The world has all of a sudden narrowed down into a small place of living. There used to times when it would have taken months to travel from one end of the country to the other. With the arrival of motorcars and railway trains, things have altered radically. Today it takes only seventeen hours to reach Delhi from Mumbai or Kolkata, by Rajdhani Express. It is even better when one is able to wrap up the same distance in less than two hours, through air service. Air travel today is not only the fastest means of journey, but also the most comfortable and impressive.

In India, air travel is practical for one more reason. It can cross pretty tricky topographies, like lofty mountains, dull deserts, impenetrable forests and vast stretches of seas, with minimum pain. For instance, one can envision the northeastern part of the country with enormous rivers, everyday floods, impenetrable forests, lofty mountain ranges and international limits, erecting obstructions in surface journeys. But air travel has made things far smoother, than one can barely reckon.

In recent times, the Government of India has embraced a new "Open Skies" policy. Private companies in India, with predetermined foreign partnership, if needed, can now vie with two major public undertakings- Indian Airlines and Air India. Excluding Indian Airlines, now there are various scheduled private airlines, rendering regular domestic services. There are also 31 air taxi operators, who run non-scheduled flights, like private taxies. Mumbai-Delhi is the busiest air route in the country. In 1997, private parties had transported almost 37% of Indian domestic air traffic. In 1997, private air service lines had transported 4.2 million passengers.

In 1997-98, Air India had 26 crafts and Indian Airlines had 54. In 1980-81, Air India transported 1.4 million passengers to various parts of the world. By 1997-98, the figure had surpassed the 3 million mark. Similarly, Indian Airlines during the equivalent period had amplified its mark- from 5.4 million to 8.3 million passengers. Cargo handled in Indian airports, had risen from 178,000 tonnes to 705,000 tonnes during the similar period. This speaks of the rising pricey exports, with consumables, flowers and vegetables etc.

Airport Authority of India (AAI) looks after all the 92 civil airports in India. Pawan Hans Helicopters Ltd. furnishes trip to inaccessible areas, like the northeastern sector. Providing secured, competent air traffic services and aeronautical communication services is the basic occupation of Airport Authority of India.