Gå ubegrenset med Magzter GOLD
Få ubegrenset tilgang til over 9000 magasiner, aviser og premiumhistorier for bare
Prøve GULL - Gratis
A Diplomat In The Cockpit!
Cruising Heights
|July 2019
Hardeep Puri is the man in command as the country's new Civil Aviation Minister. A profile.
-
The story goes that Hardeep Puri gave the Prime Minister a presentation on urban infrastructure that so impressed Narendra Modi that months later he appointed him as the Minister for Urban Development and brought him to the Rajya Sabha. That was in the NDA-2 or the Modi-1 era, call it what you like.
Now only the Minister or the Prime Minister can confirm this, but his friends are quite happy to tell you that the 67-year former diplomat (he was a 1974 batch Indian Foreign Service officer) is quite capable of that sort of academic and administrative excellence. Add to that dollops of courage.
Old timers who have served with Puri or were colleagues in South Block mention the time he spent under his guru the late J N (Mani) Dixit (former Foreign Secretary and the National Security Advisor) in Sri Lanka at the height of the Tamil insurgency and the fearlessness that he brought to his job in dealing with the Tamils and traveling to areas where none dared to go. That is the mark of the man.
No wonder he ordered the resumption of Air India’s additional flight to Sri Lanka from July 15 with a flourish and a couple of tweets:
WICKED SENSE OF HUMOUR: This tweet from the minister soon after the election.
Denne historien er fra July 2019-utgaven av Cruising Heights.
Abonner på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av kuraterte premiumhistorier og over 9000 magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent? Logg på
FLERE HISTORIER FRA Cruising Heights
Cruising Heights
Settlement or Court: Families to Decide
Air India and the Airports Authority of India have finalised a framework for settling compensation claims for the families of victims of the 2024 aircraft accident near Delhi. The settlement outlines clear categories and amounts of compensation to provide timely financial assistance to affected parties and help reduce prolonged legal disputes.
2 mins
February 2026
Cruising Heights
cold-chain & pharma air cargo: India's new global corridors
India's air cargo sector is at an inflection point. After decades as a cost-sensitive, volume-driven export ecosystem, the country's trade network is being reshaped by something far more delicate: temperature sensitivity. From vaccines and biologics to gene therapy vectors, the new export frontier is clinical—not commodity. That transition is redefining how India's airports, airlines, and freight forwarders operate.
7 mins
February 2026
Cruising Heights
India's SAF Revolution: How Tata and Honeywell Are Building the Green Skies Ecosystem
The global aviation industry stands at a critical juncture. As air travel rebounds to pre-pandemic levels and beyond, the pressure to decarbonise has never been greater. In India, this transformation is being led not by piecemeal policy interventions but by an audacious industrial strategy spearheaded by the Tata Group—one that treats Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) not as a regulatory checkbox but as the cornerstone of a vertically integrated green aviation economy. A Special Report
10 mins
February 2026
Cruising Heights
FALLING STANDARDS
In August 2024, the DGCA placed SpiceJet under enhanced surveillance, including increased spot checks and night monitoring, following earlier, less severe audit findings.
2 mins
February 2026
Cruising Heights
India's Third Wave of Airport Privatisation
India's airport ecosystem is poised for its most ambitious change yet. After earlier privatisation phases transformed marquee hubs into world-class gateways, the Centre is now preparing a third, broader wave of monetisation that uses an innovative 'bundling' strategy to unlock private investment across 11 airports by 2025-26. This move not only aims to modernise infrastructure and expand capacity but also to embed professional operations in regional aviation markets that have long struggled to attract sustained investment. A Special Report
13 mins
February 2026
Cruising Heights
Blanketgate Scandal: A Costly Aviation Blunder
A missing blanket on a government jet triggered a mid-flight firing, an awkward rehiring, and fresh questions about chaos at the top of Homeland Security. Welcome to aviation management, Trump administration style—where pilots get axed over linens and nobody checks if Spirit Airlines actually owns planes before trying to buy them.
1 min
February 2026
Cruising Heights
INDIA TAKE FLIGHT WITH ADANI-EMBRAER TIE-UP
On 27 January 2026, Adani Defence & Aerospace and Embraer signed a landmark Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in New Delhi to establish India's first private-sector Final Assembly Line (FAL) for regional transport aircraft. The FAL could be a precursor to a major transformation in Indian aviation manufacturing. This partnership is not merely an assembly deal; it is the creation of a comprehensive aerospace ecosystem designed to dominate both the civil and defence sectors over the next 20 years.
1 mins
February 2026
Cruising Heights
India's Aviation Challenge: Building for 1.9 Billion Passengers
Airport traffic forecasts are often read as demand indicators, but their real value lies in what they signal for infrastructure, financing and resilience. As aviation approaches a new scale of global movement, the challenge is no longer stimulating demand but building systems capable of absorbing it. Building on ACI World’s long-term outlook, it is important to explore how India and the Asia-Pacific are reshaping the assumptions that underpin global aviation growth.
9 mins
February 2026
Cruising Heights
INDIA-EU FTA'S €500M GREEN SKY GAMBIT
The India-EU Free Trade Agreement (FTA), signed on January 26, 2026, is the first major trade deal to link Indian aviation growth to European environmental standards explicitly. It moves the sector from a simple \"buy-and-fly\" model to a \"high-standard green partnership.\"
2 mins
February 2026
Cruising Heights
India's aviation moment at 'Wings'
The significance of Wings India 2026 lay less in what was unveiled than in what was reinforced. At a time when aviation has moved from recovery into structural expansion, the event highlighted how policy, infrastructure, manufacturing and sustainability are converging to shape the industry's next phase. What emerged in Hyderabad was not a collection of announcements, but a clearer picture of India's evolving role in the global aviation ecosystem.
11 mins
February 2026
Translate
Change font size