'India to become third largest aviation market'

New Delhi, April 3 (IANS) India is likely to become the third largest aviation market in the world from its current position as traffic volumes grow exponentially, a top official said Tuesday.

"The growth of civil aviation is likely to push India from ninth to third position in the world in terms of volume of traffic, necessitating a very strong security system," said Gurjot Singh Malhi, commissioner of security (Civil Aviation), Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS).

He was speaking at an event marking the silver jubilee of the bureau where a commemorative special cover was also issued by the Department of Posts.

"The bureau has endeavoured to help equip stake-holders responsible for the aviation security in the country with cutting edge technology, skill enhancement of security personnel, training in use of advanced technology and acquisition of security equipment," he said.

According to Malhi, the BCAS had identified key focus areas which included identification of dangerous objects, difficulties in differentiating between harmful and harmless organic objects and detection of liquid aerosol gel to ensure civil aviation security.

The Economic Survey presented in parliament by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee March 15 said that the civil aviation sector had grown at 18.5 percent in the last seven years.

The survey said domestic passenger traffic handled at Indian airports increased by 19.4 percent to 108.1 million during January-November, 2011 from 90.5 million in the corresponding period of previous year.

"International passenger traffic and cargo handled at Indian airports grew by 7.7 percent during January-November 2011 and was placed at 33.6 million passengers and 1.4 metric million tonnes of cargo," the survey said.