Aero India 2021 on track for  February 3 take-off

BENGALURU:  The Paris Air Show that was scheduled to be held in June next year may have been cancelled due to the Covid pandemic, but there is no change in Aero India 2021 schedule and the five-day event is all set to take-off on February 3. In the run-up to the air show, a webinar series started from Thursday with experts discussing “Joint Maldives High Level Defence Engagement.”Preparations for the biggest aerospace exposition, the 13th edition of Aero-India 2021 to be held at Air Force Station Yelahanka in Bengaluru are going on.

“We are going ahead with Aero India 2021 and there is no change,” Kapil Mohan, Principal Secretary, Infrastructure Development Department told TNIE on Thursday. The senior IAS officer, who is closely coordinating with various state government departments that are providing assistance to the Ministry of Defence in conducting the show, said preparations for the event are going on as planned. 

However, keeping in mind the pandemic, there will be some changes as far as public participation is concerned. Number of visitors to the show is likely to be restricted to avoid crowding. Some events are also likely to be held online. 

However, there are apprehensions over foreign firms attending the show as many countries are experiencing the second wave of Covid. In the last edition in 2019, 238 Indian and 165 foreign exhibitors had displayed their products, and about 4 lakh business and general visitors had attended the event. 

Though organisers plan to take precautions like having thermal scanners at all entry points and strictly enforcing the “no mask no entry” rule, it is certainly going to be a challenging task to conduct the event of such a magnitude in the midst of a pandemic. However, a lot will depend on how the situation will pan out over the next few weeks, officials said.