Consider these names: East West, ModiLuft, Damania, NEPC, Paramount. If you have recently taken to the skies and these names don’t ring a bell, let’s add a few more names. Deccan, Sahara and Kingfisher. Aha! We are talking about airlines that have gone out of business or got taken over. Like everywhere else, Indian aviation has been a graveyard for private and public sector airlines over the last two decades. For every major airline that went under after serious effort, there are two more minor ones that flashed by like shooting meteors.
(This story appears in the 02 May, 2014 issue of Forbes India. To visit our Archives, click here.)
Jet owner was to aviaiton what Dhirubhai was to textiles. He built his business on crony regulations built to destroy the national carriers of India, aided and abetted by scores of policy makers who continue to play havoc with the industry and poor employees. Take the case of bankrupt airlines that litter Indian lands. It is a very poor observation that Indian carriers live on government doles, when a cursory analysis of Indian aviation and economy shows the vast contribution of Indian Airlines and Air India on the national and international landscape. None ever comments on the economic value these two great organisations brought to the land and the reach of India globally. A Trillion dollar economy resides with overseas Indians, Some of it was made possible by the air connectivity as is the Trillion dollar economy of India.
on Apr 20, 2014