Hyderabad: No Aero Show for civilians in Begumpet

Begumpet: Visit Begumpet airport to get overawed by and to take in the beauty of different machine birds, for the four-day biennial event, Wings India 2020, an international aero exhibition, began at Begumpet Airport on Thursday. It will, however, be formally inaugurated on Saturday by Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri. On the first day, visitors thronged the old airport to get a glimpse of magnificent planes of splendid sorts. Breathtaking aerobatics are being performed in the morning and the evening every day Sarang, the helicopter aerobatics team of Indian Air Force, and Global Stars team of British pilots. 

Due to the current coronavirus scare, the event on civil aviation 'Wings India 2020', Hyderabad aero show which is scheduled from Thursday to Sunday at the Begumpet airport has confined to be a business event. This year the organisers have restricted to welcome the civilians for the show.

The biennial event is being organized by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) along with Ministry of Civil Aviation and Airports Authority of India. The theme of the event was 'Flying for All' in tune with the government's emphasis on making air travel accessible to more people. This year, there is going to be 'Wings India 2020' and 'Global Aviation Summit' in the city. This year, the event will see the participation of around 20 states, 110 exhibitors and more than 500 delegates. On Thursday, 6 states had their business to business (b2b) meetings and two air shows conducted by the Sarang team and Jeffery team.

According to the previous schedule that was scheduled by the organizers, the events and conferences on Thursday and Friday were meant for business and on the weekends, the general public could visit the show. The organizers have also disallowed the entry of children under the age of 12 years to the show. Last year, the footfall of the event was around 3 lakh.

Speaking on this, Pradeep Singh Kharola along with the Wings India Organizers said, "Due to the spread of the coronavirus, we have focused on allowing fewer visitors this year. However, the adequate measures will be in place for the screening of delegates and visitors in view of COVID-19."

Due to the effect of Coronavirus, several foreign delegates were also unavailable to visit the event. The organizers will be organizing their participation in the event through video conference. They are also going to be cautious of the challenges arising out of the COVID-19 and are taking precautions including keeping the event strictly for the business delegates and prohibiting entry of the civilians including children and older people.