The euphoria over the fast growth in the civil aviation sector is making national security increasingly foggy
By Santosh Mehra
Civil aviation is a different ball game. It is in the very nature of the beast. Glamorous but remorseless. Fascinating but unforgiving. Will take you to the skies one day. But, dump you in the pits the very next day. Always in the headlines. Mostly, for the wrong reasons.
Consider the following:
In the public memory, the closures most remembered are Kingfisher Airlines, Jet Airways and now Go First, though more than four lakh companies, including big ones like Bhushan Steel, Lanco Infra and over 250 startups, including celebrity ones like eBay, Stayzilla have folded up.
One isolated case of a drunken male relieving himself on a lady in the Executive class of an Air India flight becomes Prime time TV news and hogs more national headlines than the really heinous 31,000 rapes and 85,000 cases of outrage of women’s modesty that occur annually in India (NCRB 2021).
While a few hours delay in train and bus travel is routine, a little increase in waiting time at T3 terminal, New Delhi, generates such adverse publicity that it compels visits by the Civil Aviation Minister and his entourage of officials.
The question arises: How do you gear up to maintain the highest standards for an industry which, while growing at a scorching pace, can spiral down drastically in the face of the slightest lapse?
Ranked seventh, India has the potential to be among the global top three nations in terms of domestic and international passenger traffic. Spurred by the National Civil Aviation Policy 2016 (NCAP), the sector is seeing unprecedented growth. It has the twin objectives of enhancing affordability/connectivity for the masses and boosting the economy and employment.
Ready for take-off?
However, unlike any other industry, civil aviation relentlessly and incessantly demands the highest standards of performance, on all parameters. Even Six Sigma standards may be subpar in civil aviation, particularly with respect to safety and security. The moot question is whether in terms of infrastructure, technology, systems and procedures and, most importantly, trained manpower of various hues, is the country prepared for this massive leap of faith?
We highlight and analyse some of the major issues.
Aviation Security
Aviation security is essentially the responsibility of the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) and the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF). While the BCAS lays down the broad policies and guidelines, the heavy-duty task of implementation rests essentially with the CISF. With limited manpower resources, it is increasingly becoming very difficult for the CISF, to cope with the proliferation of airports and massive increase in passenger traffic. The aviation security units, created in a few States, can best be described as ‘Works in Progress’. They are plagued with usual police maladies like shortage of manpower, poor and indifferent leadership, lack of adequate technical equipment, unattractive pay scales and promotional avenues, compared with their local police counterparts. Many of them do not have any women security component at all, and somehow ‘manage’ by drawing civil women police on a rotational basis, which is a risky proposition.
From a modest 79 million domestic passengers in 2010 to 158 million in 2017, this number is expected to reach 520 million by 2030
Lack of adequately trained manpower is not only a serious security hazard but also increases the waiting period for passengers at the airports. The most obvious personal cost of terrorism to most business people and other professionals is the extra time it takes to get through airport security. Studies done in the US indicate that if all 600 million annual air travellers in the US were to face an additional hour’s delay, and time is valued at $20 an hour, it comes to $12 billion per year, or 0.1 per cent of the GDP of the US. Time means money!
Unfortunately, in the euphoria over the fast growth in this sector, the national security perspective is increasingly becoming foggy. It is absolutely and equally vital for both government mandarins and private players to understand that aviation security is one parameter on which even the slightest lapse can cause a serious setback on all frontiers, including economy, employment and most importantly, national security. One instance of a plane hijack and the entire edifice, assiduously built over decades, can collapse, like a pack of cards.
The two examples prove the point beyond doubt:
The 9/11 attacks: This resulted in a loss of 3,060 human lives, immediate and direct loss of $36 billion to the US economy, over 4.25 lakh job loss in New York alone and an immediate decline of 40% in tourism, hospitality and aviation sectors. The insurance claims payout was 1.5 times of Hurricane Andrew, which had seen the highest-ever payout in natural calamities in the US.
Hijack of IA 814 in Dec 1999: This flight from Kathmandu landed at Amritsar, but was allowed to take off due to, perhaps, absence of timely action and errors in judgment. It eventually landed at Kandahar, Afghanistan, then under Taliban rule, where 154 passengers and crew were held hostage for eight days. The sordid saga ended with the release of hardcore terrorists Masood Azhar, Ahmed Omar Sheikh and Mushtaq Ahmad Zargar. Ahmed Omar Sheikh, a British Pakistani terrorist of Jaish-e-Mohammed, was involved in the killing of The Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl. On his release, Masood Azhar regrouped his terror organisation Jaish-e-Mohammed. Listed as an international terrorist by the UN Security Council, he launched a series of deadly attacks, including on the Indian Parliament in December 2001, the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks, the Pathankot airbase attack in January 2016 and most recently, VBIED (Vehicle Borne Improvised Explosive Device) suicide bomber attack on a CRPF convoy in 2019 in Pulwama, killing 44 personnel. India is still picking up the pieces of that plane hijack despite the lapse of two decades. Hence, even one instance of plane hijack can have serious consequences on national security and the economy.
Safe Flying
Given the above scenario, the following urgent measures are required:
Security policy: It is time India had a National Civil Aviation Security Policy, to be prepared by a Consultative Committee. It should have experts from BCAS, CISF, state Aviation Security Forces and also, representatives of private players in aviation. The blueprint for security must incorporate best global practices, manpower forecasting, identification and outsourcing of non-core duties, technology adoption etc. It should explore having a foreign component of CISF, on the lines of ONGC Videsh, in keeping with the PM’s vision of increasing India’s global footprint.
Dedicated Force: To meet the increasing demand for trained and specialised manpower for the envisaged exponential increase in airports, number of aircraft and passengers in India, a dedicated National Aviation Security Force on the lines of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) of the US should be established, with its primary focus on airport security and anti-hijacking measures. This is because the CISF was essentially raised for and still, the bulk of its strength (over 80%), is committed to industrial security. Till such time, the CISF, perhaps, can be rechristened as Central Industrial & Aviation Security Force to highlight its crucial role in aviation security.
Passenger traffic will increase at a rate of 6.2% annually by 2040, the highest rate among the major nations and far higher than the world average of 3.9%
Handholding States: Simultaneously, the Centre has to do much handholding for filling the shortages and for capacity-building in the States. For one, 10-20 per cent of Agniveers, who are completing their tenure, can be earmarked for State Aviation Security Forces. These Agniveers are well-trained soldiers and with a, say, month-long ‘bridging course’ can be readily deployed at the airports. Apart from giving assured employment to some Agniveers, this will obviate the need for the States to hold separate time-consuming and costly recruitment drives.
Setting up Academies: For formal induction/basic and refresher courses for State police personnel, the Centre can consider establishing five Regional Aviation Security Academies, as, despite repeated exhortations to the States during the annual Conference of DGPs, very few States, like Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka, have their own setups. To begin with, the existing five Central Detective Training Institutes/Central Academy for Police Training, under the Bureau of Police Research and Development, can be tasked with capacity-building in aviation security in their respective regions.
More teeth to BCAS: The directives of BCAS need stricter implementation. No RCS (Udan) airport should be allowed to operate flights unless all criteria are met and certification carried out.
Leveraging Private Sector: Many private sector players, like GMR, have acquired considerable expertise in Aviation security. Wherever and whenever possible the expertise of private companies in capacity building should be utilised.
Safety
The paramount importance of aviation safety hardly needs any reiteration. The recent failure of Go First can be possibly traced to the grounding of its A320 Neo aircraft by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation on safety criteria in the wake of repeated mechanical troubles in their Pratt & Whitney engines.
Fleet Maintenance
Due to limited funds, Indian companies mostly lease aircraft instead of outright purchases. Rise in dollar rates increases the economic burden on these companies, which makes their operations unsustainable. Furthermore, high taxes on aviation turbine fuel (ATF) compound their misery. The MRO (maintenance, repair and overhaul) business of Indian carriers is around Rs 5,000 crore, 90% of which is currently spent outside India — in Sri Lanka, Singapore, Malaysia, the UAE, etc.
Again, due to a lack of adequate domestic MRO infrastructure, Indian companies are dependent on foreign ones, resulting in a drain of precious US dollars. Hence, there is a need for the government of India to review the entire gamut of issues related to civil aviation. This includes creating a supporting ecosystem for foreign lease companies to set up offices in India, enabling the local MRO companies, rationalisation of taxes on ATF etc. The 2020 reduction of GST for MRO services from 18% to 5% and abolition of GTO (Gross Turnover Tax) is a healthy step.
Private Sector Participation
Globally, the aviation industry is highly competitive and requires deep pockets and domain expertise, which only the private sector can bring in. Despite this realisation, the private sector continues to be treated as ‘aangan ki tulsi’.
To fulfil its ambitious vision, the Centre plans to invest $1.83 billion in the development of airport infrastructure by 2026. To overcome financial constraints, the number of PPP (public-private partnership) airports is seeing a five-fold increase to 24 by 2025. The Airports Authority of India (AAI) is forming joint ventures and has recently awarded six airports — Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Lucknow, Guwahati, Thiruvananthapuram, Mangalore — for operations, management and development under PPP for a period of 50 years. As per the National Monetization Pipeline (NMP), 25 AAI airports have been earmarked for asset monetisation between 2022 and 2025. However, much more needs to be done.
Under UDAN (‘UdeDeshkaAamNagrik’), a vital component of the National Civil Aviation Policy, 2016, more than 2.15 lakh UDAN flights have flown over 1.1 crore passengers till November 30, 2022
With an output multiplier of 3.25 and an employment multiplier of 6.1, the sector has immense potential. Hence, it is high time the government leveraged the private sector, not just for its financial heft but also for the entire gamut of issues, including policymaking, security and safety, capacity-building and infrastructure development.
What is required is not just the ‘Whole of the Government’, but the ‘Whole of the Nation’ approach, which means collective and coordinated efforts of the Centre, State governments, central public sector units, and last, but not least, the private sector.
(The author is former DG, NHRC, and DGP, APSPF)