Saturday, January 21 2006 12:02 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Mumbai: The Minister for Civil Aviation, Praful Patel has dispelled fears that the Jet Airways would have a monopoly in the aviation sector with its recent acquisition of the Sahara Airlines.

"Mergers and acquisitions have become a common practice these days this is going to happen but there is no need to fear about monopoly", Patel told reporters last night on the sidelines of a function "Mumbai Dialogue" here.

"Every airline starts in a small way and tries to expand its operations. We have been liberal in granting licenses to private airlines. Already some have been permitted and applications of few others were being considered", he added.

Citing the instance of Indian (formerly Indian Airlines), the Minister said the domestic airlines had once a 100 per cent share in aviation passenger traffic but its share declined considerably over a period of time.

To a question as to when would the approval be given to the Jet-Sahara merger, Patel said it depended upon the Director General of Civil Aviation and the Company Law Board which were the competent authorities.

The Civil Aviation ministry has no role to play in this regard, he said adding that the regulator will take stock of the situation once they receive a formal application from the management of Jet Airways.

Patel, however, reiterated that the Government was committed to develop infrastructure in the aviation sector not only with the restructuring and modernization of Delhi and Mumbai airports but also with upgrading airports at Hyderabad, Bangalore, Kolkata, Chennai and in other cities.