Pune, Sep 3 (IANS): Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia on Friday said that aviation will become the major means of transportation in the country in the near future, and there is a need to make it within reach of the common masses.

In order to achieve this, he suggested that all Indian states reduce Value Added Tax (VAT) on aviation turbine fuel (ATF) but so far, 16 of the 22 states have responded positively to this move.

Scindia said that currently, India has 141 airports, water aerodromes and heliports which would go up to more than 220 by 2028 across the country, even as the volume of air cargo has increased significantly by 19 per cent in the past two years.

"In 2013-2014, we had around 400 aircraft in our civil aviation sector, today there are close to 700 and we are planning to add around 115-120 airplanes to our fleet every year," said Scindia.

In view of the growing number of flights and aircraft, it is the endeavour of the Civil Aviation Ministry to ensure there is availability of sufficient, trained personnel to man them and in the past six months, nine flying training schools have been started with this aim.

Scindia said that under the Krishi Udan Yojana, there is a plan to start transporting perishable agro-products quickly and at discounted rates.

The Civil Aviation Minister's comments came at the 'Festival of Thinkers' lecture series organised by the Symbiosis group here with state Ministers Chandrakant Patil, Symbiosis Founder - President and Chancellor of Symbiosis International University Dr. S.B. Mujumdar, Principal Director and Pro-VC Dr. Vidya Yeravdekar and Vice-Chancellor Dr. Rajani Gupte.