The charter plane industry
may be going through a purple patch due to extensive use of private jets and
choppers by campaign-hopping politicians but the operators say their
"booming business" has been affected to some extent by a crunch of
parking slots at major airports like Mumbai and Delhi. A number of leading
charter operators said though they are having a "good time" because
of elections, the problem of "shrinking" parking space has come out
as a major area of "concern". According to industry figures, around
520 aircraft and choppers are currently in operation under non-schedule airline
across the country and the total volume of business in the election season is
likely to be between Rs 350-400 crore. The difficulty is more acute in places
like Delhi and Mumbai airports as the operators of these have not increased the
parking space for non-scheduled airlines for the past few years. R K Bali,
Secretary of Business Aircraft Operator's Association (BAOA), an umbrella body
of non-scheduled operators (NSOPs), said that a lack of policy framework on
part of the government was impeding the growth of the sector and alleged that
the problem of parking at Delhi airport was "artificially created".
"Currently the non-scheduled operators can park only 28-30 aircraft in
Delhi airport which needs to be increased at least to 50 immediately
considering the volume of business," he said. Critical of Delhi
International Airport Ltd (DIAL), which runs the airport, Bali said it had five
years back proposed to increase the parking space for private jets and choppers
to 100, but nothing had been done so far. He said the parking space for private
jets and choppers has been planned to be cut to 16 from 24 in terminal 2 of
Chhatrapati Shivaji International airport at Mumbai. According to DGCA figures,
130 non-scheduled airlines are operating in India out of which 40 are big
operators having four to five private jets which ferry people abroad also.
Bali said there must be "balanced
infrastructure development" to encourage charter plane operators as the
sector has huge potential to grow further. He said BAOA is going to hold a
meeting with the Delhi airport authorities within a month on the issue of
parking. A leading non-schedule operator said lack of adequate infrastructure
like helipads and runways in small cities was affecting the growth of the
charter business, besides hurdles of parking space in major airports. "We
need a long-term plan of action to encourage the charter industry so that it
can expand its wings and contribute significantly to the economy," he
said. Seeking reform in the sector, Bali said the government in 2007 had
imposed a duty on import of aircraft which had a negative impact on the
business. "This is a capital investment. You are not manufacturing the
aircraft in India. Why are you putting custom duty on it? More aircraft coming
to India will generate more employment in India. First create ability to
manufacture aircraft and then gradually put the duties," said Bali.
Another operator, who did not wish to be named, said the US and almost all
Western countries have separate infrastructure and rules for the charter plane
sector and India should take inspiration from those models. On the growing
incidents of flouting of safety norms by pilots of private jets and choppers,
the operator blamed it on politicians. "A pilot would always like to
strictly follow the safety norms as at the end of the day he would be very
careful about his own life. The pilots are not at fault. It is the politicians
who pressurise them. That's the main problem," he said. The BAOA had
earlier this month objected to DGCA's surprise checks on pilots saying its
public observations "misrepresent the proven safety consciousness
prevailing among NSOPs and private aircraft operators. During the past month,
DGCA has been conducting surprise checks on non-schedule operators. 
No comments:
Post a Comment