THE CIVIL AVIATION Ministry seems to be the venue for the new Government to demonstrate that reform will continue and, perhaps, with greater vigour than was the case with the previous government. For a Minister who got into a flap very early on when he announced changes in the policy on foreign investments in airports before consulting his colleagues in the Ministry or in the Left parties, Mr Praful Patel has apparently now got his routines right. This week he was able to push through Cabinet some changes, albeit minor, in the Concession Agreement for the new airport at Bangalore. The consortium of private investors wanted a clearer commitment from the Government that the existing airport would be closed once the new facility was commissioned. Obviously the viability of the project would have been in question if the old airport continued to entertain flights. With the Cabinet providing the comfort sought, one can expect the project to achieve financial closure soon.

For Mr Patel and the UPA Government, the decision on the Bangalore airport was not difficult to make. Traffic at the existing city airport, growing at over 12 per cent over the past year, has far exceeded the capacity; passenger experience could not be worse. Yet, the comforts of the new airport may not come cheap, and those who pass through it will need to pay a user development fee on their ticket, akin to what the private airport at Kochi charges its international passengers. How substantial that fee will be is not yet known, but passengers will need to pay whatever is prescribed; they have no recourse, as the airport will be a private monopoly. In any case, this is the least controversial decision the Government will take in the first months of office. In line are the bids from the private sector to run the Mumbai and New Delhi airports, the long-postponed purchase of aircraft by Indian Airlines and Air India, and the question of extending the freedom of the domestic and international skies.

In all these issues, the Ministry's prime intent must be to infuse or sustain competition. Leaving airport services to private monopolies or cartels could be as customer-unfriendly as letting them be run inefficiently by a government monopoly. To ensure that passengers get the best deal, would it not make sense for the Ministry to allow two or more private operators to run passenger terminals at each of the airports? Competitive pressures will ensure that costs for passengers are kept to the minimum and service quality standards to the maximum. That principle will also hold good when the Ministry considers opening international routes to the domestic private airlines or the domestic skies to foreign airlines. It would be natural for incumbents to seek higher entry barriers, but as the head of Deccan Airways, the low-cost airline, rightly pointed out at a meeting with the Ministry, these would be harmful to the rapidly-growing industry. The more the service providers, the happier will be the passengers. But even as the Ministry opens up the skies, it must nourish the two state-owned airlines, and afford them the commercial freedom to buy or lease the aircraft they badly need. It is only fair that the two be rendered fit for the competitive fray.

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