Gone month has been quite eventful for India’s civil aviation sector. The Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) released the National Civil Aviation Policy. Same time the Government of India declared increase in FDI up to 100 per cent for aviation sector. As June ended, we also witnessed the release of draft Regional Connectivity Scheme by the Ministry which should prove to be the catalyst for regional connectivity in India as claimed by the Ministry. The industry has been invited to comment on the scheme by July 22.

The very important factor behind the release of the said policy documents is that the government has shown willingness to not only receive the feedbacks and comments from the industry but to implement some of the ideas which can be beneficial for the country’s civil aviation industry and the passengers at large.

It was also interesting to note that the Secretary of Civil Aviation Rajiv Choubey invited inputs from the industry as to how to reduce the cost of leasing of aircraft during one of the seminars supported by the Ministry. He argued that the cost control will bring in the potential of massive growth particularly in regional aviation segment of India which otherwise remains completely untapped.

We have therefore included some articles which attempt to address such developments. My very good friend Byron Bohlman who has, apart from being the industry expert, been heading the marketing of one of the global players in aviation world, written an article on the Cost of Leasing if it can really be affordable. Byron has also presented the case and the need of right aircraft with right capacity for the right demand in his article Competing with Goliaths.

Air Marshal B.K. Pandey, who is also the Editor of SP’s AirBuz (sister journal), has commented holistically on the National Civil Aviation Policy and also the draft Regional Connectivity Scheme. He has been joined by Rohit Kapur (former President of BAOA) suggesting the foundation and the pillars of civil aviation need a careful look else even the greatest of the policies will bring in very little changes. In fact, Air Marshal Pandey has been joined by R.K. Bali (Managing Director of BAOA) as well who has commented on civil aviation policy and the draft Regional Connectivity Scheme, suggested the key steps which will surely help effective implementation.

R. Chandrakanth has written an article on yet another startup from down South of India on regional connectivity. Does this mean that the government’s push for regional connectivity has started bearing fruit? Our readers should read and decide. This issue also includes a recently conducted interview with Kanika Tekriwal by Chandrakanth who pioneered the web-based booking process for the general and business aviation passengers. He also argues that the business aviation in India is still going pretty slow in his another article and drawing the attention of the government for support to this sector which still appears to have been kind of neglected.

Further, the issue touches upon the induction of LCA Tejas which finally gets inducted into the Indian Air Force (IAF) taking a time line of almost 33 years. Irrespective of prolonged delay, the stakeholders of Tejas and indeed our Air Force deserve kudos. IAF specifically announced and inducted three women pilots into combat role. This has been reviewed by Air Marshal Pandey in his piece Breaking the Barriers. Moreover on space front ISRO has done immensely commendable job yet again – a report by Chandrakanth is included as to how ISRO is taking the country onto the global space map.

This issue not only refers to eventful period but also offers much more to our readers. We very much hope they will not only enjoy reading the new issue but might feel rejuvenated in the process.

Happy reading!