INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Jyotiraditya Scindia said connectivity to Europe and parts of Central Asia has to be boosted.New Delhi: The Centre has to look to put in
place certain systems to boost long-haul international flights of Indian carriers to places such as Europe and South America, Civil Aviation
Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia said on Thursday."We have to aim to make India a robust aviation hub where we can fly more passengers from
India to the world and vice versa," he said during an event organised by the PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry.Scindia said connectivity
to Europe, North America, Canada, Mexico, South America and parts of Central Asia has to be boosted using the hub-and-spoke
model."Therefore, the creation of a hub in India is extremely important
Increasing long-haul flights means we have to get more wide-bodied aircraft," he noted.Increasing long-haul flights will be a challenge in
the days to come but aviation hubs have to come back on our agenda as a country, a ministry and an industry, the minister
mentioned.Scheduled international passenger services have been suspended in India since March 23, 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic
However, special flights have been operating since July last year under bilateral "air bubble" arrangements between India and approximately
28 countries.On the one side, the country has to concentrate on the domestic travel side, while on the other, it also has to think about the
international travel side, Scindia said."And we have to look at putting in place systems that allow connectivity on long-haul travel to
places like Europe where we have just one or two (Indian) airlines catering to these destinations," he added.(This story has not been edited
by TheIndianSubcontinent staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
