Question

Advantages of development of air transport

Answer 1

Air transport is the most modern means of transport which is unmatched by its speed, time- saving and long-distance operation.

It is very impor­tant for a large country like India. Through it one can easily reach to remote and inaccessible areas like mountains, forests, deserts etc. It is very useful during the times of war and natural calamities like floods, earthquakes, famines, epidemics, hostility and collapse of law and order.

The beginning of the air transport was made in 1911 with a 10 km air mail service between Allahabad and Naini. The real progress was achieved in 1920 when some aerodromes were constructed and the Tata Sons Ltd. started operating internal air services (1922). Flying clubs were opened in Delhi, Karachi, Calcutta (now Kolkata) and Bombay (now Mumbai) in 1928.

In 1933 another company Indian National Airways was constituted to serve between Karachi and Lahore. In 1938 .the Empire Air Mail Service was introduced to carry mail between the empire countries. In 1946, the Government set up the Air transport Licensing Board which granted 11 licenses. At the time of Independence 4 companies were operating their air services (Tata Sons Ltd., Indian National Airways, Air Services of India and Deccan Airways). By 1951 there were 4 new en­trants: (Bharat Airways, Himalayan Aviation Ltd., Airways India, and Kalinga Airlines).

The ownership of these airlines was taken over by the Govern­ment in 1953 and two separate corporations were set up-the Air India international to cater for the inter­national air routes and the Indian Airlines for the domestic services.

Ever since the nationalization there has been improvement in all directions of the air transport.

The revenue earning of Air India has increased from Rs. 7.56 crore in 1960-61 to Rs. 152.01 crore in 1998-99 while that of Indian Airlines from Rs, 10 crore to Rs. 84.08 9rpre. The number of passengers carried by these airlines rose from 1.25 lakh to 31.66 lakh (for Air India) and from 7.90 lakh to 80.10 lakh (for Indian Airlines) during the same period.

Airports

India has international airports besides 87 aerodromes divided into major, intermediate and minor categories. Its 5 major interna­tional airports are: Mumbai (Santa Cruz), Kolkata (Dum Dum), Delhi " (Palam), Chennai (Meenambakkam) and Thiruvananthapuram. The operation, management, planning and development of these airports are the responsibility of the International Airports Authority of India. These airports lie on the International Air routes and are used by Air India and foreign airliners. Here landing facilities are of international standard.