The day-long national conference on civil aviation organised by CII witnessed discussions on airports, aircraft, airlines, domestic and international passenger base, aviation cargo, MROs, etc

India is emerging as the world’s aviation hub and in a decade or two, Indian domestic aviation market would become one of the fastest growing markets globally, foresee industry leaders, Boeing and Airbus. To analyse growth in the segments and subsegments of the aviation sector, the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) organised a national conference on “Civil Aviation: The Decade Ahead” in New Delhi on October 31, 2011.

The day-long event witnessed industry leaders discussing and debating on airports infrastructure and handling capacity, aircraft assets and manufacture, increase in number of scheduled airlines, growth in general aviation fleet, expanding domestic and international passenger base, growth in aviation cargo, maintenance repair overhaul (MRO), etc.

Inaugurating the seminar, Civil Aviation Secretary Nasim Zaidi informed that the government was in the process of reviewing the existing foreign direct investment (FDI) policy framework. There is a proposal for allowing foreign airlines to pick up stake in Indian carriers which may also be considered. Zaidi further informed that the Civil Aviation Ministry was also examining a proposal to establish an aviation ombudsman to take care of the interests of customers and their grievances.

“With the number of aircraft rising in the Indian skies, there would be a business and investment opportunity of more than $130 billion ( Rs. 6,50,000 crore) by 2020,” he said, and informed that in order to enhance connectivity especially to Tier–II and III cities, government has constituted a committee to expand existing Route Disbursal Guidelines and would circulate a consultation paper prepared by the committee for inputs from the industry.

A Remote Area Connectivity Fund has also been proposed by the Civil Aviation Ministry in the forthcoming Twelfth Five Year Plan. In order to meet the human resource challenge, where the ministry expects a requirement of around 5,00,000 personnel, Zaidi expected proactive participation from the private sector for skill upgradation.

Kingfisher Airlines Chairman Vijay Mallya said that the aviation industry was on its way to truly emerge as a sunrise sector of the economy. He stressed on the need to bring down the taxes on jet fuel to improve the financial health of aviation companies.

During the session on “Innovation and Technology: CEO’s Perspective”, Arvind Mehra, Executive Director and CEO, Mahindra Aerospace, highlighted three key aspects of innovation—making the product cost competitive globally; public-private collaboration and co-creation; and reselling partnership. Dinesh Keskar, President, Boeing India, said that innovation need not be brand new; it can also be something which is new to India. Giving an overview of the aviation sector, Keskar mentioned about the 787 Dreamliner which is expected to be 20 per cent more fuel efficient.

Not very happy with the growth in the cargo segment as compared to the passenger segment, Tulsi Nowlakha Mirchandaney, Managing Director, Blue Dart Aviation Ltd, highlighted the single window system for cargo. Cost and access are the hindrances and need to be worked upon. Replying to a query by Jayant Baranwal, Editor-in-Chief, SP’s AirBuz, on the time required to manufacture 150-200 seat capacity aircraft, Mehra said, “In less than four years, we in collaboration with the National Aeronautics Limited (NAL) have manufactured the five seat NM-5 aircraft and by 2030, we aim to manufacture an aircraft with 20-seat capacity. The key to large programmes is public-private partnership and our industry is not yet matured for it now, the government is keen though.” “As a private sector, we will have to learn that safety norms come first and there are no short cuts.”