5.3. Recommendations of NTDPC

♤ A National Master Plan should be devised and maintained, which identifies clear economic reasons for building airports in generally specified locations.

♤ An Airport Approval Commission should be established within the MoCA (Ministry of Civil Aviation) to review the business plans of proposed airports prior to granting clearance.

♤ Capacity at airports to process cargo should be augmented urgently.

♤ Substantial investments will be required to ensure that the Air Navigation Services can continue to deliver on an exceptional record of aviation safety.

♤ The regulatory and policy functions should be clearly separated. The Ministry should focus on devising the national policy and on encouraging and guiding state governments in their efforts to develop the aviation sector.

♤ The DGCA should be replaced with a Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) responsible for the operational regulation of airlines and aircraft covering areas such as air-worthiness, safety and licensing, with separate divisions for air space management, environment, competitiveness, and consumer protection.

♤ State governments should play a much more active role in the airport sector since aviation is a key enabler of local economic development.

♤ The AAI should be separated into two distinct functions: Airport Operations and Air Navigation Services. Each function should be corporatized.

♤ Conditions should be created that allow Indian MRO (Maintenance Repairs and Overhaul/Operations) industry to grow rapidly. India has strong comparative advantages to become a world-leading centre of MRO.

♤ The taxation regime that applies to the entire industry from aircraft purchase to aviation turbine fuel to insurance and lease rentals should be revised.

♤ A plan for progressive disinvestment of government’s stake in Air India over a period of

three to five years, based on phased scheme with defined milestones should be identified.

♤ Aviation Turbine Fuel pricing policy should be reformed.

♤ New standards of safety should be established to keep pace with the demands of increased traffic.

♤ The sector’s training infrastructure needs to be urgently improved.