Civil Aviation Minister Shri Vayalar Ravi inaugurated the Centenary Celebrations of Civil Aviation in India. Excerpts of his speech as below.
“It is a great occasion for India that we are today celebrating the completion of 100 years of commercial civil aviation in this country. A hundred years ago, on this very day a plane flew from Allahabad to Naini, carrying 6500 mails. This marked not only the birth of commercial civil aviation in India but also the first airmail service in the world.
We have gathered here today to celebrate the achievements of civil aviation during the last hundred years and I welcome you all on this occasion. Flying has been an eternal dream for humanity. It has been symbolic of the spirit of freedom – the desire to reach the skies.
India took to wings only 7 years after the historic flight of the Wright brothers. It is believed that the first planes came to India and perhaps to Asia in 1910 though the first commercial civil aviation flight took off only on the 18thFebruary 1911.
Since then India and Indians have never looked back. Through the eventful decades, Indian civil aviation has flown from strength to strength and is today one of the fastest growing aviation market in the world.
Contributing to this growth has been the undaunting spirit of our entrepreneurs, pilots, engineers, crew-members and scientists. It is not only a proud but a grateful nation which remembers those remarkable Indians who have steered the sector through thick and thin to reach its present heights.
Today, we are remembering Late Rajiv Gandhi ji who rose to become the Prime Minister of India from being a pilot and who laid the foundation of some outstanding aviation related institutions like Indira Gandhi Rashtriya UdaanAcademy and Pawan Hans Helicopters Limited. I would also like to acknowledge Late JRD Tata who is generally considered to be the father of Indian Civil Aviation.
Civil aviation is a major driver of the economy. The International Civil Aviation Organisation estimates that every 100 dollars spent on air transport produce benefits worth 325 dollars for the economy. Hundred additional jobs in air transport result in 610 new jobs in the economy.
The last hundred years have seen Indian civil aviation expand exponentially. From the days of the first flight when aircrafts landed on plain grounds without any navigational aids, we have traveled a long distance to modern and world-class airports of Hyderabad, Cochin, Bangalore and of course T-3.
Today the handling capacity of our airports has reached to 235 million people, which is sufficient to fulfill our needs for the next few years. I would like to point out that airports are being improved not only in the major Metros but also 35 non-Metros, in a phased manner.
It is a matter of satisfaction for us that during the last two decades from a fleet of only about 100, the scheduled operators today have 435 aircrafts connecting the nation and the world. This growth is going to be further accelerated in the years to come and we expect that in another decade or so India would have about 1000 more planes and 500 more helicopters.
The acquisition of these modern aircrafts and the investment in airports is expected to generate business opportunities worth about 150 billion dollars that will revolutionize the sector. Civil Aviation is clearly the sunrise sector of the Indian economy that is likely to change the way Indians move, think and live.
The last hundred years have posed innumerable challenges in the civil aviation sector which we successfully overcame. The new century that lies ahead of us, is also bound to throw up new challenges. It is necessary for us, as a nation, to foresee those challenges and to prepare ourselves to meet them effectively.
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