Scindia said the air sports business in India generates revenues about Rs 80 crore to Rs 100 crore at the moment, while introducing the National Air Sports Policy 2022 (NASP), India’s first such framework.
Additionally, he said that the government plans to launch a manufacturing incentive programme for air sports equipment in order to make India one of the world’s leading air sports nations by 2030.
“We will have to ensure safety. Every national sports association will have to register with the ATC. We are also coming up with a segregated air space for air sports much like drones,” he said.
The government has established the Air Sports Federation of India (ASFI), which will have a four-tier structure, as part of the new National Air Sports Policy 2022. ASFI shall be an autonomous body under the civil aviation ministry.
Each federation’s association can represent more than one sport, and each association’s press and secretary will be represented in ASFI as full members with voting rights.
The policy intends to make India’s air sports ecosystem safe, affordable, accessible, enjoyable, and sustainable.
Aerobatics, aeromodelling, and model rocketry, amateur-built and experimental aircraft, ballooning, drones, gliding and powered gliding, hang gliding and powered hang gliding, parachuting, paragliding, and paramotoring, powered aircraft, and rotorcraft (including autogyro) will all be regulated under the policy.
According to Scindia, this will help create one lakh jobs in the sector and raise revenue from the current level of 100 crore rupees to 10 thousand crore rupees in the coming years. The government will also update the list of sports covered by the NASP on a regular basis to include new air sports.
Air spaces will be created in certain locations to allow uninhibited air sporting activities in the designated areas and will be coordinated with the Air Traffic Control (ATC) authority responsible for the provision of Air Traffic Services in the respective airspace under NASP.