Jyotiraditya Scindia launches National Air Sports Policy; aims to generate annual revenue of over Rs 8,000 cr and 1,00,000 direct jobs

In a bid to make India one of the top nations in air sports by 2030, Minister of Civil Aviation, Jyotiraditya M Scindia, launched the National Air Sport Policy 2022 (NASP 2022) to provide safe, accessible, affordable, sustainable, and enjoyable air sports ecosystem in India.

Air sports refers to various sports activities involving the medium of air. With a large geographical area, diverse weather patterns, and topography, India has the potential to be a leading country in the world of air sports, a statement by the Civil Aviation Ministry said.

“The NASP 2022, is a step in this direction. It has been drafted based on the inputs received from policymakers, air sports practitioners, and the public at large and will ensure the establishment of good quality infrastructure, equipment, instructors, and services.” it further said.

The policy will cover the following sports:

Aero modeling and model rocketry

Ballooning

Aerobatics

Amateur-built and experimental aircraft

Gliding and powered gliding

Drones

Hang gliding and powered hang gliding

Paragliding and para motoring (including powered parachute trikes etc.)

Parachuting (including skydiving, BASE jumping and wing suits etc.)

Rotorcraft (including autogyro)

Powered aircraft (including ultra light, micro light and light sports aircraft etc.)

The new policy will also see a four-tier governing structure: 

Air Sports Federation of India (ASFI) will act as the apex governing body

Regional (e.g. West/ South/ North East etc.) or State and Union Territory level units of the national air sports associations, as appropriate

National associations for individual air sports or a set of air sports, as appropriate 

District-level air sports associations, as appropriate 

Union Minister of Civil Aviation, Jyotiraditya M. Scindia said, “We want to create an environment of adventure, thrill and sports in the country. For this, we will leverage the energy of our youth below the age of 35 which accounts for 70 percent of India’s population which is larger than the total population of Europe and three times that of the USA.”

Scindia said the policy will help attract air sports enthusiasts all around the world especially from North America, Europe, and Australia to come to practice in India.

Speaking on the future of Air Sports in India, he said “From a small market size of around 5,000 odd air sports practitioners creating around Rs 80-100 crore of annual revenue in India, I feel we can target over Rs 8,000 – 10,000 crore annual revenue and generate over 1,00,000 direct jobs. The economic multiplier benefits in terms of travel, tourism, support services, and local infrastructure development will be over three times.”

The Minister of Civil Aviation, was also able to interact with two prominent air sports players – Rachel Thomas (the first Indian woman to skydive from 7,000 feet over the North Pole) and Shital Mahajan, (the first woman to perform an accelerated free fall jump over Antarctica from 10,000 feet). The Padma Shri awardees expressed their gratitude for the launch of the national air sports policy and said that it will help India become a leading country in the world of air sports by 2030.