‘India still edgy about in-flight Wi-Fi’: 

‘India still edgy about in-flight Wi-Fi’: 

Context

• The Civil Aviataion Secrtary R.N. Chaobey called for making a delicate balance between security and growth of the aviation industry.
• During a seminar organised by National Security Guards on “International Aviation Security”, he referred that India was the only country other than North Korea to not allow WiFi facility in the Aircraft because Security Agencies are not convinced about allowing in-flight Wi-Fi services. Even international airlines flying over India have to switch off Wi-Fi when they travel over India.

Reason for ban on Wi-FI in Aircraft

• Ban on WiFi in aircraft is due to non clearance from Ministry of Communication and Ministry of Home Affairs.
• The government’s stand on the issue is still yet unclear. However, domestic carriers like Jet Airways that had announced the roll-out of in-flight Wi-Fi services back in February, 2016.
• Indian laws in this regard are so stringent that even international flights are not allowed to turn on WiFi when they fly over the Indian airspace.
• According to the Wall Street Journal Report, the aviation technology specialists insist that mid-air Wi-Fi is an internationally tried-and-tested process and dismiss all security concerns as “spurious”, but the Indian government continues to be haunted by the Kandahar hijack incident from 15 years ago.

UDAN Scheme

• The recently announced regional connectivity scheme UDAN “UDAN Scheme” may incur losses and one of the significant cause is security.
• UDAN is Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS) under this scheme the Union Civil Aviation Ministry already has awarded 128 routes connecting 70 airports to 5 airlines.
• In the flights operated under scheme, around 50% of the seats will have a fare cap Rs 2,500 per seat/hour.
• Apart from various incentives, the operators of such flights will be extended viability gap funding (VGF) for which money is partly raised through a levy imposed on flights operating in major routes.

Conclusion:

• At present 15 out of 115 airport operated by Airport Authority of India are making profit and therefore innovative solution needed to find a balance between growth and security. One solution could be template of an aircraft centric security rather than the entire airport.