Highlights of Wings India 2024: Asia’s Largest Event on Civil Aviation held in Hyderabad, Telangana

Union Minister for Civil Aviation, Jyotiraditya M Scindia inaugurated Asia’s Largest Aviation Expo-Wings India 2024 at Begumpet Airport in Hyderabad, Telangana from 18th to 21st January 2024.

• The theme for the show was “Connecting India to the World in Amrit Kaal: Setting the Stage for India Civil Aviation @2047.”
• The Civil Aviation minister also inaugurated India’s and Air India’s first Airbus A350 aircraft on the first day of Wings India 2024.

Wings India 2024:

i.3As of the Indian aviation sector- Accessibility, Availability, and Affordability were reiterated during the event

ii.Major announcements at Wings India 2024:

• Release of the joint knowledge paper on civil aviation by FICCI and KPMG
• Launch of UDAN 5.3
• Launch of the Airbus-Air India Training Centre, with the purchase of more airplanes and the setting of a flight training centre in Gurugram with 10 flight simulators and 10,000 pilots being trained in the coming years
• Airbus manufacturing contracts with TATA ASL and Mahindra Aerospace Structures Pvt. Ltd. to foster more pilots.
• GMR(Grandhi Mallikarjuna Rao ) and IndiGo also signed a consortium to collaborate with multiple patterns in developing sustainable training in the aerospace industry

Wings India Awards 2024

Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI) announced its 4th edition of “Wings India Awards” in the Civil Aviation Sector during an award ceremony at Hotel Taj Krishna, Hyderabad on 18th January 2024. The Ceremony was organized in collaboration with the Airports Authority of India (AAI), Union Ministry of Civil Aviation and FICCI, this program is organized on a biennial basis.

India’s First Indigenously Designed and Manufactured Aircraft Seat Launched at Wings India 2024

Timetooth, a Bengaluru-based engineering company has launched India’s first-ever aircraft passenger seat at Wings India 2024. The seats have been manufactured in collaboration with  Epsilon Aerospace which designed the covers and cushions for the seats.

• The seats are designed as per ITSO C39c Standards and are ready to be used in aircraft like Hindustan(Dornier) 228(being newly certified by DGCA)
• The CEO of Timetooth is Amitav Chaudhuri
• Regional transport aircraft seats with ITSO C127c are already in the pipeline

As of now, 100% of the seats of aircraft owned or operated by India-registered air travel companies are imported.

AIR INDIA EXPRESS Unveils New Aircraft with Kalamkari-Inspired Tail Pattern at Wings India 2024

Air India Express unveiled a new aircraft, VT-BXH, a Boeing 737-8 aircraft with a Kalamkari-inspired tail Pattern reflecting the richness of Indian Culture through its tail art.

i.In October 2023, it launched ‘Patterns of India’, where the focus is to showcase different art forms on the tail fin of each new aircraft.

• Kalamkari is a traditional Indian art form from Andhra Pradesh that involves hand-painting or block-printing on fabric using a pen-like tool called ‘kalam’ or wooden blocks. The design is in repetition and symmetry.

ii.The 9 art design includes

• Bandhani and Patola from Gujarat
• Gamosa from Assam
• Jamdani from West Bengal
• Jamawar from Kashmir
• Phulkari from Punjab
• Kanjeevaram from Tamil Nadu
• Banarasi from Uttar Pradesh
• Kalamkari from Andhra Pradesh and Telangana

Akasa Air signs MoU with Noida International Airport

With this Memorandum of understanding (MoU), Akasa Air would become the 2nd airline to start operation from Noida International Airport.

• The 1st airline being Indigo.
• The first phase of the Airport will be completed by the end of 2024 for flight operations.

Airbus Helicopters, Heligo Sign Services Contract for H145 fleet

Airbus and Heligo Charter Private Limited have signed a service agreement for six Airbus H145 helicopters utilized in both offshore and onshore operations in India.

• HCare Initial is a 5 year by-the-hour contract
• With this Heligo will boast the largest H145 fleet in India.
• With this service contract, Heligo’s maintenance expenses will be reduced
• Heligo Charters Private Limited will become the first to provide Airbus Helicopters’ 5-bladed H145 fleet for ONGC’s offshore operations in India

Airbus Partners With CSIR-IIP to Drive Indigenous Sustainable Aviation Fuel Development

An MoU between Airbus and the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research -Indian Institute of Petroleum (CSIR-IIP) has been signed to test and qualify Indigenous Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) in India. This will help in the decarbonisation of the Indian aerospace industry.

• SAF production will be done using a new HEFA technology pathway and will be locally sourced.
• The aviation sector has been targeting net-Zero carbon emission by 2050
• Under the MoU, CSIR-IIP will study the fuel properties under the new pathway and the impact on aircraft systems and the environment, whereas, Airbus will guide the new fuels evaluation process, sharing fuel testing and aircraft systems knowledge.

Note: HEFA (Hydro processed Esters and Fatty Acids), also called HVO(Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil), is a renewable diesel fuel that can be produced from a wide array of vegetable oils and fats. The term HEFA or HVO is used collectively for these biogenic hydrocarbon-based renewable biofuels.

About The Wings India 2024

• The event saw participation of general public visitors over 1 lakh during the two days making it Asia’s largest civil aviation event
• A major highlight was the static display of 25 aircraft and helicopters along with air and drone shows
• The air shows showcased four Sarang helicopters from the Indian Air Force, four aircraft from the UK’s Mark Jeffries team, and the Air India Express’ Boeing 737 Max 8 executing impressive low fly-bys and intricate maneuvers.

Achievements of UDAN scheme

The civil Aviation minister described the achievement of India’s aviation sector with the help of UDAN scheme during the past few years. The UDAN was launched as a Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS) under the Ministry of Civil Aviation in 2016.

• The total number of domestic pax (Passengers, commonly referred to as Pax in aviation terminology) rose from 60 million in 2014 to 143 million in 2020 growing at a CAGR (Compound Annual Growth Rate) of 14.5% and is expected to have crossed the figure of 150 million in 2023
• The international passengers had grown at a CAGR of 6.1 % from 2014 to 2020
• Domestic Cargo volumes handled by Indian airports in the 15 years leading to FY 2019 increased by 60 percent while international cargo volumes increased by 53 percent.
• In principle, approval for setting up 21 greenfield Airport had been given out of which 12 greenfield airports have been operationalized.
• Under PMs Flagship scheme RCS-UDAN (Regional Connectivity Scheme- Ude Desh ka Aam Naagrik ), 76 airports in Tier-3 and Tier-4 and other remote corner of the country have been operationalized with More than 1.32 Crore people have benefited from this scheme in more than 2.5 Lakh flights
• The government had provided VGF (Viability Gap Funding) of almost Rs 3,100 crores, awarded 1300 UDAN routes, and operationalized 517 routes under the scheme.
• The issuance of Commercial Pilot Licenses in the country has increased by 40% from 1165 CPLs (Commercial Pilot Licenses) in 2022 to 1,622 CPLs in 2023
• Till 2047, India will have an aviation system that will support a USD 20 Trillion economy.
• The efforts are being put into rollout a helicopter-specific low-level IFR route using GAGAN(GEO augmented navigation )

About Ministry of Civil Aviation(MoCA)
Union Minister: Jyotiraditya Scindia (Rajya Sabha- Madhya Pradesh)
Minister of State: Vijay Kumar Singh (Constituency – Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh)