seen in the sector’s financial performance.”

Tyler continued: “While demand growth is robust and some airlines are generating profit, sector-wide losses for India are still expected to exceed $1 billion this year. Onerous regulation and processes, debilitating taxes and expensive infrastructure are holding back the industry’s ability to deliver greater economic benefits to India.”

IATA’s boss made the comments in a keynote address at the Aviation Day India organized by IATA together with India’s Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) and the Confederation of Indian Industry.

In his address Tyler highlighted three priority areas where work is needed to reduce costs in India, which included reducing the tax burden, the need for competitive fuel pricing and allowing the Airports Economic Regulatory Authority (AERA) to do its work.

Go to http://www.iata.org for more.