Business aviation industry in India can play a major role in improving regional air connectivity, which is integral to boost tourism in the far-flung areas, if the current policy level bottlenecks are removed. Gp. Capt. (Retd.) RK Bali, Secretary, Business Aircraft Operators Association (BAOA) in an interaction with P Krishna Kumar speaks about the current status of the industry and its future prospects
Q. How is general aviation industry fairing in India? What is the present size of the industry and the growth?
A. General aviation sector in India had witnessed growth that started in 2002-2003 and peaked in 2006, when the growth rate was 26 per cent. But, gradually, over the years, we have witnessed a slow down. It is visible from the fact that there was a sudden slump after unreasonable taxes on the purchase of aircraft were imposed in 2007. As a matter of fact, we were ahead of China in terms of the number of business aircraft until 2006 but lost out drastically in the following years.
Full interview here Travel Biz Monitor
