2005 was a landmark year for the aircraft sector.The boom was unparalled.Arguably the stock market seems to be the only other entity that had a better year(excluding IT which has been having good time for past 2 years).New air carriers were launched.Aircrafts were bought and leased for record sum.

Indian Airline became Indian.Air Deccan had a new CEO.It has ordered 30 news aircrafts.Air India made a landmark order for 68 Boeing planes.

I just have one question to all these aircraft carriers and our aviation minister as well.What's the point in spending such humongous amounts of money when the aren't sufficient number of airports?And even those that exist are so ill equipped that most of the ordered aircraft could very well stay grounded.

Poor infrastructure has for long been the bane of the aviation industry.Not only India lacks proper infrastructure in several sectors and this is a perilious situation as proper and all round development is not possible in the absence of infrastructure.The primary reason for China's dominance today across all sectors and industries is its impeccable infrastructural capabilities.Whatever the industry,whatever the demands,the Chineese have always been upto task and have been diligent in ensuring the setting up of the required infrastructure.That's one of the few things that the Chineese govt seem to do well.But in India infrastructure is absolutely non existent.Gargantuan amounts are allocated by the government for establishing infrastructure but by the time the construction is complete only a minuscle proportion of it would have been put to real use and the rest of it would have filled the coffers of contractors and middle men.This doesn't mean the such corruption is non prevalent in China but it's quite minimal and the Chineese are renowned for their infrastructure.

So back to Airports.Here we have the Delhi Airport.The National Capital.Thousand's of passengers use this airport to go to different cities all over India and the world.However come winter,year after year after year,we hear the same story.Planes delayed,cancelled and grounded.And the poor innocent victims are the passengers.What makes it even harrowing for them is the callousness and lackadaisical approach of the aircraft carriers.People had hoped that things would change with greater privatisation and competition but the way it looks,govt or private,everyone seems to function the same way in our country.Well the private carriers put the blame on airport officials,but what are they doing.A person complain on NDTV that one gets to hear melodious music on calling Spice Jet but no one picks up the phone to answer the queries.Why the hell do these carriers give their helplines when they don't intend to answer the calls?

According to an article on ndtv.com Delhi airport has been equipped with the necessary equipment to deal with fog.The catch is that only Indian and Air India pilots are familiar with handling this technology.Consequently all private carriers are forced to cancel or reschedule their planes.Now I would like to know what were these carriers doing all this time.The carriers would obviously have known that fog would be a problem this winter and yet their pilots are ill-equipped to handle the same.

Merely starting a carrier and offering cheap fares isn't going to do the trick for these companies.They need be more sincere in serving their customers.They need to start caring for their passengers and should take adequate measures to arrange for their accommodation in case of delays.

I am not sure whether Mumbai is equipped to deal with fog.But I feel this perplexing that the propreitors of these carriers who are influential,rich and enjoy a clout in the echleons of power are unable to convince the government about the poor infrastructure prevalent in our airports.Government talks about privatisation of our airports and has floated tenders for different airports.But these tenders are mired in controversy and debate and the time these tenders take to get cleared are so long that one could very well build 10 airports in that period.

One can only hope that better sense prevails and that the government realises its folly and takes necessary damage control measures.I would also love to see privatisation of our airports at a faster pace and I request our communist comrades as well as the airports union to not raise a hue and cry on this matter.After all don't you people want to see airports in India equipped with state of the art facilities giving any international airport a run for their money.Any patriotic Indian would love to see that.Hope you guys don't differ.