Indian Aviation Industry's fortune on upswing: Patel

Mumbai, May 13 (UNI) Painting a rosy picture of the Aviation Industry, Minister of state for civil aviation Praful Patel today said at least two Indian carriers would emerge among the top five airlines of the world in terms of hospitality, marketing and business over the next five years.

''The Indian Aviation Industry and the Economy is booming and over the next five years, India will emerge as a leading player in the airlines business'', Mr Patel said at a function here.

''We need a collective effort for modernisation of the Chatrapati Shivaji International Airport (CSIA) along with the solution for the rehablitation of slum dwellers, who are settled in large numbers in the vicinity of the airport'', he said.

Mr Patel said despite having infrastructural lacunaes, the traffic of the Mumbai airport is more or less on par with Singapore airport.

He said there are 80 airports in the country and by 2010 most of them would be converted into modern ones, having good infrastructure.

''We are going to get cabinet clearance for the construction of the second airport at Navi Mumbai soon'', he added.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh said Jet Airways should accord priority to connecting district headquarters even though they were connecting major cities in the world.

Speaking on the occasion, Jet airways chairman and Managing director Naresh Goyal recounted how the airlines started its operations 14 years back and was poised to become one of the five best airlines in the world.

Maharashtra governor S M Krishna and Union Power minister Sushil Kumar Shinde also addressed the gathering.

UNI