India's aviation policies not supportive of competitiveness: IATA chief Tony Tyler

NEW DELHI: India was "missing out" on the potential of civil aviation as a key economic contributor as its policies were not supportive of competitiveness in the sector and stunted its growth, global airlines' body IATA said today.

"India is one market that is missing out on aviation's potential as a result of a policy framework that does not support aviation's competitiveness," International Air Transport Association (IATA) chief Tony Tyler said in his address to the Singapore Airshow Aviation Leadership Summit.

Giving examples, he said high taxes, lack of capacity in Mumbai and increasing infrastructure costs in Delhi "are holding back Indian aviation's potential".

Maintaining that Singapore government supported aviation as a strategic industry and the sector contributed 119,000 quality jobs and 5.4 per cent of GDP, Tyler said "not all governments have the same positive approach."

"The stunted growth of Indian aviation comes with an economic cost. India's population is about 240 times the size of Singapore's. But the number of aviation jobs is just about 14 times larger at 1.7 million. And the economic contribution of aviation is still only 0.5 per cent of the Indian economy," he was quoted as saying in a statement by IATA.

"Even considering the differential in GDP per capita between Singapore and India, these numbers tell us that there is tremendous unrealised potential in India," the IATA Director General and CEO said.