The biggest constraint to achieve a higher growth rate in South Asia is infrastructure. Growth in the region could have been higher if more investment in infrastructure would have been made, says Patel.
The government on Tuesday said the new Bangalore airport would be made operational by the last week of May, while keeping alive the option of allowing small aircraft to use the existing HAL airport. Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel said extensive discussions were held with BIAL, the operators of the new airport. The High Court had earlier advised the government to explore the possibility of allowing the existing airport run by HAL to function.
Setting aside their bitterness, both within and outside Parliament, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi shook hands at a function to felicitate NCP supremo Sharad Pawar, who turned 75 on Thursday.
Various airlines in India have engaged nearly 1,000 foreign pilots. However, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation has advised all scheduled, non-scheduled and general aviation operators to submit their plan to phase out foreign pilots and replace them by trained Indian pilots. As per the plan, all the foreign pilots are likely to be repatriated in about 5 years time. Government has taken steps to reduce the gap between demand and supply of skilled India pilots.
Private airlines collecting taxes from travellers other than the passenger service fee will be penalised and made to refund such money, Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel told Lok Sabha on Thursday. Patel made it clear that the government did not regulate the air fare levied by Airline companies. The government only levies Rs 221 as passenger service fee which is used for security of airports and to cover other related expenses, he said.
The Indian football team achieved their best FIFA ranking in over six years when the side leaped 11 places to be 137th in the list released on Thursday.
Indian Airlines proposes to commence its own retail courier and freight services to tap the huge domestic courier/cargo business, the Rajya Sabha was informed on Tuesday.
The government on Friday announced it had entered into an agreement with the United States to establish an Aviation Cooperation Programme to modernise the sector's infrastructure.
"Four terrorists were killed in the retaliatory firing and the suicide attack was foiled," an official said.
The Centre will come out with a policy by next year that will prescribe guidelines to state governments, private investors and Airports Authority of India for building airports. This was announced by the Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel at an Assocham function to discuss the need for building aerotropolis (cities around the airport).
The budgetary provision for all aviation infrastructure has generally been reduced, apparently with the view that most of the airport modernisation programmes, barring those in Kolkata and Chennai, were being carried out through public-private partnership.
'We have the majority. We will survive even when we go ahead with the deal,' Praful Patel told rediff.com 'We have 234 (Lok Sabha) MPs in the UPA, add 39 members of the Samajwadi Party and the Independents who have declared support to us,' a Congress leader added. 'We believe it touches the mark of 272.'
He said this in his keynote address at the Business Standard Open Sky Summit 2008 held here today. Airport charges in India are 50-60 per cent higher than global airport charges and account for over 12 per cent of an airline's cost. Patel, however, added that his ministry has not yet initiated any talks with airports on this issue.
West Bengal government will felicitate Atletico De Kolkata (ATK) team for winning the first edition of Indian Super League football, state chief minister Mamata Banerjee said.
The Global Indian Award is given to a person who has had an impact on and contributed in some way to the growth of the Indian and global economy.
The Indian hockey team recently won the Asia Cup, but the recognition the players received was nothing like what the cricket team is getting after the Twenty20 World Cup triumph.
Petroleum Minister Murli Deora will meet Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel and chiefs of airlines and oil companies to discuss a solution for dues of over Rs 2,000 crore that the domestic carriers owe the state-owned oil marketers on fuel sales.
Nationalist Congress Party leader Praful Patel, who announced after day-long consultations among all concerned parties that the four-day old crisis has been resolved, sidestepped questions on whether it involved some changes in the ministry.
Aviation Minister Praful Patel has requested FM to rationalise taxes on aviation fuel in Budget 2008-09.
Latur and Nanded in Marathwada region of Maharashtra would soon be on the aviation map with the launch of flights from this metropolis to these towns, Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel has said.
At present, the booming airline industry is facing a shortage of approximately 1,000 qualified pilots, Union Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel told Rajya Sabha in a written reply on Tuesday. Patel said the government has taken various steps, including increasing the retirement age of pilots to 65 years and setting up of a training institute in Maharashtra, to reduce the demand-supply gap.
The radar blip on the flight path of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's special plane, which created a mid-air scare, was caused by an Indian Air Force aircraft and the incident cannot be considered a serious security lapse, Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel said. "Primary investigation has revealed that there was some mix-up in the signals," he said. The special aircraft carrying Prime MinisterManmohan Singh had the mid-air scare on Tuesday evening.
Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel's plans to make India a maintenance, repair and overhaul hub for aircraft in Asia are set to crash. China, once again, has left India way behind. While over 300 MRO companies are in operation in China, only three have set up shops in India - Max Aerospace, Airworks and Indamer.
The controversy over the non-inclusion of the three service chiefs in the list of VIPs exempt from security checks at the airports has been resolved with their inclusion in the exemption category by the government.
Union Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel's dream to make Indian airports an international aviation hub may have to wait.
To overcome hurdles in land acquisition for airport projects, the government is planning to allow private players to build airports on their own land.
Amidst reports of unease between Congress and its allies, Bharatiya Janata Party on Friday said the party was a "sinking ship" which was being deserted by its passengers.
"We realised that we don't have the required numbers to form the government and we don't want to indulge in horse-trading," Fadnavis told reporters after announcing his decision.
Praful Patel, Vice-President of the World Bank, visited Pakistan on a 3 day tour. He said the economic picture of Pakistan is not good and the country should carry out necessary reforms to avert an economic crisis. There has been robust growth over the past few years and there has been a significant reduction in poverty. However, the growth can only continue if Pakistan adjusts itself to the new global reality including high prices of oil, commodities & foodstuffs like wheat.
Noting that Indian civil aviation sector is experiencing high levels of growth, Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel has said the industry must tackle the shortcomings of inadequate infrastructure and shortage of skilled manpower to sustain growth.
The government plans to formulate a separate set of policies for regional airlines, Union Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel said on Monday.
India's infrastructure sector alone can absorb more than $150 billion of foreign direct investment over the next five years.
Prasanna D Zore reports on the backroom drama accompanying the efforts to cobble together the next government in Maharashtra. 'While the Congress is insisting upon equal power sharing structure among all the three parties, the NCP is of the opinion that ministries should be distributed based on the number of MLAs belonging to each of the three parties.' Prasanna D Zore reports on the backroom room accompanying the efforts to cobble together the next government in Maharashtra.
The Union Cabinet on Thursday referred the proposal for allowing People of Indian Origin to invest in domestic airlines on par with NRIs to a Group of Ministers.
Indian airlines on Wednesday filled aviation turbine fuel (ATF) into the tanks of their aircraft at Rs 68,000 a kilolitre. Around the same time, ATF sold at $1,037.8 (Rs 41,500) a kilolitre at the Singapore airport -- full 39 per cent below Indian prices.
The Ministry of Civil Aviation is planning to start flights connecting about 120 cities in the country from the current 81 cities, said Praful Patel, Union Minister for Civil Aviation.
As per the Indian Olympic Association's regulations, only those national teams which are ranked between 1-8 at the continental level, are cleared for the Games.
India jumped two places to finish 2016 at 135, their best in the last six years, in the FIFA rankings published on Thursday. This is India's six-year highest annual ranking after 2009 when India finished at 134. National coach Stephen Constantine attributed the upsurge to all his players and the staff. "It can't be achieved without the help of the players. We have an exceptional batch of players as we are in the process of building the team for the future," Constantine said.
Kingfisher will be permitted to fly abroad this year, following its acquisition of Air Deccan. Since Air Deccan will be eligible for the international arena this August, Kingfisher too will enjoy this right.
"Oil prices are not going to come down. The era of cheap food is over and prices are likely to remain high for at least the next 10 years," World Bank South Asia Region Vice-President Praful Patel told PTI. He said the current situation has 'caught the whole world by surprise' and the crisis was due to a combination of factors, he said.
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