Message from President, BAOA

Dear BAOA Members,

The ‘Helicopter & Small Aircraft Acceleration Cell’ (HSAAC) at Ministry of Civil Aviation is actively seeking feedback from industry on how to enable and grow the last mile connectivity through ‘air’ in shortest time span. BAOA remains committed and is actively engaged with this cell giving valuable feedback received from its constituent members. Objective is to lead a constructive approach towards rule making and treating helicopters and small aircraft as important tools to achieve the goals of NCAP 2016 for affordable, seamless regional & remote area connectivity. You will hear more on this in near future!

BAOA is also promoting advocacy for streamlining the IGST on import under private category. This tax has already taken toll on this segment of the industry which has shown steady decline in imports since 2017. We hope to make the right push for this point to go across the policy making machinery of our government. Same with the import duty itself to reduce further to promote growth in the industry. Bringing ATF under GST has been a constant demand of our industry for making it more competitive and allow survival.

IBAC had adopted net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 as a long-term aspirational goal along with encouragement for constituent States to play an active role in implementing policies that incentivise and facilitate the transition to a decarbonised sector, e.g., policies to incentivise research, development, production, deployment, and use of Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF). This would be consistent with Declaration on Net-Zero Emissions by 2050 issued in September 2021 made by IBAC.

Investment in green hydrogen is enjoying unprecedented momentum as more and more governments cite this zero-emission energy carrier as an essential component of their net-zero climate strategies. A vibrant and thriving green hydrogen ecosystem is required to ensure viability and availability for a sustainable future. We will watch this space with keen interest as globally our industry has come under severe criticism in the past on the count of more emissions per passenger kms.

Happy Landings!

Thanks & Regards

Sudhir Nayak
President, BAOA.