Keep aero india at bengaluru itself

Keep aero india at bengaluru itself

Let Lucknow start an expo tradition of its own.

Lobbying is on to shift Asia’s premier defence aviation exhibition, Aero India, from its traditional base in Bengaluru to Lucknow. The government should nip this move in the bud and clarify, without delay, that Aero India will, indeed, take place at the Yelahanka Base, as it has since 1996, when the air show started. Air shows acquire a certain cachet because of their tradition and history. Britain holds its air show at Farnborough, every even-numbered year. It alternates with another premier air show, that of Paris, held, you guessed it, at Paris. The Dubai show is at Dubai, the Singapore one at Singapore. Aircraft makers, avionics firms, defence contractors, all make a regular calendar to show off their wares. Bengaluru is a prominent fixture. India gains nothing by fooling around with that. Lucknow should bid for another event, probably to host India’s Defence Expo that has been footloose across Delhi, Goa and Chennai, and would probably be better off with a permanent home.

What does a city gain by hosting an air show? Most of the time is spent on business, with the last couple of days being used to enthral hoi polloi with aerial acrobatics that show off pilot skills as well as aircraft capability. The show’s business part brings together aircraft and parts makers, electronics companies and software producers to help them seek out business opportunities amongst themselves. It also allows defence contracts to begin their life as the gleam in a general’s eye as he takes in a particular aircraft and its array of electronics and weaponry and begins to drool over what these can do for his force’s capability to keep the enemy in his place. Bengaluru has some aviation industry, an electronics and software ecosystem and a reasonably cosmopolitan urban climate. These are useful things to have for a city that hosts an air show and do not figure among Lucknow’s strengths.

There is no compelling reason to lay waste the facilities at Bengaluru for the air show and build new ones at Lucknow while forcing aircraft and avionic manufacturers to recalibrate their calendar.