Behind the scene activities in the Indian aviation sector were brought out in the open late on Wednesday when Rajiv Pratap Rudy, Minister of State (Independent Charge), Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, recalled that when he was the Civil Aviation Minister at the Centre in 2003, Jet Airways and Indian Airlines had approached him asking not to allow Air Deccan to fly in the Indian skies.

“Captain Gopinath (the promoter of Air Deccan) would huff and come to my room and Air India, Jet Airways and Sahara (would) collectively come to see that this airline did not exist. But that was the game. However, when he succeeded in getting a licence and started the airline the whole landscape, the eco-system of civil aviation changed. That trigged off what we see today,” said Rudy, who is currently Minister of State (Independent Charge), Skill Development and Entrepreneurship. He was speaking at an awards function organised by the Air Passengers Association of India. The event was powered by BusinessLine and CNN News18 was the telecast partner.

Recalling his own experience as a passenger, Nitin Gadkari, Minister for Road, Transport, Highway and Shipping, recounted how he would often be told about an early morning flight being cancelled even as he was on the way to the airport. The Minister appealed to airlines to tell passengers well in advance if their flight was being cancelled.

Gadkari added that he expected that airfares will soon become cheaper than rail fares.

Smriti Irani, Textile Minister, said that few people would know that she was rejected by Jet Airways for a job. “After that I went to McDonalds and as they say the rest is history,” she added.

The announcement by RN Choubey, Secretary, Civil Aviation, that air travellers in India will soon be able to use Wi-Fi services, including making calls while flying, got a huge round of applause from the audience.

On the issue of how much the Wi-Fi service will cost, the Secretary said that cost was not in his domain but added that he felt a time will come when airlines will provide this as a service and it will be a differentiator between one airline and another.

Aditya Ghosh, President, IndiGo, bagged the award for the Outstanding Personality of the Civil Aviation sector for the past decade. IndiGo also won the award for the Best Low-Fare airline (Domestic). Vistara won the award for the Best New Entrant (Domestic) and AirAsia Berhad picked up the prize for the Best Low Cost Carrier Budget (International).

Among the other winners were Jet Airways for Best Full Service (Domestic) and Emirates for Best Full Service (International), while the Best Metro Airport award went to CSIA, Mumbai. Kochi airport won the award for the Best Non-Metro airport while IGI airport Delhi won the award for Best Airport supporting Sick, Elderly, Physically Challenged and Disabled passenger.

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