INDEPENDENCE DAY SPECIAL NATION BUILDING

The civil aviation sector consists of several segments; however, the sector’s health is primarily identified with the growth of scheduled airline and public airport activity. The civil aviation industry in India has emerged as one of the fastest growing industries in the country and is expected to continue well into the future. The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has stated that the total annual passengers in India will increase to 367 million by 2034, this means not only a surge in aviation services but also an increase in demand for maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) services, airport and customer support services, skilled manpower including pilots, cabin crew and maintenance engineers.

Indian combat aviation was born on October 8, 1932, when the Indian Air Force came into existence. Today with sustained efforts over the last 75 years the major components of military aviation are the IAF along with the aviation wings of the Army and the Navy, the Indian Aerospace Industry and the Research & Development establishments engaged in aerospace research, including the design and development of aviation related hardware and software.

Aviation Industry in India traces back to Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) which was established as Hindustan Aircraft in Bangalore in 1940 by Seth Walchand Hirachand to produce military aircraft for the Royal Indian Air Force. In 1943 the Bangalore factory was handed over to the United States Army Air Forces and became the 84th Air Depot for major overhaul & repair of American aircraft. After India gained independence in 1947, the management of the company was passed over to the Government of India.

HAL was formed on October 1, 1964 when it joined the consortium formed by the IAF Aircraft Manufacturing Depot, Kanpur (at the time manufacturing HS748 under licence). HAL over the last six decades has established 11 dedicated Research and development (R&D) centres and 21 manufacturing divisions under 4 production units spread across India. It is now designing and manufacturing fighter jets, helicopters, jet engine & marine gas turbine engine, avionics, software development, spares supply, overhauling and upgrading of Indian military aircraft. It is one of the largest aerospace companies in Asia and has annual turnover of over `26,500 crore.

Economic Activity

Discussing the Indian Aviation Industry, it has become the essential link for national and International travel and trade, which was once the elitist activity. It is important for the economic development of the Nation because of the ability to augment business activity. Globalisation is the key in the development of tourism, which has permeated in all areas like promotion of products, job enhancement, health sector and tourism. Thanks to globalisation we are now witnessing a huge connectivity of India in the International markets.

The linkage between civil aviation sector and economic activity with its catalytic impact on general development is well recognised. The ICAO estimated that $100 spent on air transport produce benefits worth $325 for the economy and 100 additional jobs in air transport result in 610 new economy wide jobs. The ICAO study attributes over 4.5 per cent of global GDP to the air transport component of civil aviation. An efficient aviation sector is therefore essential to support tourism, an industry with immense employment opportunity. With middle-class people taking to the skies against the backdrop of economical air fares, the Indian aviation market has grown at an average rate of 16 per cent over the last decade. India is expected to overtake China and the United States as the world’s third-largest air passenger market by 2030. Further, the rising demand in the sector has pushed the number of airplanes operating and are expected to reach 1,100 by 2027. There have been occasional dips due to economic recessions, epidemics, natural disasters and political upheavals which reflect the extreme sensitivity of the sector to external global factors.

The government has allowed 100 per cent FDI under the automatic route in scheduled air transport service, regional air transport service, and domestic scheduled passenger airlines. AAI and other airport developers have targeted a capital outlay of approximately `98,000 crores in the airport sector in the next five years. The number of PPP airports is likely to increase from five in 2014 to 24 in 2024. India aims to have 220 new airports by 2025. Cargo flights for perishable food items will also be increased to 30 per cent with 133 new flights in the coming years. The rising middle-income households, healthy competition amongst Low-Cost Carriers, infrastructure build-up at leading airports and supportive policy framework has given a positive push over the years to the aviation sector. The rise in demand for air travel in India has necessitated the development of a robust ecosystem and supportive government policies.

Policy Reforms

Through the National Civil Aviation Policy 2016 (NCAP) the government plans to take flying to the masses by enhancing affordability and connectivity. It promotes ease of doing business, deregulation, simplified procedures, and e-governance. The Regional Connectivity Scheme or UDAN (‘Ude Desh ka Aam Nagrik’) is a vital part of NCAP 2016. The scheme plans to enhance connectivity to India’s unserved and under-served airports and envisions to make air travel affordable and widespread. The Government has set a target to operationalise 1,000 UDAN routes and to revive/develop 100 unserved & underserved airports/heliports/water aerodromes, including 68 aerodromes by 2024.

MoCA has released Krishi UDAN 2.0 which lays out the vision of improving value realisation through better integration and optimisation of Agri-harvesting, air transportation, contributing to the value chain sustainability and resilience under diverse conditions. After a 6-month successful trial of Krishi Udan 2.0 five new airports namely Belagavi, Jharsuguda, Jabalpur, Darbhanga and Bhopal were added to the existing 53 airports.

The National Air Sport Policy was launched in June 2022. It lays out the vision of making India as one of the top sports nations by 2030, by providing a safe, affordable, accessible, enjoyable, and sustainable air sports ecosystem in India, that include air-racing, aerobatics, aero modelling, hang gliding, paragliding, para motoring and skydiving etc.