Although it may be difficult to quantify the contribution of Minister Praful Patel to the Indian civil aviation sector, one can safely state that he has changed the Indian skies forever.
The reformist minister has helped drive the privatisation of Mumbai and New Delhi's airports. He led the modernisation of the nation's civil aviation infrastructure and cleared the merger of Air India and Indian Airlines despite huge protests by employees.
In March, the government gave its final nod to the mega-merger of the State-run airlines. The merger turns the new entity into a large airline, with a combined fleet of about 120 aircraft and a staff strength of 30,000. The Air India-Indian combine has a market share of 19.8%.
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Patel recently oversaw a Rs 50,000 crore (Rs 500 billion) deal to buy Air India a brand new fleet. The decision to buy new aircraft for India's major carriers was cleared only after Patel set up an Oversight Committee headed by a former Comptroller and Auditor General and getting the prime minister to set up an Empowered Group of Ministers so that acquisition issues did not have to keep going back to Cabinet.
Photograph: Pal Pillai/AFP/Getty Images
Also read: How Praful Patel has changed Indian skies
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