Two days to Pune by jet!

Delhi: Corporate honchos from some of the country's leading industrial houses Reliance, Bajaj, Raymonds, to mention a few are leaving their private jets behind and getting on to commercial flights.Getting to destinations like Pune, Goa, Agra and Jamnagar, which have a defence base at the airport, is not a cakewalk, if the pilot in the cockpit is a foreign national.
Foreign pilots require eight clearances to fly into these high-sensitive areas and air-charter service providers demand at least two days to get the required permission.
(The clearances are required from the Home Ministry, External Affairs Ministry, Defence Ministry, Intelligence Bureau, CID, the Enforcement Directorate, Narcotics Bureau and Directorate of Revenue Intelligence among others.)
With 90 per cent of pilots flying private jets being foreigners, the mandate has become a bone of contention.
"All the permissions have to come from the headquarters of the concerned establishments the Army, Navy and Air Force in New Delhi and not from the local airport office," said Air Vice Marshall (retired) S Ramdas.
"The procedures are outdated and a blanket clearance is needed for all foreign pilots flying into airports used jointly for defense and civilian purposes," he added.
According to aviation experts, the airfields have been classified 'sensitive' by the Defence Ministry and hence they feel that a clearance for foreign pilots is essential.
21/05/09 Aditya Anand/MiD Day

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Categories: Indian Aviation- In General May 2009