Even as the presence of helicopter OEMs doubled in India (to 10 from five), double-digit growth in its civil helicopter fleet in the seven years preceding 2011 gave way to negative growth last year when the fleet reduced from 293 to 266.
High operational costs, exacerbated by a depreciated rupee that fell 35 percent in the past 40 months, are posing challenges for the industry. “It’s a cumulative result of lack of optimum utilization, safety performance, infrastructure constraints and regulatory issues,” said K. Sridharan, president of the Rotary Wing Society of India (RWSI).
The cost-related issues of the helicopter industry range from micro to macro even as the RWSI has called for a rationalization of regulatory costs to mitigate the financial burden imposed on operators. To reduce costs, the industry is seeking to extend the period between required recurrent simulator training to five years from two; rationalize pilot competency checks; reduce charges for landing, security, ground handling, hangarage and parking; and cap tariffs for aviation turbine fuel.
04/09/13 Neelam Mathews/AINonline
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High operational costs, exacerbated by a depreciated rupee that fell 35 percent in the past 40 months, are posing challenges for the industry. “It’s a cumulative result of lack of optimum utilization, safety performance, infrastructure constraints and regulatory issues,” said K. Sridharan, president of the Rotary Wing Society of India (RWSI).
The cost-related issues of the helicopter industry range from micro to macro even as the RWSI has called for a rationalization of regulatory costs to mitigate the financial burden imposed on operators. To reduce costs, the industry is seeking to extend the period between required recurrent simulator training to five years from two; rationalize pilot competency checks; reduce charges for landing, security, ground handling, hangarage and parking; and cap tariffs for aviation turbine fuel.
04/09/13 Neelam Mathews/AINonline
