Civil Aviation

26 July, 2021, Dubai: Following the much-awaited resumption of its Dubai route in May, Cathay Pacific customers can now experience and travel the popular – Premium Economy cabin on-board the Airbus A350-900. Starting 06 August, 2021, passengers can experience luxury on one of Cathay Pacific’s most modern long-haul fleets. The technologically advanced Airbus A350-900 provides travellers with an unsurpassed cabin environment on its Dubai – Hong Kong route. The aircraft is configured in a three-class layout with 280 seats, comprising of 38 Business Class, 28 Premium Economy and 214 Economy seats. Each state-of-the-art cabin class on the A350-900 provides a whole new experience for passengers, with its extra-wide cabins including new seats, innovative inflight entertainment interface, inflight connectivity, and, where passengers can bask in a new level of comfort and convenience when travelling. “We are thrilled to not only announce the operation of the Airbus A350-900 to the UAE, which will allow us to cater to the wider cargo and passenger demand, but also the introduction of a brand new cabin class on this route,” Vishnu Rajendran, Area Manager, Middle East, said. “Given the current situation, we would like to give our customers a choice to travel in a more spacious cabin, while also providing a premium product with features such as an immersive inflight entertainment system, LED mood lighting, 50 per cent quieter cabins, as well as Wi-Fi connectivity, enabling our guests to have a luxurious and worry-free travel experience.”

New Delhi, 07th July 2021 In a major reshuffle of the union cabinet , Jyotiraditya Scindia has been appointed as new Civil Aviation Minister of India. The previous minister Hardeep Puri will now head Urban Development and Petroleum Ministry. As part of the cabinet reshuffle, Narendra Modi govt removed many heavyweight ministers and handedover top profiles to many new age politicians.Jyotiraditya Scindia joined the government on Wednesday in a reboot of the Union cabinet in which 36 new ministers including these two joined the government and seven got promoted. “I express my gratitude to all the senior leaders for giving me this opportunity. I will try to keep intact the belief that they have shown in me,” Scindia said after taking the ministerial oath. The Civil Aviation Ministry’s last monthly report published in May this year showed that passengers carried by domestic airlines from January to April this year were 291 lakh compared to 329 lakh during the same period last year – a fall by 11.65 per cent. At a time when aviation sector globally is going towards headwinds, it will be really challenging for the new minister to priorities his action towards development of the sector.

By Mark D Martin MRAeS General George S Patton once said, “Success is how high you bounce when you hit bottom”, and this at best sums up Go Air’s Journey so far. In the 15 year span of GoAir’s presence, the airline has borne witness to Kingfisher, Jet, Air Costa and Paramount Airways start and cease; and at the same time scrutinize nearly four attempts of SpiceJet’s near collapse and resurrection – and why Go Air lives on is of that it’s strategy has been centered on fleet sizing that’s not aggressive, a revenue model that proxies with Group Companies, a long term ROI window, losses and expenses that can still be managed by promotors and a fundamentally flat, ‘fish-bowl’ organization. GoAir’s product offering also has played a role with improving the airline’s survivability; it’s practically ‘see-through’, No-Nonsense, Plain Vanilla “What-You-See-Is-What-You-Get”/WYSIWYG Service Invention has paid off with creating a USP benefiting its corporate bulk booking customers and, diametrically opposing Holiday Maker segment. In hindsight, GoAir’s network reminds one of how Indian Airlines operated back in the day. Offer flight times and connections that are driven by what the traveler wants, and not by competition – as back when Indian Airlines was around, there no competition. I do believe the Wadia family too has had a role to play with the product and network offering, and in particular insightful inputs from Ms. Maureen Wadia, which stems from her experiences of working with airlines. Back in the 60’s and the 70’s, Maureen was Flight Stewardess with air India so clearly there resides understanding of the basics with what Indian travelers need. And that explains the unique timings of their flights. Go Air flies when others do not. For instance, the 10:45 PM departure for Delhi from Mumbai allows one to finish work, have dinner, a few drinks and fly home in ‘high-spirits’(very thoughtfully Parsi!), whilst the 11AM morning departure from Mumbai to Delhi allows on to wake up not too early, breakfast at leisure to catch a pleasantly timed ride back to to join office at half day making for a very comfortable overall, travel experience. And that goes too for how terrific the Sunday 12noon Mumbai Delhi Flight is. After running two airlines in my career, restructured one and having lived through the 2008 Financial crisis, for an airline the size of GoAir subsisting through the COVID 19 imbroglio is both a ‘walk in the Park’ and a ‘tight rope act’. And I’ll tell you why. In 2008, accrued debt as part of the lending wave that began from 2004 up until 2007 had gotten so bad that airlines were stuck with overcapacity and arid cash reserves whilst flying empty seats at a time when the price of oil spiked to nearly $160. The only logical steps left then was to aggressively downsize, amortize lending or close. The Situation Now 2021 and COVID presents a diametrically opposing situation. Cash accrued as part of profits made from previous years and working capital budgeted from FY2019-2020 apportioned for FY2020-2021 matches up to Zero income/earnings with P&L being frozen on account of the widespread flight restriction and ban on operating airline revenue services. Unlike 2008, 2020’s predicament presents the shocking reality of fixed and variable operating expenses staring Airline CEO’s and promotors with the only option left being an aggressive cost cut. Not the smartest thing to do. GoAir pulling through the COVID19 crunch centers on its ability to Optimize its operations and Network, Fixed and variable fleet lease expenses and focus on trimming the expense ‘flab’ that has crept into its operating structure over the years. A good starting point to this should commence with a Comprehensive Carbon Footprint and Fuel Burn Optimization Plan, Maintenance operations Cost Review, Micro and Macro Crew Operations and Safety Exceedance Cost Impact, Dissecting its entire Airport and Ground Operations costs and right align its Network Operations cost to effectively Augment its Revenue and earnings. Kaushik Khona at GoAir is possibly the most agile and aggressive step the Wadia’s could have done in the direction of Cost Optimization more so since Kaushik unlike anyone else before knows the Management and functioning DNA of the Wadia group extremely well. Kaushik’s approach with GoAir centers on his powerful understanding of Airline Financials, P&L and Revenue and Returns and this has worked exceptionally well for GoAir in the past. Kaushik during his previous tenure at Go Air ran a very tight ship with firm process and operation controls and this has paid off. GoAir’s challenge has been finding the right leader that can understand airline balance sheets and ensure revenues are optimized to ensure operations continuity, which sadly didn’t happen before except for showmanship being attached to the brand as big-spenders that eventually proved to be “all bang-no-buck” for the Wadia’s. As promotors, the Wadia’s are awfully sentimental, emotional and over possessive with all its ventures, and their somewhat harsh and irrational aggression with internal matters in particular at Go Air stems from this approach, that they believe pays back with their experiences from their textile, Fashion Apparel, Retail and FMCG Businesses. In all this, the Wadia’s could not have found a better manager than Kaushik as he understands both the Wadia’s temperament, sentiments, and emotions extremely well. The GoAir of 2021 with Khona unlike before with flashy, swish, glitterati CEO’s that didn’t do much of a value add except splash and splurge promotor money on marketing with little or no fundamental knowledge of airline financials or technical acquaintance of running a successful one – gets replaced with a “hard-wired” operational and financial control that’s directly linked to efficiency. GoAir prior to COVID 19 had its focus set on International Operations, therefore any plans for network expansion should have become infructuous, with what being left to do now would be to align and structure costs and P&L, which Kaushik is a “Jedi Master” at doing. Although I’m not too optimistic with the success of Go Air’s IPO given the current

Dubai, UAE, 17 June, 2021: Emirates is ramping up its operations and expanding services across its network to meet strong leisure travel demand over the summer, as entry restrictions ease for travellers. The airline has been gradually and safely rebuilding its route network and advancing its strategy to optimise its presence in key markets to serve leisure and growing business travel demand, as well as segments of travellers visiting friends and relatives. Today, Emirates serves 115 global passenger destinations, and by the end of July, it will have recovered close to 90% of its pre-pandemic network, operating 880 weekly services across 124 cities. The airline will resume services to seven cities in July including: Venice on 1 July; Phuket, Nice, Orlando and Mexico City on 2 July; Lyon on 9 July and Malta on 14 July. Emirates will also launch flights to Florida’s second largest city and one of the world’s most popular holiday spots, Miami, starting 22 July. His Highness Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, Emirates Chairman and Chief Executive said: “Emirates is committed to keeping Dubai, businesses and communities around the world connected and we are working hard to rebuild our network and secure access to more destinations in partnership with various authorities and stakeholders. We are encouraged by the latest developments as many countries have begun to turn the page and reopen for international visitors, and we are seeing strong signs of pent-up demand wherever restrictions have eased. Emirates is nimbly matching up flight services and identifying opportunities to grow our footprint, and provide customers more opportunities to safely get where they want to go this summer, offering best-in-class service, greater convenience and more choice.” More flights to top destinations Across its network, the airline will boost capacity and expand its schedules by layering on frequencies for the summer, connecting more customers with popular destinations and adding more choice and convenience as they plan their long-awaited holidays. Emirates will be adding frequencies to 12 cities across Europe, Africa and North America as more destinations re-open for international visitors, and offer quarantine free travel. Emirates destinations with enhanced schedules for July and August include: German cities Munich, Dusseldorf and Hamburg; Zurich; Vienna; Prague; Madrid; Stockholm; Brussels; Lisbon; Chicago and Tunis. In Europe, the airline currently flies to more than 30 cities in 20 countries including popular holiday destinations Greece, Spain, Italy, France and Malta, which offer quarantine free arrivals. In the United States, with rapid vaccine rollouts and the reopening of air travel at a rate outpacing the world, Emirates will continue to build its presence. With the addition of Miami to its network in July, Emirates will operate over 70 weekly flights to the US, offering over 26,000 seats across 12 gateways including Boston, Chicago, New York (JFK and Newark), Houston, Dallas, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, Washington DC and Orlando. The airline is also ramping up its trans-Atlantic operations Milan-New York and Athens-Newark to meet large passenger volumes and high demand across its premium cabins. An expanded A380 summer network Emirates will also boost its A380 network this summer to 15 cities on 129 weekly services. During the summer, the airline plans to activate over 30 of its A380s to augment its 151 strong fleet of Boeing 777s. The Emirates A380 experience continues to be sought after by customers, with many going out of their way to book their travel on an Emirates A380 for its signature products, spaciousness, quietness and unmatched levels of comfort. Emirates will be deploying the A380 to the following cities during the summer period: Cairo, Jeddah, Amman, Guangzhou, London Heathrow, Manchester, Frankfurt, Vienna, Paris, Munich, Moscow, New York JFK, Los Angeles, Washington D.C. and Toronto. Stepping up of deployment of the A380 demonstrates the importance of the aircraft to Emirates’ recovery and growth strategy. The A380 ensures the efficient use of capacity on high demand routes, and enables Emirates to deliver its sought-after A380 experience to more customers, helping the airline to maintain its leadership position in key cities across its network.

Mumbai, June 14, 2021: GO FIRST (formerly known as GoAir) has partnered with DreamFolks, the tech-driven global airport service provider, to offer Departure Lounge service across select airports in India.Lounge services are available across 30 domestic terminals and 12 international terminals. The amenities available in Departure Lounge services include food & beverages, entertainment, free Wi-Fi, business centre facilities etc. Customers can book lounge access during flight booking or post-booking through GO FIRST’s website (www.flygofirst.com) and mobile app. Kaushik Khona, CEO, GO FIRST, said, “Customer delight has always been of paramount importance to us. With the introduction of Departure Lounge, we intend to create a service that provides optimum comfort while facilitating productivity for business travellers. We are confident that our well-differentiated product and exceptional focus on service, together with greater comfort, convenience and seamless connectivity will find strong resonance with passengers.” Recently Go Air changed its logo to Go First with its motto of “You Come First” and the inclusive nature of its customer-centricity.

New Delhi, 15 June 2021: A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways and Ministry of Civil Aviation for development of Sea Plane services in India was signed today. Minister of State (I/C) for Ports, Shipping and Waterways, Mansukh Mandaviya and Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri were present at the occassion while respective officials signed the MoU. Signing of this MoU is a major milestone for making seaplanes project a reality very soon. This MoU envisages development of Non Scheduled/Scheduled operation of seaplane services within territorial jurisdiction of India under RCS-UDAN scheme of government of India. As per MoU, a Co-ordination Committee with officials of Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA), Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways (MoPSW) and Ministry of Tourism (MoT) is to be set up for timely completion of operationalisation of Seaplane services at various locations. MoCA, MoPSW, SDCL will consider operationalising of Seaplane operating routes as identified/suggested by all agencies. MoPSW would identify and develop water front infrastructure of Aerodromes/ locations and obtain required statutory clearances /approvals in coordination with MoCA, DGCA and AAI by defining the timelines for all activities involved in the development of facilities for starting seaplanes operations. MoCA would carry out bidding and select potential airlines operators based on their commercial consideration through bidding process, incorporate the locations/routes as identified by MoPSW & routes identified through bidding process in UDAN scheme document. MoCA is also obliged to provide funds/financial support in respect of water aerodromes awarded under RCS-UDAN scheme and coordinate with Chief Secretaries of all States for the Seaplanes operations. Hardeep S Puri stated that this MoU between the two Ministries will help in expediting the development of new water aerodromes and also operationalization of new seaplane routes in India. He further stated that this will give a big fillip to the provision of a new kind of tourism service in India. Mansukh Mandaviya quoted this MoU to be as game changer both for Indian Maritime and Civil Aviation sector as it will not only enhance seamless connectivity across the nation by promoting eco-friendly transportation through Seaplanes but also give a boost to the tourism industry”.

AVIATION WORLD FEATURE Dr. Rajee Olaganathan, faculty at the College of Aeronautics, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University – Worldwide, USA,and a Fellow Member of the Royal Aeronautical Society has researched the devastating impact of COVID-19 on the airline industry. It was published in the Global Journal of Engineering and Technology Advances in its April issue. The title of the paper is“Impact of COVID-19 on airline industry and strategic plan for its recovery with special reference to data analytics technology.” The aviation industry is the pillar of the world’s social and economic development. This research paper highlights how the aviation industry was affected by the global pandemic, how the industry responded in the race against the virus worldwide and provides recommendations concerning going forward how the aviation industry and its stakeholders should be resilient to bring the industry back to normal. AVIATION WORLD is publishing the feature which highlights the significance of this research paper for readers’ interest. Air travel is a lifeline of the world transportation sector. The current coronavirus outbreak is creating havoc on the day-to-day life of people around the world. The initial response to the COVID-19 pandemic around the world was slow and the airline industry operated as per its normal schedule till the majority of the countries prioritized public health over economic growth. This affected the aviation industry severely through increased flight cancellations, grounding of aircraft, travel bans, and closure of international borders. Both the aeronautical and non-aeronautical revenues were negatively impacted. According to data from the International Civil Aviation Organization, passenger traffic decreased by 60 percent in 2020. Dr. Rajee Olaganathan, an Adjunct Assistant Professor at the Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University-Worldwide who also consults actively on Avionics Sales and Services recently outlined her research findings. She mentions “Like other business sectors, the airline industry is also susceptible to external threats like natural disasters, economic recession, oil crisis, terrorism, and disease occurrences. Due to the impact of COVID-19, the value of the airline industry decreased to an unprecedented level in 2020 with a USD 371 billion loss of gross passenger operating revenues. The research findings of her paper can help the airline industry to recover from the impact of the pandemic, and might help to prepare it for the post-COVID-19 era.” The data from Dr.Olaganathan’s research study showed that the Asia-Pacific region including India was severely impacted with a loss of 120 billion USD. The European and Asia/Pacific region together accounted for around 70% of the world’s international traffic in 2020. The impact of the pandemic is stronger on the international route than the domestic route. This study applied the PEST analysis to identify the factors that affect the global airline industry and suggested that the airline industry has to consider the political, economic, social, and technological aspects into consideration and keep airlines working to make their ecosystem as safe as possible. To recover from the impact of the pandemic and to prepare for the post-COVID-19 era, Dr. Olaganathan recommends “to utilize data analysis to identify the opportunities by tracking the COVID-19 progress and recovery at a global and regional scale analysis, flight demand analysis by identifying the air route for reactivation, tracking the demand for global air travel and customer-specific air travel demand tracking through e-commerce.” This research report also suggested that the greater use of data and digital technologies must be an essential part of the airline industry’s recovery and resilience planning. It also recommended other proactive technology and strategic plans to address covid-19 issues. The results of this study will benefit the global airline industry. Likewise, Dr. Olaganathan emphasizes that the industry needs a new perspective by adopting an interdisciplinary approach by incorporating business, management, and big data analytics technology for the recovery of the airline industry and its preparedness for the post-COVID-19 era. This needs strong coordination, cooperation, and effective communication between different data analytics teams (internal and external), between all the departments within airlines, and the stakeholders of the aviation industry.” This type of interdisciplinary research which has a practical application is essential for the recovery of the airline industry. Reference Olaganathan, R. (2021). Impact of COVID-19 on airline industry and strategic plan for its recovery with special reference to data analytics technology. Global Journal of Engineering and Technology Advances, 07(01), 033–046. https://doi.org/10.30574 /gjeta.2021.7.1.0050

WRITTEN BY MANOJ KUMAR P, ASST. DIRECTOR AIRWORTHINESS, DGCA “In Aviation Each Step has a Footprint. And it is called Signature.” During a friendly conversation with one of my friends regarding maintenance on a ship and aircraft, he stated, ‘If a ship has a technical problem at least it can float, whereas an aircraft having the similar problem, it can’t float in air.’ What my friend stated in passing always strikes me and encourages me to do my assigned task with due focus and diligence whenever I perform aircraft maintenance, documentation, auditing, handling stores, etc. Ensuring an aircraft fly safely requires various types of maintenance (preventive, snags, scheduled, unscheduled, etc.) to be performed on the aircraft at various periodicities based on days, flying hours, aircraft engine starts, aircraft landings, aircraft cycles, etc. In aviation, maintenance documentation (referring and recording) ensures that the scheduled maintenance is performed as per the maintenance manuals and in a correct sequence of steps. If any step in any of the maintenance tasks is skipped / missed or done in the incorrect order, it could result in a catastrophe. In aviation history many aircraft accidents have been caused due to such small missteps or missing of small steps. FOR EXAMPLE: a) Small screw which was erroneously left in the maintenance area after maintenance, in due course of time it can get stuck and obstruct the movement of the control columns, or make a hole in any of the hoses or pipelines of the hydraulic, fuel, pneumatic, Oxygen etc. b) Using a wrong size screw or bolt or nut or any other expendable can cause improper securing of the component or equipment or hose etc. This can cause the components falling out of their designated place due to vibrations and malfunction of the component and aircraft systems. So, it is evident that, maintenances on aircraft must be performed step by step as per applicable Manuals and Regulations. In order to ensure that no step of a maintenance task is skipped, Civil Aviation Regulators have mandated the operators to adhere to the maintenance documentation method of signing off and the use of task card / worksheets. A Proper Documentation Gives Us The Following Information: a) Step by step maintenance undertaken. b) Who did the job? c) When was the job done? d) Which special tools were used? e) What were the values of the checks done? f) How much work was finished? g) Which documents were referred? THE REGULATIONS Based on the history of aircraft accidents and incidents, various aviation regulators have stipulated various regulations for maintenance organisations to imbibe and adhere to. Some of the regulations which are applicable to this article are as follows: I) Para 1.4.13 of FAA Advisory Circular No. 145-9A defines Maintenance Function as a step or series of steps in the process of performing maintenance, preventive maintenance, or alterations. II) CAR GM 145.A.48 Performance of maintenance states that, A ‘sign-off’ is a statement issued by the ‘authorised person’ which indicates that the task or group of tasks has been correctly performed. A ‘sign-off’ relates to one step in the maintenance process and is, therefore, different to a certificate of release to service. III) Para (1) of AMC 145.A.48(c) Performance of maintenance states the procedures should be aimed at minimising multiple errors and preventing omissions. The procedures should specify that every maintenance task is signed off only after completion. IV) ‘Critical Maintenance Task’ means a maintenance task that involves the assembly or any disturbance of a system or any part on an aircraft, engine or propeller that, if an error occurred during its performance, could directly endanger the flight safety. GM M.A.402(h) Performance of maintenance and appendix VII of CAR-M/Part M — Complex Maintenance Tasks has stipulated list of complex tasks V) AMC M.A.305(h) Aircraft continuing airworthiness record system states that keeping continuing airworthiness records in a form acceptable to the competent authority normally means in paper form or on a computer database or a combination of both methods. VI) Para 3 of AMC M.A.401(c) Maintenance data states Maintenance tasks should be transcribed onto the work cards or worksheets and subdivided into clear stages to ensure a record of the accomplishment of the maintenance task. Of particular importance is the need to differentiate and specify, when relevant, disassembly, accomplishment of task, reassembly and testing. VII) Para b of M.A.401 Maintenance data states that the applicable maintenance data is: a) any applicable requirement, procedure, standard or information issued by the competent authority or the Agency, b) any applicable airworthiness directive, c) applicable instructions for continuing airworthiness, issued by type certificate holders, supplementary type certificate holders and any other organisation that publishes such data in accordance with CAR 21. d) any applicable data which is accepted by the regulator. UNDERSTANDING THE REGULATIONS Based on the above said regulations it is expected that the AMOs adhere to the regulations and devise an appropriate procedure for maintenance documentation as follows: a) Point I and Point VI mandate operators to identify the complex maintenance tasks of their fleet and prepare the work cards or worksheets with the following provisions: i. Step or series of steps in the process of performing maintenance ii. Maintenance task is subdivided into clear stages. iii. Record of accomplishment of each stage / Provision for signing by the engineer and technician who performed the task with date and time. b) Point II and Point III mandate that an AME needs to sign-off task or group of tasks has been correctly performed by him/her and to be signed only after task completes. c) In Point V, the regulator provides a provision to the operator to maintain the continuing airworthiness records either in paper form or in electronic form or both which are in a form acceptable to the regulator. d) Point VII lists the documents that fall under maintenance data and same needs to be considered for task cards / work sheets and for maintenance too. ACTION TO BE TAKEN Hence, CAMO must prepare

Aviation World Feature Airport infrastructure is the essential skeletal framework of aviation but generally tends to be taken for granted, possibly because addition of new airports and transformation of old ones happen at a slow pace and away from public glare. Nonetheless, airports play a vital role in sustaining aviation, supporting the transport network, promoting trade and tourism, and contributing to economic development of the nation. Covid-19 has been exceptionally unkind to civil aviation with airports possibly being the worst affected sector. By Gp.Capt. AK Sachdev (Retd.)In India, airports, being capital and real estate intensive, were in public sector domain during our initial years but that has changed in the last two decades with change of policies and the government’s fiscal compulsions to disinvest in them. There are close to 500 airports strewn over the extent of the country with 139 of them being under the public domain and owned by Airports Authority of India (AAI) according to AAI’s official site (https://www.aai.aero/en/business-opportunities/indian-airports accessed on 08 February 2021). According to AAI, the total number of functional airports in India is 153 of which 29 are international, 114 are domestic and 10 customs airports (at which unloading of imported goods and the loading of export goods is permitted). To put this figure into perspective, US, which has a billion less people than India, has over 5000 functional airports. This article critically appraises the push for privatising airport infrastructure.BUDGETARY IMPETUS The central government budget presented in 2018 had introduced NextGen Airports for BHarat (NABH)Nirman initiative. It proposed to increase the existing capacity of airports by more than five times through construction of 100 new airports in the next 10 years. An impressive sounding figure for investment in that direction was also mentioned but the onslaught of Covid-19 rendered all that planning superfluous. Indeed, aviation went into survival mode globally and it is only now that optimism is beginning to manifest itself in actions and thoughts of aviation stake holders, including the government. The budget presented last month reflected some of that buoyancy; the Finance Minister’s budget presentation speech mentioned the word ‘infrastructure’ more than 40 times and included a proposal to set up a Development Finance Institution (DFI) with a capital of Rs 20,000 crore and an ability to lend up to Rs 5 lakh crore. The issuance of Zero Coupon Bonds for infrastructure funding also has the possibility of providing an avenue for aviation financing.Disappointingly but unsurprisingly, the long standing demand of civil aviation to be given infrastructure status remained unaddressed. The total budgetary allocation for aviation was Rs 3,224 crores, a figure representing 22% reduction as compared to the ongoing fiscal year. Of this, airports have been allocated Rs 600 crores mainly for the revival of 50 airports that fall under the Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS). Airports Economic Regulatory Authority of India(AERA) has been allocated Rs 10 crores. Besides, the Airports Authority of India (AAI) saw a provision of Rs 5,139 crores marked under Internal and Extra budgetary resources; the implication is that AAI will have to put up collateral to raise funds. The aviation portion of the budget has endeavoured to convey that the financial problems of airports are being addressed. However, the actual availability of funding is a bit nebulous, given the fiscal pressure this budget will be consummated under. There is thus a momentum building up for finding other means of funding airport infrastructure. In December 2019, the National Infrastructure Pipeline (NIP) had been launched; it now has a pipeline of 7,400 projects, which require major funding expansion from both government and private sector. The government’s plan is to realise this goal through three concrete measures: creating the necessary institutional structure, monetising assets, and expanding capital investment through budgets. Monetising functioning public infrastructure is a way to generate more funds by drawing in private sector participation and that is the route airport infrastructure development is embarked upon. PRIVATISATION In her budget speech the Finance Minister said the government would be monetising assets of the AAI-operated airports in Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities to raise money for building new infrastructure; this is a significant departure from the past where the government has maintained that big airports were being privatised so that the cash thus generated could be invested in airports in smaller cities. In a semantic quirk, the disinvestment in AAI’s airports has been always referred to, rather euphemistically, as privatisation — a term that encompasses the whole spectrum of private participation from a wholly private ownership to a Public Private Participation (PPP) model with multiple participants. As can be expected, each model has a unique texture withdiverse partners getting into bed but with disparate dreams. The result is that all the PPP ventures have not had the same degree of success. Perhaps the only thing common to airports moving away from the AAI fold has been the incremental addition to the air passengers’ burden. The first Indian airport to be privatised in India was Cochin as far back as 1999, followed by Hyderabad in 2002 and Bengaluru in 2004; Delhi and Mumbai — the two largest airports in the country — were privatised in 2006. At that time there was no airport regulator (the Airport Economic Regulatory Authority (AERA) came up only in 2008 as a result of a Parliamentary act. It is not clear whether this fact contributed to the additional burden of privatisation on airlines (which in turn passed it on to the passengers). Privatisation was resisted stoutly by airlines but the government was unrelenting. Meanwhile, the project costs of airports overshot the original estimates (Delhi by 3.8 times and Mumbai by 1.7 times) with the incremental costs being passed on to the passengers through development fees to the tune of Rs 3400 crores. These figures are mentioned here to show the passenger pain related to airport privatisation. After 2006, there was a lull in the interest from potential investors in airports until 2015 when disparate entities again started looking at airports as lucrative ventures. In