Hyderabad, Dec 11 (IANS) Civil Aviation Minister K. Ram Mohan Naidu said on Wednesday that the validation flight at Jewar Airport, also known as Noida International Airport, was conducted successfully and officials were looking to get license for the airport as soon as possible.  "The validation flight happened at Jewar Airport. It went through very, very successfully,” the Minister told media on the sidelines of an event to launch AI-powered digital twin platform at Rajiv Gandhi International Airport in Hyderabad.

Ram Mohan Naidu said the construction of Jewar International Airport was nearing completion. "We are also looking to license it as soon as possible so that people of NCR (National Capital Region) and western Uttar Pradesh can have the access to an additional airport other than the Indira Gandhi International Airport (Delhi)," he said. The Civil Aviation Minister said Jewar is a very strategic location and they see it becoming very viable.

"Initially, they want to operate with 12 million capacity. They are going very well and we are expecting it to start it in April," he added. On hoax calls, Ram Mohan Naidu said the Ministry was trying to bring two legislative changes to deal with the problem. He said that Aircraft Security Rules are being amended and a gazette will be issued soon. "We are creating legislation so that any perpetrator, anyone who is involved in this kind of things, can be put on no-fly list," he said

An amendment is also proposed in Swaska Act which deals with offences related to civil aviation. "We have proposed for small amendment which is going through inter-ministerial consultation process. Once we get feedback from concerned ministries, we are going to go ahead with the amendment," he said. Earlier, addressing the event, he wanted GMR to speed up the work on Bhogapuram International Airport near Visakhapatnam. Ram Mohan Naidu said they have the deadline of completing the airport by June 2026 and made it clear that there will be no compromise on this.

He thanked GMR for giving clearance for building Warangal Airport, which was a long pending demand. The Minister also noted that GMR Group is the largest private operator in Asia which two of the top four airports in the country - Delhi and Hyderabad. It is also one of the largest operators in the world handling 100 million passengers annually. He also mentioned that Hyderabad Airport is connected to around 90 destinations across the country and internationally. The airport recorded the highest passenger growth from 6.5 million in 2010 to 25 million in 2024. The flight movement jumped from 220 flights per day to 550 flights per day during the same period. In anticipation of rapid growth, the terminal capacity was recently increased to 34 million per annum.

Ram Mohan Naidu said he always envisioned the Aviation ecosystem as not only as robust but also smarter, more efficient and more people-centric. Referring to the rapid growth of the aviation sector in the country, he said in October this year, the domestic air passenger traffic increased by 5.3 per cent to 1.36 crore traffic from 1.26 crore last month. The Civil Aviation Minister mentioned that in December 2023, the domestic passenger traffic was 1.37 crore and this November, the country surpassed the number in just 29 days.

He said this was the best ever month for Indian aviation. November 7 will always be remembered for clocking over 5 lakh passengers. The minister stated that the number of airports in the country has gone up to 157 from just 74 in 2014. He said it will soon become 158 and three more are lined up. Ram Mohan Naidu said that his vision is to have 50 more airports in the county in the next five years and 200 airports in 20 years. The Minister lauded GMR for launching Airport Predictive Operation Centre (APOC), a transformative advancement in airport management and operations at Hyderabad Airport. He termed it the beginning of a new chapter in aviation operations.

This innovative platform integrates airside, landside, and terminal operations into a unified system, utilising real-time data to optimise decision-making, minimise disruptions, and ensure seamless operations Komatireddy Venkat Reddy, Telangana’s Minister for Roads and Buildings, GBS Raju, Chairman, Airports, GMR Group, SGK Kishore, ED South & Chief Innovation Officer, GMR Airports, Pradeep Panicker, CEO-GHIAL were also present.

/IANS