Newstrack

Budget gives heli industry vantage point

Chetan Kapoor - Mumbai

The Union Budget 2008-09 has indeed given the helicopter industry a reason to smile. With the civil aviation ministry asserting 2008 as the year of helicopter services, Palaniappan Chidambaram, the finance minister of India has removed customs duty on helicopter simulators for training pilots.

As the helicopter industry continues to grow, more pilots are needed and zero customs duty on simulators will prove to be a fillip. Says Col Jayanth K Poovaiah, executive director, Deccan Aviation, "So far there have been no simulators in the country except for the home-grown ones with the army resulting in us having to send our pilots to the United States for training. In addition, less number of helicopters in the country and huge costs of importing simulators further deterred us, but this is a good beginning seeing the growth of helicopters in the country." He further mentioned that with the helicopter company now being in the process of developing as a separate entity, it will look at importing simulators in the future.

Kiran Yadav, an aviation analyst and managing director, Aerobiz India believes, "This is indeed a good move as helicopter simulators are expensive and to train people regularly as the future of aviation industry is multiple pilot licence (MPL), which will lay emphasis on simulators than on flying." The MPL will allow pilots to fly more than one type of aircraft within a category of aircraft or in multiple categories. According to ministry sources, in November, the directorate general of civil aviation had already relaxed the norms on flying helicopters. A pilot under a single licence can fly both a single engine copter and a twin-engine (two rotors) helicopter and can also fly two different kinds of copters in one day.