Union Minister for Civil Aviation Hardeep Singh Puri on Saturday said that Centre had started working on the coronavirus issue from January 17, before it was declared a ‘serious global emergency’, and that nearly 12 lakh passengers have been screened till date.
Mr. Puri was speaking at the Wings India 2020 Global Aviation Summit where he sought to address the coronavirus which he described as the ‘elephant in the room’.
“Since we started this, we have screened 10,876 flights coming from outside, which means many of them are wide-bodies planes. So you can gather what kind of task this is. We have screened 11,71,061 passengers, nearly 12 lakh. And this figure goes up as we speak — 3,225 of these 12 lakh passengers required further screening,” Mr. Puri said.
The Union Minister said that when faced which such challenges, there is a tendency to call for a stop to all activities. This, he said, is an inadvertent contribution to the creation of ‘heightened uncertainty’ or ‘panic’. He said that in case people test positive for coronavirus, they have resilient immune system and can overcome and the government is taking on precautionary measures such as disinfecting aircraft and other places. The two unfortunate fatalities have been of elderly people, he added.
‘Passing phase’
Touching upon how the coronavirus scare could affect the air-traffic, Mr. Puri said: “Yes, there maybe a 15%-20% drop in domestic traffic for the time being. But, I believe that also is a passing phase. I am absolutely sure that once people get the correct perspective, know where we are vulnerable and take precautions against that, look at the numbers who are recovering and the number is pretty impressive.”
He expressed confidence that the civil aviation sector in India would overcome the coronavirus challenge and continue to grow. “I agree with what other speakers said. We are not only the world’s third largest domestic civil aviation market, but we are going well towards becoming the world’s third largest civil aviation market,” he said adding India would reach one billion passenger mark before 2030.
Work together
He said that operators, private sector and the government can work together, ‘seize the opportunity’ and demonstrate to the word that the challenge can be overcome.
Touching upon bringing aviation turbine fuel into the ambit of the GST, Mr. Puri hoped that this change would come sooner than later. “I say this with a sense of responsibility. I’ve written many letters. I have appealed to the chief ministers of State governments, I have written to the Finance Minister and I think, by and large, that there is acknowledgment that this should be done, and it will be done,” he said.
