To help the Civil Aviation sector recover from the COVID-19 shock, the new Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia has formed 3 advisory groups. These 3 groups will meet regularly to find solutions to the challenges faced by the aviation sector.

Sources have told Times Now that the first meeting of the new advisory group will happen this Friday. This is the first major decision taken by the new Aviation Minister. 

As per a tweet by the official Twitter handle of the Ministry of Civil Aviation, ‘Under the chairmanship of the Hon’ble Minister of Civil Aviation, Jyotiraditya Scindia, MoCA has formed three advisory groups comprising Airlines, Airport Operators and MRO, Cargo Carriers, FTOs & Ground Handling companies.’

The advisory group on airlines will have the Minister of Civil aviation as the Chairman and 10 members. Apart from Minister of State for Civil Aviation Gen VK Singh, Civil Aviation secretary & DGCA, this group will include top bosses of the big airlines.

Rajiv Bansal, CMD of Air India, Indigo’s Rahul Bhatia, SpiceJet’s Ajay Singh, Go Air’s Ness Wadia, Vistara’s Bhaskar Bhat, Air Asia’s Sunil Bhaskaran & the CEO of Alliance Air will be the members and they will advise the govt on a number of issues.

From enhancing domestic & international connectivity to passenger facilities during air travel to manpower skilling to developing India as a hub for passenger travel, cargo & MRO operations to even regulatory issues. 

The Civil Aviation Minister will be the Chairman for the other two groups as well. The advisory group on airports will have 11 members including the Joint secretary as the convener.

This group includes Chairman Airports Authority of India, GMR Group’s Business Chairman, Vice President Adani Group, BIAL’s MD & CEO along with officials from the ministry.

The terms of reference for this group range from enhancing airport capacity to infrastructure augmentation and modernisation to other regulatory issues. The 3rd group will focus on Maintenance, Repair & Overhaul (MRO), cargo, flight training organisation & ground handling.