Union Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya M Scindia today said the Indian Aviation sector has passed through a lot of trials and tribulations during the pandemic period, but it is emerging stronger, fitter and ready to face challenges and tap the opportunities.

Speaking at the inaugural session of Wings India 2022, Scindia said, “The sector has shown resilience, and by next year, we will surpass the pre-covid number of domestic passengers. The international flights are going to fully resume in a couple of days, and the number of international travellers from India will also jump rapidly.”

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Wings India 2022, Asia’s largest event for commercial, general and business aviation, is being held with ‘India@75: New Horizon for Aviation Industry’, as its main theme in Hyderabad.

The event was formally inaugurated by the Union Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya M Scindia today. The event is being jointly organized by the Ministry of Civil Aviation and FICCI.

Addressing the participants, Scindia said the government will be a constructive collaborator with all stakeholders of the aviation sector and work with them for the development of Civil Aviation in the country.

“We don’t believe in square tables, we believe in roundtables at our Ministry to ensure the success of this sector and our country at large,” he said in his address.

Talking about the metamorphosis in the Indian Civil aviation sector in the last 7 years, the Minister said India is the fastest-growing civil aviation market in the world. There has been expanding across the spectrum in the sector, with the number of airports in the country going up from 74 in 2013-14 to almost 140. The number is likely to go up to 220 by 2024-25. There were 400 aircraft in the country then and the number has gone up to 710 in 7 years.

The Minister said that UDAN is a mission to make flying accessible to the common man. Underlining the Prime Minister’s vision for the UDAN scheme, he said that more than 409 routes have been identified under the scheme, over 1.75 lakh flights have taken place and more than 91 lakh passengers have benefitted.

The Minister also launched the Small Aircraft Sub-Scheme on the occasion. The primary objective of the scheme is to stimulate regional air connectivity by creating a growth-oriented framework.

The Scheme intends to facilitate the creation of an ecosystem for small aircraft operations in the country by providing the framework necessary for bringing together relevant stakeholders such as States, airlines, airport operators and policymakers to collaborate towards the success of this initiative.