AFS Yelahanka offers plug-and-play options for Aero India

Surya Kiran
An IAF official said the venue of air shows are never changed in other countries. Photo: Basani Satheesh Kumar/MoD.

Bengaluru: It was just another day in office for the air warriors even as Ministry of Defence (MoD) announced the decision to hold the next edition of Aero India in Bengaluru, from February 20-24 next year. The announcement shot down all speculations that were floating around on air in the last few months.

Air Force Station Yelahanka will host the 12th edition of Aero India. All the previous 11 editions since 1996 were hosted by AFS Yelahanka. A precursor show named ‘Avia India,’ too was held at the same base in 1993.

Indian Air Force (IAF) officials who spoke to Onmanorama said on Saturday that the ‘sound and dust’ created by politicians and media on the venue, never hindered any of their preparations.

Air shows don’t get shifted world over

Aero India
A Group Captain who is familiar with Bakshi Ka Talab air base in Lucknow noted it is not suited to host an event like Aero India. Photo: Praveen Sundaram

“Sensible decision,” was how an IAF official remarked on hearing the news that the show will not fly out of the Aviation Capital.

“As I said, this is a welcome and logical decision. In all countries the location of air shows are never changed. In fact air shows get recognized by their location. Be it the air shows at Farnborough, Paris, Dubai and Moscow. It’s funny that in the last few editions an agenda is floated to shift the show out of this city. This time it took a massive turn,” says the official.

It’s confirmed that the IAF Chief was informed that his team should be ready to host the Aero India at the Bakshi Ka Talab (BKT) air base in Lucknow from November 1 this year. While IAF response was guarded, the MoD also asked Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd Lucknow, to take the bulk of the load.

“At one point it was almost sure that the show was at BKT and the decision did surprise us. Later, when the pros and cons were weighed, BKT was heavily handicapped. Lucknow lacks on many fronts to host Aero India,” says the official.

A Group Captain who is familiar with BKT says the base can never host the show to the scale what AFS Yelahanka is able to do. “Every base has a character of its own. It’s unfair to compare BKT with AFS Yelahanka and Lucknow to Bengaluru,” he says.

The lack of infrastructure at the base, the non-availability of tarmac to accommodate large number of flying machines, thick civil population outside the base are some of the factors that went against BKT.

“We will have to probably fly outside the base and come often into it if we were to do a display,” he added. He said the connectivity road between Lucknow and BKT was a concern.

“The increasing load on Lucknow airport during the show and the availability of hotels too were factored in,” he added.

AFS Yelahanka offers plug-and-play

Aero India
The plug-and-play infrastructure available at AFS Yelahanka once again ensured that the show will stay there. Photo: Fulchand-Kitadikar/MoD

In addition to Bengaluru’s oft-repeated tag of being a city loaded with IT, aerospace and defence industries, the plug-and-play infrastructure available at AFS Yelahanka once again ensured that the show will stay here.

“The infrastructure in place at Yelahanka base is phenomenal. It can take any amount of load, any number of people and almost all types of platforms. Over the years, the IAF has invested heavily on this base and many structures are permanent to cater to the needs of the show,” says another official.

It is estimated that the IAF spent between Rs 150 crore to Rs 200 crore alone in terms of infrastructure build up at AFS Yelahanka in the last two decades.

Extended runway, permanent hangars for exhibition, conference halls (200 and 60-seater), briefing halls, operation centres, dedicated media centre, tarmac on southern and northern side, maintenance crew rooms, hard standees for chalets, dedicated air display viewing area (ADVA) and multiple emergency exit routes are some of the facilities give AFS Yelahanka the advantage over others.

“Our templates are ready and we have to update them once in every two years. The air show clock starts ticking for IAF from June every alternate years. This year despite all the talks of a possible shift in venue, we began preparations as usual. Paper work, security, improvement of activities, all began as usual and these did not incur any expenses,” says the official.

Speaking to Onmanorama on the sidelines of a start-up event in Bengaluru last month, Dr Ajay Kumar, secretary, Department of Defence Production, said that MoD would eventually arrive at a decision that ‘would be most appropriate.’ He ducked all questions linked to Aero India and refused to make any direct comments.

“Everything will be known to you and certainly it will be the best decision. It will not be inappropriate to say which city will host the show now,” he said.

Logical decision

Aviation historian Pushpinder Singh who has seen Aero India evolving from 1996 said AFS Yelahanka is the only place that can now hold the show in ‘all its glory.’

“Sticking with Yelahanka is the only logical thing that could have happened. I am happy that better sense prevailed upon all. Surprised it took so long to reject the rumours of holding an international air show in the boondocks of Uttar Pradesh,” Pushpinder said.

While Lucknow can still keep its hope alive by creating the needed infrastructure in the next two years before making another pitch for the show in 2021, it will be a worthy wait to see the theme of the upcoming show.

With Lok Sabha elections round the corner, Aero India 2019 will be an opportunity for the government to showcase the results of its much-publicised Make in India mission.

The Make in India facts, figures and impact stories will be in great demand at the show.

(The writer is an independent aerospace, defence journalist and a strategic communication adviser, who blogs at Tarmak007 and tweets @writetake.)

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