New aviation policy by this month: Patel

New Delhi, May 10 (UNI) India will finally have an aviation policy soon.

The document called Vision 2020 has been sent by the civil aviation ministry for cabinet approval.

''It'll hopefully come up for cabinet's consideration this month,'' said civil aviation minister Praful Patel.

The policy will be an amalgamation of old and new initiatives, he told reporters.

The air transport industry recorded 35 million domestic passengers in 2006-07, up 45 per cent in the previous year, and 25 million international passengers, up 15 per cent.

The total passenger market is likely to be 100 million by 2010.

The International Air Transport Association says India is the fastest growing market worldwide, even ahead of China.

Official sources say the new policy will relax norms for domestic airlines to fly abroad. At present only airlines with five years of domestic operations are allowed to fly overseas.

The new policy may bring down that figure to three years.

UNI