India?s proposed move to develop a design for its indigenous civilian aircraft is likely to become a reality in the next two or three months. The design would be ready in a two or three months and would come up before the ministry of civil aviation for consideration and approval, a top ministry official said here.
Addressing the media during the India Aviation 2014, G Ashok Kumar, joint secretary, in civil aviation ministry, said that after the announcement by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on July 21, 2013, for promotion of a civilian aircraft indigenously, a SPV was formed by public sector bodies NAL and HAL. Both are on verge of finalisation of a certain design for the domestic civilian aircraft. ?The design committee is now pondering on capacity and also the kind of engine required,? he said.
Further, the Airport Authority of India is all set to introduce ?cockpit clearances? to encourage tourism, business traffic by chartered and non-schedule operators permit (NSOP) operations in a big scale in the country.
After launching the GPRS-enabled electronic cash transactions at the Begumpet airport as part of AAI nationwide facility, he said the exercise which began at Juhu airport on September 21 last year is now spread to almost all airports in the country and thereby provided an relaxed and hassle free operations of NSOP and chartered flight operators. ?We plan to provide Wi-Fi facility so that the pilots could pay at the ATC,?? he said adding that the operators could now pay by credit cards instead of cash.
