Aero India 2015 that is to commence on February 18, is expected to be much bigger than the one in 2013 in many aspects, from aerobatics to weather to visitors and air-conditioned toilets.
“We assess that the number of visitors will double this time compared to last time,” senior defence official M D Singh said. He said that three lakh people are expected compared to the 1.5 lakh that turned up last year.
The number of visitors is going up because of the higher number of aerobatics teams performing this time. While the shows in 2013 and 2011 saw a single aerobatics team perform, the 2015 show will see five teams - from Scandinavia, the UK and the US.
Visitors have always enjoyed the flying display, compared to the static displays that is evident from the increase in
visitors over the last three editions.
“We want parents to show to their children the breathtaking manoeuvres so that the children are inspired to take up a career in the Air Force,” Singh said.
The other important feature of the 2015 show is the doubling of the participation of medium and small scale industries. The show will be a big exposure to the small enterprises that can take on the task of manufacturing and producing components that are of aerospace grade.
The defence official said immigration and customs clearance were being undertaken at the Yelahanka air base itself. “This is a single window operation. You get off the plane, head straight to the air force base and all your immigration and customs concerns will be taken care of by us.”
This year’s air show has also taken another new initiative of giving business to business talks a free space for dialogue.
For the visitors, all the toilets have been airconditioned and will no longer be the old, rickety ones.
This is one facility citizens expect to be clean and the authorities have taken care to have modern looking, mobile toilets.
The air station has a peculiar problem of too many monkeys. “It is an issue, but we have made local arrangements to handle the issue of monkeys. As far as garbage is concerned, all the garbage dumps around the campus have been cleared and we have even asked the slaughter houses in the area and on the way to the camp to be shut for the air show,” Singh said.
The air base has had problems of dealing with high volume of traffic. The senior official said, “The base is located at a place where we get only a 10-foot road, which is why clearing jams would be very difficult. And then there are residential buildings which have come up behind our campus. All these factors contribute to the peculiarity of the air base.”
DH News Service
