Addressing the conference Minister of State for Civil Aviation and Minister of State for Tourism and Culture (Independent Charge) Dr. Mahesh Sharma said that with strong middle income group India has strong potential for growth of air services and effective marketing plays an important role in this regard. Highlighting the importance of aviation sector for growth of tourism, he said that it is high time that the air connectivity is further improved. He urged all departments to make joint efforts for improving air services delivery.

Speaking on the occasion Director General Civil Aviation, Ms M. Sathiyavathy stated that considering the security scenario, business can be generated only through passengers who use airports. She emphasized on ensuring maximum use of airports and taking in account the requirements of passengers. She underlined that proper and trained manpower should be there for management of airports.

Mr R. K. Srivastava, Chairman, Airports Authority of India (AAI) said that despite the projected growth, India remains the least penetrative market with 0.4 trips per capita per annum compared to 2 trips per capita in USA. He said that India has strong 300 million middle income group with disposable income to travel at least once in a year by air.