Rishul Saraf is 23 and he speaks very fast. Especially when he excitedly recalls his first flight. His family was flying Ahmedabad to Delhi and it was a family emergency. “We may take it for granted today. But I still recall the voice of the captain booming inside the cabin as he identified the aircraft as Boeing 737 from the 800 series,” says Saraf. “I vividly recall watching another aircraft outside my window, an Indian Airlines A320. I wondered why is my flight of this make, and the flight outside of another. Today I know the registration number of every flight I have taken, including the built details of every aircraft.”
Saraf is a mechanical engineer from Ahmedabad, who loves big machines, works now in Mumbai having completed his studies in Chennai. And Saraf travels back home every month.
That should hardly surprise anyone. For many like Saraf, home is now that much closer thanks to the democratisation of flying brought about by the opening up of India’s aviation sector – first in the 1990s, the entry of private airlines over the next two decades and the country’s first low cost airline – Deccan and the concept of no frills airlines. That Open Sky policy of the mid-1990s and competition in the sector – part of overall liberalisation by successive governments over the last 25 years besides economic growth is what has fuelled the growth of the aviation industry here connecting more families and homes.
From just 36 lakh passengers carried by what was called air taxi operators in 1994 – the year when the monopoly of state owned airlines was ended, airlines in India reported 396.04 lakh domestic passengers in 2016, reflecting the growth and success of a competitive sector in the post liberalisation era.
25/09/16 Smita Nair/Indian Express
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Saraf is a mechanical engineer from Ahmedabad, who loves big machines, works now in Mumbai having completed his studies in Chennai. And Saraf travels back home every month.
That should hardly surprise anyone. For many like Saraf, home is now that much closer thanks to the democratisation of flying brought about by the opening up of India’s aviation sector – first in the 1990s, the entry of private airlines over the next two decades and the country’s first low cost airline – Deccan and the concept of no frills airlines. That Open Sky policy of the mid-1990s and competition in the sector – part of overall liberalisation by successive governments over the last 25 years besides economic growth is what has fuelled the growth of the aviation industry here connecting more families and homes.
From just 36 lakh passengers carried by what was called air taxi operators in 1994 – the year when the monopoly of state owned airlines was ended, airlines in India reported 396.04 lakh domestic passengers in 2016, reflecting the growth and success of a competitive sector in the post liberalisation era.
25/09/16 Smita Nair/Indian Express
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