The long-awaited Vision 2020 for the aviation sector and a new airport in Navi Mumbai will go before Cabinet for clearance shortly, Union Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel said on Sunday.
“We have already sent the Vision 2020 statement for the Indian aviation sector to the cabinet for clearance and I hope it will pass through in a couple of months,” Mr Patel said at a function to showcase Jet Airways’ first acquired Boeing 777-300 ER and Airbus 330-200 aircraft here.
He said the statement, which encompasses the country’s vision for the rapidly growing aviation sector, now at 50 per cent annually, would spell out the plan for its growth.
Pooh-poohing the criticism that Indian airports are far below in performance, Patel said the Mumbai airport was now handling almost the same traffic as that handled by Singapore with just half its infrastructure.
He said by 2010, the country would have first class airports in major cities and the problem was India has not just one or two airports but 80 airports that need to be upgraded in a short period.

Navi Mumbai
Regarding the second airport for Mumbai, he said, “We and the state government are working on the Navi Mumbai airport and the proposal will go to Cabinet shortly for clearance.”
To the Jet Airways' ambitious plan to become top five global airlines in the next five years, Patel said “why only one airline from India, I expect another airline to be in the top”. He was apparently referring to Air India, which is to complete its legal aspects of merger with Indian by June 15.
Jet Airways showcased its two state-of-the-art Boeing 777-300 ER and Airbus 330-200 which it will be pressing into operation on European and US routes in the coming months.
Patel expressed concern over the high-cost of aviation fuel and said he would hold discussions with the petroleum ministry to rationalise ATF prices.
“I will request the  Petroleum Minister to bring down the price or rationalise it,” he said.
The government would come out with some innovative solutions in the next couple of weeks to deal with the “artificially high” ATF prices. If the oil companies and PSUs do not see reason, steps could be taken to “unlock this monopoly”, he said.
“We have already allowed hedging and bulk imports of jet fuel. We are taking it up very seriously with the Petroleum Ministry as well as the oil PSUs,” he said adding that private players like Reliance, Essar and Shell were also selling ATF.