Airlines want to shake off VT on tail

Mumbai: Various airline companies, including Air India, have written to the civil aviation ministry to consider changing the registration code ‘VT’— a legacy from the days of the British rule and meaning ‘Viceroy’s Territory’—given to all India-based aircraft.
A source close to the civil aviation ministry said that many airline operators had requested the ministry to write to International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) to change the code.
Most airlines feel that the ministry should appeal to the ICAO to change the code.
Says V Thulasidas, chairman and managing director of Air India, “I recently had a word with the ministry about changing the code.” The 737-800 Boeing delivered to Air India last week also had VT-AXQ as its code number.
It was in 1932 that industrialist JRD Tata flew the first aircraft from Karachi to Bombay via Ahmedabad. The aircraft was then registered with the Directorate of Civil Aviation of India. The ‘VT’ code was given in 1944, when the ICAO was formed.
27/05/07 Shaheen Mansuri/Financial Express

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Categories: General Aviation May 2007