Giving aviation related organisations their just due, the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI) held the maiden edition of Wings India Awards for Excellence in the aviation sector. Professional services network, Deloitte, with its extensive exposure in aviation sector played the ‘Knowledge Partner’ for the awards. The event was held on March 8 on the sidelines of the ongoing flagship event of the civil aviation ministry, Wings India 2018. The four-day long event kicked off yesterday at the Begumpet Airport, Hyderabad with the theme ‘India - Global Aviation Hub’. The programme has a special focus on connecting the cities and towns aimed at increasing the regional connectivity in India.

“Besides aviation Telegana is also a leader in aerospace, aeronautical engineering & sector specific skills,” K.T. Rama Rao, IT & Industries Minister, Telangana

The winners were felicitated by IT and Industries minister of Telangana, K.T. Rama Rao, Civil Aviation Secretary, R.N. Choubey, Joint Secretary of Ministry of Civil Aviation, Usha Padhee and Secretary General of FICCI, Sanjaya Baru.

Meanwhile, at the awards ceremony commercial airline operators Vistara, Air India and SpiceJet walked away with accolades for the ‘Most Passenger Friendly Airline’ and ‘Best Domestic Airline’ respectively while the state governments of Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Assam and Uttar Pradesh were felicitated for playing a stellar role in the government’s Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS).

The state of Telangana received the ‘Best State with a Dedicated Outlook for the Sector’ award at the evening ceremony, which was perfectly timed to support minister K.T. Rama Rao’s inaugural address at Wings India 2018 in the morning. He had said, “Besides aviation, Telegana is also a leader in aerospace, aeronautical engineering & sector specific skills.” And it looks like the country’s busiest airports - Indira Gandhi international Airport, New Delhi and Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport, Mumbai, are doing a stellar job of handling the heavy influx of passengers as well as flights since the former scored ‘Most Sustainable & Green Airport’ award while the latter bagged the ‘Best Airport’ at the ceremony.

In an all-inclusive move, the event also had a category of ‘Best General Aviation Entity’ that was won by India’s largest and oldest private jet charter, Club One Air. Joint Secretary of Ministry of Civil Aviation, Usha Padhee also attended a conference for business aviation prior to Wings India 2018, wherein she said that a task force has been formed to take up issues related to general aviation, and efforts would be made to address both policy and regulatory related matters. She said, “Many things have to be put into place (in business aviation sector), which can be addressed in our round table conference this week with the operators that will be moderated by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA). So, you can discuss all your grievances.”