Aviation - An Indian Perspective

Aviation

If we look down the memory lane, 70 years or so, the aviation was synonym to air force. The Indian Air Force took time in coming out of the legacy and clutches of Royal Air Force because even after independence till the year 1952 we have a Britisher as Commending-in-Chief, Indian Air Force. It was indeed matter of great honour that Indians were still pioneer though as member of Royal Air Force we may recall India’s first squadron Commanded by Air Marshal S.N. Goyal, when it was named tigers in the rememberance to Netaji Subash Chandra Bose, initiatives towards the freedom struggle.

It all started by the solo flying by JRD Tata when we could name Juhu as Airport. Those were the days when Air India was in existence as a private commercial carrier. Its’ growth could have been manifold but somehow it could not remain a private affair and Air India got its wings from the Government as National Carrier. There had been developments in Air Force year-after-year as the youngest brother of armed forces, Numbers of records were set and expansions remain as unending process.

If I talk about the latest for the Indian Air Force, a proposal for acquiring 200 Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) in phased manner is going to be on cards. Our pilots set records year-after-year. Wing Commander Anil Kumar and Rahul Monga manoeuvred a micro light aircraft around the globe in a record time of 80 days with a brief stop over Karachi on the last leg of their journey. The duo flew over 19 countries and covered 40497 kms. before landing at the air force station Hindon on 19^th August 2007.

This column can not afford to miss the progress made in the field of Civil Aviation. The Airports in the country were managed by Civil Aviation Deptt. and Central Public Works Deptts. We had a very few airports for civil aviation, which were catering the domestic requirements. Air Journey was confined to elite group of society. Foreign travel used to be the dream. It all came with the initiative taken by Dr. Karan Singh as Minister for Civil Aviation and Tourism by constituting a committee headed by JRD Tata to examine the feasibility and give recommendation for having international airports in the country, meeting the requirements of International Civil Aviation Organization, Montreal. JRD Tata, we all know him as father of Civil Aviation. The Tata Committee report was accepted by the Government and it was the beginning of bright future of Civil Aviation in the country. Four International Airports, i.e. Bombay, Delhi, Culcutta and Madras, were born in 1972 managed by an autonomous body called International Airports Authority of India under the Ministry of Civil Aviation. The Civil Aviation never looked back and the rest of the domestic airports, which were managed by the Government also came under the purview of National Airports Authority, which came into existence in the year 1985. It never ended there. The year 1995 witnessed another historical event in the form of merger of these two organizations by single body Airports Authority of India

Coming back to the growth of Civil Aviation in the country till early 90s, it was all in the hands of National carrier i.e. Air India and Indian Airlines, we have witnessed long queues at Bombay and Delhi Airports what to say about Calcutta and Madras Airports. At that time, it was all going well keeping in view of the passenger movement. The fares were very high and 95% air travelers were flying at the cost of others meaning thereby business travelers or some people going on emergency. The mid 90s came with fortunate movement of Open Sky Policy. We saw number of new private airlines on Indian horizon, East West Airlines, Intercontinental, Damania Airways, Jet Air, Modi-Luft, Air Asiatic, Raj Air and so on, may be with two or three aircrafts, the growth of private sector in the aviation sector was unbelievable and it was not anticipated. Nobody thought such a voluminous growth of passenger traffic. It will become a lengthy column if, I go on telling the things in micro level. I need to stop here, thanks to print and media educating you about the latest happenings, which are going to witness sea change in aviation industry in years to come. The speculations are that by the year 2020 our country is going to have name in the Aviation Sector of the world, beating many developed countries.

Today, it is quite a pleasant surprise to see that a lower middle class person with his family traveling by air, it is no more a dream. If we go as per newspaper reports and the talks going on, each state of the country may have airports not one but in large number to provide connectivity. It was an encouraging talk by Capt. Gopinath of Deccan Air when he talks about low cost Airports much ahead to his beginning as low cost Airline. Well, one can imagine airport with no conveyor belt, buses and air conditioned building, reducing the cost. See a passenger coming out of the aircraft carrying his own luggage and taking a public transport for going in the city with no trolleys drinking water, visitor chairs, announcement system, cctv, etc., etc. what you see. We should not get surprise because a decade ago we never thought of an air journey without food, air hostesses or proper ticket with number of leaflets.

This column has been written by me as a man amongst you, who is a passenger, Indian citizen and a visionary with great optimism towards progress of our nation in all evocation. The day is not far when India will be on the map of developed countries. The progress in the information technology sector has already ignited the engine in this direction. The civil aviation industry may follow soon.  

It all looks so good, the aircrafts representing different airlines of India landing across the world at different airports giving name to our country. It makes our presence on the globe, we are no more a small country.

Dewakar Goel

Jt. General Manager (HRD)

Airports Authority of India