12-08-2005, 12:33 AM
<b>Free Flow: To fly high, India must modernize its airports </b><!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->..............
The second element is to bring more of the country's 300 or so airports into the national grid by adding flights to functional but obscure airstrips and by upgrading navigation equipment and buildings at long-neglected facilities.
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Following the Chinese lead, <b>Patel is also pushing to get more domestic airports onto the international stage</b>. Singapore Airlines, for example, has begun operating flights to second-tier cities little known outside India, including Ahmedabad and Amritsar
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to move goods in and out of the country. Jacques Creeten, the country chief for FedEx in India, said the government was realizing what FedEx had long argued: <b>that an airplane carrying goods generates considerably more economic activity than one carrying people.</b>
India now loses out on much of that activity by preventing cargo carriers from working at peak capability, Creeten said. <b>FedEx wants its own facilities, but Indian law prohibits foreign carriers from making domestic flights, requiring them to fly to Mumbai or New Delhi and continue by road. </b>
Despite the seemingly slow motion, there is a sense that when compared with other infrastructure woes, from roads to rail, airports may be the least contentious battle. Robert Blake, a senior U.S. diplomat in New Delhi, said recently at an industry conference: <b>"The aviation sector can be a model that demonstrates the ability of infrastructure development to propel growth and job creation across India."</b>
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The second element is to bring more of the country's 300 or so airports into the national grid by adding flights to functional but obscure airstrips and by upgrading navigation equipment and buildings at long-neglected facilities.
............
Following the Chinese lead, <b>Patel is also pushing to get more domestic airports onto the international stage</b>. Singapore Airlines, for example, has begun operating flights to second-tier cities little known outside India, including Ahmedabad and Amritsar
....................
to move goods in and out of the country. Jacques Creeten, the country chief for FedEx in India, said the government was realizing what FedEx had long argued: <b>that an airplane carrying goods generates considerably more economic activity than one carrying people.</b>
India now loses out on much of that activity by preventing cargo carriers from working at peak capability, Creeten said. <b>FedEx wants its own facilities, but Indian law prohibits foreign carriers from making domestic flights, requiring them to fly to Mumbai or New Delhi and continue by road. </b>
Despite the seemingly slow motion, there is a sense that when compared with other infrastructure woes, from roads to rail, airports may be the least contentious battle. Robert Blake, a senior U.S. diplomat in New Delhi, said recently at an industry conference: <b>"The aviation sector can be a model that demonstrates the ability of infrastructure development to propel growth and job creation across India."</b>
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