Indian aviation industry strives for focus

The Hindu reports that everybody who is anybody in the aviation industry on the Sub-continent got together last week to “embark on a unified macro strategy for making India a global civil aviation hub”.

The report went on to say that “aircraft manufacturers and senior representatives of airports, helicopter services, engine manufacturers, cargo industry, avionics and (even!) caterers… held a meeting with the objective of enhancing a safe and orderly growth of the aviation sector and addressing the key concerns of the industry”. (There was no mention of airlines, but we assume they might have been somewhere thereabouts.)

Apparently the meeting canvassed a wide range of issues ranging from taxation to infrastructure and import duties.

One immediate outcome of the meeting was the organization of a delegation of industry leaders and government officials for high-level participation at the Farnborough Airshow.

The buoyancy that the industry in India is feeling has been driven by monthly growth of around 20 per cent in the civil sector in the first half of 2010.

But the reality is that the issues confronting aviation in India are extensive and far from superficial.

Finding solutions will take much more than a passionate confabulation extending the length of a single day.

For example, The Times of India has reported that only eight of the 50-plus major airports in India are currently operating with a DGCA licence, which means that they may not conform to either local or ICAO standards.

The list of unlicensed airports includes Mumbai and Chennai.

The Airports Authority of India chairman said that most of the unlicensed airports had applied for a licence but processing had been delayed by "staff shortages".

He added that "...if rules were to be followed in letter and spirit, aviation would come to a standstill...".

There's an attitude that will encourage confidence in the country's aviation safety regime - and in its ability to forge a path forward.