IGRUA lost four trainer planes in accidents over eight years, says govt

The Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Uran Akademi (IGRUA) lost four of its trainer aircraft due to accidents in the last eight years, according to the government.

Currently, IGRUA, located in Uttar Pradesh, has 13 trainer planes.

"There has been a reduction in the number of aircraft from 24 in the year 2017 to 13 at present. This reduction is attributable to the completion of the prescribed service life of seven aircraft and the loss of four aircraft due to accidents," Minister of State for Civil Aviation Murlidhar Mohol said in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha on Monday.

He said a budgetary allocation of ₹25 crore was made to IGRUA for FY 2024-25 toward the acquisition of new trainer aircraft.

"To cater the requirement of pilots in the country, IGRUA has started all seven days flying in a week. In addition to its main base IGRUA has also started additional base for round the year detachment flying at Birsi Airport, Gondia (Maharashtra) and plan to fly at other places," the minister said.

In a separate written reply, Mohol said the production and use of Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) on a large scale in the country faces various challenges, such as high capital and operational expenditure, and expensive feedstock.

Other challenges are fragmented supply chains, absence of long-term off-take agreements between airline companies and Oil Marketing Companies for procurement of SAF, absence of policies support like tax benefits and subsidies for SAF production, he added.

India has joined ICAO's Assistance, Capacity-building and Training for Sustainable Aviation Fuels (ACT-SAF) programme, which aims to support the mitigation of CO2 emissions from international civil aviation in ICAO Member States.

The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) has adopted a market-based measure -- Carbon Offsetting Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (CORSIA) to reduce carbon emissions from international aviation.

"India, being a member state of the ICAO, is under obligation to comply with the mandatory phase of CORSIA from 2027. Under the CORSIA scheme airlines are required to offset their emissions, above a set baseline," the minister said.

According to him, the Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas (MoPNG) has informed that public sector oil companies are engaged in setting up pilot/commercial scale facilities to produce SAF, including standalone as well as co-processing plants.

"The government has approved indicative blending targets of 1 per cent by 2027, 2 per cent by 2028, and 5 per cent by 2030 for SAF in ATF, initially for international flights," Mohol added.