WHY CAN’T WE DO IT?

MANOJ JAIN

 

India Aviation is on boom. Brand India is doing wonders. Indians are employing Europeans, Australians, Americans, Africans. There is a Pilot shortage, Controller’s shortage, Infrastructure shortage Will we be able to sustain growth as all of us would want to or simply it would be another bubble.

If India is to succeed as world power by 2020 we need to succeed as Airports. Airports are gateway to any Country. All the growth would enter or transit from the Airports. Why can’t we do it? Are we too busy to plan, do, check and act on the issues that we know so well? Don’t we know we require more parking bays? Why we need to concentrate only on Mumbai and Delhi? Don’t we know there are other Airports? Why do we plan passenger terminals for 250 persons when the requirement is for 4000 people? Why the airspaces cannot be redesigned for accommodating more aircraft? Why the jurisdiction of Jaipur cannot be raised to FL 190. Why does the parallel taxi track miss from the master plan? Why more pilots cannot be trained? Why we have to do fire fighting always? Why there are no solutions?  

Is the growth too fast to digest? But all of us wanted to grow or take promotions very fast. Is there a vacuum in leadership? Or we fail to work as a team. Or is it outsiders that are to be blamed. What should be done? Why can’t we do it? 

Some of the solutions are:

  • Decentralize

  • Develop Airports Authority on the lines of Railways. Let there be Northern Airports Authority or South west Airports Authority

  • Let each station develop its own master plan.

  • Let our plans correlate with the 40 % growth.

  • Let’s make new Airports.

  • Let’s not lose the multi- crores business of ground handling.

  • Let’s not say no.

  • Let there be vision papers.

  • Let’s sell Kota for 100 crores.

  • Let’s takeover all airstrips in Rajasthan and build another 10 Airports just in Rajasthan.

  • Let’s develop exemplary human development programme.

  • Let us covert each employee into a leader. 

  • Let’s Succeed as Airports Authority.