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Night landing at all airports this yr: Patel
BS Reporter in New Delhi
 
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July 04, 2007 10:36 IST

The government plans to equip all operational airports in the country with night-landing facilities by the end of this year, Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel said at the inaugural address of the "Open Sky" summit organised by Business Standard in New Delhi on Tuesday.

"It is a pity that we invest hundreds of crores in an airport and then cannot utilise it fully, wasting resources because we don't want to spend a few crores to get a night-landing system in place," said Patel.

Speaking extempore, Patel set out his ministry's agenda by making a strong case for encouraging private investment and competition. "The government can only be a facilitator, it already has the huge task of managing over 80 airports in the country. Help has to come from private investment," he said.

"Congestion at the airport of Delhi and Mumbai should not be the only evidence of aviation growth. Growth must be seen in other parts of the country as well," he said.

The minister said only 160 out of about 500 airstrips in the country were in use. This, he added, offered scope for the development of merchant airports by private players.

Patel said the country had a major potential in the development of cargo freight and the government was planning to increase the foreign direct investment limit in cargo airlines from 49 per cent to 74 per cent to attract more investment.

"If FedEx and others can fly 500 planes, there is no reason why we cannot develop cargo in the country, especially with the retail boom and the need for logistics," he said.

Patel said there was a need to have more centres like Nagpur, which was being developed as a cargo hub. He hoped the country would have around 500 cargo planes in the next ten years.

Answering criticism that the government was protecting private players by allowing only one airport per city, Patel said, "There are many like Delhi and Mumbai that are no longer one city and they need more airports than just one."

The minister, however, admitted that land availability was becoming a problem, like in the case of special economic zones.

"We must learn from experiences abroad to come up with cost-effective solutions. Look at Lutton in the UK, which is set up on only 200 acres and handles 400-500 flights a day. So airport development can be done in a cost-effective way. We must think differently," he said.

The minister announced that a satellite-based navigation system would be operational across the country by next year for more efficient airspace management.

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