A Word from Editor

World over, the civil aviation industry is grappling with severe difficulties and the situation in India is no different. The price of aviation turbine fuel (ATF) has doubled in the last one year and appears to be on an unrelenting upward trajectory. If this not bad enough, rates of duties and taxes imposed on ATF by both the central and state governments in India are highest in the world, making this product more expensive here than elsewhere. Expenditure on ATF alone now constitutes 40 to 45 per cent of the operating cost of airlines. In this context, fuel efficiency of commercial aircraft has now become simply a matter of survival for the airlines. In the cover story, Joseph Noronha offers an in-depth analysis of the issue of fuel efficiency and suggests a slew of elementary and not-so-obvious measures that airlines could adopt to save every drop of fuel possible.

Air Marshal (Retd) G.S. Chaudhry, former Air Officer Commanding in Chief, Training Command of the Indian Air Force, provides an overview of the state of infrastructure available in the country for basic civil aviation training. While basic training for civil aviation has traditionally been the responsibility of the government, it is time that the private sector steps forward and gets involved more effectively. As per the author, the airlines themselves need to take on this responsibility as they are better placed to do so, especially in terms of the availability of human resources and expertise. A few airlines have ad-hoc cadet training programmes but do not run flying training establishments themselves. State governments too have a role and barring some, there is very little effort from the majority. Writing from Texas, USA, Dr Ram Pattisapu holds the view that there is more to civil aviation than just being an airline pilot.

While Raju Srinivasan examines the hazards to civil aviation from birds large and small as also financial loss suffered due to bird strike, Group Captain A.K. Sachdev gives an update on the Very Light Jets, perhaps the most exciting development in the recent past in the regime of low cost business aviation. Joseph Noronha goes on to examine the intimate relationship between civil aviation and the hospitality industry.

Another area of major concern for civil aviation is the inadequacy of airport infrastructure. This issue was debated at length in a FICCI-sponsored seminar at Delhi. A report on the issues discussed is included in this issue. Incidentally, the inaugural issue of this magazine was formally released by Ashok Chawla, Secretary Ministry of Civil Aviation on this occasion.

Regular feature FactFile looks at the Kingfisher-Deccan combine that now appears poised to dominate the industry and pose a formidable challenge to any other Indian carrier both on the domestic and international route.

Happy landings!