MUMBAI, August 11: The International Air Transport Association (IATA) is pressing for improvement of airport infrastructure and reduction of overcrowding above Indian skies, according to its director general, Pierre Jeannoit, who was in Mumbai today. He and other senior IATA officials will be meeting civil aviation ministry officials in New Delhi tomorrow in this regard.

Jeannoit, who spoke to mediapersons after a meeting with Micheal Mascrenhas, managing director, Air-India, and other senior airline officials, said the building of airport infrastructure cost-effectively will be high on his agenda during tomorrow's meeting. Jeannoit will also demand reduction of taxes levied on the aviation industry. He warned that excessive taxation will kill the travel industry. Travel, he said, is no longer a luxury to be taxed excessively like cigarettes.

IATA will also demand that India get set for Future Air Navigation Systems (FANS). Jeannoit will discuss with the director general of civil aviation possibilities for creating more highways in the skies to reduce air congestion. FANS will permit optimal utilisation of airspace, thanks to advanced satellite navigation systems. This is important to India's needs, because the country is strategically located as a link to Eastern and Western parts of the globe.

Jeanniot noted IATA would continue to emphasise on safety, though the safety record was high. He pointed out that 1200 causalities were reported last year, which compared favourably with the total number of passengers carried by the airlines of the world - 100 billion.

He said the aviation industry was now better off financially. While in 1995, airlines made profits of US $ 5.5 billion, in 1996, profits amounted to US $ 4 billion despite a slowdown. For this year, profits are likely to be around US $ 4.5 billion, as the traffic in summer is showing higher yields.

Jeannoit noted that IATA expected traffic in India to grow between 7 and 7.5 per cent, as against the world average of 7 to 7.2 per cent.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.