New Delhi, March 23 : The Civil Aviation sector is hopeful of revival, on Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia said on Wednesday, adding that India is expecting around 40 crore passengers by 2023-24. Replying to a debate on Demands for Grants for the Civil Aviation Ministry, Scindia in the Lok Sabha said the Covid pandemic impacted the sector.He also informed the House that two new airlines were set to start soon. Talking about the sector, the Minister said the passenger throughput was 35.5 crore in 2018-19, before the pandemic, which came down by 66 per cent and came down to 11.5 crore. “In the last seven days, we have come back to the figure of over 3.82 lakh passengers per day. There is a hope for revival,” he said. “Our estimates are that by 2023-24, 40 crore travelers will come to India,” he said. Scindia also said two new airlines, Jet and Akasa, will soon launch their services in India. Talking about the recent evacuation of India students from Ukraine, Scindia said the credit goes to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who talked to leaders of all nations involved to ensure safe evacuation of Indians. “It is not an exaggeration to say only on the basis of the leadership and capability of our Prime Minister we were able to bring our students back from Ukraine. Our planes were not able to go there because of war.” “PM contacted presidents of five neighbouring countries. He talked to Russian and Ukrainian presidents in the middle of war for corridor for safe evacuation of students,” he said. He said 90 Indian airplanes landed in five countries to bring back Indian students. Scindia also thanked the Indian Air Force, and private airlines which sent flights for Operation Ganga AO ING
