Centre likely to open up air cargo space

BANGALORE: The government is considering allowing overseas investment in the “non-scheduled” operations of the aviation sector such as cargo handling and helicopter and seaplane operations.

“The government is looking at opening non-scheduled operations. We feel there is a scope for huge growth in this area as witnessed in the passenger segment,” civil aviation minister Praful Patel said on Thursday.

Experts feel this move will also give a major boost to the manufacturing sector. “India has an open-sky policy as far as logistics sector is concerned but where it lacks in is investment in cargo infrastructure like high throughput distribution facilities at the airport,” said Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation (CAPA) CEO (Indian subcontinent) Kapil Kaul.

CAPA forecasts that once the world-class cargo infrastructure is put in place, the logistics sector is expected to grow at 15-20% till 2020.

Besides the cargo infrastructure, foreign investment into non-schedule operations would also propel growth in the general aviation sector such as chartered airline service, which is growing at a very fast pace.

Over the past 18 months, the directorate general of civil aviation has given around 40 charter permits. However, industry experts say except for state-owned Pavan Hans Helicopter Ltd, Global Vectra Helicorp and a few others, most players are small players with not more than two aircraft.

There are close to 150 helicopters and aircraft in this space. Of these quite a few are owned by corporate houses like DFL, Reliance and others.

Yashraj Tongia, who runs a 13-helicopter-and-aircraft charter service, says more than investment, the non-schedule aviation sector needs development of maintenance infrastructure and pilot training. “We have been growing at around 300% year-on-year over the last three years because of the tremendous growth in our corporate clientele, which has shot up from 40% to 75% of our business but we are severely constrained by lack of proper maintenance infrastructure and shortage of manpower,” Tongia said.

Deccan Aviation Ltd’s charter division, which had a turnover of Rs 60 crore, is growing at 25%. Major helicopter makers like Bell, Eurocopter and Augusta have already set up base in India.