During the year 2016, only 2% of India’s population used to travel by air, but with the inclusion of the new Civil Aviation Policy, higher amounts of regional connectivity in lower-tier cities were expected. The Civil Aviation Industry has come to light as one of the fastest-growing industries in the world. A lot of objectives have been taken into consideration, out of which the Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS) plays a vital role, aimed at promoting tourism, making flying affordable for a large number of people, promoting employment opportunities, and benefiting the overall economic growth rate. The aviation sector can grasp the sentiment analysis for determining the requirement of its passengers and can plan out the strategies accordingly to make their customized experience.
The new aviation industry is actually surrounded by technological waves and trends, focusing to meet the demands and expectations of the passengers. Given the fact that the aviation industry is a target of government policies, there has been a cloudburst in the loan guarantees, equity injections, and wage subsidies, making it an issue for the efficient use of public resources. The author(s) tries to highlight the new implementations that are required to boost the aviation industry in the near future, various challenges and opportunities of the schemes, and how the market condition would turn out to be in the coming years.
Civil Aviation Sector in Present Times
Travel and Aviation sector plays a pivotal role in a country’s GDP contribution, ensuring its growth economically and development as a whole. For India, the picture is no different. In this blooming civil aviation industry, the suddenly clobbered Covid-19 pandemic has made a major impact making an insurgence of different challenges in the economy. The government’s aim was to make the sector a bit more open, investment-friendly, and also tolerant.
In a recent report named, ‘Future of the Airline Industry 2035’ by The International Air Transport Association (IATA), it has been recognized that new manufacturing techniques, cybersecurity, virtual reality, robotics, big data, new aircraft designs, and some new different techniques could be the future of the aviation industry, in this post-pandemic period. But to achieve all these, proper planning, adaptation, and alignment with the technology are needed. Along with this, the previously made reforms in the National Civil Aviation Policy (NCAP) is to be regulated properly at the same time to make a betterment in the aviation sector.
Regional Connectivity Scheme
The Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) has focused on promoting air transport in the Indian market, majorly in remote areas. As per the new aviation policy, people now have to pay Rs. 2500 for a 1-hour flight and less than Rs. 1200 for a 30-minute regional flight. So, the government has made it easier for the general public to travel by air. It makes a free flow of connectivity in the domestic circuit, to the under-served and unserved airports making it affordable and available to people at large. This is the basic and the foremost thing India has taken up for going a long way in taking the country further in the aviation industry.
There are many other Civil Aviation reforms that the Government of India has recently announced under the Atma Nirbhar Bharat Abhiyan scheme, they are as follows:
Development of Airports through the PPP Model-
There were 12 existing airports already, like (Mumbai, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Delhi, etc) which were working previously. Now, the Airport Authority of India (AAI) has proposed that 6 more airports will be auctioned under the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) model, and for that, the government has provided Rs. 2300 crores.
Effective Management in Indian Airspace
Route Dispersal Guidelines (RDG), instruct and regulates certain flights in unprofitable areas. There were a few restricted routes in India, which the airlines cannot travel through. Now the Government has eased it out and sanctioned the Airport Authority to make flights available for masses in those particular areas. This will lead to proper utilization of airspace and as well as it will reduce the cost of Aviation Turbine Fuel (ATF).
Making of the Aircraft Maintenance, Repair, and Overhaul Hub
The Indian Government aims at making a global hub in the Maintenance, Repair, and Overhaul (MRO) Services. For this, the Government has planned to provide Rs. 2300 crores within the span of 2-3 years, which was previously only Rs. 800 crores. Also, this initiative would bring down the cost of maintenance, at the same time the Civil MROs and Defence sector can be looked after in our own country and that’s how the sector can provide a lot to the GDP growth of the nation.
There are a lot of changing factors that might affect the aviation sector in the near future, such as Technology, Environment, Societal Influence, Trends in Politics, Economy of a country. But most of these factors are beyond our control, except for technology which is a key factor in this changing aviation industry. If we look at the sector in the future 5 years from now, we can definitely picture the inclusion of Artificial Intelligence, Biometrics, Big Data Sources, In-flight Connectivity, and some alternative modes of traveling like Hyperloop, with the growing pace of Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) that’s going to fully immerse a person into a whole new experience and shuts him out from the real world. So, how are these technologies going to help us?
Artificial Intelligence
Airlines are giving amazing experiences to their passengers from traveling to having some queries and receiving feedback. Following the analytics, the improvement of airline data, in the long run, is in the hands of Artificial Intelligence (AI), which will play an essential role in shaping the market. Firstly, it will help in providing the best and quick service to passengers with immigration to boarding which helps them to save a lot of time. The use of AI with machine learning algorithms helps to keep everything on track, providing benefits to the employees by monitoring real-time imagery of aircraft. It will also help in many areas from refueling the aircraft to estimating the amount of fuel required for a flight.
Biometrics
Biometrics has a vital role to play in this particular field in the near future. Starting from retinal scanning to facial recognition, authentication of fingerprints will become the only way of verification at airports. The entire verification process will become paperless in a few years’ time, by integrating the biometric process with check-ins, tracking of a passenger’s luggage to on-boarding, and clearing the rest of the formalities.
Big Data
A market is run by some sheer strategies and decisions made by collecting data and identifying the shift in it. In this present scenario, big data helps us in identifying the consumer behavior, which includes their flying pattern, booking dynamics, and exactly what they want. Also, collectively with the help of a big data system, we could predict the forecast, any such failures, and wear and tear actually before the occurrence. Data can become one of the significant keys to the success of the aviation industry if only it gets developed and utilized properly.
Development of Skill Sets
While we move towards the future of advanced technology with something like automated flights, it is expected that there will be a lot of learning for the present workforce. Everyone working in this particular sector, starting from pilots, engineers, controllers, and inspectors to normal employees, all need to develop themselves for staying in this competitive world of digitalization. But at the same time, this automation might just take over some jobs in the market, not allowing enough resource opportunities for people.
Now, to cope with all the market demands and the acquisition of new technologies, the overall industry needs to implement the ideas and strategies from now onwards. Otherwise, everything can fall back if any such execution is not made safely and securely.
Future Challenges of Civil Aviation
Here are the different challenges that the aviation sector might face while carrying forward the current operations and also planning for the future:
- Effective cost control would be a key factor that needs to be kept in mind while making future planning. Meeting costumer’s demand is very crucial for the sector. If they make any such investments and cannot control the operating cost which ultimately affects the price of the tickets, then people wouldn’t want to travel. Keeping in mind the post covid scenario of the country, already there has been a huge leap in the cost of the Aviation Turbine Fuel (ATF) which has resulted in 40% of the total cost of running an airline in India.
- With the greater impact of technology, there can be a potential risk factor associated which brings threats in the form of cybersecurity. A cyber-attack is not only vulnerable to the data of a passenger but can have a major impact on the whole duration of the flight. Hackers can shut down the communication between the pilots and the controller anytime they want to, can get into the baggage control system, and shut down the runway light. So, to avoid getting away from such a consequence there should be a proper testing plan, made by the sector. Implementing proper cultural cybersecurity protection is what the industry needs now.
Conclusion
It can be concluded that the Civil Aviation Policy of 2016 and the Civil Aviation Programme of 2018 have already made some significant changes in our country’s aviation sector. But a 10-year plan should be made from now on to achieve something in the future by developing a flexible system of how and what to invest, in the aviation market. Proper coordination is required between the operators and the developers in planning out and identifying the opportunities and challenges. We’ll get to see a much better future if all the stakeholders keep patience and observe the trend in the society to make the industry feasible in the interim.
The aviation sector can grasp the sentiment analysis for determining the requirement of its passengers and can plan out the strategies accordingly to make their customized experience. The Civil Aviation Industry has come to light as one of the fastest-growing industries in the world. The new aviation industry is actually surrounded by technological waves and trends, focusing to meet the demands and expectations of the passengers. So, there should be a proper testing plan, made by the sector. Implementing proper cultural cybersecurity protection is what the industry needs now.
Submitted by Arghyadeep Panda and Saptarishi Roy, third year law students pursuing B.A.LL.B.(Hons.) from St. Xavier Law School, Kolkata.