Bill on aviation regulator during winter session: Prasad

New Delhi, Oct 7 (UNI) A bill on setting up an independent regulator for the airline industry will be introduced during winter session of parliament, civil aviation secretary Ajay Prasad said today.

He said the union cabinet is likely to clear the Airport Economic Regulatory Authority (AERA) bill soon. In June, the cabinet had taken up the issue but a final decision could not be taken due to certain clarifications sought by the defence ministry.

The AERA is expected to deal with issues of pricing and competition in airports, particularly in view of private companies entering the airport arena. The need for a regulator for the aviation sector has been necessitated in view of the rapid growth the airline industry is witnessing.

Mr Prasad said the increased passenger and cargo traffic has posed new challenges in the area providing adequate infrastructure at airports.

The challengers include expansion of capacity at existing airports, upgradation and modernisation of metro and non-metro airports, development of new greenfield airports, induction of modern technology for efficient handling of aircraft, passengers and cargo at airports, upgradation of communication and navigation systems (CNSs) and air traffic management (ATM).

''Public-private partnership is a must for speedy development of aviation infrastructure in the country,'' he said while addressing delegates participating in a conference titled Building Infrastructure: Challenges and Opportunities.

The number of domestic air passengers jumped 27.9 per cent in 2005-06 to 50.98 million while the number of international passengers moved up 15.45 per cent to 22.37 million.

UNI SU RA ND1352