AAI to set up world class CARO at Begumpet Airport, Hyderabad

In what can be termed as a “potential game-changer in Indian Aviation”, Airports Authority of India (AAI) is setting up a world-class Civil Aviation Research Organization (CARO) aimed at finding indigenous solutions to meet the challenges posed by the growing air traffic and for enhancing safety, capacity and efficiency of aircraft operations in the country.

Shri.Suresh Prabhu, Hon’ble Union Minister of Commerce & Industries and civil aviation laid the foundation stone for the futuristic CARO on 5^th July 2018 in the presence of prominent people from industry, academia, research institutions and senior AAI officials.

Responding aggressively to the growth challenges through technological advancements in civil aviation, AAI under the leadership of Dr. Guruprasad Mohapatra, has decided to set up a world -class Civil Aviation Research Organization (CARO) at Begumpet Airport, Hyderabad. Widening its Research & Development (R&D) horizon, this facility, spread across a sprawling area of 27 acres will cater to ANS and Airport/Engineering research. AAI has earmarked a whopping budget outlay of Rs. 1200 Crores for a period of 12 years for R&D.

The state-of-the-art CARO houses world-class infrastructure and is equipped with simulators and is likely to be completed in two to three years’ time.

While the research programs have been identified and steps have been initiated for enhancing R&D research base through tie-ups with industry and academia, AAI has chalked out a futuristic strategy and has selected and enrolled Associate Members of R&D from across all AAI airports with an objective of exploiting domain expertise available in-house.

Shri. Suresh Prabhu, Hon’ble Union Minister of Civil Aviation after laying the foundation stone and while handing over Associate Membership Certificates to the selected AAI personnel, praised the landmark initiative of AAI in setting up CARO and the readiness of industry partners like Boeing and Honeywell and academic institutions for collaborative research with AAI, which is critical for the domain of Research and Development.

He stated that the need of the hour is to find solutions through Research for enhancing Safety, Convenience of passenger and Capacity through resource optimization particularly in view of the infrastructural constraints. The Minister sounded optimistic that with the setting up of CARO, India will be well placed to handle the burgeoning air traffic situation with the passenger trips likely to increase from 200 million to a billion in the foreseeable future.

Speaking at the function, Shri R.N. Choubey, Secretary, Ministry of Civil Aviation praised the efforts of AAI in laying the foundation stone for CARO in an incredibly quick time and in line with the vison of Government of India for New India 2022. He after elaborating on the impressive air traffic growth in the recent years and the need to exploit the potential of the Indian Aviation market, impressed upon CARO to take up research work on four priority areas, namely, increasing Airport throughput with the existing infrastructural limitations, Airspace optimization, cost-effective Infrastructure solutions for the upcoming 56 RCS airports and Integrating Drones in Civil Airspace.

It is the fervent hope of the aviation industry that AAI’s CARO enables a vibrant ecosystem in Indian aviation where a convergence of minds, ideas and innovations – from research institutes, think tanks, industry players, academia, international ANS/Airport entities and aviation stakeholders culminates in the development, testing and validation of concepts, technologies and solutions benefitting civil aviation as a whole.