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Journalism of Courage
You don’t have to be Howard Hughes to delight in the freedom of the skies. The Indo-US air services agreement (ASA) that India has just signed with the US is certainly the most expansive, in both conception and scope, it has had with any country so far. The ASA will now allow the airlines of each country unrestricted access to destinations in the other, and vice versa; it also allows them complete freedom to make their own corporate decisions on frequency, ticket prices, choice of routes, and the like. Compare this to the earlier regime — first put in place in 1956 — which allowed only a handful of destinations and imposed all sorts of restrictions, and the full import of the new deal becomes obvious. It will transform Indo-US air connectivity, as we have known it.
This is the right moment. Not only has India significantly liberalised its aviation sector, passenger traffic between the two countries has been plotting a consistently rising trajectory. Healthy tourist inflows and outflows, a significant growth in the software sector, and social and familial ties that bind the Indian diaspora with mother country are some of the factors that conspire to keep the outlook optimistic. Airlines in both countries are already sniffing out the opportunities, whether it is an US-based airline like Delta planning a daily service between New York and Chennai, or India’s national carrier, Air-India, hoping to touch base at Houston and San Francisco.
As the world flies into our backyard and as we fly out in turn — India and UK have also agreed to hike the number of flights between them — there are disturbing lacunae in terms of airport infrastructure to consider. It took a great deal of prodding to get the international airports at Bangalore and Hyderabad going, and Delhi and Mumbai are just about getting their act together on this score. But there are 80 other facilities all over the country now awaiting the kiss of life. If the full potential of the ASA is to be achieved, we need urgently to get them into some shape.
