SP’s AN SP GUIDE PUBLICATION ED BUYER ONLY) ED BUYER AS -B A NDI I 100.00 ( ` Aviation Sharp Content for Sharp Audience www.sps-aviation.com vol 20 ISSUE 5 • May • 2017 MilitarY • Acquisition Dilemmas for IAF • Revitalising Transport Fleet CIVIL • Comac C919 v s Boeing & Airbus BUSINESS AVIATION • Europe Bouncing Back PLUS SPACE MUCH • GSAT-9 MORE... • CubeSats for Cost- Effective Delivery REGIONAL AVIATION • need of Viable Airports • IndiGo SELECTS ATR Soaring FALCONS BY DASSAULT RNI NUMBER: DELENG/2008/24199 PAGE 24High “In a country like India with limited support from the industry and market, initiating 50 years ago (in 1964) publishing magazines relating to Army, Navy and Aviation sectors without any interruption is a commendable job on the part of SP Guide“ Publications. By this, SP Guide Publications has established the fact that continuing quality work in any field would result in success.” Narendra Modi, Hon’ble Prime Minister of India (*message received in 2014) SP's Home Ad with Modi 2016 A4.indd 1 01/02/17 5:33 PM table of contents vol 20 ISSUE 5 • May • 2017 SP’s AN SP GUIDE PUBLICATION 100.00 (INDIA-BASED BUYER ONLY) BUYER 100.00 (INDIA-BASED ` Aviation Sharp Content for Sharp Audience www.sps-aviation.com VOL 20 ISSUE 5 • MAY • 2017 MILITARY • Acquisition Dilemmas for IAF • Revitalising Transport Fleet CIVIL • Comac C919 vs Boeing & Airbus BUSINESS AVIATION • Europe Bouncing Back PLUS SPACE MUCH • GSAT-9 MORE... • CubeSats for Cost- Effective Delivery REGIONAL AVIATION • need of Viable Airports • IndiGo SELECTS ATR Soaring FALCONS BY DASSAULT RNI NUMBER: DELENG/2008/24199 PAGE 24High SP's Aviation Cover 5-2017.indd 1 17/05/17 7:43 PM COVER IMAGE: Dassault Falcon’s new flagship – ultra-long range Falcon 8X business jet. “Our cOmpANY HAS ALWAYS BEEN A LEADER IN THIS INDUSTRY AND WE WILL CONTINUE TO SET THE PACE IN THE YEARS AHEAD. MOREOVER, THE BEST IS YET TO COME.” Cover Photograph by: —JoHN ROSANVALLON, THE PRESIDENT & CEO OF DASSAULT FALCON JET Dassault Falcon SPACE MILITARY PAGE 24 6 Report 27 Acquisitions LEAD STORY Sky is Not the Limit, for ISRO Acquisition Dilemmas for the IAF 8 Viewpoint 30 Transport GSAT-9: South Asia Communication Revitalising the Transport Fleet SOARING HIGH Satellite Till date, over 2,250 Falcons have been delivered to 82 countries around the world Technology CIVIL 10 and the Falcon fleet has surpassed 16.2 CubeSats Cost-Effective Delivery 33 Industry million hours of flight time – testimony to C919 vs Boeing & Airbus the reputation for quality and performance REGIONAL AVIATION that the Falcon family has acquired within 14 Airports REGULAR the aviation community Viable Airports, Need of DEPARTMENTS the Hour 3 A Word from Editor-in-Chief 16 IndiGo 4 News with Views Awards 2017 IndiGo Picks 50 ATR 72-600 India, Fifth Largest Military Spender SPECIAL Globally CONTRIBUTION TO BUSINESS AVIATION 35 Hall of Fame BUSINESS AVIATION 18 Europe John Alcock (1892-1919) Bouncing Back, Albeit Slowly 36 News Digest 21 Fleet Modernisation NEXT ISSUE Modernising Business 40 Last Word Paris Air Show Aviation Fleet Strategic Partnership www.sps-aviation.com ISSUE 5 • 2017 1 table of contents Sky is Not the Limit, PUBLISHER AND EDITOR-IN-CHIEF SALES & MARKETING 6 for ISRO Jayant Baranwal General Manager Sales: Rajeev Chugh SENIOR EDITOR sP’s websites Air Marshal B.K. Pandey (Retd) Sr Web Developer: Shailendra P. Ashish ASSISTANT GROUP EDITOR Web Developer: Ugrashen Vishwakarma R. Chandrakanth © SP Guide Publications, 2017 DEPUTY MANAGING EDITOR Neetu Dhulia SUBSCRIPTION/ CIRCULATION Annual Inland: `1,200 • Foreign: US$320 SENIOR TECHNICAL GROUP EDITOR E-mail: [email protected] Lt General Naresh Chand (Retd) [email protected] CONTRIBUTORS LETTER TO EDITOR INDIA [email protected] Group Captain A.K. Sachdev (Retd) [email protected] Group Captain Joseph Noronha (Retd) EUROPE FOR ADVERTISING DETAILS, CONTACT: Alan Peaford [email protected] USA & CANADA [email protected] IndiGo Picks LeRoy Cook SP GUIDE PUBLICATIONS PVT LTD 16 CHAIRMAN & MANAGING DIRECTOR A-133 Arjun Nagar 50 ATR 72-600 Jayant Baranwal (Opposite Defence Colony) New Delhi 110003, India. PLANNING & BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT Executive Vice President: Rohit Goel Tel: +91 (11) 24644693, ADMIN & COORDINATION 24644763, 24620130 Bharti Sharma Fax: +91 (11) 24647093 E-mail: [email protected] Asst – AdMin, hr & infrA Pooja Tehlani REPRESENTATIVE OFFICE DESIGN BENGALURU, INDIA Holistic Directions: Jayant Baranwal 204, Jal Vayu Vihar, Kalyan Nagar Creative Director: Anoop Kamath Bengaluru 560043, India. Designers: Vimlesh Kumar Yadav, Tel: +91 (80) 23682204 Sonu Singh Bisht MOSCOW, RUSSIA Designer (3D animation): Kunal Verma LAGUK Co., Ltd., (Yuri Laskin) Research Assistant: Graphics Krasnokholmskaya, Nab. Survi Massey 11/15, app. 132, Moscow 115172, Russia. DIRECTOR: SALES & MARKETING Tel: +7 (495) 911 2762 Neetu Dhulia Acquisition Dilemmas for Fax: +7 (495) 912 1260a 27 the IAF MEMBER OF: FOLLOW US ON Owned, published and printed by Jayant Baranwal, printed at Kala Jyothi Process Pvt Ltd and published at A-133, Arjun Nagar (Opposite Defence Colony), New Delhi 110003, India. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, photocopying, recording, electronic, or otherwise without prior written permission of the Publishers. APPLIED FOR WWW.SPGUIDEPUBLICATIONS.COM 2 ISSUE 5 • 2017 www.sps-aviation.com A word from editor-in-chief HAVING PROVEN RESILIENT TO GLOBAL CHALLENGES LAST YEAR, THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC RECOVERY IS EXPECTED TO CONTINUE THIS YEAR AND NEXT: FOR THE FIRST TIME IN ALMOST A DECADE, THE ECONOMIES OF ALL EUROPEAN UNION (EU) MEMBER STATES ARE EXPECTED TO GROW THROUGHOUT THE ENTIRE FORECASTING PERIOD. HATS OFF TO THE scientists and engineers at the Indian Space (EBAA) is excited about the economic prospects in Europe. Hav- Research Organisation (ISRO) for showing to the world the space ing proven resilient to global challenges last year, the European prowess India has developed in less than five decades. ISRO, economic recovery is expected to continue this year and next: unlike other government organisations, has really excelled as for the first time in almost a decade, the economies of all Euro- to its vision and mission, having made significant progress in pean Union (EU) Member States are expected to grow through- the frontier of space technology. On May 5, it took another giant out the entire forecasting period (2016, 2017 and 2018). And leap in that direction when it launched the South Asia Satellite one of the indicators of trends in business aviation is the iconic or GSAT-9, a gift to the region. event of EBACE (European Business Aviation Convention and Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives, Nepal and Sri Exhibition) which is round the corner in Switzerland. Business HLanka, besides India will together achieve ‘effective communi- aircraft manufacturers will be vying with each other to display cation, better governance, better banking and better education the latest and in the forefront is Dassault Aviation with its family in remote areas; more predictable weather forecasting, land of Falcon jets. monitoring and efficient resource mapping; linking people with Moving to military aviation, Air Marshal B.K. Pandey (Retd) top end medical services through tele-medicine; and a quick has underscored the importance of inducting combat aircraft in response to natural disasters.’ The Prime Minister who has been large numbers and aerial tankers as these serve as force-multi- applauding ISRO’s efforts said ‘With this launch we have started pliers and enhance the operational capability of the combat fleet, a journey to build the most advanced frontier of our partner- much needed considering the geopolitical scenario in the region. ship. With its position high in the sky, this symbol of South Asian Similarly, the need to enhance the transport fleet has been high- cooperation would meet the aspirations of economic progress of lighted by Joseph Noronha. He found recent developments like the more than 1.5 billion in our region and extend our close links induction of Lockheed Martin C-130J Super Hercules and the Boe- into outer space.” ing C-17 Globemaster III edifying, but uncertain progress of efforts While ISRO is keeping India’s flag flying high, we have a to revamp the tactical segment gives rise to some disquiet. low-cost private carrier which has shown what it takes to be the All this and more in this issue of SP’s Aviation. Welcome largest player in commercial aviation in India in double quick aboard and happy landings! time. IndiGo which holds nearly 40 per cent passenger market share has stepped up on the gas. It is now looking at entering the regional aviation market space and has made a provisional order for 50 ATR 72-600 planes valued at $1.3 billion at list prices. This is the second largest order of ATR aircraft till date, the previous record was from American Eagle for 100 ATR-72 in 1990. IndiGo expects deliveries to commence from the year end and will oper- ate on routes under regional connectivity scheme and also other high demand short routes which are not part of the scheme. The government has already set in motion plans to develop regional airports and in the first round of UDAN bidding 70 under-served and un-served airports have been announced. On business aviation, Group Captain A.K.Sachdev (Retd) has analysed how new technologies are bringing about new experi- ences in aircraft travel and that the government should recog- JAYANT BARANWAL nize the value of business aviation, while operators will go in PUBLISHER & EDITOR-IN-CHIEF for modernisation. The European Business Aviation Association www.sps-aviation.com ISSUE 5 • 2017 3 News with views NEWS: INDIA, FIFTH LARGEST MILITARY SPENDER GLOBALLY India emerged as the world’s fifth larg- Pakistan.