Briefing of the conference organized by CAS-UPES on 06 th June 2014

As part of ongoing EU-India Institutional Capacity Building-Aviation Diploma project funded by the Delegation of European Union to India, Centre for Aviation Studies -University of Petroleum and Energy Studies along with University of Applied Sciences, Frankfurt (FH FFM) successfully organized the third conference on the theme “Aviation & Environment: What Next?” on 6th June 2014 at The Taj Palace Hotel New Delhi.

In the opening address of the conference Dr. Prabhat Kumar, Director General Civil Aviation, Government of India (GOI), deliberated the initiatives taken by GOI to address the Environmental challenges of Aviation sector. He emphasized that the India’s initiative to address the Environmental challenge with reference to aviation has been acknowledged by International Civil Aviation Organization.

The conference was also addressed by H.E. Joao Cravinho, Ambassador of the European Union to India. Addressing the delegates H.E. Cravinho said “India has made tremendous progress over the past few years on aviation and environment issues, while it is important to continue working together on the environmental problems the world is facing”.

The event witnessed the addresses from top managers of aviation industry such as Dr. Karlheinz Haag, Head of Group Environmental Issues, Lufthansa AG & Member of IATA’s environment committee, Dr. Panagiotis Karamanos, Senior Environmental Expert, EU-India Civil Aviation Cooperation Project, Mr. Pratyush Kumar, President, Boeing India & Vice President, Boeing International, Mr. Rajan Raman, Technical Director Airbus , Dr. M. Muthukrishnan, Associate General Manager Environment, Delhi International Airport Limited, Mrs. Harpreet A. De Singh, Head of Corporate Quality, Safety & Environment Management Systems, Air India and Mr. Kapil Kaul, CEO-South Asia, Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation (CAPA).

Addressing the conference Dr. Karlheinz Haag, of Lufthansa AG, acquainted the delegates about possibility of use of bio-fuel in aviation industry. He emphasized that biofuel is the future of aviation industry and can bring down the environmental challenges of aviation Industry.

Dr. Panagiotis Karamanos of EU-India Civil Aviation Cooperation Project emphasized the need of policy formulation in India and deliberated that India is becoming a leader in aviation and environment, by formulating effective initiatives, such as the annual carbon footprint and the airport noise studies.

The first panel discussion in the conference was moderated by Mr. Amber Dubey on the topic Environmental Design at Airbus & Boeing: New Developments in which Mr. Pratyush Kumar of Boeing India and Mr. Rajan Raman of Airbus acquainted the delegates about environment friendly developments in aircraft manufacturing industry.

Further the conference was addressed by Mr. Kapil Kaul of CAPA on the topic Indian Aviation – Issues and Challenges regarding environment. He emphasized the need to develop appropriate policy framework to address environmental challenges of Indian aviation.

Dr. M. Muthukrishnan of Delhi International Airport Limited deliberated about Environmental Performances and challenges of Delhi airport

Addressing the conference Mrs. Harpreet A. De Singh of Air India acquainted the delegates about Environmental Performance and Challenges of Air India

The second panel discussion on the topic Indian Aviation and the Environment: What Next? was moderated by Dr. Panagiotis Karamanos of EU-India Civil Aviation Cooperation Project in which he updated the audience current initiatives of Government of India to curb the aviation emissions and noise level.

Further the opinion of panelists was taken. On which the panelists concluded their views that India will is already taking measures to mitigate the environmental challenges in the area of Bio-fuel, Air Navigation Services and policy formulation. It was concluded that more initiatives need to be taken to mitigate the future environmental challenges of Indian aviation.

The conference also had the academic part in which the 10 young researchers from India and Germany were selected to present their research paper out of which top three research presentations were awarded cash prize of INR 5000. The following researchers were awarded at the conference by Dr. Prabhat Kumar, Director General Civil Aviation, India:

1. Mr. Mukesh Mohan Pandey Doctoral Research Fellow at University of Petroleum and Energy Studies, Dehradun.

2. Mr. Dhipesh Dhital Head of Market Research at Additiveware International Pvt. Ltd. and3. Mr. Doron Levy Research Assistant at University of Applied Sciences, Frankfurt

The conference was attended by more than 130 delegates representing airlines, airports, regulators, embassies, universities and aviation professionals.