Hemantha Kalam - 56 'Bucking the Wastage'

Of late, I note, that every other time I fly out of or fly into Chennai Airport, the airport ground darsan time seems to be as much as the flying time in itself.

And so was the case again on the 28^th August, 2019 when I was flying out of Chennai. The airplane was parked really ‘yonder’ from the main buildings of the airport and the bus ride from the airport’s buildings to the flight took literally over 22 minutes.

But then, hold it! My cribbing now is not about this airport darsan. I liked it, I have to say, because, there is no other way you would be able to see the airport so much in its vastness. I may like it for some time to come; till it becomes a habit and then the ‘diminishing marginal utility’ would be setting in.

No siree, my cribbing is not at all about this, but the wasting away of so many grounded airplanes. During this particular ‘conducted tour’ of ours, the other passengers and I could see at least 7 airplanes belonging to the ‘Kingfisher Airlines’ of various makes, steadily rotting away (at least they did look so) because of disuse and due to nature’s vagaries. A bit far away and tucked away into an almost ‘un-seeable’ corner of the airport, sat as many more flights huddled in disuse. Though I cannot swear, the insignia on these airplanes did look like to be that of ‘NEPC Airlines’ which breathed its last in 1997. They could also be of ‘Paramount Airways’ which ceased its operations in 2010.

And I am talking of just one airport. If we have to put together such airplanes jettisoned across all the airports in the country, imagine the amount of ‘non-productive assets’ (I am consciously mentioning them not as non-performing assets, though that phrase also should be adept in this case).

The point I wish to make out is that these airplanes cost a bomb and instead of laying them waste, can’t the government find a way to put them into use and thus save precious property and also foreign exchange?

For instance, if the government could bring in some sort of a legislation which could find a path between the promoters, new buyers and legalities so that assets would not rot and nobody has to suffer much in the process. A win-win-win situation is just waiting to be created.

In fact, we note that not only airplanes, but also several other types of vehicles seized on criminal cases etc., are found to rot on the roads, most of the times so badly vandalized that they cannot shed an iota of evidence for which they are seized and ‘preserved’ near the government establishments.

Is it not time to seriously sit, ponder and decide a way forward in such cases to buck the wastage?

Pray tell me! I have to confess that I am quite naïve in this type of matters!  

Till then, 

Krutagjnatalu (Telugu), Nanri (Tamil), Dhanyavaadagalu (Kannada), Nanni (Malayalam), Dhanyavaad (Hindi), Dhanyosmi (Sanskrit), Thanks (English), Dhonyavaad (Bangla), Dhanyabad (Oriya), Gracias (Spanish), Grazie (Italian), Danke Schon (Deutsche), Merci (French), Obrigado (Portuguese), Shukraan (Arabic), Shukriya (Urdu), Bohoma Sthuthiyi (Sinhalese) Aw-koon (Khmer), Kawp Jai Lhai Lhai (Laotian), Kob Kun Krab (Thai),Asante (Kiswahili), Maraming Salamat sa Lahat (Pinoy-Tagalog-Filipino), Tack (Swedish),Fa'afetai (Samoan), Terima Kasih (Bahasa Indonesian) and Tenkyu (Tok Pisin of Papua New Guinea).

Hemantha Kumar Pamarthy

Chennai, India

PS: On 4th February, 2023, I came across a news item that the Airports Authority has decided to auction three ATRs (planes) belonging to Kingfisher Airlines and now grounded in the Chennai Airport. I have no idea as to how I should be reacting to this news! Here's the link to the news, for those who are interested! ​https://m.timesofindia.com/city/chennai/chennai-international-airport-authority-to-auction-three-atr-72-planes/articleshow/98375679.cms