By Saarthak Agrawal
Amol Yadav, a commander of Jet Airways, made planes as a hobby. Six years ago, he started making a six-seater plane on the roof of a building owned by his father, a real estate developer. Now, he is the founder and head of Thrust Aircraft Company, which will manufacture 19-seater aircraft indigenously.
The genesis
What started as a hobby ultimately culminated in Amol’s self-made plane powered by a custom-made engine, grabbing the limelight in the Make in India event attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The Maharashtra government was so impressed by the work of Mr Amol Yadav that they immediately offered him a contract with a total worth of ?35,000 crores to make 1300 planes. He has been promised a land of 157 acres in the Palghar district of Maharashtra with an initial investment of ?200 crores. Yadav has entered a deal with Pratt & Whitney, Canada for engines and has stated that the first 19-seater plane will be ready in the coming six months.
Maybe not so fast
However, a point worth noting is that Mr Amol Yadav has no aeronautical engineering background and the six-seater plane designed by him has not been given a chance to fly even once. The aircraft has not undergone any safety procedure testing, and there is no guarantee that the plane is safe to operate or it will fly.
What seems to be an ambitious effort by the Indian government to promote the Make in India initiative could also prove to be a move made in haste. The project has hit a major roadblock as the Directorate General of Civil Aviation has refused to register Yadav’s aircraft, denying him the opportunity to showcase his plane’s ability to fly. This denies him the opportunity to demonstrate and test his 19-seater plane until the previous six-seater aircraft receives clearance.
The immense potential
Yadav is on the verge of completing his 19-seater aircraft, which would be the first such plane to be built in our country. This feat is an extraordinary achievement as even the National Aerospace Laboratories has been unable to do so even after years of work and an investment of crores of rupees.
The initiative started by Mr Yadav has a promising future as it has the potential of creating at least 10,000 jobs, but it may prove to be a double-edged sword as there are many challenges along the way that need to be tackled and Mr Yadav’s ability to deliver is questionable. The investment could backfire, and the Indian taxpayers’ money may be lost.
Plentiful benefits
If successful, the move will prove to be a huge boost for the NDA government with the elections on the horizon and the government looking for points to add to their resume. The success of the project will prove that the Make in India initiative started by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has given positive results and created jobs in the country. This project has the potential to attract foreign investment as India will provide planes at a cheaper rate than the existing players. It will also prove to be beneficial to the Indian passenger as the number of flights will increase, given that the Indian air transport industry has been unable to keep up with the increasing influx of passengers. This should also be a positive move for the airline industry as they should be able to buy aeroplanes at a cheaper rate as these planes would be manufactured on the Indian soil. The maintenance of these aircraft should be cheaper too.
These planes will be mainly used for flights to smaller cities. This will reduce the strain on airlines to use bigger planes which are difficult to fill and generally fly empty. The timing of these flights should become more convenient and flexible for passengers. It will increase the number of flights to these cities, hence promoting tourism in these cities. These planes could also be purchased by high net worth individuals of India, to be used as their private planes.
The first six-seater flight designed by Mr Yadav was named VT-NMD, after Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis.
Featured Image Source: Pexels
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