India Aviation 2010 helped place in perspective the status of the Indian aviation industry, the opportunities on offer and the tremendous potential for growth

The civil airport at Begumpet, Hyderabad was the venue of Indian Aviation 2010, the second edition of the civil aviation extravaganza. Hosted from March 3 to 7, 2010, the India Aviation Air Show that can more appropriately be described as a ‘Trade Show’ was organised by the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) and the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) in the ominous shadow of an uncertain security situation in Hyderabad. In spite of the fact that the state of Andhra Pradesh, and particularly the capital city of Hyderabad, has been torn apart by civil strife and violence in recent months on account of the ongoing agitation for the formation of the separate state of Telangana, India Aviation 2010 passed off peacefully.

India Aviation 2008

In the wake of the unprecedented boom in the civil aviation industry in India from 2004 to 2007, arose the need for an international event to project the attributes, strengths, growth potential and the opportunities that the Indian civil aviation industry had to offer. As Aero India, the biennial international air show at Yelahanka, Bangalore, was dominated by military aviation, the MoCA rightly decided to de-link and organise a parallel exercise at a location other than the one used for Aero India. Hyderabad was indeed the obvious and the right choice. Thus the first edition of India Aviation was held at Begumpet in October 2008. Unfortunately, it was at a time when on account of skyrocketing oil prices and the global economic meltdown, the Indian civil aviation industry, in tandem with the global aviation industry, was in the depths of despair.

India Aviation 2010

However, the scenario in 2010 is quite different. While the leading economies of the world continue their struggle against recession, sizeable presence at the air show of the US, the f’ocus country’ and France, the ‘partner country’ to the air show reflected the fact that the Indian civil aviation industry had arrived on the world stage. With signs that the Indian economy had successfully negotiated the global economic turmoil and was now poised for a healthy rate of growth, the target for which has been pegged at nine per cent by Dr. Manmohan Singh, the Prime Minister of India and a renowned economist. It was only logical for Praful Patel, the Union Minister for Civil Aviation, to state in his inaugural address that for the civil aviation industry in India, the worst was over. He further stated that the industry was on the road to recovery albeit at a pace somewhat slower than what was forecast earlier, as it carries an enormous burden of cumulative losses. He was confident that with improving load factors and yields witnessed over the last few months, the airlines would become sustainable and would be in a position to enhance capacity with due caution in conformity with ground realities. On the subject of infrastructure, the minister stated that upgrade programmes of the four metro airports, the 35 non-metro airports as well as of a few other selected airports were on track. He went on to add that the bidding process for a greenfield international airport at Mumbai was expected to be completed within a year. The aviation sector required staggering levels of investment and while the Airport Authority of India was the major player steering infrastructure growth, there was imperative need for an participation by the private sector. While highlighting the enormous growth potential and opportunities in the sector, he sounded a note of caution about the volatility in the price of aviation fuel that could prove to be a major impediment to the growth of the industry.

Reinforcing the optimistic mood, Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh Dr. K. Rosaiah, who was the chief guest at the inauguration ceremony, defined the priority accorded by his government to the development of civil aviation infrastructure and the various incentives available to the private sector for participation in the new airport development projects in the state. He catalogued the achievements of Andhra Pradesh in respect of aviation-related infrastructure development by way of the Greenfield Rajiv Gandhi International Airport at Shamshabad built under the public-private partnership (PPP) arrangement with the GMR group as the major investor. He took obvious pride in the fact that the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport at Shamshabad has been ranked as the best airport in the world in the 5-15 million passenger segment. This is no mean achievement as this is the second airport in the country under the PPP model. Apart from the airport, the state government has also approved a Special Economic Zone (SEZ) dedicated to the aerospace industry in which the first major venture is a helicopter manufacturing facility that is being established through a joint venture between Tata Advanced Systems and Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation of the US. In addition to this, the GMR Group has set up an Aerospace Park in the SEZ for aerospace related facilities thereby generating employment potential for technically qualified youth. Dr Rosaiah also spoke of the establishment of Lepakshi Aerospace and Defence Cluster, a private aerospace venture consisting of a variety of aerospace related activities.

With the background of compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 18 per cent in civil aviation in 2009, the global slowdown notwithstanding, Madhavan Nambiar, Secretary, Ministry of Civil Aviation, highlighted the efforts of the government to make India a regional hub as also to provide the necessary impetus to the growth of the air cargo sector. He stressed on the need to adopt the Cargo Village concept at select international gateways that would enable India to compete with major international airport hubs like Dubai, Singapore and Bangkok.

Timothy Roemer, US Ambassador to India, who was heading a delegation from the aerospace industry, traced the history of the growth of Indo-US cooperation in civil aviation, which included the various bilateral agreements and the assistance programmes in different disciplines to enhance efficiency and air safety particularly in the civil helicopter segment. As per the Ambassador, participation by 35 US aerospace companies reflected the perception of capability of and opportunities in the Indian aerospace industry. France was represented by Ambassador Jerome Bonnafont who recounted the long history of strategic partnership and collaboration between the two nations civil aviation. There were 13 small and medium French enterprises participating in the show. Addressing the gathering as the President, FICCI, Rajan Bharti Mittal, pitched the need of the country in a few years at around 2,500 airliners up from the current level of under 400.