75 years of Independence: How India's aviation industry made a mark for itself? Explained

On the occasion of Independence Day 2022, we have a look at the major achievements of the Indian Aviation industry in the last 75 years, including airports, airlines and safety.

Mumbai International Airport

India is one of the fastest growing aviation markets in the world and the largest in South Asia with almost 70 percent domestic traffic. Despite pandemic, India’s domestic flights and international flights have surpassed some of the busiest countries in the world. While more than 15 airlines exited India in the last couple of decades facing hardships, airlines like Rakesh Jhunjhunwala-owned Akasa Air brings a new ray of hope for our domestic market. But not just airlines, India’s aviation infrastructure has grown multifold over the last decade and with world class security, India hasn’t had a major incident in many years. On the occasion of Independence Day 2022, we have a look at the major achievements of Indian Aviation industry in the last 75 years: 

The Airports Authority of India (AAI) is the nodal body responsible for creating, upgrading, maintaining and managing civil aviation infrastructure in the country. Under the PPP agreement, AAI has partnered with various private players to manage and develop major airports in the country. India has close to 150 airports in the country and most of the major airports are operating above their functional capacity.

While we will a surge of modern airports in the coming years, including the ones in Noida, Navi Mumbai, Goa among others, the current lot of airports are among the best in the region. Airports in Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru and Hyderabad are often awarded as the best in the region and also in the world. Among these, Delhi Airport is the largest and busiest airport in the country. While the world’s largest airports suffer from congestion, Indian airports are credited with managing crowds effortlessly.

Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS-UDAN)

PM Narendra Modi led NDA government announced the ambitious Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS-UDAN) to connect Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities of India. Under the same, many small towns with no air connectivity are now connected to major cities of India. This scheme was introduced in 2016 and airline operators are incentivised to operate on under-served routes by providing them with viability gap funding and airport fee waivers. AAI has sanctioned 948 routes to boost regional connectivity and almost half of the proposed routes are operational till 2022. 

More than one crore passengers have flown in the last five years while benefitting from the Ministry of Civil Aviation's flagship programme Regional Connectivity Scheme UDAN (Ude Desh ka Aam Nagrik). There were 74 operational airports in 2014 and after the UDAN scheme, this number has increased to 141 by now. 68 underserved/unserved destinations which include 58 Airports, 8 Heliports and 2 Water Aerodromes have been connected under UDAN scheme, the Ministry of Civil Aviation said. Under UDAN, 954 routes have already been awarded to connect 156 airports.

One of the major achievements for the India Aviation Industry is the number of women airline pilots in the country, both in civil as well as defence flight operations. India has the highest number of women airline pilots as compared any part of the world. 15 per cent of total pilot strength in the country are women. This means, India has the highest ratio of female commercial and air force pilots as compared to any other country in the world, including the most progressive aviation markets including the United States and Europe.

As per the data compiled by the International Society of Women Airline Pilots 2020, India has the highest ratio of female pilots in the world leading the list with 12.4 percent female commercial pilots as opposed to other nations. Next in line is Ireland with distant 9.9 percent female pilots.

If you see the Indian aviation market, it is going through a major shift in the recent years, more specifically in 2022. Despite many airlines closing their operations in the last couple of decades due to financial trouble, the current airlines are more or less operating with not much trouble. While Tata Group became the rightful owners of Air India once again, Jet Airways announced to restart its operations once again under new ownership. 

On the other hand, Rakesh Jhunjhunwala, right before his death, gave India a brand new airlines almost after a decade of no airline launch. Akasa Air promises to deliver world class services in budget on domestic routes, including Mumbai, Ahmedabad and Kochi. Then you have another Tata Group owned airline Vistara, that changed the definition of premium travel in the country. Airlines like IndiGo, SpiceJet, GoAir remain a formidable force in the country.

One of the quiet travel revolutions in the last year or so, has been the full adoption of mobile boarding passes in India. Completely paperless, no more stamping for any purpose, no need to stop at counters or kiosks, fully in line with global standards. Kudos to all involved!

— Sanjiv Kapoor (@TheSanjivKapoor) August 14, 2022

While airlines and airports are growing at a rapid pace in India, so is the technology, that has taken over the Indian airports and helps travellers have a seamless experience. As per Sanjiv Kapoor, CEO of Jet Airways, "One of the quiet travel revolutions in the last year or so, has been the full adoption of mobile boarding passes in India. Completely paperless, no more stamping for any purpose, no need to stop at counters or kiosks, fully in line with global standards. Kudos to all involved!"

It's not easy to cater to a large population like India and only technology can be the solution to the rising number of air travellers. With DGCA, Aviation Ministry and AAI implementing futuristic majors, travelling through airports in India has become an easy affair. Recently, Jay Kotak, son of billionaire banker Uday Kotak mentioned how travelling to Boston Airport in the US made him realize how better is the Mumbai international airport.