The hype and euphoria over the just-concluded Aero India 2011 may, in all probability, be missing in its ninth edition, Aero India 2013, with major attractions going missing.
The hype and euphoria over the just-concluded Aero India 2011 may, in all probability, be missing in its ninth edition, Aero India 2013, with major attractions going missing.
On the business front, the next edition will be timed after the deal for the Medium weight Multi-Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) is signed. The Chief of Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal PV Naik, announced that the MMRCA deal is likely to be signed by September this year.
The deal is keenly contested with five of the six contenders pitching their aircraft for aerial displays to impress the Indian defence experts, hoping that they choose their aircraft for the $12 billion contract. This is the costliest defence deal that India has so far signed, and entails procuring 126 MMRCAs to replace the ageing MiG-21s.
Defence experts admit that the run-up to the deal has been one of the main reasons for the keen participation in Aero India - 11.
When Aero India 2013 opens on February 6, 2013, that intense competition will be absent as the MMRCA procurement process would have passed the selection procedure, leaving behind five disgruntled contenders.
Last week saw intense public relations exercise by all the five contenders participating in the show; and this included allowing celebrities on their flights. Such an exercise raised the heat of the competition, in turn making Aero India 2011 more exciting even for members of the general public.
What would capture such intensity at Aero India 2013?
Apparently none on the business front. And it leaves scope only for entertainment. But, here too, there is a problem. The IAF’s aerobatic team, Suryakiran, is unlikely to participate in the next air show (or even the next two air shows) after the Kiran Mk-11 jets they were flying being re-routed to the IAF training centres. The team will instead be given the Hawks, which will take at least a year to be ready and another year or more for the pilots to train. This almost certainly rules out the Suryakiran team from Aero India 2013.
That leaves just the Flying Bulls to perform at the next edition of the air show. But there is no confirmed word yet on their participation, too, in Aero India 2013.
Where would that leave Aero India 2013 to attract such huge crowds as the 2011 edition did?
Much now rests on innovative ideas of the ministry of defence and the defence exposition organisation to pull out something spectacular to keep the crowds coming for the air show at Air Force Station, Yelahanka.
Or else, we may just see the decline of Aero India’s popularity.
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