BAOA 10 Years

By Air Vice Marshal S.S. Chauhan (Retd) President, BAOA

Business Aircraft Operators’ Association (BAOA) of India was incorporated on March 31, 2011 under the ‘Society Registration Act. XXI of 1860’. It was established for the advancement of both the “Business Aviation & the General Aviation (BA/GA)” business in the country, while simultaneously striving to promote the highest levels of safety and efficiency in their operation as per the best global practices.

During the last ten years, BAOA has been working (and struggling hard!) to promote unity of purpose, of communication and of co-operation amongst both the ‘Enrolled BA/GA Members’ as well as the ‘Not-as-Yet Enrolled BA/GA Members’. Simultaneously, BAOA has also been actively pursuing it’s acceptance as a representative body of the BA/GA community, while identifying & taking up common issues with the concerned arms of the ‘Government’, the ‘Regulatory Bodies’, the associated ‘Non- Profit Organisations/Societies’, and other components of the larger aviation infrastructure. Over a period of time, with sustained efforts by its designated members in pursuing numerous matters with the Government at appropriate level, a large number of common issues affecting the BA/GA industry have been resolved, even though, the issues taken up were ‘favourably’ resolved only when finally considered as ‘valid’ by the Ministry of Civil Aviation / the DGCA / other concerned arms/agencies of the Government with the burden of proof squarely lying on the BAOA! As an offset of this effort over the past 10 years of its existence, the BAOA has also developed a fair and long-term understanding of the problems & the genuine needs of the BA/GA industry in India.

The BAOA commenced it’s journey in March 2011, with an initial progressive total membership of just over 40 members in three categories - ‘Corporate Member’, ‘Associate Member’ and ‘Foreign Associate Member’. Of this, from the initial 20 or so Corporate Members, the strength over the years has grown past 40 Corporate Members, with most of the prominent business aircraft operators having become a part of BAOA. As in the year 2020, the total strength of the association in all categories was countable at over 80 members. On the occasion of this decadal anniversary, it needs to be recapitulated with pride that this has been possible only due to the vision, hard work & immense contribution of the BAOA ‘Founding Fathers’, the successive ‘Governing Boards’ and other actively participating members, as well as by the full-time BAOA Managing Director & his meagre but highly dedicated office staff placed at his disposal.

BAOA, BEING A ‘NOT-FOR-PROFIT’ ORGANISATION, HAS TODAY COME TO BE RECOGNISED AS A COLLECTIVE VOICE FOR THE BA/GA INDUSTRY IN INDIA

Presently, the BAOA is also associated & represented at global level as an active member of the Montreal-based ‘International Business Aircraft Council (IBAC)’, an umbrella organisation for a number of “Business Operators’ Associations” in the world. Sudhir Nayak, a Governing Board member of BAOA, is presently the Treasurer of IBAC. Also, Group Captain R.K. Bali (Retd), the current long-time Managing Director of BAOA, is also a member of the ‘Policy & Operations Committee (POC)’ of IBAC.

On the domestic front, BAOA is an affiliate member of the ‘Rotary Wing Society of India (RWSI)’, and of the ‘Maintenance, Repair & Overhaul (MRO) Association of India’. Such affiliations positively contribute in progressing, all the overlapping issues faced by the BA/GA community.

BAOA, being a ‘Not-for-Profit’ and, so to say, a ‘Democratically Governed’ organisation, has today come to be recognised as a collective voice for the BA/GA industry in India. In some quarters, however, Business Aviation is still being looked upon as a ‘Rich Man’s Toy’. As such, advocating the necessity of Business Aviation & its contribution towards developing the economy of the country to ‘the Powers that be’ has always remained a challenging task! Nevertheless, BAOA has been, to an extent, successful in creating amongst the policy makers a more realistic understanding of the essential requirements that, unless met, would seriously affect the making of the BA/GA into a robust industry as a contributing partner in the economy of India. In the recent past, regular, positive and very meaningful interactions have been taking place not only with the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) & the DGCA (the ‘Aviation Regulators’), but also with other aviation-related components of the Government, indicative of an evolving ‘Collaborative & Supportive Rule-Making’ approach.

Presently, rationalisation & resolution of what is considered unanimously by the BA/GA community to be a ‘Disproportionate & Unfair Aeronautical Tariff’ on business aviation, specifically in the areas of ‘Ground Handling and Maintenance Hangars’, remains a matter of primary challenge for BAOA to resolve. A secondary challenge is to persuade more of the ‘Not-as-yet Enrolled BA/GA Members’ to voluntarily come forward & join BAOA as members, with a view to further strengthen BAOA as a unified voice, so much needed to achieve more cohesive results. An outspoken member of BAOA has termed the present situation as somewhat ‘Parasitical’ in nature, wherein, say, only (about) half of the BA/GA community are the formal, contributing & struggling members of BAOA, whereas the other half, continuing as nonmembers, have more or less adopted a passive stance! The resultant benefits achieved due to the efforts of the former half are, however, subsequently distributed equally, without distinction, to the entire BA/GA community! It is primarily up to the ‘Aircraft Owners’ & the ‘CEOs’ of the non-member Business Aviation entities to introspect & take an appropriate conscience-based call on the subject.

The BA/GA community continues to believe that India, having been duly recognised today as one of the major & fast growing economies in the world, has an immense un-tapped potential for development of business aviation. With greater focus and emphasis by the Government on growth of various sectors of economy, the BA/GA community could provide a seamless connectivity for business, medical & exploratory travel to remote & not-so-well-connected areas for an accelerated development of the country’s basic infrastructure.

In the present positively-charged environment, BAOA is firmly committed to continue to work with the Government and the Regulatory Authorities for their clear and specific directives towards firmly establishing an affordable, robust & efficient BA/GA ecosystem in India.

On the eve of the ten years of its formation, the BAOA of India is firmly determined to get the BA/GA industry its rightful place in the Indian subcontinent.

Jai Hind!