M’lore: Airports to light up for 100 years of aviation

Bellevision Media Network

Mangalore, 16 February 2011: Airports across India will have a special glow on them on February 18. They will be tastefully illuminated to mark the completion of 100 years of Indian civil aviation on that day and also mark the commencement of Civil Aviation Centenary Year starting from February 18 and ending the same date in 2012. This occasion will be doubly sweet for Mangalore airport which is in the alacrity of its 60th year celebration.

 

It was on February 18, 1911, that the first commercial plane flew in India between Allahabad and Naini. The first commercial international flight, connecting Delhi to Karachi and beyond took place in 1912 and was operated by the erstwhile Imperial Airways. Since then, aviation in India has grown in strength and is currently ninth largest civil aviation market in the world with projections of the country being the top three players in the sector by 2020.

 

M R Vasudeva, director, Mangalore Airport, said special care will be taken to illuminate the airport tastefully on that day. For us, the occasion is all the more special given that various stakeholders such as the Kanara Chamber of Commerce and Industry and other well-wishers are arranging for a function to commemorate the occasion, he says. The first flight, a Dakota, flew in to Mangalore in 1951 carrying then PM Jawaharlal Nehru.

 

Vasudeva said it was a sense of belongingness shown by people of the city in accepting the airport as a part and parcel of their lives and as a harbinger of growth and development of the region that has given a special meaning to the February 18 event. People, organisations and authorities concerned have closely associated the development of the airport, he said, adding banners heralding the milestone will also be displayed at the airport on that day.

- TNN