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IA to have dedicated cargo aircraft

Special Correspondent

Hub terminal coming up at Nagpur, says Union Minister

SEEDS OF GROWTH: Praful Patel, Union Minister of State for Civil Aviation (left), with Sandeep Bajoria, Chairman, Central Organisation of Oil Industry and Trade, addressing the press at the Globoil India 2005 conference devoted to oils and oilseeds in Mumbai on Saturday. — Photo: Paul Noronha

MUMBAI: The Indian Airlines has plans to convert five planes from its existing fleet into cargo aircraft and Air-India will follow suit, Union Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel said on Saturday. India did not have even a single cargo aircraft and as a result the cargo trade had not expanded to its full potential, said Mr. Patel on the sidelines of "Globoil India - 2005", a two-day international convention, here. He agreed that the existing cargo rates charged by state-owned airlines for agricultural products was quite high and said once the cargo aircraft facilities and cold storages were set up the tariff was bound to come down. The convention on "Vegetable oil, feed and feed ingredients, oilseeds, related industries and services" has been sponsored by the Solvent Extractors' Association of India and the Indian Vegetable Oil Processors Association.

Mr. Patel said an integrated cargo hub terminal was all set to come up at Nagpur, which would receive cargo aircraft from all over the world. India needed to have cold storage and warehousing facilities, which would boost trade in vegetables and fruits as well as export of these products.

Disclosing that the aviation sector is bound to accelerate economic growth in the country, Mr. Patel said India's civil aviation sector was poised to grow by 25 per cent in the next five years and is likely to attract substantial foreign investment. He said the process of Initial Public Offering (IPO) of Indian Airlines and Air India would be completed by early next year.

Airport modernisation

On withdrawal of some private participants from the bidding process of restructuring and modernisation of Mumbai and Delhi airports, Mr. Patel said the Centre would not entertain any conditions put forward by the private bidders. According to him, the Government has adopted the best of models and the government cannot accept pressure from individual bidders.

Sunil Mittal-owned Bharti group has announced that it is withdrawing from the bidding process after its collaborator Changi Airport of Singapore expressed its unwillingness to commit to key terms of the tender. Another major player L&T also opted out of the process after its German partner Hochtief Airport GmbH decided to walk out of the bidding process.

Mr. Patel said the Government would go ahead with its restructuring and modernisation plans of Mumbai and Delhi airports, despite protests from employees and a nation-wide strike of the employees of Airports Authority of India (AAI) on September 29 against privatisation of airports. He assured them that privatisation would note be done at the cost of the employees.

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