From The Editor-in-Chief

We welcome Jayant Nadkarni who has taken over as the new President of BAOA and believe that BAOA will move forward with even stronger intensity towards the objectives of business aircraft operators in India under his intelligent leadership. Surely so, also based on the strong foundations laid down by outgoing President, Rohit Kapur.

Dear Readers,

United States of America has an astounding number of general aviation aircraft and airports. According to the General Aviation Manufacturers Association (GAMA), of the 3,62,000 general aviation aircraft worldwide, over 1,99,000 aircraft are based in the US, supporting economic output to the tune of $219 billion and generating over a million jobs. General aviation aircraft fly to over 5,000 airports. We all need to understand that this phenomenal growth has been possible largely due to proactive government policies which are fully attuned to aviation development.

Contrast to this, in India, general aviation numbers are dismal, in three digits. Thanks to the inefficient, corrupt labyrinthine bureaucratic set-up. Instead of playing the role of a ‘facilitator’, the government and its agencies are ‘big time regulators’, killing the industry. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation and other statutory bodies, instead of creating a conducive ‘ecosystem’ for aviation growth, are busy putting up stumbling blocks. It is a systemic failure and only a strong leadership will be able to crack the whip. The current government understandably has the right intentions. But will it be able to transform the mindset of the great Indian bureaucracy? Answer is yet awaited. The fact that the Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the run-up to the general elections used general aviation and business aviation to good effect is a point to be remembered. There is enormous untapped potential in the general aviation sector which if optimally used will have a positive cascading effect on the economy. The regulators and the concerned bureaucracy need to be aligned with the host of promising initiatives being introduced by current government, thereby emerging as enablers rather than remaining as disablers.

Facilitating general aviation infrastructure needs to be the top priority. Indian airports have to be a lot more general aviation friendly in terms of parking, landing and other facilities for smaller aircraft. The outgoing BAOA President, Rohit Kapur in an open letter to the Finance Minister, Arun Jaitley, has raised several issues soliciting much needed informed intervention on these issues.

In this issue we have covered the first ever BizAvIndia conference and awards held in Bengaluru on the eve of Aero India 2015. The Joint Secretary of Civil Aviation, G. Asok Kumar acknowledged the failings, but said things were changing.

We welcome feedbacks from you helping us do better in connecting the business aviation community in India.

Happy reading!